cold tourists

Friday, December 11
Albany, GA

As we drove out of our neighborhood Monday morning, we wondered what we could possibly have forgotten, as it seemed like everything we owned had been hauled out to the Cottage. Well, whatever it is, there will be two when we return because we’ll have to buy whatever we can’t live without.

Salt shaker and pepper mill. Walmart in Mt. Pleasant. We could have found them at a thrift shop, but then we’d probably have bought some clothes we don’t need, too.

I thought I’d left my camera on my desk. Now, that was an ‘OHNO”!, but it was discovered under the seat of the truck. Relief!

Stuart didn’t bring any shorts, but so far, that’s not been a problem. Last night it was 35 degrees here in Waycross, GA, at the Laura Walter State Park, on the edge of the Okefenokee Swamp. This is long leaf pine area, and Laura Walter made her life’s work taking care of the area here. The eastern indigo snake and the gopher tortoise are protected here, but we didn’t see any evidence of them on our walk in the woods. Too cold for reptiles to be out. We are in logging country, so for this preserve to even exist is a miracle. This is also a major railroad crossroads (cue the guitar music), we can hear the trains all day and night, and we’re 9 miles from town. It’s a pretty place; flat and quiet, the color from the trees is almost faded.

Thursday was a lay day, as in lay around and do not much. There is no internet access here at the LWSP, so we got directions to the public library in Waycross (the park ranger had to think about the location of the library). Waycross is about 35,000 people, the library looks like a nice size. But, they don’t open until noon, and it’s now 10am. We saw much of Waycross from our truck windshield, spent some time in the hardware store and looked for the railroad switching yard. Had lunch out, and went back to the library to learn they don’t have wifi! They didn’t have the daily paper yet, either. Thank goodness for public radio!

We’ve eaten well. The rain Tuesday night sent me inside to cook the pork chops I’d thawed. I rubbed them with a light chipotle rub (Cooks Illustrated), and pan fried them. Served them with carmelized onions, some corn from Robert and Eula Mae’s garden garnished with a little cilantro and lime juice, and a salad. Wednesday night, I cut the left over pork chops into cubes, made some grits (small mill, coarse ground, yellow), added the left over corn and some grated cheese. The pork cubes were stir-fried with some chopped, dried apricot and a little onion, served on top of the grits/corn. Yum! Thursday night, it was some slow-roasted tomatoes from Glenda’s garden, served with hand-made ravioli’s (all from my freezer)…oh my, those roasted tomatoes are good!