Shannon's World

On Tuesday night I attended a Mom’s Night In with my Mom’s Group. We wrapped gifts we had purchased for families that needed them this holiday season. Julie made this great cranberry salsa and I thought I’d share it since the holidays are filled with opportunities to try new recipes:

Ingredients:
1 12oz bag of fresh cranberries
1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored, and cut into eighths
½ large red pepper, cut into large chunks
½ medium red onion, cut into large chunks
¾ cup sugar
1/3 cup apple juice
3 Tbs chopped fresh cilantro
2 Tbs chopped pickled jalapeño pepper
1 tsp grated lime zest

Instructions:
Put cranberries, apple, red pepper, and onion in food processor. Pulse until chopped. Transfer to a medium bowl. Stir in remaining ingredients until blended. Serve with tortilla chips, pita chips, etc.

12/19 – MORE DETAILS:

Not stated in the news reports was the weather. The hoist was accomplished in 16 – 20 foot seas and at night, which is always much more challenging. Also, alluded to, but not addressed specifically was the fact that the mission required the H-60 crew to fly a total of about 15 hours. If you have not been there you can’t appreciate the difficulty of the task.

We should all feed proud that we live in a country that is willing to expend huge resources to save a life, and we should be thankful that we have people with the skill and courage to accept and accomplish the missions.

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Growing up, I always knew my Dad (and now Brother) didn’t have ordinary jobs…I don’t think I fully understood how extraordinary they were until I got a little bit older and read things like this:

SAN DIEGO — Coast Guard helicopter crews from San Diego and San Francisco worked together with the USS Abraham Lincoln in the medical evacuation of a 42-year-old man from the motor vessel Marie Rikmers, 650 miles off the coast of San Diego on Sunday.

The Sector San Diego Command Center received notification of a man in need of medical attention, and an MH-60J “Jayhawk” helicopter from Air Station San Diego was dispatched.

Due to the location of the motor vessel, the helicopter had to refuel on the nearby aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, homeported in Seattle, in order to complete the mission.

The helicopter took off from the aircraft carrier after refueling and arrived on scene with the Marie Rikmers. Once in position, the air crew hoisted the man from the deck of the boat to the helicopter. They then flew him back to the Lincoln and transferred him to the medical personnel on board who determined the patient was in stable condition.

While performing the mission, the helicopter crew had flown their maximum allowed hours for flight operations and were grounded until they could completed the required rest.

A Coast Guard HH-65C “Dolphin” helicopter from Air Station San Francisco was dispatched to complete the evacuation and transport the patient to Monterey, Calif.

The patient was then transferred to local Emergency Medical Services at Monterey Airport, and taken to Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula.

The HH-65C “Dolphin” crew spent the night in Monterey due to inclement weather and returned to Air Station San Francisco on Monday.

The MH-60J “Jayhawk” crew departed the Lincoln after proper rest, and returned to Air Station San Diego on Monday.

My brother was the pilot of the Jayhawk and had to spend the night on the aircraft carrier…he missed decorating his Christmas tree with the family, but a pretty cool story nonetheless.

Pictures:

http://cgvi.uscg.mil/media/main.php?g2_itemId=437344 (my fav)

http://cgvi.uscg.mil/media/main.php?g2_itemId=437350

Every year I try to do something a little different on our mantle…and with my Mom’s excellent wraping and bow tying skills (and lots of polka dot wrapping and ribbon) this is what I came up with.  I think it’s fun.

We had a great weekend! Saturday morning started of with the Christmas Parade and some shopping in downtown Zionsville. After the parade we headed to Traders Point Creamery for Christmas on the farm and more importantly (in Libby’s mind at least) to visit the baby cows we saw 2 weeks ago. At Christmas on the farm we were able to get up close to two reindeer, see the baby cows (and some bigger cows) and chickens. We also saw the man of the hour – SANTA.

This is as close as we got to Santa before panic ensued:

Libby was exhausted after all the excitement from the morning but after her nap the fun continued. Alison, Matt and Baby E came to visit. We enjoyed a leisure afternoon, simple dinner, good bottle of wine and my favorite movie, Love Actually. Libby simply adores Ethan…she spent most of the evening “talking” to him and showing him toys, books, pictures. The first thing she did when she woke up on Sunday morning was say “E?”

Our visit with the Hunt’s continued much later than expected on Sunday when their car wouldn’t start. We had a great weekend and Libby is still asking for Baby E!

that WAS Straight No Chaser in ABC News with my favorite….Charles Gibson. See it here.

If I had an extra $100, I’d buy this necklace…I think it’s lovely.

Thanks for the super cute cupcake PJs, Aunt Debbie! Libby wore the 3T nightgown to bed and looked super cute…here she is the next morning enjoying a snack and her first Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade!