New Jersey/New Mexico and Us-- Perfect Together!

How you doin'?..... from the Wandering Berkmans!  

NJ called and we responded with a brief visit for doctor visits and friends... and our old house in Clinton.  The old girl looks good! 

Hunter the pup always has a lick at the ready for Don.  Our ever-patient former neighbors and always friends Judy and Tony look on with approval. 

 

Our old haunt Citispot was the perfect place for a family and friends reunion with Mary and Bob who drove down from Rochester and friends Cathy and Peter from MA. 

A stop in Clinton isn't complete without a pic of Don on his bench.  Still there after 18 years!

The hosts with the mosts!  Eva and Richard (and Ted!)  kindly offered a place to stay for the week.  How we missed our Outhwaites!  

A Colombian lunch and a visit with Celeste in Dover put big smiles on our faces! 

Our sibs from another mother had us discussing and laughing as always.  We await the next family wedding we can crash! 

And of course, we stopped by to see the bench in Spruce Run with a plaque honoring Don's dad Sol.  Rest well, Solly--we miss you! 

Duly poked and prodded, we bid NJ farewell to head to NM for Thanksgiving with Don's side of the family.  Year 3 in the same house and it feels like "home".  My sister Laura joined us again this year and the kids cooked the lion's share of the delicious feast.  And Don took 2 melatonin pills pre-lunch thinking they were Lactaid pills.  Someone had a great 2 hour nap! Who needs tryptophan? 

Zach smuggled in his sourdough starter from Mexico-- his risk was our benefit and the resulting bread, stuffing and pancakes made us sing with delight!

Pat and Javi--two peas in a pod (:

Turkey 2 brought in friends Usan, Lollie, Viraf and Fitz to help us celebrate all over again. They supplied us with some non-traditional Thanksgiving food that was so delicious (aloo gobi, vegetarian shepherd's pie) that it made us consider this radical thought for next year-- how about replacing turkey, mashed potatoes, and all the usual suspects with the likes of Korean kimchi pancakes, chicken in a mole sauce and negimaki??  Just the thought of it had us planning next year's menu that night!

Pozole, spicy and laden with hominy, chicken and cabbage, was made at the beginning of the week and was our dinner staple when we couldn't cook one more thing or take another bite of sweet potatoes. ¡Delicioso!

A highlight of our week-- the viewing of some old VHS tapes we found in our NJ storage unit.  Look at cute 24 year old Donny B with dad Sol.  

Between food shopping, cooking and driving to the airport (and Don in a melatonin-induced daytime haze) we managed to get in one hike at the super interesting Petroglyph National Monument .  Our short hike still had us seeing about 100 petroglyphs carved into the rocks 400-700 years ago by Indigenous people and Spanish settlers.  Fav designs included the masked person below.  

  

We always hate saying goodbye to the kids but this time it was easier knowing that we would be seeing both of them in Mexico City within weeks to celebrate Christmas.  But first, time to celebrate in advance the birthday of Don's mom Pat in sunny Tucson.  This being the 4th time, we knew all the spots to hit-- 

Always beautiful Agua Caliente Park.  Our timing was perfect as they had just reopened the park after a lightening strike last year caused a blaze that took out over 75 palm trees.  

Hacienda del Sol Guest Ranch Resort drew us back with their happy hour specials.. oh yeah and a beautiful outdoor area.  Friends Sylvia and retired-that-day (!)  Jim also love a good deal and joined us for eats, drinks and an impromptu book club exchange. 

Birthday or no birthday, the finale of the Golden Bachelor was not to be missed!  Pat was Team Susie but the drama of the finale did not disappoint.  

Another favorite-- the every Sunday Heirloom Farmers Market at Rillito Race Track.  We came out of there with the makings for a delicious pesto dinner that night and "the best banana bread ever"  per Pat. 

"What time do you have Psych?"  We blended right in on the U of A campus.

Also on campus, the Center for Creative Photography had a display from contemporary South Korean photographers and another from W. Eugene Smith.  

 

Add to the mix movies (Saltburn-- can I get those 2 hours of my life back??) and restaurants galore (Korean! Japanese! Italian!) and the birthday week went by in a flash.  Happy early birthday, LPT!  We were happy to spend it with you! 

Fast forward to today-- we arrived in Mexico City on the 3rd and are looking forward to settling down for 2 months (6 "homes" in 3 weeks -- ouch!) .  We're back in the airbnb we stayed in last December so it's kinda like coming home.   

This post's SOL --  Mexico is known for frequent earthquakes.  We have our earthquake bag packed and by the front door.   Today riding in an Uber we had what is now our 3rd earthquake experience here in the 7 times we've visited.  The siren is eerie with its "wohw wohw wohw" sound and the app is jolting but everyone takes these alerts seriously.  Fortunately, it was only a 5.8 and the epicenter was 125 miles away with no damage reported.  We didn't feel it but talk about your slice of life!

Don and I celebrated 35 years married this week with tacos and Prosecco-- life is good!  We hope you all have a happy and healthy holiday season -- thanks for following along!

Don and Monica