Short and Sweet Story of a Champion's Fun filled Day – Jell-O

I woke up on Monday, Jan. 7^th around 6:30 but I wasn’t in a hurry to get up. The darkness of the last few early mornings convinced me that I may as well stay in bed a while longer. At 10 to 7 I got up, dressed and when I saw the temperature of 52F/10C and no wind, I slipped on my windbreaker and vest ready for my walk. The sky was filled with heavy clouds and the only bit of relief I saw was peeking around the corner of the Gila Mtns.

The light in the right hand colour shows promise
for the day
The fog hovers close to the ground in this photo

And within minutes, it spread over the mountains

The fog at that time of the morning looked like a sheer fuzzy blanket on the mountains and I could feel its heavy dampness on my face. It wasn’t as dark as I expected at 7 so I slipped out the door. For some reason, my pace began slower and then I sped up as I walked. I had taken a couple of my older painted rocks and on my route around the park, found new hiding places for them. Back home, I had my tea along with Bill and we read how our blogger friends were doing.

I hid 2 more of my rocks today

I had picked another orange from the one and only orange tree in the park so cut it into slices to munch on. Then, because we were playing bocce ball at 9:30, at 8:30 I made us a poached egg on toast. I shouldn’t be eating the bread because my weight is bouncing around, up and down, but it is an easy healthy breakfast otherwise and we do enjoy them. We cleaned up dishes and walked up to the court with Rob.

We had a nice group playing

Enough that some had to take turns sitting out

Donna and Sue wait for their partners to throw

sometimes the balls are so close
we need to bring in the tape measure
It's serious business!

We played one game, which I won with Eddie, and I was pleased to see that our friend, Ken, was joining us. So, the second game, I won with Ken as my partner. Third game, I won with K.C. (another Ken). Are you seeing the pattern? By this time, my name was bantered around a lot and Gordon (the gamemaster) said that they were going to have me play left handed, with a peg leg and a patch over one eye just to keep it fair for the rest. We were having a lot of fun. 

Molly watches the balls

Hmmm.  So, it came my turn to sit out a game. The next game I played, I won with Gordon as my partner and then I lost the last game. The defining moment. Time to go home. Do you think I am bragging? Well, not really. If you remember, when I’ve lost ALL games that I’ve played, I also tell you about that. Therefore, I’m just keeping you up to date and I’m currently feeling pretty good about it. 😊 Back home, Bill and I had another coffee together and a yogourt. I made up a couple of packets of Sugar Free Jello for a recipe I wanted to try.

I had raspberries and flax seed with my yogourt

At 1:30 MT Rob and Pat joined us and we drove the 35 miles to Holtville, CA. Our friends, Roland, Lori, Oscar and Judy were camped at the Hot Springs LTVA and we hadn’t seen them yet this winter. This was a no-brainer visit, we can’t let a winter go by without seeing Oscar and Judy at least once. 

It's a pretty drive to Holtville

and in case you doubted it, this is the Wall, very visible
and very monitored by border control in trucks and helicopters

And you can see it  riding the dunes off in the desert
like a black serpent

Hot Springs LTVA

Clemson and Shatzi are indifferent to each other

A group of friends and an early Happy Hour

Lori, Shatzi, Oscar and Judy

We have and will see Lori and Roland more often. We met them in November of 2016 in Bullhead City. They are good friends and we enjoy each visit. It was nice that George and Suzie were also camped there and sat for an early happy hour with the rest of us.

Yummy Jell-O

Around 4 pm MT we headed home. We gained an hour going and lost it coming back home so I am only noting our Arizona time. It was a great afternoon. Back home, we went our separate ways and Bill lit the Weber for supper. He grilled farmer’s sausage while inside I made up a recipe with the prepared Jell-o. Bill and I both enjoy the creamy jelled dishes we’ve had at buffets, parties or family gatherings but I’ve never made it. We'd stopped and chatted with Marlene while she was walking the dogs, confirming our 'date' tomorrow to Los Algodones.

The Jell-O dish turned out really nice and was so simple to make with heavy cream, cream cheese and the jiggly stuff. Wonderful, sugar and carb free! I have 8 servings in the fridge that we can enjoy for an evening snack. With the sausages, I reheated the last of the chicken and dumplings from the other night. There wasn’t enough of it to make a full meal so alongside the sausage, it was perfect and we emptied a dish from the fridge. Nancy had stopped by with Molly while supper was grilling and informed us of Ken's dental appointment tomorrow. We're all set to go at 9.

Supper was good

We cleaned up dishes and at 6:45, Bill and Rob rode up to the clubhouse with Don in his rental Mitsubishi. His truck is in the shop and he wanted to show the sleek black car off. Bill took his rock, newly painted this time, so I hope the luck is with him again. Last week he came home with a $14 win over and above his buy in. I hope I didn’t jinx him by painting the rock! I’ll let you know.

A nice sunset tonight

I finished my post as I watched America’s Got Talent Champions. I remember all of the performers and some have really stepped up their acts. You all remember Susan Boyle? She performed and I couldn’t help smiling at how far this legend has come.

This has been a great day! I hope you can say the same. 

And tonight, I caught a glimpse of the New moon
at 2% visibility

It definitely isn't clear, but I was tickled to get a shot of it
Good night!

As you can see from my pictures, the day cleared out and was beautiful. 

Thank you for visiting my blog today.