Friends to the End

That is “friends to the end of the season” I’m referring to. We’ve been blessed with seeing many friends the last week of our stay. Two days after daughter’s wedding our friends The Abeyta’s came up from Espanola for one last camping trip for the year.  We sure have enjoyed their many trips this year.  It made a big difference having their camping gear stored up here in a rented storage unit so they didn’t have to tote it back and forth.  Their son, Tim, came up with his friend, Paulo, also and we all had such a good time together. 

Teddy is a Dutch oven aficionado and always invites us over for dinner. So to return the favor I made Gumbo for lunch one day, using Louisiana Cajun Gumbo Mix as a base roux.
If you haven’t tried this mix I highly recommend it.  It tastes like the real stuff and many caterers use it because it is so authentic and saves lots of time browning the roux.  It is available at Rainbow Grocery here in South Fork, but I bought mine back in south Texas last winter.

I added onions, green peppers, celery (called The Trinity) along with okra, sausage, chicken and shrimp.  Served over rice it came out pretty good.

At least everyone thought it came out good.

Tim brought his dog, Chaps, back up with him and he is so adorable.  He’s a Pug-Chihuahua mix and I can’t get enough of him, even bundling him up in my blanket when it got cold in the evening.

                   

Birdie brought up some tomatoes and jalapenos from their garden and made some delicious pico de gallo.  I got lucky – she gave me some of her tomatoes and cucumbers to eat later…yummy!

 

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Then Thursday afternoon a couple of blog readers from Albuquerque came to the campground to visit for a while and then Jan, an old friend from Alamosa days, stopped by while on vacation from Arizona with a couple of her girlfriends. That’s Diane, Kathleen with Jan on the right.

We have visited Jan in Arizona since we’ve left Alamosa, but it has been a few years so it was nice to see her again and get caught up on news of her and her family.

Sunday The Abeyta’s left for home and Monday we closed up the campground….but more about that tomorrow.

Remember, you are loved.
Read the story behind the saying here

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Family Ceremony

Our daughter, Beth, has been going with Tom for a year or so now.  They wanted to have a “commitment ceremony” and asked Jim and I to officiate it.  Trying to make their work and our availability decide on a date was a challenge, but it worked to have the ceremony on Jim’s and my 31st anniversary on August 28th….so we now share an anniversary date which really pleased Beth and Tom.

		Beth & Tom Ceremony VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

It was a lovely event with Tom’s mom and her husband coming from Santa Fe and Tom’s cousin flew in from Oregon.  Our grandson and his wife also drove in from Santa Fe and one of Beth’s grade school friends came up from Alamosa area.

We had to put this whole thing together through phone calls and text messages.  Beth bought a beautiful Calvin Klein dress from Ross’s for only $50; she was so pleased with her thriftiness.  I got a cake from the local grocery store and added the info myself (can’t you tell?) and I wrapped some yarn around a store-bought bouquet of flowers and added a gift bow I had. 

As Jim walked Beth down the aisle….the road…we all sang out the chords of the Wedding March…dom, dom, domdom…really cute.  Jim gave a nice opening; I read about marriage from The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran; the couple exchanged their own vows; Tom’s mother gave her words of wisdom and her husband, Frank, broke everyone up by saying “just go out there and have fun”; then Jim put his hands on both their heads and gave a blessing and prayer.  It was all very simple, but very moving and touching. 

I had decorated the canopy over our picnic table with rainbow colored decorations and had colorful tableware. It all looked very festive.

Jim had smoked a huge brisket and I made macaroni salad and cole slaw.  Tom’s made a very interesting Peruvian dish featuring boiled potatoes and eggs with an interesting dressing.

                  

All in all it was a wonderful family gathering to celebrate love’s continued allure.

Remember, you are so very much loved.

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