Meet Our Newest Edible Skinny Contributor: Letty Thomas

Meet Our Newest Edible Skinny Contributor: Letty Thomas

By Letty Thomas, Lifestyle Editor

I'm the newest contributor to the Edible Skinny blog and my name is Letty.  To give you a little background I lived in many parts of New Jersey since I was born.  After college my two daughters moved to the Golden State of California.  I enjoyed our semi-annual visits but always hoped to spend more time and life experiences with them.  I had some medical issues with my heart and emotions, resigned from a job I'd done for almost twenty years and finally found the courage and motivation to make my wish come true.

Last December my sister and I sold our homes in jersey and moved cross country with three cats and the help of my daughter.  We had two cars - most of the journey my sister and I drove the shiny red Ford Escape gifted to us by our dear Aunt Shannon and Katie drove the cat car.  We had three very large pet carriers that had transported dogs from France.  We headed west mid-December in hopes of celebrating Christmas in California.  Katie who's made it a personal goal to visit all fifty states asked that we drive through Alabama and Mississippi.

I had never been in the deep south but remembered films I watched in school about the way they treated the blacks in the 1950's and 1960's.  It turned out my favorite stop of the trip was the Mississippi River in Vicksburg MS with it's history of steam powered riverboats.  Life is funny that way.  You just need to stay open to life.  We made it for Christmas and the cats taking a few weeks vacation in Las Vegas arrived a few weeks later.  We found a cute yellow house where we all could live with a large backyard for the cats to patrol and explore.

We've been here five months and I think it was the best thing I've done in a very long time.  In many ways it's similar to NJ but in others its very different.  This winter with the
large amount of rain the hillsides have been emerald green with flower blooms popping out.  I feel like I live in the foothills of the alps.  Our small town Benicia is where the Sacramento River and the San Joaquin River flow into an outer tip of the San Francisco Bay creating the Straits and the Delta.  We have an interesting mixture of ships and boats that pass by our waterfront park at the end of Main Street - car carriers from Japan, assorted freighters and tankers on their way to and from refineries and many pleasure boats under power and sail.  There is something very peaceful and spiritual I've found here.  I've even planted flowers and vegetables in our gardens and find myself singing and humming almost non-stop.

I look forward to sharing my adventures with you as I explore my new state and talk about helpful information or tidbits on many different subjects.  Let's share.

Letty Thomas was born and raised in multiple towns in NJ.  She attended college in Vermont and Connecticut.  She dreamed of working for Vogue or Glamour magazine.  Her love of salt water and boating got in the way.  She happily managed a yacht club “down the shore” for almost 20 years.  She has two grown daughters that make her smile.