FALLING INTO A ROUTINE

No matter where you are, your life falls into routines and becomes very comfortable.  The weather has cooled off in December with night time temperatures of 3 and 4 degrees C and warming up to 15 to 17 during the day.  Not bad, you think, except we don’t have all of our winter clothes with us and have to “layer up” to stay warm.  The sun does shine for about 10 hours every day and that lifts our spirits.

We’ve been playing pickleball 3 times a week and have met another couple from Grand Forks who love to play.  They’ve organized a group of players back at home so we’ll be able to play pickleball during the summer.  We likely we won’t be working in the yard as much next year, as we have more recreational activities to occupy our time and we got most the major projects done this last season.

We purchased a Nook Simple Touch e-reader a few weeks ago and really love it.  There is a wide variety of free books to download and so we have amassed quite a little library on our computer.  We only have one Nook right now and have to share it which is challenging as one person may not be finished with a paper book at the same time as the other is finished with the e-book.  We may get a second Nook if there is a good sale before, or after Christmas.

We went to El Centro, California (60 miles away) on Tuesday and shopped the Imperial Valley Mall.  A portion of it is an actual indoor mall which is unusual for this part of the US.  Most shopping areas are like the plazas at home where the stores are side by side but spaced out over a large area.  Not so easy for shopping as you have to drive from one area to the next unless you like dodging traffic and taking long walks through parking lots.  We felt like we were in Mexico, though, as the main language is Spanish and we were definitely a minority with our light coloured hair and skin.

The city of El Centro is below sea level as you can see by the markers on the city water tank.

We sent out our Christmas cards, gifts and letters this week and plan to put up some decorations next week.  Our plans for Christmas Day are tentative but we may volunteer to serve a Christmas dinner at the Crossroads Mission.  One way or another, turkey will be on the menu.