Home for Turkey Day

Dawn and Ron's lovely waterfront condo.

Our friends, Dawn and Ron Hughes on Dawn Treader, who purchased a condo in Ft. Pierce to permanently move there from the Annapolis area, offered to take us to the airport. 

We flew out of West Palm Beach airport which is a nice easy to get around airport leaving on time. We had one stop in Charlotte with an half an hour to get something to eat to bring on the plan and board again. The plane was loaded and ready to go when the pilot says over the intercom, “We have a little problem of a dent being found on the plane. They must have it precisely measured, logged and then a decision of suitable or not for flying will be made. It should take 35-30 minutes.” That half an hour turned into two hours. We sat on the plane and then finally took off.  We got into BWI at 4:30pm instead of 2:30pm. We picked up the rental car just in time to get into Friday rush hour traffic on Rt.695 around Baltimore. Lucky us! Talk about nerve racking, but after that the rest of the busy week went smoothly.

We had dinner with our friends, Bob and JoAnn Castello at 8PM when we reached Lancaster Friday night. Then Saturday was a get-together with Al's side of the family at his cousin Amy's house. 

Christopher entertains the youngsters.

 We got to see the youngsters of the group who our son Chris seemed to keep entertained with a program called “Photo Booth” on his Ipad. They loved seeing themselves stretched into all funny different shapes and sizes.

No, we are not snorkeling yet.  It is a salt water aquarium.

Amy's husband has a salt water tank aquarium which made me feel like we were in the Bahamas snorkeling. (Hopefully, we will get there soon!) 

 And of course it, it is always good to catch up on everyone's news as Al is doing with his mother.

Al chatting with his mother.

Sunday was a bitter cold day with winds in the 20-25 mph range. We just stayed home with long johns under our jeans, sweaters on and sat under blankets watching football most of the day. Besides dental, nail salon, and haircut appointments we also got to see some friends. Al went to his business club meeting and I enjoyed lunch out with two good friends who were also former family and consumer science (home ec) teachers. 

Enjoying lunch out with my friends Sue and Liz.

 Then it was Turkey Day, so we once again closed up the house and headed to my sister's home in Baltimore (Severn to be exact). My sons Christopher, Nathan and his wife, Lore, ourselves, my niece, Chrissy, a friend of the family, Craig and my sister of course were present. We all helped with the meal, bringing a contribution and helping in the kitchen. As usual, a superb turkey meal was had by all.

Enjoying Thanksgiving with the family at my sister's .

That is some cupcake!

We had pumpkin pie, apple pie and a huge red velvet cupcake that Christopher brought.  He was pretending to sample it! The rest of us could not even look at it, we were so full! 

 There were plenty of leftovers that unfortunately we did not get to share in, due to flying out the next day. We spent the night at my sister's and flew out with no hassles surprisingly on Black Friday!

Dawn cooking up the shrimp.

Ron and Dawn picked us up and were kind enough to take us back to their beautiful condo that overlooks the water and give us a great light meal of shrimp over Caesar salad. It was perfect after such a feast the day before. She also shared with me a recipe for 321 cake made in ramekins in the microwave served with fresh fruit on top. It is so simple, I have to share it with you.

321 Cake

1 Angel food cake mix

1 Lemon (or what ever other flavor you prefer) cake mix

Mix these two dry cake mixes together in a gallon ziploc bag.

Then in the small ramekins or custard cup, put 3 tablespoons of blended cake mix and 2 tablespoons of water. Blend together with a spoon. Microwave 1 min. or if you have several ramekins in the microwave, do a minute at a time until the cakes look set. Eat from the ramekin or use a knife and lift them out. Serve with fresh fruit, yogurt or whatever your heart desires.

Ft. Pierce Farmer's Market

Dawn picked me up the next day to go to the wonderful farmer's market in Ft. Pierce.  It was great because I had to stock the boat again with fresh fruits and veggies.

We are now on the boat in Harbortown Marina where we left it and plan to leave to head south tomorrow. We plan to head out Ft. Pierce inlet and come in at West Palm Beach. Our friends the Mershons are waiting for us in Miami to crossover to the Bahamas.

The temperature is great here in the seventies but it seems the rain gods are blessing us once again!  Well, it gives me time to work on my pine needle basket, maybe I'll get it done soon.

My pine needle basket progress.