As I sit here, I can smell the turkey sizzling and crackling in the oven.  Abi is outside working in the yard – something he never tires of doing – and I’m puttering, continuing to ready ourselves for our upcoming road trip.

“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words,

but to live by them.”

John Fitzgerald Kennedy

When was the last time you sent a postcard to someone while you were traveling? For that matter, when was the last time you received a postcard from someone who was traveling?

“Will you marry me, Patti?” quipped Pat Sajak, the host of Wheel of Fortune, to which of course I replied, “Sure,” even though I was obviously already married.  But because I wasn’t sure what to write on my bio card, I wrote, pastry chef, which was true at the time as I baked a lot of the desserts for our restaurant and it’s why Pat asked me to marry him.  Apparently, he liked desserts. But back up…

I know I said in my last post – The Finer Things in Life – that aside from the fact we will arrive in Washington, D.C. for the holidays, we have no set plans or destinations in mind for our upcoming 2-month road trip; and that is the truth of the matter.

If you’re of a certain age you may remember the classic commercial, “See the U.S.A. in Your Chevrolet.”  You can’t read the words without singing the melody, right?

If it weren’t for the fact that I am oh so allergic to shellfish I would be all over this recipe sent to me by Pablo who lives in Los Barriles, BCS and is friends with my Monkey Sister.  Los Barriles is on the Sea of Cortez about 1 1/2 hours away from Cabo San Lucas. 

If you’re of a certain age you may remember fine dining with white linen table cloths, numerous utensils on the table and trying to figure out which fork to use when – always start from the outside and work your way in – and the waitstaff always seemed to know exactly when you were finished and how to properly pace the service.

I know, I know, you’re thinking – just how many photos can one take of fall leaves?  Apparently, if you’re us, quite a few.  It seems as if every tree we come upon offers up some little tweak of excellence.  So with that being said, here are a few more and I promise, this will be the last of them (fingers crossed behind my back).  I think you’ll thank me for posting these though!

If I had a nickel for every time someone said to me, “Oh, I’d love to own a B&B, it would be so much fun.” I’d be able to add a couple of dollars to my growing stash of if I had a nickel wealth.