Good Healthy Living Tips for a Healthy Life

After a wonderful Christmas holiday, I am reminded of how important our health is.  

I saw this article on www.commonsensehealth.com.

Good Healthy Living Tips for a Healthy Lifestyle

These 11 good healthy living tips are vital to a feel-good, happy, healthy lifestyle for you.

Healthy living means creating optimum physical, mental and spiritual health with a nutritious, positive, active, healthy lifestyle.

After all, if you don’t take care of your body, where are you going to live? You can get a new house, a new car or new clothes, but the body and life you have right here and now is the only one you get to work with.


Healthy living simply means having the courage and motivation to exchange detrimental unhealthy habits for a good healthy lifestyle.

11 Healthy Lifestyle Healthy Living Tips

If you follow these good healthy active living tips, you'll be happier, look younger and feel a whole lot better for the rest of your days on earth.

1.  Eat a healthy high fiber diet. Begin by replacing all bad carbs in your diet with good healthy carbohydrates. Healthy eating requires including plenty of colorful vegetables, fruit, whole grains and other high fiber foods in your daily diet and eliminating refined high glycemic foods. 


2.  Be physically active sensibly. Healthy active living means moving your body as much as possible without injury. So brisk daily walking exercise and weight training are better than high impact aerobics. 


3.  Drink lots of pure clean water. Start replacing other drinks with water intake of 8 glasses a day. Water's an essential nutrient to healthy living. It helps you digest food, absorb nutrients and eliminate harmful toxins.


4.  Trade bad fats for good fats. Keep the fat calories in your diet around 25% to 30% (the average is 42%). And make sure you mainly choose good fat with essential fatty acids and omega 3 fish oil with EPA and DHA.


5.  Stay positive and optimistic. Your attitude is the driving force of healthy living. And according to Abe Lincoln, “Most people are just about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” So make up your mind to be happy, healthy and grateful for the bright future ahead of you. 


6.  Maintain your healthy weight. Fad dieting and diet pills have no place in a healthy lifestyle. Instead, focus on healthy eating and healthy active living for healthy permanent weight loss and management.


7.  Replace bad with good habits. Smoking, excess sodium, caffeine, alcohol, bad news and negative people can all undo your healthy living lifestyle. So start replacing the bad with good healthy input. 


8.  Take nutritional supplements. Studies show optimum nutrients (above the RDA’s) can prevent disease, slow aging and help you feel better than ever. So include quality health supplements on your daily menu.

9.  Get plenty of restful sleep. Insufficient sleep can make you too tired for exercise, healthy eating or to work effectively. Sleep deprivation also increases your risk of diabetes, heart disease and obesity. Learning how to get a good nights sleep is an important part of healthy living. 


10. Manage the stress in you life. In our modern world we tend to let stress run wild. Relaxation techniques like yoga, meditation, breathing and physical exercise are essential to healthy stress management.

11. Lead a healthy active social life. Studies shows healthy people have healthy relationships that they socialize with regularly for companionship, sharing ideas and mutual support of a healthy lifestyle.

Snowy Balloon Ornaments

This photo of the ornament we've chosen to make this year. 

 

Tools and materials:

 

Balloon
Ball of cotton string
Craft glue
Clothespin
Dowel
Glitter
Pin
Tweezers
Metallic thread
Spray mount
Evergreen branch

Snowy Balloon Ornaments How-To1. Blow up the balloon until it's slightly smaller than your fist. Tie the end of the cotton string to the end of the balloon.
2. Thin the glue slightly with water and brush some on the bottom of the balloon to tack down the string. Begin wrapping the string vertically around the balloon. When 3/4 of the balloon is covered vertically, begin wrapping the string horizontally. To change direction, wrap the string around the tied-off end of the balloon. Continue until 3/4 of the balloon is wrapped horizontally.
3. Cut the string and secure it with a dab of glue. Brush the watered-down craft glue all over the string-covered balloon. Pinch the top of the balloon with a clothespin and thread the clothespin onto a dowel that you've suspended between two points. Allow to dry for several hours.
4. Once dry, pop the balloon with a pin and remove it, using tweezers, if necessary. Add a loop of metallic thread and brush the balloon with glue again. Working over a bowl, spoon on glitter and set aside to dry.
5. Spray the branch with spray mount and spoon on glitter. Allow to dry. Affix the ornament to the branch.

Read more at Marthastewart.com: Snowy Balloon Ornaments - Martha Stewart Crafts

Neighbor Gifts

I have always tried to take the commandment "Love thy neighbor as thyself" literally.  Each year, I have made food gifts for our neighbors, regardless of where we've lived.  Favorites have been Derby Pie and Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies.  This year, I'm giving Carrot Cake and Chocolate Chess Pie to our nearest ranch neighbors.  One of the gifts I enjoyed most, received from a neighbor, was a bag of pomegranates from their tree!

First Time Meeting with Santa

 

Emerson met Santa for the first time last night at a neighborhood party in Falls Church, VA.  A look of wonder, "who is this guy holding me on his knee?"  Too cute! 

Planning the Holidays

I have spent the week in Tucson, working in the yard, shopping, dropping packages at the Post Office, wrapping gifts, and more.  I've put together a schedule for the time the girls will be visiting over the holidays.  I've planned menus for almost every meal and made a reservation at the Arizona Inn on December 26 to celebrate Papa and my 30th Anniversary.  Still lots more to do, but I'm working on making this a memorable holiday!

Sisters Supper Club - Couscous

Cinnamon Chicken with Couscous and Dried Fruit
4 whole chicken legs (about 3 pounds), cut into leg and thigh pieces
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, divided
1 teaspoon ground ginger, divided
1 tablespoon olive oil

1 cup chopped onion
3/4 cup mixed chopped dried fruit (such as currants, apricots, and prunes)
1 14-ounce can low-salt chicken broth
1 cup couscous
2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh mint, divided

Preheat oven to 375°F. Sprinkle chicken with salt, pepper, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, and 1/2 teaspoon ginger. Heat oil in large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken pieces, skin side down, and cook until skin is brown, about 8 minutes. Turn chicken and transfer skillet to oven. Roast chicken until thermometer inserted into thickest part of thigh registers 175°F, about 15 minutes. Transfer chicken to plate; tent with foil.

Add onion to drippings in same skillet; sauté onion over medium-high heat until beginning to brown, about 5 minutes. Add dried fruit and remaining 1 teaspoon cinnamon and 1/2 teaspoon ginger; stir to coat. Add broth; bring to boil. Remove skillet from heat, stir in couscous and 1 teaspoon mint. Cover and let stand 5 minutes. Season couscous to taste with salt and pepper.

Mound couscous on platter; place chicken atop couscous. Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon mint and serve.

Enjoying our View

Papa and I are grateful every day for our magnificent view of nine mountain ranges.  Sitting on the patio...

Preparing for Christmas

I will be addressing and mailing holiday cards by next week.  The photo above is the one I used for our cards.  Mary took the photo over the July 4 weekend, when she came for our ranch branding.  Papa and I were wearing chinks that Papa made.  We are looking forward to having the girls 

and their families with us at the Tucson house, so lots of shopping to do, 

cleaning, prepping, baking... Love Christmas!

Thanksgiving Dinner on the Ranch

Papa and I were alone this year on the ranch for Thanksgiving.  We had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner of Pasta with Smoked Salmon and Capers, fresh baked bread, Pomegranate and Pear Salad with Toasted Walnuts, and Cranberry-Apple Crumble Pie for dessert, which is similar to our family Apple Crisp dessert, with fresh cranberries. Was yummy!

From the Wall Street Journal, Health Journal, November 23, 2010.

Thank You.

Grateful People Are Happier, Healthier Long After the Leftovers Are Gobbled Up

It turns out, giving thanks is good for your health.
A growing body of research suggests that maintaining an attitude of gratitude can improve psychological, emotional and physical well-being.

Adults who frequently feel grateful have more energy, more optimism, more social connections and more happiness than those who do not, according to studies conducted over the past decade. They're also less likely to be depressed, envious, greedy or alcoholics. They earn more money, sleep more soundly, exercise more regularly and have greater resistance to viral infections.

Now, researchers are finding that gratitude brings similar benefits in children and adolescents. Kids who feel and act grateful tend to be less materialistic, get better grades, set higher goals, complain of fewer headaches and stomach aches and feel more satisfied with their friends, families and schools than those who don't, studies show.

"A lot of these findings are things we learned in kindergarten or our grandmothers told us, but we now have scientific evidence to prove them," says Jeffrey J. Froh, an assistant professor of psychology at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., who has conducted much of the research with children.

"The key is not to leave it on the Thanksgiving table," says Robert Emmons, a professor of psychology at the University of California-Davis and a pioneer in gratitude research. And, he notes, "with the realization that one has benefited comes the awareness of the need to reciprocate."

Philosophers as far back as the ancient Greeks and Romans cited gratitude as an indispensable human virtue, but social scientists are just beginning to study how it develops and the effects it can have.

The research is part of the "positive psychology" movement, which focuses on developing strengths rather than alleviating disorders. Cultivating gratitude is also a form of cognitive-behavioral therapy, which holds that changing peoples' thought patterns can dramatically affect their moods.

It's possible, of course, to over-do expressions of gratitude, particularly if you try to show it with a gift. "Thanking someone in such a way that is disproportionate to the relationship—say, a student giving her teacher an iPod—will create resentment, guilt, anger and a sense of obligation," says Dr. Froh.

Gratitude can also be misused to exert control over the receiver and enforce loyalty. Dr. Froh says you can avoid this by being empathic toward the person you are thanking—and by honestly assessing our motivations.

In an upcoming paper in the Journal of Happiness Studies, Dr. Froh and colleagues surveyed 1,035 high-school students and found that the most grateful had more friends and higher GPAs, while the most materialistic had lower grades, higher levels of envy and less satisfaction with life. "One of the best cures for materialism is to make somebody grateful for what they have," says Dr. Froh.

Gratitude researcher Jeffery Froh reads to his 4-year-old son, James, at bedtime, when James talks about his favorite things from the day.

Much of the research on gratitude has looked at associations, not cause-and-effect relationships; it's possible that people who are happy, healthy and successful simply have more to be grateful for. But in a landmark study in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology in 2003, Dr. Emmons and University of Miami psychologist Michael McCullough showed that counting blessings can actually make people feel better.

The researchers randomly divided more than 100 undergraduates into three groups. One group was asked to list five things they were grateful for during the past week for 10 consecutive weeks. The second group listed five things that annoyed them each week and the third group simply listed five events that had occurred. They also completed detailed questionnaires about their physical and mental health before, during and after.

Those who listed blessings each week had fewer health complaints, exercised more regularly and felt better about their lives in general than the other two groups.

Drs. Froh and Emmons conducted a similar study with 221 sixth- and seventh-graders from Candlewood Middle School in Dix Hills, N.Y., an affluent area on Long Island. Although the effects weren't as dramatic as with the adults, the students in the gratitude group did report a higher level of satisfaction with school and more optimism than the students who listed irritations, according to the study in the Journal of School Psychology in 2008.

As simple as it sounds, gratitude is actually a demanding, complex emotion that requires "self-reflection, the ability to admit that one is dependent upon the help of others, and the humility to realize one's own limitations," Dr. Emmons says.

Being grateful also forces people to overcome what psychologists call the "negativity bias"—the innate tendency to dwell on problems, annoyances and injustices rather than upbeat events. Focusing on blessings can help ward off depression and build resilience in times of stress, grief or disasters, according to studies of people impacted by the Sept. 11 terror attacks and Hurricane Katrina.

Can people learn to look on the bright side, want what they have and be grateful for it? Experts believe that about 50% of such temperament is genetic, but the rest comes from experience, so there's ample opportunity for change. "Kids and adults both can choose how they feel and how they look at the world," says Andrew Greene, principal of Candlewood Middle School, who says that realization was one of the lasting legacies of Dr. Froh's research there.

Some experts believe that children don't develop true gratitude until they can experience empathy, which usually occurs around age 7. But researchers at Yale University's Infant Cognition Center have shown that infants as young as 6-months old prefer characters who help to those who hinder others. To help lay the groundwork for gratefulness, Dr. Froh says he asks his 4-year-old son, James, each night what was his favorite thing about the day and what he is looking forward to tomorrow.

For older children and adults, one simple way to cultivate gratitude is to literally count your blessings. Keep a journal and regularly record whatever you are grateful for that day. Be specific. Listing "my friends, my school, my dog" day after day means that "gratitude fatigue" has set in, Dr. Froh says. Writing "my dog licked my face when I was sad" keeps it fresher. Some people do this on their Facebook or MySpace pages, or in one of dozens of online gratitude groups. There's an iPod app for gratitude journaling, too. The real benefit comes in changing how you experience the world. Look for things to be grateful for, and you'll start seeing them everywhere.

A Buddhist exercise, called Naikan self-reflection, asks people to ponder daily: "What have I received from…? What have I given to…? and What trouble have I caused…?" Acknowledging those who touched your life—from the barista who made your coffee to the engineer who drove your train—and reflecting on how you reciprocated reinforces humbleness and interdependence.

Delivering your thanks in person can be particularly powerful. One study found that fourth-graders who took a "gratitude visit" felt better about themselves even two months later—particularly those whose moods were previously low.

Adopting a more upbeat mind-set helps facilitate gratitude, too. Instead of bonding with friends over gripes and annoyances, try sharing what you're grateful for. To avoid sounding boastful, focus on giving credit to other people, as in, "My mom took a whole day off from work to get to my game."

Studies show that using negative, derogatory words—even as you talk to yourself—can darken your mood as well. Fill your head with positive thoughts, express thanks and encouragement aloud and look for something to be grateful for, not criticize, in those around you, especially loved ones. New York psychiatrist Drew Ramsey says that's an essential tool for surviving the holidays. "Giving thanks for them helps you deal with the craziness that is part of every family," he says.

Last, if you find you take too much for granted, try the "It's a Wonderful Life" approach: image what life would be like without a major blessing, like a spouse, a child or a job. In a 2008 study in the Journal of Personal Social Psychology, researchers found that when college students wrote essays in which they were asked to "mentally subtract" a positive event from their lives, they were subsequently more grateful for it than students whose essays simply focused on the event. The "George Bailey effect" was modest, the authors noted, but even small boosts in positive emotions can make life more satisfying.

Written by Melinda Beck at HealthJournal@wsj.com

Field of Agave

I stopped and took this photo on Three Links Ranch, while driving between the ranch and Tucson a few months ago.  This was a particularly large concentration of blooming agave.  I love blooming agave!

And then there were three...

Papa picked up a new gelding horse today, to join Oscar and Pablo on the ranch.  So far so good and all three are being nice to each other, sniffing and nudging to test boundaries.  The new horse is just over a year old, a bay color (brown) with a small white mark on it's forehead, and dark mane and tail.  We're going to call him Hank.

Tucson Home Magazine

We had visitors from Tucson Home Magazine at the ranch yesterday, doing a photo shoot 

for a short feature on our home for the February issue.  Papa and I enjoyed both the photographer 

and the magazine arts director.  Both were interesting women and they liked our home.  

I will post photos here when the magazine comes out. 

Sisterssupperclub #3 - Granola

Granola
Mix in large bowl:
6 cups old fashioned rolled oats
1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
1/2 each: slivered almonds, coarsely chopped pecans, wheat germ
1 1/2 cups shredded coconut
optional: 1/2 cup natural sunflower seeds

Mix in medium bowl:
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
2/3 cup water
1/2 cup honey
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
Microwave these together about 2-3 minutes or until sugar is dissolved.

Pour syrup mixture over dry ingredients and stir until well coated.  Divide evenly between 2 large roasting pans lined with foil and sprayed with Pam.
Bake at 325 about 15 minutes, then stir.  Bake another 15-20 minutes or until lightly browned.
Cool, then break granola into pieces and store in airtight containers.  You may add 1 cup raisins or craisins or both, at this point or add them when you are serving. 
Will keep in airtight container for up to a week.

This has been a family favorite for close to 30 years!

West End of Ranch

The west end of our ranch, also known as Patterson, has a windmill tower and large steel water storage tank that have been around over 50 years.  The old windmill is laying on the ground about 50' away.  We now use solar power to pump water from the well into the storage tank and up the hill to more storage tanks.   This well is one of the best on the ranch.  The corral at Patterson is used regularly for roundups.  The trek across the ranch to Patterson takes at least an hour and a half by ATV or up to three hours by Jeep or truck.   This part of our ranch is the lowest, at around 4600', and the vegetation is thick with prickly pear, mesquite trees, and various grasses.  We share a three mile boundary on the west end of the ranch with the Muleshoe Ranch, owned by the Nature Conservancy and well known for their nine hot springs that run year round.

Great Migrations on National Geographic TV

We have been watching the National Geographic special presentation titled Great Migrations.  We are enjoying every moment!  http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/great-migrations

Sisters Supper Club, recipe 2

Pecan Crusted Chicken with Honey-Mustard Dressing

Chicken - Prepare:  2 boneless chicken breasts by halving and pounding

Dipping Mixture:  Blend

2 egg whites

2 t. cornstarch

juice of 1/2 lemon

Crusting Mixture:  Combine                            

1 cup coarse dry bread crumbs                    
3/4 cups finely chopped pecans

1 T. chopped fresh parsley                           
1/2 t. dried oregano

1 t. kosher salt                                             
1/2 t. dried thyme

1/4 t. ground black pepper                           
1/2 t. paprika

1/4 t. cayenne
Zest of one lemon, minced                              

Saute Chicken in 3 T. olive oil.  Prepare oven to 450.  Dip and crust chicken - let rest - saute - and roast 8-10 minutes.  Can saute chicken only or roast only, instead of sauteing and roasting. 

Honey Mustard Dressing:  Combine                  

1/4 cup honey                                                  

3 T. Dijon mustard                                        

3 T. extra-virgin olive oil                                  

1 T. shallot, minced                                          

1 T. apple cider vinegar

juice of 1/2 lemon

salt and pepper to taste

Toss with:
8 cups mixed greens such as arugula, radicchio, romaine and leaf lettuces
1/2 cup red onion, thinly sliced
4 oz. crumbled mild goat cheese, optional

Note:  Use only amount of dressing necessary - not necessarily the entire amount. 

Roses

While at the grocery last week, I noticed bunches of spray roses on sale.  I bought two bunches, cut the stems very short, and put them in a bowl I made at pottery class.  Love the deep color, especially with blue!  Voila!  Flowers for our table!

Katie and Neil at the Ranch

We had friends, Katie and Neil, at the ranch 

for three nights this week.  Katie and Claire were roommates in DC soon after college graduation.  They have remained good friends and Papa and I have gotten to know Katie over the years.  

She and Neil just finished a two year work assignment in Monrovia, Liberia and have been traveling in the western United States.  We hiked, took them across the ranch in the Jeep, 

had lots of good meals together, and plenty 

of spoiling time for Oscar and Pablo.

Jeep

Last week we bought a "new" used Jeep to use on the ranch when we have guests and for cold winter excursions across the ranch to make repairs or check on waters or cows.  Guests arrived yesterday afternoon, and we are planning to take the Jeep on a cross ranch adventure tomorrow.

Butterflies

Butterflies gather in the creekbed near the original Schilling homeplace on the ranch when there is moisture.  As we had a rather wet summer, I saw these butterflies on a ride across the ranch. 

Kids Next Door

I took this photo last week of Madilyn and Colter Lee with their horses and dog in this landscape we live in.  The fluffy clouds in the beautiful blue sky were a perfect brush stroke.  The kids were having a good time while I was clicking away with my camera.

Sisterssupperclub.com

A couple of weeks ago, Audrey had a really good idea to start a long distance Sisters Supper Club, including Mom.  The premise is that each of us will make a dish each week, taking turns choosing either the dish to make or an ingredient.  For this first week of Sisters Supper Club, Whitney chose butternut squash as the main ingredient and suggested two dishes as options.  I made the Roasted Butternut Squash Orzo Salad.  Yum!  This is such a good way for us to share a dish each week, as we live thousands of miles apart.

Washy Washy Girl

As we embarked the cruise ship a month ago, there were ship employees with bottles of antiseptic, spraying everyone's hands.  Over the course of the cruise, there were always people spraying our hands as we embarked the ship after every port visit.  There were people at the entrances to the buffet restaurants also spraying our hands.  There was a woman from Peru, Josie, whom everyone on the ship got to know as the "washy washy" girl.  Josie has a constant natural smile and would say to everyone coming into the restaurant, "washy, washy, happy, happy."  No one could pass her without feeling happy, happy.

Halloween Party

We had a Halloween Party last night with Carly bringing the kids for dinner.  They were dressed as a witch, Tinker Bell, Batman, and a cow.  Papa was a cowboy and I dressed as a laundry basket.  I made a bewitching dinner of Ghoul Punch, Jack-O-Lantern Quesadillas, Bug Salad, Yummy Mummy Meatloaf, Candied Apples, and Spiderweb Spice Cake.  The kids took home lots of goody bags filled with candy.  We enjoyed our Halloween celebration!

Jack-O-Lanterns

We helped Claire and David carve their pumpkins into 

Jack-O-Lanterns for Emerson's first Halloween. 

Goldeneye

We have had higher than average rainfall on the ranch this year which has yielded a bumper crop of goldeneye.  Goldeneye is a perennial wildflower that grows well at elevations from 4000 to 6000 feet in southeastern Arizona.  Our mountains and canyons are covered with them!

 

Best Friend

As we were in Dallas for a few hours last week, Papa and I stopped for coffee with my dearest friend, Linda.  We are fortunate to have stayed in touch over the past 22+ years, with Linda still living in the same house in Highland Park, while we have moved three times since living a few blocks from each other from 1988-1992.  Linda was particularly gracious last Thursday morning when I called and said we would be stopping by within the hour.  I've always loved her coffee and she had a pot ready when we arrived.  I feel privileged that Linda has been and continues to be such a close friend.

Winchester Ranch Driveway

Papa and I walked to our ranch gate and back a couple of afternoons ago.  I took photos of our driveway as we returned, about 2 miles long from the gate.  It was 4:45 p.m. when we got to the gate and 5:30 p.m. when we came in the house, just after the sun had set.

Fall

As we traveled over the past week, we enjoyed the colors and sounds of fall from Virginia to Texas.  The summer of 2010 corn crop on my Dad's farm was harvested a few days before we arrived and a flock of birds was feasting on the leftovers.  They were quite noisy!

While in Austin, we stopped by a pumpkin patch sale.  Toby had a great time rearranging the pumpkins.

Oak leaves were turning beautiful shades of orange, yellow, and red along the way.  Beautiful!

Visiting Parents

On a cross country driving trip from DC to Texas, Papa and I stopped in KY to visit my parents.  We spent one night with each and didn't get in nearly enough visiting, but it was wonderful to see each of them a second time in 2010.  I was in KY for several days in May for a high school reunion.  The photo with Grammar and Sonny was taken right after we woke up and the photo with Granny was taken just after a long walk.  Not my best moments on camera but wonderful moments with each of my parents!

Grandbabies

Over the past week, we have seen grandbabies Emerson and Toby.  Emerson was born on July 23, 2010, and Papa met her for the first time on our visit to Washington, DC.  She is smiling and starting to grab things.  She loves bathtime!   We drove to Austin, Texas to visit Toby, who turned 1 on June 7, 2010.  He enjoys the outdoors and rearranging the kitchen cabinets.  He is a busy boy!  Both Emerson and Toby are adorable!  Daughters Claire and Whitney are too!

Panama Canal Cruise

Papa and I met Audrey in Los Angeles on September 23 to go on a 14 day cruise through the Panama Canal, ending in Miami on October 8.  We enjoyed every moment of the two weeks, visiting Cabo San Lucas, watching cliff divers in Acapulco, walking on the beach in Huatulco, Mexico, shopping in Antigua, Guatamala, hiking in Poas Volcano in Costa Rica, spending a day cruising through the Panama Canal, and wandering in the old city of Cartagena, Columbia.  We had good meals together, played games, worked out in the gym, power walked on deck 7, spent a day in the ship's spa, read lots of books, and talked and talked.  We spent more time with Audrey over these two weeks 

than ever in her life!  We had a wonderful trip!

Stump Tables

 

A couple of weeks ago, Papa and I went to Red Rock Canyon with his chain saw.  Papa sawed down a dead tree and made several stump tables for our house, Rock House, and the bunkhouse.

Cruising South America

We are preparing this week to leave on a two week cruise from Los Angeles to Miami through the Panama Canal.  As I was packing today, I was reminded of the last cruise Papa and I took, in January 2009, from Valparaiso, Chile around Cape Horn, to the Falklands, Montevideo, Uruguay, and ending in Buenos Aires, where we met our girls and their hubbies for a few days of sightseeing and spending time together.  These are some favorite photos... flowers, penguins, cruising the Beagle Channel, the beauty of Montevideo, and San Telmo in Buenos Aires.