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Video: Halloween fun at the market!

It really poured all day today, the day after mom arrived to enjoy sunshine in paradise for her winter! She might as well have stayed in Washington, except it’s about 40 degrees warmer here. I guess that helps! It was so rainy that we decided not to go house-to-house for trick-or-treating but get my shopping done instead. I figured it’d be dry, there would be lots of friendly people who would enjoy seeing a little bumblebee buzzing around, and I was sure we’d get candy there, even if we had to buy it. We had a great time! The video says it all. See the  Album link above for more pictures.  (They are sorted by month – click on 2006-10 for October photos.)

It is wonderful having mom here with us. She is checking out our guest amenities and enjoying time with Sammy. This means I was actually able to find a recipe online and make a real dinner! Woo hoo! So – I made shrimp and pineapple marinated in a ginger/garlic/red pepper sauce then grilled with a guava-lime glaze served over saffron rice with an avocado and cilantro remoulade. It only took me an hour of fast work, but that kind of focus is not possible without a helping hand. Thanks mom! (Note to self-do not use pre-cooked shrimp next time. They get mealy on the grill. I am scared of grey shrimp with long antennae and eyeballs poking out, but Dave talked me through it and I think I’ll be able to prepare uncooked shrimp next time. Come to think of it, shrimp and roaches share some similar features. I wonder if they’re related?) Mom joined me at the Y this morning for a swim in the heated outdoor pool. Very nice. It was 86 in the water and about 78 outside in the rain. She is going to join the Y and have fun getting fit while here for a couple months. Sam got a train set he’s been eyeballing for about a month. It is in a toy store near a coffee shop I frequent. He tears out of the coffee shop and runs 100 yards down the walkway to this store. It can’t be avoided. He knows it’s there. So we go in and play with the train for about 20 minutes each time and promise to come in and buy one eventually (today I offered to pay some rent to offset our use). We did finally buy the train set today – mom and I split the cost. Sam is crazy about it! I will post mom’s pictures soon.