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So our days are numbered for electricity and internet and 2 working computers. Oh yes, our mobile lifestyle may have an affect on jonesberries.com. We are trying to make this less of a problem. Among other changes we have done a restyle. We had alot of fun with our new theme. With the last theme we had to hack into the HTML to make changes but with this theme it is alot easier to add personality. They seem to actually encourage it. We hope to also make it easier to blog or tweet or give a shout or whatever from the road.
So, Andrew is quite pleased as the new look is looking alot more minimal. The truth is me and Abi are looking at this as kinda like moving into a new house (or truck). White walls just screaming out, “GIVE ME PERSONALITY!” Ahem. Yes. We have already done alot of changes. Do you like abi’s chocolate brown text? (did you also see we snuk in some bright pink posing as almost red?). Well, our blog is on a journey just like us, heh.
Well it is now less than a week to rock on christmas. There is so much to do! We are still very language challenged and we are not from here so we are doing what we can to help.
Older members of our group went to whitewash the warehouse. Instead of paying for the warehouse we offered to whitewash it or as the literal translation says, “clean her face”.
Abi stayed back and baked a cake for Ranie’s 3rd birthday. Abi, Hannah and TJ also watched Edna’s twin 2 year old boys so Edna could get some much needed rest. We all think Edna is amazing. She is pulling together all the details, working with all that nasty admin stuff. She says she might take a break from her phone for about a month after the event. I wouldn’t blame her.
We had a great Thanksgiving. How about you? I gotta tell you there are so many American holiday traditions that we dont bring over. Choosing instead to enjoy the local customs. This is one holiday, however, that we love to observe every year, wherever we are. It is just a great holiday that I dont think has been altered as much as other holidays. It is about celebration, food, family, life and community with each other and the indigenous people. You gotta love it!
Elizabeth had to say goodbye to her pet pumpkin so we could make our pumpkin pie. A very emotional experience for her.
 
We all cooked and the cooking started the day before.
Andrew cooked the turkey on a bbq with some modifications with tin foil an oven shelf or two and a pot. He was very proud of his invention.
Those who enjoyed our meal were our family, Donald (U.K.), Denny (U.S.) and lots of new Portuguese friends. Edna especially kept visiting the kitchen and getting tastes every once in a while saying, “these are things you dream about”. I hope your thanksgiving was wonderful too. Now time for the clean-up. hmmmmm.
Just thinking about our many faces of roadschooling.
We just made a shift this week.
TJ has decided that she likes schedules so we discussed what she wanted to be learning and came up with the following categories. Math, Reading, Writing, Music, Art, Portuguese, Animals, Gymnastics, New gym stuff, recess and golden time. With her new gym stuff she wants to learn to juggle, swim like a dolphin and be able to climb up someones back unassisted. At her suggestion we made a schedule and a series of small square papers with a different subject on each paper. The appropriate cards go up on the door at the beginning of each day and get taken down as they are completed.
Told a story today about getting rid of trash while wild camping in Antwerp. Thought I would tell it here as well.
First of all, travel tip, dont use big bin bags. Small carrier bags are easier to get rid of when wild camping.
So here we are in Antwerp. We had just done a big clearout and there are no large bins around. We had an assortment of bags of recyclables and trash. We all got on our bikes with a bag or 2 of trash on each bikes handlebars. We new of 3 places with bins. We took off to these 3 destinations with a prearranged rendezvous point. As we took off in our 3 different directions we looked like a scene out of some bizarre old kids movie like goonies or something. I must state that Liz did not fare quite so good at the descreet part of the whole operation. I look back from the recycle bins I had just been using to see a guilty and distressed smile on Lizzy’s face as she desperately tried to shove her small bag into an even smaller hole in the park trash container. Well, I guess you had to be there.
The biggest Thanksgiving turkey we ever had was 33 pounds (15 kilos) which just squeezed into our double oven. We served 45 people that day, in our home in Portland, Oregon. I was the chef, of course, which means that I took all the credit for the entire meal which was, to be honest, composed of many other food items that my wife had made – sweet potato souffle with marshmellow, jello salads, pumpkin pie – but he who cooks and carves the turkey wears the crown. Just the way it is.
We invited a lot of international students who wanted a real American thanksgiving. It didn’t matter that I was a New Zealander. There were Christians, Muslims, and Buddhists. We all went round in a large circle giving thanks for what God had done for us. It took a while. It was a big happy memorable day. Hope you have the same today. We are having a slow and kind Thanksgiving here in Portugal.
For those of you outside USA, who only know of Thanksgiving from old episodes of Happy Days, Bob Beltz has an informative article on the history of Thanksgiving. And thanks to CG Grant and Co for sending me a nice Thanksgiving letter and this animated GIF that I appropriated.
People love, love, love this meal. I have cooked this meal twice in the last month for 12+ people. Serge and Jimmie swear it is the best meal they have ever had. Donald wants to cook it with me next time, “I dont cook”, he says, “but I want to learn how to make this because I want to have it over and over again”. Frankly, I dont understand all the fuss. It is based on a meal I have had all my life. Come to think of it, I think it was one of our favourite meals as kids. Well, I cant give you a recipe but I will give you a “story of preparation”. BTW, this recipe adapts well to a vegetarian meal, just leave off the porkchops and drizzle with olive oil instead. It is also great to cook for a crowd as it is one dish for meat, starch and veg. I like it also because I get to use all the leftover fresh veg laying about.
So, here goes. I get my chopping board out and a nice sharp knife. I know I will be doing alot of chopping. I normally do 2 large casserole dishes for 12+ people. So, I put my 2 casserole dishes just behind the cutting board. I take out a pile of potatoes, onions, carrots and whatever else I can find. A month ago I made it vegetarian and had courgettes (zucchini) and broccoli (including the stalks). Last nite I didnt have courgettes or broccoli but had a big bunch of some sort of strange portugeuse dark leafy thing that people say, “kinda like spinach, you just cook it longer”. I start slicing potatoes and then take turns with all the other things in piles surrounding me. I wash everything well and leave the skins on everything but the onions. I slice as thin as I can, especially the carrots as they take the longest to cook. My animated husband helps by entertaining me with stories within stories of all things internet and blog and what people are talking about in the blogesphere. So, gradually my casserole pans got fuller and fuller. Something beautiful to behold. Look at how the colours play with each other. Two whole pans full of the vivid colours of playful fresh veg. I look lovingly at my sliced veg and give it a bit of a toss. My mom only used potatoes and onion and left them neatly layered. Uh, sorry mom, I am a bit rebellious, no neat layers of fresh veg for me. I give them another little toss about so the colours and textures can play a bit. I see a bit more potatoes than anything else. After both casseroles are full. Andrew is hovering now, the blogesphere stories have stopped and he is peering suspiciously at this large pile of veg that will be his dinner. He asks about salt and pepper and I tell him he can do it. Abigail has grated a generous amount of cheese, just normal boring cheese, in Portugal they have “flamenco”, in Australia it would be “tasty”, in America and UK I guess it would be “mild cheddar”. The key is a generous amount. I looked in the fridge and found a little corner of Brie and added that too. I really like some grated parmesan on top so Paulo eagerly went to the store to get some. Saying as he went out the door, “I love any meal that has cheese in it”. After the cheese I put 1 small container of cream for each casserole. I prefer 2 for each so I poured some milk over instead. I layed the pork chops over the top. Oh wait! Andrew has stolen my pork chops! Dang, that husband of mine. He cant stand the thot of me putting raw pork chops on top. He is looking guilty at the stove while he sears the pork chops with a bit of gravy left over from Sundays meal. NOW the pork chops go on and it cooks in a moderate oven for 1 1/2 hours.
Had a very productive day today.
Among the normal stuff we cleared the land here. It is now ready for “rock on Christmas” camping. Well, actually a local farmer, Viriglio had mercy on us and came over with his manly mega tractor. He likes curry so we will make him a curry meal to say thank you.
While the men did their manly land clearing the 3 older girls went out with Edna and put up lots of posters. Me and TJ just worked around the truck and had some special time together.
Reminiscing this morning. Here is a little of our bizarre family motorhome history. Sorry no old pictures to give you, only the ones you will create in your mind.
1 – 1985 – Me and Andrew met on a ship going around Central and South America. We were 2 people among 130 from 30+ countries.
(1991 – Put all our earthly belongings in a few backpacks and trunks and moved to Australia with one 6 month old child, Sam.)
(1994 – We put all our earthly belongings in the same backpacks, without the trunks, and moved back to USA with 2 kids. Lizzy was a year old.)
2 – 1994 – We lived in a small 1969 ford motorhome, with snoopy flying on his doghouse painted on the side, for a year in Pasadena, California. This was for cheap accomodation while Andrew went to graduate school. We had 2 small children, Sam and Lizzy. We looked for a suitable parking lot, asked permission to park and worked for them as payment for parking. Our most momentous adventure was to drive to the rose parade a couple of days early and enjoy front row seats on top of our home.
3 – 1998 – We put all our earthly belongings into a cargo van and a tent with 4 children for 6 months. Hannah was only 6 weeks old at the time.
4 – 1998 – We were given a 10 year old, 33 foot, Winnebago Motorhome. It had dusty pink carpet, need we say more. We did 25000 miles in 2 years crisscrossing america several times. We killed this vehicle. Why? We now think that “normal” motorhomes are typically not built to haul a family around full-time. Too much weight and too many miles. A van engine and van brakes and van shocks with too big of a box on the back.
(2000 – We put all our earthly belongings in a few suitcases and moved to Scotland with 4 kids.)
(2002 – We put all our earthly belongings in an old volvo sedan and moved to Prague with 4 kids.)
5 – 2003 – We took off in a 20 year old Avia motorhome from Prague. This vehicle was built by a czech airplane company as a cargo truck, converted into a motorhome by an employee after the “Prague Spring” to take his wife and 2 sons over the newly opened border and explore the continent. We did not bring all our earthly belongings with us this time as we were only gone for a few months. We had 5 kids at the time (TJ was born in Prague) and an adopted family member (Jessica). The engine of our little Avia motorhome blew up on the motorway in Italy and had to be left for dead. We were rescued by a series of friends, another story.
(2006 – We put all our earthly belongings in a van and moved back to U.K. with 5 kids.)
6 – 2009 – We bought our overlander, Maggie, for GBP 3500 and made her into a motorhome from November on. We took her on the road just a few months later on March 11 even though we continue to work on her on the road. We chose Maggie because she is strong. She can handle the weight. She has air brakes. She has a non computerized system so we might be able to fix her ourselves or she can be repaired in poorer countries. She is air-cooled (no radiator). We think she is beautiful.
So, here we are, still in the Algarve and still loving it. In the space around getting ready for Rock on Christmas we are getting ready for Morocco. We will leave days after Rock on Christmas. So, we started thinking. It seems like it is possible that the roads could be a little worse in Africa. At least the fun roads might be not quite smooth. What if there is an opportunity to go thru a river. Are we ready? What if Andrew starts getting inspired by “Lawrence of Arabia” and starts driving Maggie over sand dunes into some far off destination over the horizon. I mean we must be prepared. SO, we have determined that these things are necessary. 1. Plug up any gaps to let less sand in. 2. stop things from flying off shelves. 3. Make sure breakdown stuff is accessible and working and, well, actually, there in the first place. 4. Make space for extra food and drinking water. 5. Figure out the water situation. I mean, can we get drinking water at all. To what extent do we need to purify the water. I mean I know we need to fear ice cubes or anything from a tap but can we purify water we get there. Also, are we going to need to soak our fruit and veg in chlorine or something. So, what is great is there are people who have been there so we are doing alot of working and listening.
I hear you, you are probably saying, ” Uh, hello, you have been on the road for quite a while now. Shouldn’t you have done this stuff already?” Well yeah, but after being on the road we need to take time out every once and a while. Also, We havent really gone to many totally new countries yet. We have been in Western and Central Europe for a while and well, we have never been to Africa yet (Andrew flew into South Africa once for a week and hung out in a conference center, not sure if that counts). We are facing the unknown here so, well, I want to try to be prepared. I am not worried, really, we are all really excited but we dont want to take unnecessary chances and all.
So, anyway, about things flying off shelves. Well, you try one thing and then another but off-roading is completely different than freeway with an occasional curb. We did some real, uhh…. how do you say… not quite off-roading but very bad roads in rural northern Portugal and …. well…. dang… there wasnt much left on the shelves. And poor Liz, anything that falls off a shelf seems to fall on her. I dont care if she is on the other side of the truck, it finds her. I was afraid she was going to start being afraid of books or something. So, we have gone to work.  Andrew went to work on gaps and insulation in the deep storage and did some painting.
 Sam and Donald went to work on the stove cabinet.
 Me, Liz and Abi went to work on keeping things from flying off shelves as we are not wanting to spend alot of money, and we enjoy the challenge of using found objects, and… well… to be honest… we are a bit broke… hmmmm.
 So, we used found old wood from an outdoor screen and covered it with newspaper and branches and are actually feeling quite pleased with the result. I have to say, I Like the look. So anyways, back to work tomorrow. Maggie is sure enjoying being pampered like this. Next the guys will do some checks with the safety equipment. Abi is working on an inventory for the emergency food and water supply and Liz will head up the “orderly…??” re-entry of our treasures into our home.
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