This Christmas was quite different than I’m used to, but nice all the same. It began last night when Ruben’s wife brought David and I each three freshly-made tamales and wished us Feliz Navidad. I ate two of them for dinner – delicious. She told me her kids loved the chocolate chip cookies I’d made for them.It’s been very, very windy for the past three days, and today was no different. So this morning, instead of taking my usual walk down the beach to see the sun come up, I looked outside the window by my bed, saw the sky, heard the wind, and decided to go back to bed. Of course, with the sun setting so early, about 4:30 PM, I’ve been getting more than enough sleep. But, it felt pretty good anyway. Finally roused myself out of bed sometime – no idea what time it was. In fact, I even had to ask someone what day of the week it was.
I bundled up in a Christmas sweatshirt, jacket, jeans, shoes, and socks instead of the normal shorts, t-shirt, and sandals, and wandered down the beach a bit. The tide was still pretty high, so not many shells. Came back, ate a little breakfast, and read a little. It was so quiet!
David and I had decided to cook chicken and veggies in his slow cooker for dinner tonight, so I chopped up some onions, garlic, carrots, celery, zucchini, potatoes, and corn on the cob. Browned the chicken a little, then threw everything into the pot with some seasonings. We’ve been using an unoccupied campsite (as of right now, anyway) for electricity, so plugged the cooker in there, along with my small stereo. This campsite is one with a permanently installed trailer with solar panels, tables, a porch swing, etc, right next to the beach. Very nice. We’ll have to make friends with the owners when/if they return. In the meantime, we have permission to use the spot outside. I left the dinner to cook all day and walked on the beach some more.
David told me his phone had a pretty good signal and asked if I’d like to call my mom or son for Christmas, so I was able to talk with David (my son) and left a message for my mom and for my friend Steven. That was nice since my phone doesn’t work here.
I took advantage of the very low tide later this morning and took a walk up to the lighthouse and small chapel on the hill. It was so quiet and peaceful up there sitting on a large rock in front of the chapel, looking out over the rocks and ocean below. I took many pictures of some of the eagles flying overhead as well as a seagull and a heron.
We talked to Joe on the beach who was checking his fishing nets, and found out he has lots of very large, fresh shrimp for $16/kilo, about 2.2 pounds, so will buy some tomorrow. Joe is also a San Diego Charger’s fan with a hat to prove it. He lives in a trailer nearby.
Puttered around rest of the day, trying to stay warm and out of the wind as much as possible. We finished up the bottle of Riesling and decided that even though the potatoes weren’t soft yet, it was time to eat. I’d made some Japanese cucumber salad, so we had a feast. Lit a candle for light and listened to a Neil Diamond CD. Watched the stars come out and did a lot of talking. Fed leftovers to one of the dogs here who loved all the attention. And the wind finally abated this evening. All in all, a very nice time.
If the wind stays calm tomorrow, it’s my turn to drive into town to check email, do laundry, top off propane, go to the store, etc. I need to check on a couple of marine batteries for this rig as the present ones no longer hold a charge very long even when filled with water. This is the longest I’ve been boondocking and hadn’t noticed the condition of the batteries before this. Since I’ve had this RV for three years and it was used as a rental before that, it’s probably time for some new batteries. I can live without electric hookups here except for one thing: the igniter for the fridge in gas operation.
Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas filled with warmth, love, and many blessings.
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