Day 39 – Horseshoes anyone?

I didn’t sleep well last night – we were awakened at 3am by a sound I know all too well now. But I thought “it’s Sunday night, our neighbor kills on Friday & Saturday night”. Unfortunately, I didn’t factor in that this holiday’s festivities not only include drenching people during the day but the need for excessive amounts of pork too. I’m pretty sure he killed 3 last night because the “festivities” went on ‘til around 5 a.m., on and off squealing. Even Robin heard it last night and she wears earplugs.

Despite this, we woke up to a beautiful, sunny morning.  We got up and made b’fast – healthy of course! Quinoa with peaches, flaxseeds & coconut. Everyone seems to like it – or at least eats it. We got a call from Mikayla, which always makes it a little sunnier. Glad to hear that she and the rest of the Albion gang is enjoying working Wyoming County and finding many more Spanish-speaking people living there.

We sat outside reading and studying & getting some rays. The view from the back yard is beautiful.  We Skyped Papito and he was in the house in his coat & hat & it reminded us of our living room back home, colder inside than out. Surprisingly enough, we still don’t miss the cold and snow but we do miss Papito. Our peace was interrupted by a mid-morning encore performance of our favorite song, “Squeal ‘til you die”. For those of you who might not be familiar with the tune, we’ve added this version that was recorded live and unplugged for your listening pleasure. – WARNING: This may not be suitable for all ages, or stomachs. Listener discretion is advised!

Veronica made a huge, delicious lunch featuring a soup called “Locro” which has quesillo, lima beans, broccoli, carrots, potatoes, choclo and ”meyoco”. In Quechua it is called “olluco” or “ulluco”. Others call it “oca”. The English translation is “tuberous basella” and it looks like a fingerling potato but less starchy and tastes kinda’ like beets. In the past in Peru it was a staple of the Incas. Not available in New York, we don’t think-can someone check Pittsford Wegmans? She also made rice with chorizo (which in this case was hot dogs) and ripe plantains. We chowed! And who could blame us? Leah mowed the lawn and Ryan and I built sand pits for the horse shoe game. Ryan and Robin went to the “feed store” and bought actual horseshoes-much smaller but still fun. Guess where he got the sand? Yep, he drove down to the river with a basket, a shovel and the ambition of a kid that just started summer vacation and, well, you can figure out the rest.  I was so tired from so much food I took a 90 minute siesta.

Robin wandered out for a walk, venturing out alone, thinking our road would be safe from the little water assassins, still not 100% convinced that this “carnival” lives up to its hype. She may have been offended that Leah called her old yesterday but at least it kept her dry. This is what happens when she’s not around.

She got ambushed by a bunch of pint-sized
hoodlums with buckets of water!

Jim, Shawn, Ryan and I played horseshoes until we couldn’t see each other. After family study we made a pasta salad that we are bringing to Podocarpus National Park tomorrow. Look it up online when you get a chance. And, of course, check out our blog for tomorrow-we will have plenty of pictures.