New Year

Happy New Year to You All,

Yesterday most of our park went to Progreso, to a place called Arriba's for lunch, drinks and dancing. Each time I go to Mexico I am amazed with the talents and creativity of the Mexican people. I watched a young man make me a bracelet with my name on it. He worked so quickly you can hardly see his fingers move and in less than five minutes he had made the bracelet complete with hearts. I also like to watch the painters who spray bottles or canvass with spray paint and using a small piece of cardboard do incredible paintings. The handwork is just beautiful.

And then there are the musicians, who sing in English, but don't speak English at all.

Tonight, being Tues. is once again potluck, but I decided to skip it this week. The lady across from me says that this isn't an RV park, it is a fat farm. And she is right. I have over-indulged myself at the two potlucks I took in, so decided to stay away from them. There seems to be many occasions to get together with food.

Tomorrow, being New Year's Eve we will be getting together for finger foods, having a band, and indulging in drinks and dancing. We are supposed to dance in the streets of our park, but apparently the forecast is for rain tomorrow, so we may end up inside the rec centre.

I hope you all have a SAFE and happy New Year.

A Hot One Today

Hi Y'all,

I hope you all had a good Christmas. As you can see there was tons of food at my Christmas dinner and, as usual, I ate far too much. There were enough left-overs for supper. What you see doesn't include the dessert table! But, that is part of what Christmas has always been about, isn't it?

Santa arrived and we had a gift exchange and I got the most beautiful hand made cushion for my MH....the nicest gift there!

It has been beautiful here weather-wise and I see that it has warmed up at your homes as well. After that deadly cold, it must seem not too bad there! Hope you are all keeping warm.

Christmas

The season is upon us. In a couple of days you will be sitting down with your family to enjoy Christmas. It will seem rather weird for me as this will be the first Christmas away from my family and it goes without saying that I will miss them. I will also miss my friends.

We in the RV park will be having a Christmas potluck in the recreation hall and I'm sure there will be tons of food and goodwill. The weather has smartened up and by Christmas Day we should be in the high 80's.

I would like to wish you all a safe and happy Christmas. I'm sending a big hug to you all.

Flea Market

Today I went to the flea market just down the street. They sold a bit of everything. There was live entertainment as well so I sat for awhile to listen. I was wearing the brown T-shirt that my daughter, Gabrielle, had bought for me.

A couple came and sat by me and she said, "I like your shirt" and told her husband to look at my shirt. He was an artist, and while his wife and I visited he sketched this picture for me. Cool!

Festival of Lights

Greetings All,

Today was another busy day. We women went to Mexico today to eat and shop. I didn't eat since I had a dental appt. and I am a poor shopper, but I wandered about looking at all the jewelry and clothing. There is tons of beautiful jewelry and clothing and the prices are pretty good as well.

This evening a group of us went to Hidalgo to view the Christmas Lights. We took the trolley around town and the lights were gorgeous. They had peacocks, butterflies, dragons, bears, etc. The house across the street from City Hall belongs to a famous singer from these parts and his house was extremely well lit.

All in all it was a great day!

Mexico

Hola,

Yesterday I was back in Mexico to get my dental work done. Nuevo Progreso seems to be your standard border town. As you cross on the bridge over the Rio Grande River, there are people under the bridge on the Mexican side. They have their caps out and are asking that you throw them a penny, a nickel, a dime.

The merchants seem to sell similar items: jewelry, leather goods, blankets, pottery and CDs. The prices are very reasonable. You can buy a Mexican blanket for $2. Much of the pottery is beautiful. The little children are on the street with their parents and attempt to sell you items. They give you the most pitiful look. There is also an abundance of pharmacies, dentists and beauty salons. Traffic is extremely congested.

It is difficult to pass by the beggars on the street and frequently I put money in their cup. I think that for some of them begging brings in their only income. Wouldn't it be nice to have the money to change their lives?

Today is a wet day. We are all supposed to go to Hidalgo for the Festival of Lights this evening, but I think it will be cancelled, unless there is a major weather change before then.

Nuevo Progreso

Hola mis amigos;

This morning my neighbours and I went into Mexico. We had breakfast at this comida, where we were treated to this trio's music. We wandered around a bit looking at the merchandize and then I went for a haircut. It was $5 for a cut, product and blow dry.

Tomorrow I hope to go back and have some dental work done. A filling is $15 as is a cleaning. Many Americans go there for dental work and medications. Can't beat those prices!

Today is windy but 26C, so can't complain. I do feel sorry for y'all in Alberta as I watch the weather network and I can say with all honesty that I'm glad I am here and not there.

Edinburg, Tx

Good morning y'all,
Yesterday 4 of us went to the South Texas Museum in Edinburg, Texas. It was a neat museum in that they had period costumes you could don. It was hilarious.

Last night was very chilly, in fact, there was frost warnings out. Today is to be back into the 70's and warmer from there. I used 3 comforters last night.

I went to a dance in Pharr, Tx. It was good except that most of what they played was quite slow and I don't really care for the slow ones.

The towns here all run into each other. Pharr is the 3rd town east of Donna, but only takes about 15 min. to get there. I always take my trusty map with me in case I get disoriented. This one fellow is concerned that I will get really lost and offered for me to follow him and his partner back, but I figured if I could find my way from Alberta to here, then I could find my way 15 min. away. Donna is a good town to be in as it is rather central in the valley, making it easy to partake in activities in other towns. I have a Rio Grande Valley map that shows the location of the RV parks in the valley. That is a huge help.

Today the women in my park are off to Nuevo Progreso, a Mexican town, so we are off at 11 a.m.
I was told it is a good place to get a haircut and I need one. Looks like I have a mop on top of my head.

San Juan, Tx

Yesterday I went to the Basilica of Our Lady of San Juan which is a national shrine. I also wanted to see the Cezar Chevez Memorial, but couldn't find it and nobody seemed to know where it was.

Last evening I went to the dance. I asked the couple I was with if there was a singles club here and they said every dance had a couple of tables of singles. Sure enough I found a table with a sign saying singles so I sat there and danced all night. I'm really not a fan of singles clubs. I'll tell you why. I danced a couple of dances with a fellow from Maine called Ted. He then says that he has every afternoon free and would like to spend them with me. I told him, "I don't think so". Shortly after he has his hand on my knee and I had to brush him off, and ignore him for the remainder of the evening. I also danced with a farmer from Ontario named Keith. He kept saying, "drag your feet" and "I can feel it when you take your feet off the floor". And I'm thinking it is almost 2009, when do we women get to lead. But, all in all, it was fun as I love to dance and am going to the biggest single dance tonight.

Friends Brenda and I made at Falcon State Park (Marilynn and Butch), dropped by my site yesterday and invited me to jam at their park on Friday afternoon, so I plan to go see what that is all about. I will take my guitar, but don't know if I'm brave enough to play.

A cold front has moved in and it is cold this morning. It is 42F. Dropped 40 degrees since yesterday! At 11 am I am going to a museum with the neighbours. I will dress warm.

Sight seeing

Good Morning,

This is the patio here at the park. Isn't it pretty?

Today is 86F, but the temp is to drop tonight to the low 70's and rain for tomorrow.

Yesterday I went to the Tourist Info centre and she loaded me up with info and maps concerning what there is to see in this area. I will begin planning day trips tomorrow.

This evening I will be going to dance to the Texas Country Band. Don't know who'll I'll dance with as my dance partner is in Alberta, but even listening to the music will be enjoyable. I can always dance the mixers.

I've been following the Canadian news and weather on the internet. Keep warm y'all.

Sunday

This is the mercado we went to yesterday. It was a hot day, but as you can see everyone, other than me, was in long pants and jackets. Go figure.

After the mercado we went for lunch and then to the new mall. The mall was cool in that there were stores on both sides of an open air walkway. I had left my camera in the car, which was too bad as there was a band I would have liked to have taken a photo of. It was a high school mariachi band. There were 10 violins, three guitars, a big mariachi guitar and a harp. The students were clad in Mexican garb and each student took a turn singing, with hand movements, and dancing. They were extremely good. One young fellow even serenaded me.
I could have listened to them all day.

Hot Here

Good Morning

Still no photos from Donna, so sending a photo of Dirty Al's. We danced on the roof.

It has turned deliciously hot again. Yesterday one of the park women took me around Donna to show me where everything is. It is an old border town and many of the bldgs are ramshackle, although there is new development as well. People in the park are very friendly and a couple is taking me dancing on Tuesday. Each MH park has activities and people go from one park to the another to partake. Tues. is potluck at this camp.

Donna, Texas

Hi Everyone,

I am now in Donna, Texas. Arrived about 11 am. with no mishaps. Not much to report as just set up. It is pouring rain here; hope the sun comes out soon.

This photo was taken at Boomerang Billies on South Padre Island. I don't have a clue who that man is; he just happened to be sitting there when I took the photo. It was a beautiful setting to have a couple of beers and listen to live music.

Will write more after I have time to do some exploring.

Last Day here

Last night a group of us went to the Schlitterbahn Shrimp Haus for drinks and dancing. I guess there were about 10 of us. Part of the group is a set of twins. One twin is called "A" and the other is "B". "A" is the oldest and her husband's name is "JD". They are identical twins. We had fun line dancing and just visiting. Leslie was singing there; she does a wide variety of music.

The last couple of days have been extremely windy. Today is cool and I have jeans on...first time in a long time. I hope the wind settles by tomorrow as I hate driving on that long bridge when the wind is so strong. I'm afraid of getting blown off.

Tomorrow is the big moving day. I'm a bit nervous about driving again after having been in one spot for a month. Like Donna said, it will feel really strange after 3 months. I'm hoping it will be less windy in the valley. Yesterday I went for a long walk on the beach and the sand was moving like drifting snow . There weren't many people on the beach, just a lot of wind surfers. I stopped at the marine research centre and took photos. Today's photo is shark's teeth. Scary.

Elvis

Last evening a group of us went to Dirty Al's and Elvis was there. He was pretty good. After the show he was talking with Dirty Al and Dirty Al was saying how he used to take women's bras off with his teeth and had bras decorating the walls of his restaurant/bar. I had a good evening.

Today I went to the shops about town. Things are 1/2 price everywhere, but I don't really need anything, so came home empty handed. The wind has been from the north so the last couple of days have only been in the 70's F. I wore my jacket to begin line dancing, but took it off part way through. Line dancing is harder than it looks. Some days I am a total cluts. Only a couple of more days here and then off to Donna.

They have an International Idiots Club here. It costs you $5 to become a certified idiot with a card. You can also buy T-shirts. Once you have the card you get 75 cents off every beer at Boomerang Billies. There are quite a few idiots here.