Today would have been my brother Joe's 66th birthday if he had not passed away in 2005. I miss him and wish he were still here to tease me. December 21 will be the eighth anniversary of his death. Very sad time, but I have lots of good memories too. Here's one of the family's favorite photos of him at the Cleveland Botanical Gardens.
This morning we headed over to South Padre Island to enjoy a walk on the beach. It was a beautiful day. We drove to Beach Access Point #4 and walked out on the Gulf side of the island. The dome of the sky was a deep clear blue, the sand clean and hard packed. Evidently the tide was out.
Molly collected a bag full of interesting shells. She and Terri explored the beach near the access point while Ken and I walked a mile down the beach and back up again. We pretty nearly had a private beach. Only a few other people were in sight. One couple was sitting in their beach chairs facing the ocean, engrossed in their reading. Someone was out on the water on a personal watercraft. We heard it buzzing about, but it was far away, so the noise was minimal.
We had arranged to meet up with Hardy and Judy and Jean for lunch at Daddy's Seafood and Cajun Kitchen. When we drove up to the restaurant, I noticed there were very few vehicles in the parking lot. We walked into the restaurant, only to be met by the general manager who apologized that the place was closed today for an employee holiday party. He gave us a 10% discount card and invited us to eat at Dirty Al's or Pelican Station.
We went to Pelican Station, which is in Port Isabel, right near the bridge to the island. The food was good, but very rich. Our grilled mahi mahi was buried under a cream sauce. No one left the table hungry. It was fortunate that we had the chance to introduce Terri and Molly to our friends. They had a good conversation.
We stopped on the way home at the Iwo Jima Memorial in Harlingen. The statue there is the plaster working model of the bronze statue in Washington D.C. It's painted Marine green and quite impressive.
When we arrived home around 5:30 p.m., we barely had time for a light supper before going to the Town Band Concert, 'Tis the Season. We walked into the building before 7:00 p.m., but the Trinity Worship Center seats were nearly full. We walked upstairs only to find most of those seats occupied too. Ken noticed that seats on the main floor on the far right were open. When we reached our seats, we were delighted to discover Bob and Pat, Hardy and Judy, and Jan and Steve in the seats directly in front of us.
That gave us a chance to introduce Terri and Molly to Steve and Jan. Steve startled us by sticking a finger out through the right lens of his glasses--or rather where the right lens had been. It was removed yesterday after his cataract surgery. He is very happy about the improvement in his distance vision in that eye. It will be a few weeks before his second eye is done and his vision stabilized so that he can get whatever glasses he needs going forward.
The concert was enjoyable, although I prefer to be able to see the musicians' faces. After a rousing final rendition of the Hallelujah Chorus and a standing ovation, the orchestra played one extra piece: Leroy Anderson's Sleigh Ride. Anderson is one of our favorite composers.
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