The weather improved, so we're returning to morning walks

 Hello, everyone.

It's been busy around Ye Olde Homestead and I didn't realize how long it had been since a post was made.

This was a view of a near-dawn walk a few days ago. I just liked the shapes of the trees against the sky.

Today's walk gave  me this image:

This is a REALLY big thistle plant. As y'all can see, it's sending up a bloom stalk. I'm not sure which variety of thistle it is--much too small to be an artichoke, plus the climate probably isn't right for a volunteer artichoke anyway. It's not milk thistle, those have variegations on the leaves and don't look as mean and prickery. It does completely fill the setback between the sidewalk and the fence, so probably it's close to a meter/yard across.

If you recognize the plant, please feel free to chime in in the comments and share the info!

A little embroidery project

 Hello, everyone.

While the recap series of our October 2021 pilgrimage was going on, life was not standing still.

My local quilt shop had a sale and there was a little Kimberbell felt pouch included. 

The pattern is a "Jacobean flower" design for the embroidery machine. The blank makes up into a little zipper pouch.

I never thought I would enjoy the embroidery machine so much. Even though it does mean another set of stash items are accumulating, it is fun. And the designs are so pretty.

Recap of Camino Primitivo: Tenth day, Ferreira to Melide

 Hello, everyone.

We woke up in Ferreira (at Albergue A Nave) and got ready and walked out the door about 0840 to find: blackness. And fog. Turned around, went back inside to wait for light in the albergue lobby. Started out again.

It was still pretty foggy. The crosses are the church graveyard peeking over the wall. As we walk past graveyards, I try and remember to say a prayer for the folks buried there.

As we are in the last 100 km, there is more pilgrim traffic to share the trail with--note two groups in background. And the sun is finally out!

A caterpillar that I, personally wouldn't want to play around with!

In the US, gardeners talk of the Three Sisters, the crops that the Eastern future-US Indians used to grow together. These three are Corn (maize to the Brits!), squash, and beans. Here we see two of the three growing together. And what beautiful squashes they are!

In Melide, we ate, of course, Pulpo. It was wonderful. Melide is also where the Primitivo connects up to the Ruta Francés.

Recap: Camino Primitivo--After Lugo, to Ferreira

 Hello, everyone.

We return to the recap of the Camino Primitivo. At this point, as Lugo is the 100km town, we were in the final stage of our Camino walk.

This Roman mile marker was near the one bar we were able to have a rest and sip at during the day.

Later that day we encountered this trail mark with the usual Galician distance estimate.

The path was often a quiet road.

Another look at the quiet road, this time with less leaf litter on it.

We slept at the Albergue A Nave in Ferreira and we ate at the bar/cafe next door. I had tortilla de verduras, which was promised to be made with the produce of the owner's garden. We had walked past a lot of vegetable patches that day and almost all of them were well supplied with kale. Was there kale in the tortilla? No! There was, in addition to potato chunks, some eggplant and tomato. Even though it wasn't what I expected, the tortilla was good.

The following morning, we woke up at a suitable, early, time, dressed, and tried to head out. Fail. Not only was it still full dark at 8:40 or so in the morning, there was also fog on the road. We had to go back inside and wait for almost half an hour until there was light enough to walk by. (This is what happens when you walk into the shortening days--it was approaching the end of October by this time.)

Spanish food at home

 Hello, everyone.

Thanks to the very interesting YouTube channel Spain on a Fork  my repertoire of Spanish Tortilla has expanded beyond the basic tortilla de patata.

Today I tried making Tortilla Murciana de Verduras, which is not only delicious, it's also low-carb and suitable for Lenten Friday dinners. (Contains no meat.) 

This was so good! It includes bell peppers, onion, garlic, spinach, and Baby Bella mushrooms. 

Recap of Camino Primitivo: Lugo was a rest day

 Hello, everyone.

I think that Lugo was talked about with some detail in the en route posts. Today I will only put up some photos that I think were not in the first discussion.

Breakfast pastry and coffee the morning of our rest day. The pastry has vegetables in it, if I remember it correctly.

The game board from the Roman house museum. The ancient Roman house, or its successor buildings, had been used off and on almost continuously for well over 1000 years.

Wine with our dinner on the rest day. The little bit of pastry is the last of a "New Mother's Cake" which was custard and chocolate in a crust. Very tasty!

A small break from Camino posts

 Hello, everyone.

A couple of south Texas items:

A really pretty moth we saw on our porch:

Isn't he something?

And we had a cold snap, which meant covering tender plants and moving some inside.

The dragon fruit cactus, inside of a sheet. We also added
incandescent Christmas lights to it.

And to finish off, we saw a very bold squirrel at Bentsen Park a few days ago:

Can you see what he's holding in his right front paw?