Tomorrow.

That’s when I’m going to follow these words of wisdom.

A little window shopping in Charlottetown looking at store decorations. That’s relaxing to me + another visit with my grandson. ❤️

But today was more baking. A short break and went to lunch with my Aunt Fran and then visited my grandson.

This morning’s recipe:

Mocho Cakes.

A little back story.

Now I realize these are really named Mocha Cakes but my kids used to call them Mocho Cakes so that’s why I called them that today.

My first taste of these bites of deliciousness was in Woodstock, NB at the home of my late husband’s parents. His mother was a fine baker. This was one of her many Christmas delights. She continued to make these when they’d come to PEI to spend Christmas with us. Between her and my mother we were overloaded with sweets.

So….

Yesterday I got a request to make them. Now I hadn’t made them in 30-40 years but when you get a request you do your best. He bought the ingredients and today I began.

Read her recipe. Oh my. Not really specific. Examples: cut pound cake into squares, for icing use some butter size of 1/2 an egg, icing sugar, 2 tbsp. peanut butter, almond and vanilla extract. Mix with hot water until thin enough to dip the squares. Cover with crushed peanuts. Felt like I was on The Great British Bake Off. Now I love that show. But today I understood the stress that those bakers must feel. And it was messy. I mean really messy. Once I got into a rhythm it went much slicker. I ran out of peanuts so the last five squares I covered with coconut. Who knows but thankfully the peanut ones passed the taste test. Said they were just how he remembered them. Whew.

Had my two breaks and then back to baking.

Next

Thumbprint Cookies.

Easy recipe. Used raspberry and strawberry jams. I apparently made mine smaller than in the recipe as they ended up being Fingerprint instead of Thumbprint. Still tasted good.

Final

Whipped Shortbread Cookies

I usually make my mother’s Scotch Cookie recipe but changed things up today and tried Whipped ones.

Easy recipe and they turned out pretty good. Another day I’ll add some icing to them.

But not tomorrow.

It will be my rest day from baking.

The following song has cheeky lyrics but is slightly suggestive. Hopefully no one’s upset by it.

The Baking Song – The Lancashire Hotpots

Take care and stay healthy.

 As always, thanks for your interest and thank you for reading.

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“Baking is love made visible.” – Anonymous

Yes I made it home. Flight arrived approximately 2:15am Saturday night/Sunday morning. Whichever you call it. Needless to say I slept in past my usual 6:15.

Today?

Began baking.

Oh my. The list was made months ago, (Of course it was.) But where to start. That was the dilemma. I kept reading the list but still sat. By 9:00 enough was enough. Up and at ‘em.

Now I say I spent 5 hours baking but today nothing was really baked. That will be tomorrow. Today? All on top of the stove.

My Christmas baking doesn’t usually include so many Rice Krispie recipes but I thought my grandson might like them. Last year I made him cute Cookie Monster cookies. This year some other new ideas. TBA

From today:

Chocolate Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Cups (new recipe this year)

Rice Krispie Squares but with the multi coloured Rice Krispies.

Peanut Butter Butterscotch Marshmallow Squares

No Bake Reese’s Bars (new recipe this year)

Rice Krispies (leftover mixture from the squares but put in paper cupcake liners)

My baking does not look the neatest. Round items not completely round. Sides aren’t straight. Chocolate topping not smooth. Nevertheless they were made with tons of love. Tasty. Letting go of perfection.

Although my baking may not look neat I am a very tidy baker. I’m constantly wiping the counter and washing up because I can’t stand to have clutter and mess.

Hmmmm. My counter keeps clean but me?

This is why I wear an old sweater when I bake.

I missed my daughter today.

That’s one thing I enjoyed about the pandemic. She was on PEI and we did some Christmas baking together. I treasure those moments.

By now I bet you’re thinking I forgot. But I didn’t.

The hardest thing about baking?

Keeping my fingers out of my mouth.

It’s amazing how my fingers got covered and then automatically went into my mouth. After the first few times of this happening I made a concerted effort to keep them out of my mouth, wiping and washing them often. Better that than me eating the goodies.

What Baking Can Do – Sara Bareilles

Take care and stay healthy.

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Today’s saga.

Flying back to PEI for Christmas.

I know. I know. I’ve only been in Gulf Shores for two weeks. I wanted to be home for Christmas but I also didn’t want Richard to have to drive south alone.

Therefore I’m flying to PEI today for the Christmas holidays.

Up at 5:30. Arrived at Pensacola Airport at 7:00.

When I checked in online yesterday it said I’d have to go to a kiosk or the check-in counter to get a paper boarding pass for my flight out of Pensacola. Easy Peasy right?

Nope.

The person at the counter couldn’t get the computer to accept my passport. Oh great. Set the tone for the day. Three people tried. Kept getting denied. Finally one last swipe and it was accepted. Thank goodness because I was getting worried. I was actually given paper boarding passes for all three of my flights. Ok by me.

Flights

1. Pensacola, Florida to Houston. Texas.

2. Houston to Toronto, Ontario.

3. Toronto to Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.

Flight 1. After that initial hiccup all went according to schedule.

Flight 2. I only had an hour to make my connection from Houston to Toronto so I hoofed it as I landed in Terminal B but was departing from Terminal A. Got there in plenty of time since the flight was delayed by 30 min. That 30 min. turned into 60. But on the positive side at least we did depart.

Because of that late departure I again hoofed it to Customs in Toronto. My fault. Because I thought I was being oh so smart and getting things done I had filled out my ArriveCAN on Wednesday. Thus only having 30 min. to get to and through Customs. Ended up being no problem. Love my Nexus card.

Took a wrong turn and ended up at the Baggage Claim. Oops. So had to exit and again go through security. Simple due to Nexus. ❤️ Only issue was I had a part bottle of water in my purse. No big deal.

Flight 3. Hmmm. Fingers crossed. Flight is delayed until 23:00 pm. Meaning I don’t arrive on PEI until 2:08 am. Ugh. Long day.

But time to finally have something to eat. Had a delicious Turkey Club Panini. Was it delicious because I was hungry? Could be. But I’m not knocking it. Even better I remembered I had a $20 meal voucher courtesy of my son-in-law from our London, England trip in June. So it was free! Yay! Good thing too.The panini was $17. Expensive sandwich. Had a Starbucks Chai Latte too. Mmmmm.

Now here’s what’s really bizarre. Text from Air Canada regarding the delay saying my gate will be D36. My boarding pass says D33. My AC app says D34. The Departure Board in the airport says D32. Interesting. Glad the gates are close to each other. I’ll sit here at 34 and we’ll see what happens. I’m sure they’ll get it figured out.

I’ll let you know what the final verdict is.

I’ll Be Home for Christmas – Michael Bublé

Take care and stay healthy.

As always, thanks for your interest and thank you for reading.

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“I hope you find that happiness comes from noticing and enjoying the little things in life.”

So today I’m celebrating a few ‘little things’ from this week.

Richard loves his breakfasts. Oh my does he. Lately he’s been into avocados.

Sunday we went out to GTs on the Bay for breakfast. https://gtsonthebay.com/

One of our fav places.

Usually I have an omelette but was adventurous and went with Breakfast Totchos.

Absolutely delicious but won’t have again. I ate too much.

Prior to our Sunday breakfast we went for a walk on the Gulf Shores boardwalk. Met the woman creating sand sculptures. Such detail.

Loved these Christmas decorations.

Little Things – ABBA

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Every morning a new sun greets us, and our new life begins.

Marty Rubin

What a way to start the day.

Well actually the way Richard started the day. He took this while enjoying his sunrise beach walk.

I was puttering around the house.

Then what?

My phone rang. Richard. I figured a pocket call. But nope. I was wrong. Called me to say dolphins were coming my way. Quick as a bunny (or as quick as I could move) I was off to the deck.

Just in time to enjoy the dolphins going by. It was especially exciting today because some were amazingly close to the shore. The closest we’ve seen them. Great to have such a close up viewing. To top that off there were others a bit further out jumping and jumping and jumping. Oh my. Such fun.

Started the day with a smile on my face and a song in my heart.

My Lord What a Morning – Greater Atlanta Adventist Academy Concert Choir

Take care and stay healthy.

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I hadn’t planned on blogging today but after yesterday’s ‘heavy’ post I decided to share a few lighter, more positive items from today.

Today, after yoga, was our first day back to a local coffee shop, Happy Pappys. https://www.facebook.com/happypappycoffee/?_rdr

Lovely latte.

Of course wherever I go (it’s an age thing) I usually have to go to the restroom. This was on the wall. Nice positive message.

While enjoying our lunch I noticed this. Have never before seen these recycled.

Although the temperature was only 10C it was very warm on our deck. Sat there reading for several hours. Pure bliss.

Shaking off yesterday’s negativity.

The Sun Has Got His Hat On – from Me and My Girl

Take care and stay healthy.

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“Idiots. It’s For You.” 

Blondie (Clint Eastwood)

THE GOOD

I had a great day of shopping at some of my fav spots here: Marshall’s, OshKosh, Kate Spade, Michael Kors, T.J. Max, and Nike. Didn’t buy much but throughly enjoyed browsing. Mid afternoon meal at Baumhowers Victory Grill. https://www.baumhowers.com/menu

I’ve mentioned this restaurant in past posts. They offer a ‘Burger of the Day’ special. $11.99. We’ve had their burgers before and they’re delicious. And a great price. Today’s was the “Da Boss Burger”. It did not disappoint. Yum. Well worth the calories.

A sports fanatic’s dream. There are three jumbo TV walls with 60+ flat-screens. Now I didn’t count but that’s what this article said. https://cityoffoley.org/baumhowers-victory-grille-alabamas-1-sports-themed-restaurant-coming-to-tanger-outlets-in-foley-al/

THE BAD

After morning yoga (before going shopping) Richard was catching up with a married couple he’d met years previously. A male friend of theirs was with them. I was changing. I certainly wasn’t going shopping in my yoga clothes.

When I joined them their friend (who I’d never met before) said “So when are you joining the U.S.?”. I looked at him responding “Never”. (Now we never discuss politics down here but he started it.). He continued, “Yes you will.”. Me, “Nope. Never.”. Him, “If you don’t then we’ll force you.”? (What the F_ _ _ ?) I ignored him and turned towards the woman.

She says well if your Prime Minister keeps going this way it could happen. I looked at her saying, “Yes he’s had some issues but the leader of the opposition has worse issues.” To which her husband said,”We like his issues.” I so wanted to say, “I_ _ _ _ s.”. But smartly did not. No point in continuing. I just said, “Let’s not talk politics.”. And we left.

I found this interaction very unsettling. I was upset by them but also by my instinctive reaction. I was severely irritated. At least I didn’t say what I wanted to say. Leaving was the best choice.

I do have to say that this was the first time I’ve ever encountered this ‘in your face’ confrontation. I hope it’s the last.

THE UGLY

Driving to Foley for our shopping we passed this Trump Mobile Store on the side of the road.

We did not stop.

Found this online article about it.

https://1819news.com/news/item/trump-mobile-merch-store-finds-success-in-lower-alabama-definitely-trump-country

I realize you may not see things as I do but I respect your right to do so. I apologize if this post has bothered you. I had to vent.

I really try to have my posts be non-political but today infuriated me. If I can be respectful and not bring up politics to the local residents then they should offer me the same courtesy. Ahhhhh.

Thank goodness this all occurred before the shopping. At least the day ended on a positive note.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly – Main Theme – Ennio Morricone

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And that was me yesterday.

Awoke in the morning feeling quite proud of myself. We’d made it here. And I was feeling pretty good. Everything was put away. Went off to the the gym for treadmill and yoga. Checked out books from the library. Stopped at three stores for groceries. Then home.

Oops. Forgot Richard got a Post Office box. I have to mention this because of what he heard there. The woman in front of him was asking to buy stamps and was asked if she wanted religious or non-religious ones. What? I never knew that was an option.

If you’re wondering, she chose non-religious.

Sat in the sun. Special treat, I saw dolphins again. Set up the Apple TV. Four TVs in this house but took a long time to find one where I could attach the Apple TV. Darn old wall TVs with the ports on the back. Finally there was one I could get to but once plugged in I couldn’t get it to connect. Thank goodness for the help of my son-in-law back in Canada patiently explaining I had to join their Wi-Fi for it to work. On his part, I’m sure he was shaking his head in disbelief. On my part, I felt old.

Next on the hunt for the Keurig. After much innovative investigating I found it. But that’s a story for another day.

Then

I crashed.

Total exhaustion.

Napped.

Guess my body was telling me something.

Today?

I listened to my body and stayed in for the day.

Relaxed.

Had good friends from Michigan over in the afternoon for a relaxing reconnection over snacks and drinks on our sunny deck.

At least that was the plan.

But then we were inundated with flies. We’d never had them before. They looked similar to Deer Flies. (I read that some people call them Dog Flies. Don’t know for sure.) Boy did they sting when they bit. I can’t imagine what the people on the beach thought about my screams. Did I mention I am not a fan of bugs? They would swarm me. Did they bother Richard? Nope. Just one of our friends and me. We all went inside. But those ferocious flies followed.

Richard was on fly swatter patrol.

Only we couldn’t find a real one so he used a spatula. Yes you read correctly. Gotta make due with what you have, right? Now close your eyes and imagine him hustling around the room swatting flies with a spatula. It would have been funny if it hadn’t been so necessary. He really didn’t believe me about the biting until he swatted some that were full of blood. Where’d the blood come from Richard?

ME

We still had a great afternoon catching up, just indoors instead of in the sun.

Of course we found the real fly swatter after they left. Figures.

Hope you had a great day.

Sunshine On My Shoulders – John Denver

Take care and stay healthy.

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“Wherever you go becomes a part of you somehow.” 
Anita Desai

And Gulf Shores has become a part of us. I felt it as soon as we drove down the 59. Not the same feeling I get crossing the Confederation Bridge to PEI but similar.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confederation_Bridge

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Edward_Island

Slept in this morning.

Until 5:00. 😂

On the road at 5:30.

Other years the first hour of the drive was foggy. After the fiasco yesterday we were blessed today. Great weather (no fog) and light traffic.

First Alabama sights.

The only problem on the drive was finding radio stations. Choices: Country, religious, or sports. What to do? Solution? Connected Richard’s phone to the radio and listened to “Who Dunnit’s” on the BBC”. They sure pass the time.

Now those who know me know when I arrive I unpack immediately. Get ‘er done.

Unbelievably today I didn’t. 17C.

Work later. Sit in the sun. Water was incredibly warm.

(Of course I got everything put away before the end of the day.)

And the bonus?

We saw dolphins. In the Gulf right in front of us. How sweet is that.

Great way to start our stay here.

The only downside about being here? How much will we have to hear about the ‘orange guy’.

Alabama – Neil Young

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Fate was in our favour. No cars being worked on at Midas when we arrived. Took us in immediately. Needed a new battery. Replaced it and cleaned the contacts (whatever they are) then off we went. Our schedule was now late by three hours but much better than we expected. Thanks Midas in Bowling Green, Ohio. Fast and efficient.

Other parts of the drive were amazing. Great weather and light traffic. We made it to Sweetwater, Tennessee. Originally we’d hoped to make it further but no complaining here. Truly grateful.

Gratitude – Earth, Wind, & Fire

Take care and stay healthy.

As always, thanks for your interest and thank you for reading.

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