Day 4 in Sta Rosa

Brrrrrr!!!! It's VERY cold this morning. Frost last night and a crisp, clear sky today. Ivan's out chopping and stacking wood. He's my hero! I just took another hot bubble bath. They're addictive you know.

I'm thinking meatloaf and mashed potatoes for lunch. Comfort food...cold weather food.

The second baby quilt top is pieced and next week I'll layer it with batting and a fleece backing and THIS one I'm going to machine quilt. Also playing around with an idea for a small wall quilt featuring one of the four food groups: coffee. Don't have all the fabrics I need with me, but can at least get started.

No, I haven't done anything on the new cushion covers yet. There's still time though. We're staying through Saturday since the missionary mini conference was canceled and there's no need to rush home, catch up on laundry and start driving across the country. This is our winter break and we're going to enjoy the week.

Tonight we'll be hanging out with old friends, probably going to our favorite restaurant in Belgrano. (Tio Rico's for those new to the blog; it's a pay-by-the-kilo buffet with really good, fresh food.) Since today is a national holiday...

(Independence Day, but not like our 4th of July -- they celebrate their equivalent to the 4th on May 25th, the day they declared independence; today is the day they won their independence -- clear?)

...I'm hoping there won't be hordes wanting to eat there also. Definitely too cold to eat at one of their outdoor tables, and there's only 8 tables/booths inside.

During winter holidays Belgrano is home to the Chocolate Festival which starts this weekend. Another good excellent reason for staying through Saturday :-) Music, chocolate, children's theatre, chocolate, folk music, chocolate fondue, dancing, chocolate. You gotta love a town that celebrates chocolate.

Actually Belgrano is good at celebrating anything that will bring the tourists to town. Beer in October, chocolate in July, cake in April, children's folklore in September, and Christmas in December. Oh, and let's not forget they celebrate the tourists too. That would be the third Sunday in August. So I guess all the tourists come out and celebrate themselves?

Belgrano really is a quaint little pueblo and the town leaders have done a great job keeping the junkier kind of businesses out. You'll see the typical postcard and cheap souvenir shops but they're tastefully appointed and not terribly tacky. But more than that you'll find true artisan shops selling everything from food (cheese, salami, condiments) to furniture to woolen items to leather goods. Sidewalks are kept clean, business signs are not overly large or outlandish, and people who work in the stores seem to have a better grasp of the concept of customer service than you typically find here.

And of course there's Tio Rico's. 'Nuf said.

I'm wondering if the cold front that moved in is here to stay. It IS winter after all although to someone who spent the last 20 years in Michigan, so far this has felt more like a mild spring or fall than anything approximating winter.

When he picked up free wood at the saw mill yesterday, Ivan grabbed some eucalyptus to see how that burned. So far we think it's a cleaner, better burning wood than pine. I was hoping it would smell nice, but there's no discernable difference that I can tell. Burning wood smells like burning wood...hot with a smokey essence.

I've been hopping up and down to work on lunch, getting the meatloaf in the oven and the potatoes on to boil, and now it's time to make a salad so let's see if the internet is working and I can actually get this posted.