South Padre Island and Freddie Fender

We got a call from Carol yesterday saying, "Come to the island, it is a beautiful day here". We didn't need to be persuaded. Within less than an hour, we were packed up and on the way. 

We had a good visit at Bob and Carols. Bob and I had a few games of crib which both of us love. Then we all went to Coconut Grill for $1.00 hamburgers and  plates of free bacon on the side. The sun started setting while we were there so I ran out to the pier and got some pictures. This picture was taken looking over the water to Port Isabel.

South Padre Sunset

From there we went to hear Leslie sing at a little place down the street. She was better than ever and as usual sang a wide variety of songs.

She sang the theme song from Titanic and brought the house down. I plan to get one of her CD's before I return to Canada so that I can show you all what an amazing singer she is.  What I love about these places is that everybody dances so we all get lots of exercise.

Most of  the hotels in South Padre are decorated with Christmas lights  and are very pretty.

This hotel, the Isla Grand, sits right on the ocean. It was beautifully decorated inside as well. I checked out the prices for rooms and they were far less than what a similar hotel in Canada would cost.

Anna and I got a room at the Super 8 hotel for $35.00 plus tax. It was a big room and very nice. We never did get the lights by our beds working, and I had to go to the front desk to get some soap, but those were small details.  We were happy to find a reasonably priced place and to have lots of room.  I had a very long, long bath and it was sheer heaven.

Today I got up early and went for the  free breakfast that the hotel offered, then returned to the room and  went back to bed. It felt really good to have all the space so I took full advantage. Anna went out to visit while I stayed behind and languished in the room, just enjoying the solitude and space, watching a little TV, and doing a bit of reading.

We decided to stop at San Benito on the way home and tour the Freddie Fender museum. We had a bit of trouble finding the place but perserverance paid off. It is actually a three part museum, a Historical Museum, a Conjunto Music Museum, and the Freddie Fender Museum.  Bob and Carol met us there and we all toured the place together.We picked a good day to go as we met Freddie Fenders brother  who actually only works one day a month there.  He showed us some personal videos that he had of Freddie and other musicians and talked to us for some time. Another fellow who works there, Ron Rogers, was a good friend of Freddies and he told us many stories also.

This picture of Freddie Fender hangs in the entrance of the museum.

 

 I did not realize that Freddie Fender was also a movie actor. He was in the movie The Milagro Beanfield War and another movie in which he played the role of Poncho Villa.
Freddie grew up very poor and after the death of his father when he was very young, his family lived for a year in a tin shack. He started singing at the local radio station when he was  only 10 years old. It was a very interesting museum and I highly recommend it to anyone travelling near San Benito. 

Here I am with Freddie's brother, Jose Luiz and good friend Ron Rogers in front of the Museum who were nice enough to have their picture taken with me. Carol got her picture taken with them also.




We finished the afternoon off by going to a Mexican restaurant in San Benito and having the best Mexican food I have eaten since coming down here and then headed home.

 Another great day in the Rio Grande Valley.

Keep warm.

Christmas Day

 I will try to do some catching up  here as I have gotten a little behind in my blogging again.

We had a wonderful Christmas Day here. It was a hot, sunny day so I worked on my tan.The temperature was about 30 C when this picture was taken. The reason I look so white here is because the sun was very bright.  As you can see, even the grass looks almost white. It was definitely a Christmas Day I will never forget.

We had a huge buffet dinner at the Rec  Hall. We had one table just for desserts.

 

Later we played more games. It was great fun.

The hit of the day was when some of the folks from the park gave an absolutely hilarious rendition of "The Twelve Days of Christmas". Each of them jumped up to sing their part. The fellow standing in the picture had the "5 golden rings"

line and he did it with  such great enthusiasm that he had all of us in stitches.

We took a brief break and went our separate ways for a while and then some of us returned at 5pm for leftovers. We were all still full from dinner but we  ate a bit  anyway and had a good visit. It was a very nice Christmas.

Christmas Eve

We have had a wonderful Christmas Eve here in Texas. After a lazy afternoon, everyone met at the Rec. Hall at 6pm for Snack Pot Luck. There was much picture taking as people arrived and added their goodies to the table.

Anna took this picture of me and  my dear friend Sally who I must say brought the most delicious toffee I have ever tasted. (Note my colorful dress that I purchased in Mexico).

There was much visiting at all the tables. These are some of our neighbours-just the nicest people you would ever want to meet.

 After dinner we played all sorts of games. I joined in wholeheartedly. The last game called for two volunteers.  My good buddy George and I volunteered. We had to sit on a chair, put a cookie on our forehead and then, without using our hands, had to bring the cookie down to our mouth and actually put it in our mouth. This was no easy feat. It required a large variety of  ridiculous facial expressions and much cheering  from our friends. However, after many unsuccessful attempts I managed to do  it with only a little bit of cheating.

I won an ornament of Dolphins- a wonderful souvenir of the Dolphin Park.

Once the games were finished we had a lovely candlelight Christmas Eve service which included singing by some of the RV folks who had been practicing daily for the last couple of weeks or more. They sounded great. The minister gave a short reading from the bible about the birth of Jesus, another song was sang and  after some more visiting we called it a night.
It was a wonderful evening. If my daughter had been here it would have been perfect. (And you too Scott)
From the wonderful state of Texas I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and may you  have a safe, warm, and happy holiday with those you hold dear to your heart.

Mid Valley Christmas Parade

 

We had a cold front move in yesterday so it was a bit chilly after all the hot weather we have had. The temperature got down to single digits last night so we even needed to turn the heater on for a bit. However, this morning by 9am it was hot again and according to the forecast it will remain so until after Christmas.

Yesterday, much of  the RV park gang got together at Keno's in Weslaco for an early dinner as we all wanted to watch the Christmas parade. By the time we finished eating there were already people lined up on the sidewalks  so we found  spaces for our chairs and settled in. Unfortunately the temperature was only about 8 C and there was a good wind so it was very chilly. Our friend Jude lent Anna and I a quilt to wrap around our legs which helped a lot.  Everyone was bundled up.

 

The Parade was well worth the wait. It had a little bit of everything.

The theme was a "Jazzy Christmas" so there were floats with jazz bands playing.

 

Many organizations had floats. I thought this one was very well done.

 

There were marching bands, many cars with Queens and Princess'es from different parts of the Valley.  Miss Teen Texas was there also.

If you are wondering what REALLY happened to Elvis, here he is.

Even the army was there and they got a very rousing response from the crowd.

The Parade lasted for about 11/2 hours but Anna and I succumbed to the cold and left a few minutes before it was over.
 I am very glad to have the hot weather return today.

Keep warm.

Dinner & Karaoke

 I have spent much of the last few days just working on my tan, doing a bit of touring around with a friend, and practicing my spanish. It has been very hot here and the humidy has been very high. It is cool to warm until about 9am and then  it gets hot very quickly.  I learned the hard way what happens when I leave my exercises until late morning. Ever try to work out when it is 30C?  I felt like I was in a "Hot Yoga" studio!

Anna and I got invited out to dinner at our friend Rene's place last night. Rene is our good friend/Spanish teacher/provider of treats/ and chef extraordinaire! We got thoroughly spoiled with a delicious dinner of catfish and coleslaw with some yummy cornbread on the side. It looked very elegant and tasted even better.

 

After dinner we drove to Trails End and  joined some more  friends for Karaoke. Nearly all of us took a stab at it.  I had never sang Karaoke before but I went up with my friend Sally and gave it a try. Thank goodness Sally is a good singer as with my cold and sore throat I alternated between losing my voice completely and having it suddenly change keys in the middle of a line.  It was all in good fun and everyone cheered.

 

Anna got up and sang a few songs.

 

 

Rene even sang us some beautiful Mexican songs.

 

 

 Nearing the end of the evening,  an older Mexican gentleman got up and sang his heart out. A couple of his friends then joined him and the three of them  sang several more songs. They sang with  such passion that even though we couldn't understand the words, we all enjoyed it immensely.

 

Today we are all going to Weslaco where we will  meet for dinner and then take in the Christmas Parade.

 

Although it is difficult being away from my family and friends back home at this time of year, I feel truly blessed to have made so many new friends here at the park. As the saying goes, "It is not the places you go, it is the people you meet". 

 

Keep warm.

Hidalgo Christmas Lights

We have had a nice week here, although we had some cooler days earlier this week.  We made a quick trip to Mexico for a dental check up but mostly I have enjoyed just hanging out: reading,  biking, a trip to the market, working on my book, banging on my guitar a bit,and even writing some poetry.
 Last night our next door neighbours Jim and Judy took us to another RV park for a bit of dancing. Actually, it turned out to be a lot of dancing. People down here really love to dance so we had a great time. The band was very good; mostly country with a few old rock tunes thrown in. Down here, all the singles sit on one side of the dance floor and the couples sit on the other. This gives all the single people the opportunity to meet each other. They also have what they call the "waterfall" dance where you dance half way around the room with one partner, then you leave your partner and  return to the other end of the room and dance with the next person in line.  It is a great way of meeting people and everyone had fun. Our table was full with half Canadians and half Americans and we all had a great time getting to know each other.

Today, we decided to go to Hidalgo. We wanted to do a bit of exploring and stay for the Christmas Light display. We drove to the old part of town to check out where the light show was going to be, parked our car at the old court house and jail,  and walked around a bit.


 As we had lots of time to kill, we decided to go to the Pumphouse Nature Park which is also a major birding centre. There are over 500 different species of birds in this area and over 300 different kinds of butterflies. Although we did not see any birds, we did see some beautiful butterflies and I managed to get a couple good shots of them.

 

 

         This guy was totally cooperative and patient with me while I was trying to get my close up. It was almost like he was showing off for the camera.                              

The park itself is very pretty. There are over 1200 different species of plants in this area and this little park had some very interesting plants including this hairy cactus.

We toured the pumphouse while we were there. At one time there were several pumphouses around this area that pumped water from the Rio Grande River into irrigation canals which provided irrigation to all of the surrounding area. The engines and pumps are massive and could pump 350,000 gallons of water per minute.

After we finished the tour, we went for coffee and biscuits at a cute little Mexican Restaurant and then on to do a bit of shopping.

We returned after dark to the old part of town and began our walking tour of the Christmas Lights. Rather than try to describe them, I am just going to show you what 3 million lights look like.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

These are only a small portion of the lights. It is truly an amazing sight.

Even the local people get involved and decorate their houses very elaborately.

 

 

It was a wonderful warm evening.  We walked for a couple hours and block after block we saw one amazing sight after another.

Life is good.

 Keep warm my friends.

 

 

Christmas Dinner

Today I went with Bob and Sally to Weslaco for a free Christmas Dinner at St. Joan of Arc  Hall. It was called Feast of Sharing and it is a very popular yearly event sponsored by H.E.B which is a huge grocery chain here.  They usually feed about 4000 people at this location alone. They also sponsor  dinners at various other locations around Southern Texas and Mexico and feed approximately 250,000 people Christmas Dinner each December.

We got there early so we were among the first ones to eat. They feed about 300 people at each sitting. That's Bob and Sally in the foreground.

 

 Once everyone gets sat down they had various dignitaries from around the Valley give a short speech, and then the Honor Guard from Weslaco Emergency Services marched in, planted the flag and everyone stood for the Pledge of Allegiance.




After a few more speeches, food was served by a mass of volunteers. Amazingly, all of us were brought a piping hot dinner in a matter of minutes. We were entertained by a young girl  who sang while we ate our dinner.  We even had apple pie for dessert!

 

ig

After  we finished eating we went outside to listen to the Mexican band that was playing and enjoyed some free popcorn.

 

I am not sure what kind of accordian this fellow is playing but it sounded very good.

 

Of course, they were singing in Spanish so I did not quite understand the lyrics. However, that problem is soon to be resolved as Anna and I have made a friend in the park who is soon to become our  Spanish tutor.  Although we have been practising with tapes, it has been a bit problematic as  here they speak something called Tex-Mex which is slightly different from the  Spanish on our tapes.

 

I sorely regretted not taking my sunglasses today as the sun was very, very,  bright. Sunglasses and/or a hat are essential items here. Luckily, Sally lent me an extra pair of sunglasses she had in the truck.

 

After a bit of grocery shopping and a stop at Wendys for a free frosty, we returned to the park. I spent the rest of the day in my chair outside the Motorhome with a good book,  leaving my chair only long enough to do a few laps around the park on my bike.

Oh, I also had to provide massive amounts of sympathy to Anna today. She had what hopefully will be the last of her dental work done this morning and spent the rest of the day in  considerable  pain.

 

Stay warm my friends. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                          

Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge

We just returned from the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge.  The Refuge is on  2,088 acres of land and is the most biologically diverse refuge in all of the United States. The refuge is home to  nearly 400 species of birds and half of all butterfly species found in North America.  Many endangered species live there such as the ocelot, which is now found only in Southern Texas.  

 

 We took a 11/2 hour trolley ride around the park with a tour guide who gave us a running commentary about both the history of the refuge and the different species of life that live there. Although we were not fortunate enough to see any ocelots, javelina's, snakes etc. we did see a lot of butterflies.

The tour guide was very knowledeable concerning the different species of trees and moss in the park. The picture below shows some ebony trees draped with Spanish Moss.

 

 

The ebony trees have large black pods
which contain nuts the size of large peanuts. You can roast the nuts and eat them.






There were some very pretty areas in the park.

 

 

 

 Part of the tour included a climb up a 40 foot tower to get a birds eye view of the refuge. There are several towers with bridges attached that  span over the trees.

 

The refuge land once belonged to Mexico. This land was granted to Benigno Leal in 1843 by the Mexican government. Leal established his ranch headquarters on this land  and built a  cemetery.  We stopped at the cemetery which is surrounded by ebony posts and contains the crypt where Benigno and his wife and many of the workers of the ranch were buried.

 

The refuge was flooded a few years back and was completely covered with up to 15 feet of water. Part of the park was under water for 5 months causing a lot of devastation which is still evident in some areas.

It was a  very interesting way to spend an afternoon. The only down side to the day was that Anna got badly bitten by insects while we were on the tour. For some reason they just really go after Anna. None of the rest of us got a single bite. Before we venture into another wildlife area we need to find a natural insect repellent.

Finally, for those of you who have requested a picture of me in my cowboy hat, check this out.

I look like a bandit with my shades on, but the sun was very bright today. The temperature was about 27C, a little cooler than the last few days but still very nice.

Keep warm.