Christmas decorating

We went to Silver Sneakers both Tuesday and Wednesday.  The leader is better than Tim in NC.  He sticks to business.  We came home and Armand and I carried our old furniture out to the screened porch.  It wasn’t too heavy but did clutter the porch.  We tried to make a date with another couple who just returned from Israel for the evening, but they couldn’t make it until Sunday evening.  We will be interested in their experiences since we will be going in February.  I spent the day trying to compose the sermon for December 11.  I think I have a good start.  In the evening we assembled our artificial tree so Evelyn could wash it for decorations.  I also put the Nativity scene outside for assembly Wednesday.  Wednesday was the day the new furniture was delivered.  It didn’t arrive until around 3:30 making it impossible to go play golf with Armand.  He went with another Canadian.  I worked more on the sermon while waiting for the delivery.  After that we connected the lights and “planted” the Nativity scene and hung the star.  It looks pretty good.  We went to Advent service and stayed for choir practice.  We had 9 people stay, more than I expected.  Bonny tried to order the song I requested, “Lo, How a Rose Ere Blooming” but got a vey poor revision of it.  I think the man who changed it should be arrested.  It was beautiful but not now.  We plan to go to Mexico for pedicures and teeth cleaning tomorrow.

Out of my head

We went off to enroll in the local Silver Sneakers program.  It was better than the MWF sessions in NC because the leader doesn’t BS most of the time.  We will go again tomorrow and every day we can.  We had more shopping to do and did it.  We also returned some potting soil and bought a new battery for our clock.  We didn’t get home until nearly 1 and had lunch.  Armand wanted to play golf, and it was a beautiful day so we went.  I played our of my head.  I was 1 over par on the first 7 holes and finished with a 49.  Hole 9 is nearly always my nemesis. We got home and I learned that Evelyn had invited R&A for a hot brown supper.  That is a sandwich designed in 1926.  We first discovered it in Lexington at an LLL convention.  We then watched Drew Brees and the Saints beat up on the Giants.  We were both tired from the day’s activities.  We thank God for the opportunity to live here where the weather can be quite lovely in the winter.

Back to blessed work

Friday we went back to the hospital to serve.  We had a bit of trouble with security as to where we can store our bicycles.  We won’t know until Monday when the head of security comes in.  We also talked with the guard who works near the information desk.  He lives in Reynosa and says it is not as dangerous there as is reported.  In fact it is mostly the police that are corrupt and get murdered.  He is not sympathetic.  We stayed home Friday night because our park has not begun dances yet.  Saturday we checked about the Silver Sneakers at the local gym.  We will likely go on Monday.  Evelyn wanted to go to McAllen to look for furniture, so we bought a love seat and sofa for our Texas room.  We now have to get rid of our current sofa.  I put an ad on Craig’s List and got a hit on Sunday.  We were home in time to watch the Purdue/IU football game.  Purdue won and is bowl eligible but may not get a bid.  If they do, it will be a very minor one.  I barbecued the 2 steaks we had bought Monday, but I must have not had the coals hot enough because we had to finish 1 of them in the microwave oven.  We shared it and continued grilling the other.  We will have it later this week.  Of course I had to review Sunday’s message.  We only had 11 in attendance at Trail’s End but that may be due to so few people’s being here.  Many people are either late or not coming this year.  I went to Llano Grande where they normally have over 200 but had only 154 today.  We came home for lunch, and I spent most of the day preparing next week’s message.  Evelyn worked on decorating some of the house Christmas decorations.  We will work on the outdoors this coming week.  It was windy again today and the temperature dropped greatly, so Evelyn took her plants into the shed and covered the new hibiscus plant.  We walked around the park in the evening because the wind had diminished greatly.  We will have our new furniture delivered Wednesday and hope to sell the old before then.  I really enjoy bring the message of hope and forgiveness to those willing to come to worship, but it is very time consuming.

Moving toward Thanksgiving

Monday our carpet was cleaned professionally.  The dust blows so much here that everything gets covered, especially if they are light colored.  I stayed here to watch while Evelyn went to the park meeting and meet with the other members of our Thanksgiving table.  When she returned, the carpet was clean, so we went to do some shopping.  We seem to spend most of our time going in and out of grocery stores.  I had bought two coupons for a meat market, so I sold one to Rose and Armand who went with us.  The meat offerings were great.  We came home and went to yet another store for more supplies.  We remained at home in the evening.  We invited Rose and Armand to help us shell the pecans we got from Louisiana.  We had a good time shelling them together even though they weren’t very good.  We shared them with our wonderful neighbors.  Tuesday morning we recycled items and got something to repair the garden hoses with.  In the afternoon I went to an information about what to do when working at the information desk at the hospital.  It gave me things to think about in making patients and families more comfortable when we encounter them.  In the evening, I worked on making more orders of service for worship services.  I also prepared for Wednesday’s Driver safety class.  I went to lead it on Wednesday morning and 16 of the 17 signed up attended.  We had a good class, and I hope everyone learned something.  I went with Armand, Russ Duer, and Frank Richards to play 9 holes of golf.  We walked the course through the huge cracks in the ground.  It has not rained here for so long that the fairways were like an area full of planted land mines.  We were all very bad but enjoyed being outdoors because it wasn’t as hot as it was yesterday.  After supper we went to a Thanksgiving Eve worship service.  It is good to be reminded who we should be thanking for our blessings.  The pilgrims new it well, but we have forgotten. 

busy days

I neglected to mention that the lady park worker came Wednesday afternoon to help us clean the higher windows and screens in the Texas room.  She is a hard worker and very good.  Thursday morning Evelyn went to have her hair cut by on of the many park residents who was a beautician.  She was told to stop coloring her hair because it is too dry.  I began working on making some parts of the worship services that starts the 27th.  Evelyn went to the LWML meeting at church, and I worked at home.  I didn’t want to attend the monthly steak fry with the men of the church.  I used our diet as an excuse.  I just don’t enjoy being with those who voted with the pastor to eliminate my job.  Friday I borrowed a pitchfork from the park to use in loading the bougainvillea trimmings I cut yesterday.  They have huge thorns on each branch.  I continued loading the trailer with things we want to return to NC as I waited for the man in our park who was to come to help me with my printer.  He is nearly as unreliable as some of the Hispanics that do work I our park.  We then went to the hospital to volunteer in the afternoon.  We came home for supper and picked up 2 widows to go with us to the “Water Coolers” performance in McAllen.  It was a clever idea but not as good as some of the others we have seen.  Saturday morning Budda came to wash down our unit.  He brought a friend to help this time.  I hooked up the trailer and took it to Joe and Bonny’s where we store it for the winter.  They couldn’t go with us last night, but Bonny too k Evelyn and another lady to a farmer’s market in Pharr.  I was able to talk a bit with Joe who happened to come home when I was there.  I got home just in time to watch the Purdue/Iowa game.  Purdue played a good game but lost.  Evelyn returned and I made her take a nap because she had not slept well last night. While she slept, the service coordinator from Llano Grande came to ask if I would bring the message to them next Sunday.  One of the men he had scheduled had moved to Dallas and neglected to inform him, putting him in a real bind.  I accepted. We then took a ride around the park.  She has been reluctant because of her knee problems, but she seemed to suffer no ill effects.  She worked on organizing her recipe books I had printed for her.  Oh, yes.  I tried to make a copy of something, and the printer suddenly began to work.  We arose Sunday and went to worship and Holy Communion.  Afterward we drove to San Benito to meet Don and Janice for lunch at the Blue Marlin.  We were delighted to see each other again. We didn’t  We came home and began to move furniture out of the way of the carpet cleaners who will come in the morning when John and Sue dropped in.  He plays piano for our worships and I gave him the hymn numbers for next Sunday.  We also made a plan to go to a high school play on the 11th and then to dinner at the Texas Roadhouse.  It has been a pretty busy few days but will likely get busier in the future.  Emily called and talked about her family.  Stacy may be in Florida for some reason and couldn’t call.

Much cooler weather

I thought we might have the problem with the golf car fixed.  Last night, I drove our golf car to the hall, but a cable burned off at the battery post.  Our neighbor, Glenn, towed me home with his truck.  It was dark, so I had to wait until the next day to see about having it repaired.  I looked into the problem and went see Tom Crouch.  He came and removed the cable, took it to his workshop, soldered a new fitting onto the cable and took me home to install it.  He had to leave and unfortunately I installed the cable to one battery but couldn’t attach the second.  The battery continued to spark.  Glenn and I tried to do everything he and I could think of.  I couldn’t go back to Tom because he was gone.  I had to wait until morning.  We just continued working inside the house. 

This morning a cold front came in.  We walked and then I cut down the bougainvillea in the back.  I went to see Tom but without success.  I had to wait until they got up, but this morning they were gone.  I kept going back during the day without more success.  I will have to keep trying to find Tom.  We were excited that our Canadian neighbors arrived just after noon.  We went to a local restaurant to buy them lunch of some Mexican lonches.  They are delicious but not exactly on our diet.  Evelyn went to an LWML meeting at church tonight, but I stayed home.  We almost have things cleared up inside but have another problem: my printer has stopped working.  I need to have it next week to work on my sermons and worship services.  I will need to do a lot of praying.

Settling into the heat

It has been in the high 80s for the past 2 days.  We have been going out in the mornings to do our errands and working inside during the afternoons.  I had cut many maverick trees and dragged them to the curb for pick up by the park workers.  We tried to work on getting the house ready for living.  Evelyn has worked very hard and has cleaned the cupboards and the curtains.  We have decided to try dieting again and bought a smoked turkey.  We spent all day Saturday working on carving and packaging the bird.  We are counting WW points on our food.  I called a man to ask for our unit to be washed, but he couldn’t and hasn’t contacted me since.  We have also been trying to repack some clothes to store in the trailer because we have far too many here now.  We are also beginning to organize things to take to Israel in February.  We went to Immanuel for church Sunday but didn’t see Joe and Bonny because they were in Kerrville for a funeral.  We needed to talk with them to make arrangements for going to one of our concert series events on the 18th.  I have made arrangements to lead the driver safety class again.  Veterans get to take the class free during November.  We are beginning to move back into our former routine.  I even went to talk with one of the men who organizes our worship service and learned that everything will continue despite one of our leaders recuperating from heart pump surgery.  We are also working on organizing our charity giving.  We have mucho dollars to give away since we have to take mucho from our tax shelters.  We would rather give it to the Lord’s work than the wasteful government.  We also have our Direct TV hooked up now, causing a deterrent to my work.  I got our golf car on the road tonight and it just stopped working.  Our neighbor had to tow it back.  I am beginning to feel short of breath with all we have to begin doing shortly.  I have confident that Christ will empower us as we need it.

Our newly painted Texas room.

San Antonio River Walk extended

Studying the landscape

The 4 of us getting a timed group picture.

The original delivery wagon for Pioneer flour products.  We use this at our park.

Dancing at the Wurstfest

Tom and Luanne Jones

A welcome mess

After another tasty breakfast, we hooked up our trailer and bid goodbye to Tom and Luanne.  They have been such gracious hosts.  We didn’t leave until 9:30 and still made it to our mobile home by 3:00.  We hadn’t stopped to eat because the breakfast was large.  We came into the house and saw much of the furniture and wall décor on various pieces of furniture.  But the walls were gorgeous.  The painters had done a great job of painting while we were gone and had even replaced some of the items they had to move for us.  We began rearranging things and decided to do some of the laundry although we had done some at the Jones’ house.  Unfortunately the dryer hose had come loose, heating the house.  I had to move the dryer out and try to resecure the vent hose but couldn’t do it until I could go outdoors to work.  I decided to wait until tomorrow during the day.  We went off to the grocery but stopped at a Chinese buffet on the way.  We didn’t overeat but were hungry since we had not eaten since breakfast.  We were not very impressed with the offerings at this particular buffet.  We went to the HEB and bought more than we had planned on.  We had brought some spices, etc. but not much food.  We just really bought things we needed to re stock the larder.  We came home and retired somewhat early since we had no TV service. 

Saturday we continued.  I was able to work on the dryer from outside allowing Evelyn to complete the laundry.  We cleaned some of the areas and began to bring more items in from the car and the trailer.  We ate a light breakfast and then, at noon, I tried to find someone to watch the Purdue/Ohio State football game with.  The neighbor across the street was willing but did not have the Big Ten Network on her cable service.  I just watched the little icons on the Gametracker feature.  Purdue won in overtime.  We took a short rest in the afternoon, and I made some popcorn for a snack.  I also grilled hamburgers for our supper.  We then took a walk around the park.  It was very temperate.  We had not run the AC all day but did at night so we could sleep better.  I will try to post a picture of our new Texas room wall next time.

visiting wonderful friends

We have arrived in San Antonio Monday afternoon for the visit with Tom and LuAnn Jones.  They were waiting for us to finish shopping at San Marcos outlet malls.  We bought some items, returned to have lunch at the wonderful German restaurants, Schoebel’s, and asked the management at the Rodeway Inn whether our plants had been returned.  They hadn’t.  Tom and LuAnn welcomed us with wine and some snacks even though we were still stuffed from lunch.  They took us to their “mess hall” in their living area.  The building is a high rise and resembles an elegant hotel.  The dining area is lovely and the food is generous and delicious.  I was so full that I could eat very little of it.  We returned to their home to watch some TV. 

The area is called Air Force Village II and is composed with many living stages.  Their house is a duplex like ours in NC.  It has 1 roof but not a common wall; garages separate the homes.  The neighborhoods are designed similar to a cul-de-sac so things are not laid out in all straight lines.  They live close to the high rise, and we have been eating our meals there.  The initial cost to live here is high and there is a monthly fee, but all the outdoor maintenance and meals are included in the fee.  There is great security here, so they can leave things pretty well unsecured.  The walls in the “big house” are decorated with many pictures of aircraft and other military pictures.  There is a nice indoor pool and workout rooms as well as planned activities throughout the week.  Tom plays pickle ball at a nearby location. 

Tuesday we enjoyed breakfast at the big house and then came back here to await LuAnn’s return from a charity auction.  It rained twice while we waited.  When she came home, she made popcorn and we went off to a movie, The Big Year, that was very good.  We came home to get some jackets because we were going to a soccer game featuring a grandson.  On the way, we stopped at the Texas Pride barbecue which was featured on Diners, Drive Ins and Dives on the Food Channel.  The barbecue was not nearly as good as at Rudy’s.  The soccer game was good but lopsided.  The impressive thing was that the losing team was celebrated too.  We got home very late.

Wednesday morning we went to the original Air Force Village for breakfast and the took a car tour of Lackland Air Force Base before going to tour the Toyota truck factory.  We spent an hour looking at demonstrations in a museum before riding around the factory in a tram.  It was a nice tour, but we passed many things too quickly to really get a grasp of the process.  One impressive thing was how precise the operation was.  The catch phrase was “just in time” to capture the fact that the parts were not stored in warehouse but were manufactured and delivered to the line as they were needed.

We went to a monthly birthday/anniversary dinner tonight.  There was a cocktail party followed by a delicious beef stroganoff dinner and a big band dance.  We enjoyed the dancing and the dinner as well as the people we met.  Remember: these residents are all retired military, mostly air force.  Many were generals and even one was a former Surgeon General. We met a couple whose male member was born in Wabash, IN and had attended Purdue.  They were very hospitable as have been all of the residents.  In short, we have been blessed with being friends with Tom and LuAnne.  We will be here only one more day.  We are both eager to get to Weslaco and begin our winter work.

Wustfest

Here we are in New Braunfels.  We are staying at the same Rodeway Inn as last year.  We arrived at 4:30 and l learned that admission to Wurstfest is free on the opening night if we entered before 7.  We changed clothes and rushed to Landa park.  We arrived in plenty of time—along with 6,000 other people.  I picked up our tickets that I had ordered on line and proceeded to look for a place to sit.  There are 4 venues but not a seat in any of them.  Finally we replaced someone who was leaving and found 2 seats.  We were able to dance about 6 dances and had a bratwurst with sauerkraut.  We agreed it was the worst wurst we had ever had.  We didn’t stay late and returned to the motel.  I had set our fern and gift plant out to get sun, but it was taken a couple of days hence. 

Saturday Tom and Luann came to join us in the afternoon.  During the morning we did laundry and ate the leftover sandwiches from the Jack in the Box yesterday.  When they arrived, we enjoyed some beer and snacks before going downtown for dinner at the Friesenhaus.  We shared our jaegerschnitzle and then went to the Wurstfest.  The crowd was even larger than last night.  We did have some beer and danced a bit more.  We could never dance at the same time because people were looking for chairs.  Before leaving we went to the new dancing venue.  It is really plush compared to the others.  It even has padded chairs!  We danced there too before going to the motel. 

Daylight savings time ended early this morning, and we enjoyed the extra hour of sleep.  We also enjoyed the hot waffle breakfast before going to church.  While eating, we met some people from Decatur, IN near where we used to live.  They claimed to be Lutheran but weren’t in going to worship with us.  We were blessed by the message and Holy Communion.  Jones’ daughter and family met them at the Fest, so we went alone but met them there.  We spent the entire afternoon sitting at wooden picnic tables.  We listened to 2 great performers—the Sauerkrauts and Alex Meixner band—but were sore before finally leaving around 6.  We plan to leave tomorrow afternoon and drive to San Antonio to spend a couple of days with Tom and Luann.  We just laid around the motel room and watched Sunday night football.

More Cajun stuff

We arrived at Lafayette and checked in early.  We took a room on the 3rd floor for the first time in ages.  We napped and met Trahans at Randols fo crawfish and dancing.  He is really heavy but she is somewhat healthier than last fall.  We had a nice visit before they left and we danced.  There was a pretty good crowd and were fun to watch while we danced ourselves.  We were clicking tonight and moved well but not as well as many others.  We were home by 10.  Evelyn was tiring so we left the dance at 9:30.

Thursday we lounged around the room after the breakfast.  I have noticed that none of the motels we use still have the waffle maker in the breakfast offerings.  The kitchen maid here said they were too hard to clean.  They were good but I understand how messy they were.  I talked with Simon for about 20 minutes because he had a tooth pulled yesterday and couldn’t meet us for lunch as usual.  He seems to be doing well, however, and this was one of his less serious illnesses.  We went to Trahan’s house to pick up some pecans from their yard.  He wants to get rid of them and gave them to us.  He had a neat pecan picker that picked the nuts in the shell from the ground without having to bend over so much.  We went to a restaurant so Evelyn could have another bowl of gumbo but she got crawfish bisque instead.  We went to the Best Stop to get some boudin and crawfish.  We took it to the hotel and put the cold packs we had bought into the motel freezer.  We drove to one of our favorite restaurants, Riverside Inn.  We shared a tilapia stuffed with crab meat.  We returned to Randol’s for more dancing.  We will leave for the Wurstfest tomorrow morning.

A day on our feet

We spent most of the day visiting the Bellingrath Gardens.  It was a beautiful temperate day and the flowers were beautiful day.  We were able to tour the home and most of the gardens until we got tired.  I sent some pictures to the friend who suggested we go only they were not of the beauty.  I chose bad scenes as a joke.  We found a great restaurant for dinner.  Wintzell’s Oyster House had the best gumbo we have ever had. We shared a shrimp/fish dinner that was also delicious.

  These are just a couple of the pictures from the gardens.