Date Shake...

 Since we have been coming south...we make a couple trips a season the the Date Farms to enjoy a Date Shake. 

I have watched them being made and thought I should try to make them.

I chopped up approximately 2 cup of dates.

Cooked them slowly in water....adding a little at a time...

 just enough to make a soft paste of the cooked dates

 I added about 3/4 cup of cooked dates to approximately 4 cups of vanilla ice cream. 

I used my smoothie blender to mix it ..it needed a bit of liquid 

so I added just enough coconut milk to make it blend

 The shakes were delicious!!!..

 I have to say that they taste just as good...maybe even better than the ones we buy....

So...now when we get company.... we'll go to the Date Farm to  buy the dates..

and come home and enjoy the shake on our patio:)

Could it be....

Down the road from us.... we couldn't believe what we saw....

SHEEP......And there wasn't just a few...

The following week we were biking along a canal....

and...

 More sheep....

maybe the same sheep...

but they had been moved...

Could this be the way they are now mowing the fields??

Southern Arizona...

 Driving to Phoenix...we came around a corner... and the view...

The Saguaro Cactus if my favourite!!

First Desert Christmas...

Living in Central Alberta....

Christmas is a time of cold, snow, skating, skiing....

this year we experienced our first Christmas in the Desert....

We spent time swimming and in the sun...

We had a fun Christmas Eve with other park residents with Santa, a gift exchange

and Christmas Dinner on Christmas Day!!

We had a wonderful Christmas in our little southern home...

It's not to bad...being away from snow and cold....

but we did think lots about our children...back home.

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas Day!!

Tamale Festival

Down the road from Yuma...in the town of Somerton....

Main Street was Packed...

With people and over 40 Tamale Booths.... 

We wondered what a Tamale Festival was...

and it is Tamales... 

If you like crowds...and Tamales you have it made!!!

It was a fun experience...even thought I don't like crowds...

and the Tamales...were ok:))

Cotton Field

Yuma is the Winter Vegetable Capital of the World.....
but did you know cotton is also grown in Yuma....
We didn't know that until last spring...apparently they grow the cotton in the summer when it's to hot for the veggies....

This fall we came upon a .. Cotton Field...

This was a first for me.... I had never seen a cotton field!

Christmas Carol

It wasn't your classic Christmas Carol....
Scrooge was a fur trader in the Alberta Northwest Territories....
It was a wonderful performance!!

 Our granddaughter was in the play.... so it was extra special!!