Cold-cold-cold

That is the description of Tuesday and Wednesday.  All private and public schools and universities have closed for two days.  Even Keesler AFB was closed except for essential personnel.  By the afternoon rain turned to ice or frozen rain and covered the ground like snow.  Temps in the afternoon topped at 31*. 

Authorities are telling folks to stay at home and not go on the roads.  Many bridges have been closed while other bridges have only one lane opened.  Major highways are deserted with little traffic.  Mississippi governor has declared a state of emergency for 36 counties and many counties have instituted curfews.

I made a big pot of green chili with New Mexico chiles we have in the freezer.  I also cooked up a pot of pinto beans and made them into refried beans.  Add a flour tortilla and some cheese and we had a nice dinner of smothered bean burritos that we shared with Sandy and Charles.

It’s 6:30 a.m. and it is 18* outside.  When we got up it was 58* inside the rig….and, yes, we had our electric heater going all night long.  We just turned on our Kozy World ceramic brick propane heater and it quickly got the temps up to 60* inside.

We experienced a hard freeze the last two days, so we stayed put and hunkered down.  I’ll make a pot of posole or red chili for dinner, watch a movie and knit.

Hope you’ll are warm and dry.

Remember, you are loved.
Read the story behind this saying HERE

Beauvoir

They are predicting very cold weather for the next two days, with sleet, freezing rain and even possibly SNOW. Schools have already been cancelled for two days. Knowing we will be inside for a while, we decided to get out and play “tourist”. 

We drove to Biloxi to visit Beauvoir, the retirement home of Jefferson Davis, the President of the Confederacy.

 

The nine room house sits right on Highway 90 and is very impressive.

Katrina’s winds blew in the covered front door and with the rains, they had about a foot of water inside.  It took three years to repair the damage and gave them a chance to peel back layers of paint to see what the original colors were.  There isn’t any wallpaper in the home…decorative ceilings and wall décor is all hand painted using the trompe l’oeil of “tricking the eye”.

    

We learned that anything with a door was considered a room and was taxed accordingly,

but Beauvoir had two very tall closets flanking the front door….guide said this was to show off their riches of the original owner, James Brown.  Most people didn’t have any closets in their homes for that reason.

 

 

This clock was made a few years before George Washington became our first President….now that’s old.

 

 

 

 

The rooms were beautiful with some personal items of the Davis family, but most were period pieces.

The original piano in the parlor (forgot the year and type)  was destroyed by Katrina. During a tour one of the people

taking the tour said she had one just like that in mahogany instead of the original rosewood and asked if they would like to have it.  Of course the answer was “yes” and the visitor packaged it up and had it shipped to Beauvoir.

 

After Jefferson Davis’s death and his second wife and daughter moved away, Beauvoir was turned into a hospital and retirement home for Confederate soldiers and their wives. 

The view from the back porch shows a beautiful fenced garden that originally had 52 types of roses.  Beyond the garden is a large cemetery for soldiers and wives who died during their stay here.

Behind Beauvoir is the new Jefferson Davis Presidential Library.  It is very impressive, but still pretty much empty of possessions or displays.

We enjoyed our tour of Beauvoir and would highly recommend it to anyone staying in the area.

Remember, you are loved.

Friends-of-Friends

Our friend, Marcie, saw that we were in Ocean Springs, MS where she had friends, Bev and Jim.  I “friended” Bev on Facebook and we arranged to call each other.

At seven yesterday morning Bev saw I was on Facebook and invited us to breakfast.  So we agreed to meet at McElroy’s. This place is right before the bridge that goes over to Biloxi.  The view across the water was pretty.

A large interior painting was very nice.

After meeting Bev and Jim we quickly became friends with a lot of common ground to discuss.

Bev and Jim camphosted and managed RV parks across the country when they fulltimed.  It was interesting to hear about the different places they have been and campgrounds they worked at. 

Breakfast was very good, especially the Shrimp and Grits I ordered.  The triangle of grits was pan fried topped with shrimp in a cream sauce….OMG….amazing…best I ever had.  I might have to go back to eat it a second time.  At $5.95 it was a bargain.

The other meals were equally good.

      

Bev gave us a list of places to visit while we’re here in Ocean Springs…much appreciated.

It was a cold and dreary day so we stayed inside most of the day.  I cooked up some pinto beans to mash and put together a red chile sauce.  Jim then fried off corn tortillas and cooked hamburger.  Together we assembled an layered enchilada casserole. (Thank you, Jim, for making me a separate mushroom and onion enchilada.)  Sandy and Charles enjoyed our concoction.

After another piece of that amazing Pecan Cheesecake Pie we all went over to Sandy and Charles’s and enjoyed a campfire.  It was really cold so we didn’t sit out too long, but it was very, very nice.

Remember, you are loved.

Shopping and Pulled Pork

Sandy and I took on Gulfport in a shopping spree.  Our style is to go to T. J. Maxx, Ross, Dollar Tree, etc.  We like the bargain places.  I’d already gotten rid of two blouses so I was able to buy two pairs of pants.

We lunched at Olive Garden and enjoyed soup and salad.  It was good to sit down for a while.

After we got back to Davis Bayou and rested a while, Sandy and Charles came over for happy hour and dinner.  I had slow cooked a pork roast the day before and shredded it for pull pork sandwiches, and early in the morning before shopping I made a macaroni salad along with some marinated cucumbers and onions. Add to that a Pecan Cheesecake Pie (recipe from Facebook) and we had a nice dinner.

      

That Pecan Cheesecake Pie is a killer recipe and so glad I copied it off of Facebook.  You put the combination of cream cheese, egg and sugar on top of the pie crust and then gently spoon on the pecan pie combination (pecans, egg, dark corn syrup, butter) on top of that.  I didn’t want to spend $2.99 for the corn syrup so I used some of the Steen Sugarcane Syrup I already had.  When you bake it the pecan pie juice seeps down below the cheesecake part and creates another layer on top of the pie crust and leaves the candied pecans on top. You cut the pie into 12 pieces as it is soooo rich and was so yummy.  We are looking forward to eating it for another two nights.

Remember, you are loved.

Not much

going on here.  Looked around the Winn Dixie grocery store here but not impressed…we’ll stick with shopping at Rouse’s.

Around 5 p.m. we got together with Sandy and Charles and drove to the shoreline at the end the downtown street and watch a bit of the sunset.  It was very cloudy and we only saw a sliver of color.  Next we drove to the Juke Joint because they advertised BOGO drinks during happy hours of 5-7 p.m.  Well we got there and it was pretty empty so Sandy asked the bartender to tell us “the story” of the bar.  We found out Juke Joint comes alive around 10 p.m. and goes to 3 a.m.  Well then, I’m in bed by 9 p.m. so I guess seeing me there late at night is….NIL!!!

We had our two drinks each then drove down the street to Leo’s and had a couple of very good wood oven cooked pizzas.

We called it a night, watched some TV and went to bed…whoopie!

Remember, you are loved.

French Kiss Pastries-Turkey Dinner

Yesterday Sandy and I ran around checking out the resale and Goodwill shops around Ocean Springs.  After about the fourth place I decided we needed to stop and have a break.  So we drove into town per se and found the French Kiss Pastries.  Oh, my, no calories in there-not.  I liked the clean, sleek appearance and the choices were incredible.  George, our server was very patient to explain all the different selections.

Sandy chose a pecan cream little cake to share along with New Orleans Chicory coffee. We were happy people!

     

 

After we got home Jim put the turkey half on the grill.

 

 

 

 

and boy did it come out grand

 

 

 

Then if that wasn’t enough activity for the day we headed out to the boat launch area of the campground and found a wonderful place to see the sunset.  I couldn’t decide which photo to show you, so here are a bunch.  You pick out your favorite.

I particularly liked this photo of Sandy and Charles from the back

Hope your day was as enjoyable as ours.

Remember, you are loved.
Read the story behind this saying HERE

Slow Day

Short blog post today, Folks, as there isn’t much to report.  It took my normal two hours to put up our blog post and then worked on my knitting project (another hooded cowl).

Next I wrote on a bunch of postcards to send to family members, so a trip to the post office was in order.  Next Jim and I took off to look around town and get reacquainted with the area.  We were here back in late January and early February 2011 and like this area of Ocean Springs, MS.  It’s close to Gulfport and Biloxi and paying $11 a day with our Senior Pass here at Davis Bayou, it is an economical stay.

We drove and found the local Elk’s Club and we’ll go there for happy hour to see the sunset sometime.  They also have dinners on Fridays and that’s a possibility.  Next it was a trip to Rouse’s for groceries.  We were thrilled to find they have turkey halves and quarters.  We bought a half and two quarters.  The weather is suppose to be pretty cold for the next week so I’ve made a list of comfort foods to eat this week…enchiladas, chili con carne, bean burritos with green chile, posole, clam chowder, roast turkey and maybe mac and cheese.

When we got back to Davis Bayou it was time for happy hour with Sandy and Charles joining us.  Jim grilled some burgers for dinner and then we went over to Sandy and Charles’s rig to watch the movie “Captain Phillips”. The movie was good and action packed….got my heart a racing.  We are sure enjoying the use of the Red Box at each of our stays.  So easy to use and reasonably priced for sure.

Today Sandy and I are going to check out a few of the resale stores in town and the local Tuesday Morning to see what treasures we can find.

Remember, you are loved.

Wintzell’s Oyster Bar-Mobile, Alabama

We left Fort Pickens Campground in Pensacola Beach, Florida, about 10 a.m. following a flood of locals who came for the holiday weekend.  The line at the dump station was long.

Charles and Sandy had been telling us about this restaurant and wanted us to try it out.  So we drove to Mobile, parked our rigs in a nearby Walmart parking lot and then piled into Sandy’s car and off we went.

 

The area and the interior of the restaurant is quirky.  The walls are covered with sayings.

      

The establishment is 75 years old and has an extensive menu and looks like the original oyster bar.  This guy shucked oysters the whole time we were there.

           

The food was very good and I liked that they offer grilled selections and not only fried.

We started with crab soup. AMAZING! You could tell they used crab stock and cream.	Sandy had grilled bacon wrapped shrimp with okra
Here’s Jim’s Fried J.O. Platter Jr. with fish, shrimp and oysters with hush puppies	Here is my Grilled J.O. Platter, Jr. with the same seafood and a side of cheese grits.

After a two-hour lunch break we continued on to Davis Bayou Campground in Oceans Springs, Mississippi.  It is also part of the Gulf Islands National Seashore like Fort Pickens Campground in Pensacola Beach.

We were lucky to find one of the remaining sites.  We thought we wouldn’t have a problem because the locals would have already left, but seems a bunch of us Senior Pass folks are staying here and the choice of sites were meager.  We aren’t side by side with Charles and Sandy but a couple hundred feet away.

We got set up and enjoyed being able to sit outside with Charles and Sandy for the early evening until the chill of night forced us inside. There were a lot of clouds so the sunset was spectacular. This photo doesn’t do it justice.  We’ll be looking for a good spot for future sunsets.

Remember, all you folks out there…..you are loved.

Lambert’s Throwed Rolls

I realize this is not correct English, but that’s how they say it at Lambert’s Café.  Neither the Tumolos nor the Lees had ever “experienced” Lambert’s so we decided to drive back over to Foley, AL from Pensacola to meet and have lunch. 

Everybody had a good time and couldn’t believe the amount of food you get.

Sal’s meat loaf dinner-check out the size of the roll to the left	Charles’s chicken pot pie
Sandy’s chicken fried chicken was too big for the plate.	My chicken wings

Then if you dinner with two side choices isn’t enough they have servers walking around with pots and large bowls offering “pass arounds” from tomato and macs, fried okra, boiled cabbage, fried potatoes, etc.  They also have servers passing out apple butter and sorghum molasses for your “throwed” rolls.

      

                                              

I think all of us took home most of our meals and just ate the “pass arounds” and rolls.  Nice experience that everyone enjoyed.

We said goodbye to Bobbie and Sal and drove over to the Old Time Pottery store.  I love this place as they sell a lot of household items and very little pottery, per se.  We found a few things.

Then it was off to Coleman Outlet Store to see if there was anything else we needed at 40% off.  Jim was thinking of buying another Road Trip grill but decided not to.

Then our last stop was to Stacey’s Rexall Drug which has a quaint, old-fashioned soda fountain and those cute heart shaped metal chairs.

 

 

We had a wonderful time and finished off the day by seeing the sunset at the Pensacola Elk’s Club.  It is located on the bay with it’s own marina and sits high up on stilts.  It is a beautiful setting.

      

      

It had been a good, good day full with great friends, delicious food and many, many giggles.

Remember, you are loved.