01.28.2012 Gavino picking grapefruit

Above, Gavino picking some of our Ruby Red grapefruit to take home to San Antonio.

Below, Ruth took a new photo for us to use on our travel business card.

The Poinsettias are not as beautiful this year as last year - they are more spindly but the color of them are still beautiful.

Our friends Ruth and Gavino came south from San Antonio for a weekend visit. We had so much fun with them. Our first stop was the Museum of South Texas which tells the history of the settlement of South Texas. It was a very good museum.
Above, is the entrance to the museum showing its beautiful Mexican architecture. Take note of the blue tile facing on the steps.

We grandparents had fun in the hands-on areas... after all they're not just for little kids!





Outside in the courtyard they were working on the stone work around a bronze statue.




Below, Doug and Gavino "horsing around" on an iron horse.



Isn't that an interesting frontier fence behind Doug and Gavino above.



Above, is the hanging room on the second floor.


Above tells the history of the only hanging that took place here. Below, is the inside of the hanging room.


Above, Doug and I sitting by the courtyard fountain.

This photo above is for our friends Ken and Marilyn who have an Airstream Trailer like the one in this display of the museums technology in the 20th century.

Gavino standing by the gallows and Ruth beside a display on frontier dry goods.

01.27.2012 Mission Quilt Show

Went to the Mission Quilt Show today with my friend Ruth from San Antonio. Gavino and Doug went to the Car Show. Here are a few photos of some of the quilts.

Parrots & Hamburgers

Doug and Homer took these photos of the Green Parrots on one of their walk in the park. Such noise they make!




Each Tuesday, our park had a hamburger lunch. We take turns doing the cooking as volunteers. The income from the luncheon is put into our general fund which helps to keep our yearly maintenance fees lower.
Above, You can see left to right: Nada (cooking onions), Bruce and Linda, Dorothy and Curtis. Our crew made this a fun time of fellowship as we cooked the burgers.

Hidalgo Pumphouse Christmas Minatures on display

After Christmas, we went to see the miniature displays at the Hidalgo Pumphouse. We had seen them three years ago, but enjoyed them all over again. Here are just a few scenes of the various layouts.


Above, there was a whole collection of nativity scenes.



For our friends, Ken and Marilyn, there is an Airstream trailer in the camping area.

And for our friend Mary Ann. there was the "Twelve Days of Christmas" house that was playing the song.

Above, a view of a section of the miniature train layout.


Outside the Pumphouse in the birding park is a layout of the city of Hidalgo. Behind Doug you can see a segment of the border wall.

Above, the view looking back toward the pumphouse.

A Kiskadee.

2011 - Our Christmas Open House - South Texas style

One of the things we always loved doing at our home in Pennsylvania was having a Christmas Open House where friends and family could drop-in, enjoy some food and fellowship, and stay as long as they were able. We did that for many, many years and Josh, our son, always said it was a highlight of Christmas to have everyone over. As he grew up, he also started inviting his friends to "drop-in." Depending on the weather, the younger crowd might be ice skating on our pond, sledding in our pasture, riding the ATVs in the fields, or just sitting around the fire in the fireplace. It was a time of such fond memories. So Doug and I decided to continue the tradition now that we have a "place" in South Texas. Only difference here is we need to coordinate it with the weatherman since our motorhome can hold about 10 comfortably and our party would need to be outside! So we watched the 10 day forecast. The weatherman did not cooperate in the days leading up to Christmas.... We had days full of mist... not rain, but just damp, cool, foggy weather where we didn't want to be outside. Then we saw a break in the weather after Christmas and we scheduled it for Thursday, the 29th - we had to work around Doug's softball schedule, too. God was good it turned out to be a beautiful day! 81 was the temperature and a beautiful blue sky. In fact one of our friends, Dudley and Marilyn, loaned us their canopy to give us some additional shade from the hot sun.

Here are some views before everyone arrived. The calm before the fun!


Now here are some views of the folks....

Below is Eddy and Ann from Arkansas.




Doug hung large Christmas bells in the grapefruit tree with the snowflakes

Above is Dudley, Eddy, and Bill discussing important items... most likely baseball!

Even in the shade, my cheese cubes melted in the heat! Never had that happen at our Pennsylvania Christmas Open House!

Below is Dusty's master in the plaid shirt. Dusty is a little chocolate toy poodle who loves Homer and Homer loves him. Homer lets Dusty jump and climb all over him and Dusty just loves it.


Below is Dale and Donna - friends from our second year here in the Valley. You might remember the story from back in October of running into them in San Antonio. I saw Donna posting photos of San Antonio on Facebook and we discovered we were parked across from each other at Traveler's World. We had a great couple of days with them in San Antonio.


Above is the "guy's car corner." That is what I named it. Every time I floated by they were talking Chevy and Ford. ;-) Allan has his back to you, then it is Daryll, Gary, Don, and Vern.

Below is the lady's corner. They didn't discuss cars as far as I know! Ha, ha! Left to right is Debbie, Barb, Lori, and Bev. Bev and Allan have very good taste in motorhomes... They bought the same year and model as we have! ;-)