IOTA TO CHICOT STATE PARK.

We watched the sun set on the small town of Iota but everything was closed up tight on Saturday. Sunday morning, we headed  to Chicot State Park for a five day stay since it is fairly central to Eunice, Iberia and other smaller towns we can visit on day trips.

After we got settled in, I took a bike ride around the park while Jim napped. (His bike has a flat tire.) Flowers seeded into this puddle and braved the cold.

The woods have few leaves but plenty of moss.

The park is huge. It has a boat launch, lake, arboretum, swimming pool, lodges and cabins. And a lot of wood. Many people in camp have or had fires.

I happened on this gravel road and took it for about  two miles and found three lodges, empty of guests; neatly painted. A nice, quiet place.

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I’ve seen this flower before, but never attached to its stem and leaves. Not only beautiful but fragrant.

I ran into a couple taking each others picture and offered to take theirs together. They were just cooking gumbo and invited us to join them for dinner. I took a picture of Shawn stirring the pot.

Huge pieces of chicken and a rich gravy. I could have sworn I took a picture of both Shawn and his wife, but I took three of them with their phone and thought I’d taken one  on my camera. Dang!

They left the gumbo to finish cooking and went kayaking for the afternoon. They wanted to check their yo-yo’s and hopefully find a couple of catfish to bring home.  I had no idea what yo-yo fishing is. Annette explained it as a bobber that is like a yo-yo. You pull the hooked string and it dangles in the water. The yo-yo itself is tied to a nearby tree. When the fish bites, the string zips up to the bobber and hooks the fish.

At six p.m. I walked over without Jim to bring the California hippy salad I’d promised for dinner. (Jim wasn’t feeling well.) I expressed my regrets but this Italian Cajun cooks a mean gumbo and she insisted I bring some home. “You gotta eat it with potato salad, that is tradition in our family. The potato salad goes right in the gumbo”, she emphasized. Absolutely delicious. We didn’t have a chance to visit long. She is a grammar school teacher. Shawn works testing and xraying welds on the pipe lines. They leave this morning and I didn’t even get their last name. Double dang. Some days you forget to take your brain with you.  The weather is supposed to be wind, rain, hail, possible tornado. We’ll probably stick close to the park.

LOST IN APACHE JUNCTION?

Yesterday, I took a bike ride to town, just to look around. I found an Antique Mall that was so full my eyes kind of glazed over. In a motor home you can’t really shop, but I still like to look.

A beauty of an old pot belly.  I can relate.

Graceful sideboard in appearance, but  a cast iron wood stove, instead. This one took me by surprise. It actually has burner plates to cook on.

Amazing how many different types of irons were made. I like collections and when I look at these I can say, “praise be, I live in an era of a  steam iron and permanent press.”

Someone saw fit to cast a flower on this iron, maybe to cheer up his wife during a tedious task.

Fill that brass iron with water and it took muscle to lift.  I have a wood stove at home and occasionally put a pot of beans or steel-cut oats  on to cook. And, during winter, I always have hot water for tea.  It was then I remembered I bought tepary beans at Organ Pipe. They are a desert food source from the palo verde tree and have the highest protein content of any bean,  and I had a pot of them soaking on the stove for dinner. I rushed to get back and found my self on a dead end portion of Broadway. Hmmm. Could I actually get lost in Apache Junction? I crossed the highway and found a second extension of Broadway, also dead ended. I had to retrace two intersections to find my way, and was grateful that I carry a cell phone, even though I didn’t bring my glasses and couldn’t see to call Jim.

The tepary beans were great tasting. I cooked them for a couple hours (2 cups) without salt, then added seasonings, and vegetables.  A 15 oz can tomato sauce,  a half medium sweet potato, a half cup of (cooked) brown rice, a serano pepper, 1/2 an onion, a stalk of celery, two tablespoons chopped cilantro, 2 toes of garlic, salt, pepper, oregano and cumin. The usual stuff you add to beans. Before serving, I cut up chunks of mozzarella cheese on top, and a dollop of thick yogurt in each bowl.  Rib-sticking good.

LAZY DAY WITH A GREAT WRITER

From Mary’s desk:

There is nothing quite like the anticipation of going to a favorite book store, The Book Barn at Niantic, in this case, which took up most of our morning yesterday. We rarely buy hardcovers because the lack of room in the motor home makes it impractical.

I returned with 16 new-to-me books. Since I’ve just discovered Ann Patchett, what joy to find two I hadn’t  read. At one time I followed every book written by Mary Higgins Clark, then quit for awhile. But, there they were, staring at me, so I thought I’d get reacquainted.
One of my favorite writers, Anita Shreve had several hardcovers I’ve yet to read, and it took great effort to pass them by.
Then I went through my recommended list, those I’ve read reviews about. I usually make a list of these and this time I remembered to bring it. Found one from my list, The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran DeSal.
I picked up a couple other reliable good writers I’ve tried, Maeve Binchy, Sandra Brown, Stephen King, Dean Koontz. I like a sprinkling of different genres along with some “chick lit”. Then, after that, I look at serious books I’d like to own and keep, but, in the motor home, I know I have to pass them by, so I skipped the temptation. I always look forward to browsing for awhile, tasting, hoping to pick up a couple unknowns, unheard ofs, to try. Its an adventure, hoping to discover another great writer to fall in love with.

Anne Siddons, and Leif Enger were my choices. Enger, his first book and Siddons has a slew. I started with Enger, and found a new wonder. A heroic, rich adventure that kept me turning pages through three quarters of the book until Jaime enticed me into a bike ride.

The day before,  I took the lead and we rode to town and back, barely able to pump the hills. This time she took the lead. I couldn’t wait to get back to Enger’s, Peace Like A River. You don’t have to eat the whole pie to know its great. It has great characters, joy, tragedy and magic. What more can you ask for?