Today was another cold, wet one. It didn't actually rain, but the mist was heavy enough to leave puddles on the patio. We got our laundry done. We went to Home Depot to walk and then to the grocery store before returning for dinner and cocooning.
Two very important people died yesterday. Leonard Nimoy, the creator of Spock, will be missed by Trekkies and many others who grew up watching Star Trek. He embodied the ideals of science and humanity, even though he was only half human. Fr. Ted Hesburgh, former president of Notre Dame and progressive activist, didn't seem to be trending on Facebook, but his impact on a generation was also profound. He opposed US policy in Vietnam and actively worked for a non-nuclear world.
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Saturday, February 28, 2015
Another Cold Wet Day
Friday, February 27, 2015
Dinner and Games with Friends
Jean and Mary invited Steve and Jan and us to dinner at the new Hacienda Del Patron, an elegant Mexican restaurant in the style of Michoacán in southwest Mexico. The owner greeted us and when we admired it, told us that the cut stone came from a cave in San Antonio.
Jan, Steve, Mary, Jean, Ken, and Lee
We all had great food and a wonderful time. The menu is quite different from that of other Mexican restaurants in the area, definitely not "Tex-Mex." We topped our meal off with a shared dessert: "VOLCÁN DE CHOCOLATE: Warm cake with molten chocolate on the inside and home made rompope ice cream." It turns out that rompope is Mexican eggnog, made with rum, and the ice cream is quite delicious.
After dinner we went over to Jean's digs for the week. She's house sitting for Bill and Bev while they're in Iceland. Their lovely home made a convenient setting for margaritas and a game of golf, or "Play Nine." Interestingly, the scorekeeper won.
Steve and Jan spent the morning at the dentist's office in Progreso. Jan had a broken tooth and ended up with a root canal and crown prep. Not the best way to start the day. We hope she's feeling better soon. Read more!
Thursday, February 26, 2015
More Grapefruit!
We stopped by Steve and Jan's this morning to borrow their new fruit picker. Steve mounted it on a very long piece of PVC pipe. The basket has a sponge in the base, so the fruit is cushioned a bit. Ken handled the picker. I got out the ladder and tackled trimming the grapefruit tree.
Working overhead stresses both of us, so we took breaks. We worked on our trip planning for France. We were feeling really good about the progress we had made when suddenly, the Excel file we had been working with just vanished! We looked everywhere: Excel's recovery files, Dropbox versions of similar files, the recycle bin, to no avail. Somehow our masterpiece had gone up into cyberspace, never to return. That is really discouraging after all the work we had put into it, but recreating it should not take quite as long.
Our work on the fruit trees led to heaps of grapefruit and some oranges and piles of grapefruit tree trimmings. We put the branches out by the street, and tomorrow they will magically vanish to the city's green waste. Now we have to figure out how to deal with the superfluity of grapefruit.
Late this afternoon we finally got around to taking our bike ride. We stayed in Green Gate Grove and the neighboring park to get some shelter from the wind. We made eight miles in our hour of riding. Tomorrow it will be cooler again, with a high of 54° and a 30% chance of rain, so we'll probably walk.
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Wednesday, February 25, 2015
Dancing
We went to Joe Saltel's C-1 dance this evening. We were surprised to see Mike and Bonnie come in. She had been to her cardiologist today and was told to resume normal activities (despite still having a small aortic aneurysm). It was good to see them back dancing. Jan and Steve decided not to come to the dance. His back was just too painful. He's planning to get a spinal injection tomorrow. He got one in his knee yesterday. Darn getting old!
We walked this morning and biked this afternoon. In between we did some trip planning. We are making real progress, but we need to get some things pinned down soon.
We haven't seen Jean around much at all. She's been busy with her hiking group. Even though she can't hike, she's been able to do a lot with them. She'll be moving to Bill and Bev's house tomorrow to house sit for a week.
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Tuesday, February 24, 2015
Randy Workshop
We got up early this morning and headed to the mall to walk before going on the Pharr South for Randy's C-2 workshop. As usual, he found plenty to work us on, including some rather unusual positions/calls that he admitted other callers were unlikely to call. Someone at the table said, "That's what we do around here. Obscure." Some of it we learn from, but some just leaves us scratching our heads.
We ate our packed lunch with Tim and Gayle and Dick and Mary Ann. Then we went back to the mall to finish our walk and do some shopping at Dillards. Ken was interested in checking out Ecco shoes, but didn't find anything.
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Monday, February 23, 2015
New Shanghai Circus
Despite the cold and rain, Jean's hiking group all made it to South Padre Island today. Some of them even hiked along the beach, although Jean had suggested that walking inland would offer some protection from the wind. They had a good lunch, but the sunset dolphin watching cruise was cancelled on account of the weather.
Jean and two of her friends, Mary and Kay, got a consolation prize of sorts: they were able to attend the New Shanghai Circus this evening (offered as part of the McAllen Community Concert Series). The Chinese acrobats were amazing. They are all young, fit, talented, graceful--and at least one is double jointed! They got lots of applause from an appreciative audience.
Today we spent some time planning our trip to France and defrosting the refrigerator/freezer. In between we walked around the park, wearing our coats and hats and gloves and hoping it wouldn't rain. It was definitely cold, wet, and windy. Yuck. Read more!
Sunday, February 22, 2015
Citrus
We had breakfast with our friends this morning as usual. Rosie's is getting even more popular. The parking lot was filling up by 8:30 a.m. when we arrived. We had eleven in our group and were lucky to get a large enough table.
We filled in the holes in the back yard today and cleaned up the fruit that Ken picked earlier. Everything seems to be covered with a fine black soot. We are worried that our trees may have problems, like maybe citrus greening disease. We're going to call the ag extension tomorrow to have them checked. We also have to borrow a picker to get the fruit from higher up on the trees. The trees need more pruning too, especially the grapefruit tree. It's a good thing the fruit is yummy!
Jean left early this morning and came home nearly twelve hours later. She was very happy with the day her hiking group enjoyed today. Tomorrow they are going to South Padre Island and are scheduled to take the sunset dolphin cruise. However, the forecast calls for wind and a 50% chance of rain tomorrow. We are getting the edge of the great arctic cold front hitting tonight.
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Saturday, February 21, 2015
Heat!
Friday, February 20, 2015
Dancing, Shopping, Queen Latifah!
We managed a short bike ride this morning before an early lunch and heading out for Darryl's C-2 at Our Savior Lutheran. Jean rode with us to meet up with Jan and Steve at the dance. Darryl called the first three tips at class level, so many of the C-2 students came.
On the way in, we found the entry room filled with the church rummage sale. Of course the sale had started this morning, so there wasn't much to pick through. They did have a good supply of patterns and craft items for people into those things.
At the beginning of the dance, we had ten squares plus three couples. After the students left, we had eight squares. Our squares did pretty well. Darryl played around some more with crazy triangles. The outside triangles are easy to see, but somehow the inside ones are less clear, especially when we were reshaping the triangles.
After the dance we went shopping. First we went to Sprouts and then Costco, where we spent some time drooling over the electronics. We were especially impressed by the hybrid tablet laptops.
After trying some of the samples, we headed over to the mall. Ken was hoping to find some Ecco shoes at Macy's, but it turns out they don't sell them in the stores--just online. Ecco is one of the brands of walking shoes that Rick Steves recommends. Then on to Target to pick up two more prescriptions for Ken.
When we got home it was 5:30 p.m. and we just had time to put the food away and get supper together before going over to the hall for the Friday night movie. Tonight the movie was Last Holiday with Queen Latifah. The movie is very predictable, but Queen Latifah is a lot of fun and the audience had some good laughs..
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Thursday, February 19, 2015
Dinner by Jean
We didn't do a lot today. Ken was feeling a bit under the weather, so he took a nap while I managed to get through some of the paperwork waiting for us to tackle.
We took a walk in the morning and s short bike ride in the afternoon. We stopping in at Pony Express propane to talk with them about being passed over by the propane truck yesterday. Tomorrow we should get propane.
Jean brought her extra large crock pot to the Valley. Today she made some delicious chicken taco soup for our dinner. It's even a Weight Watchers recipe. I went on the web to look up the recipe and found lots of variations. We have some leftovers in the fridge now, and I'm sure I'll be making it in the future. We do have a crock pot, but I forget to use it.
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Wednesday, February 18, 2015
Back to Dancing
It's been a week since we danced, but I'm finally feeling good again. Jean joined us and we picked up Steve and Jan and headed to Tropic Star to dance to Joe Saltel. As we approached the hall, we began to wonder if we would make it. A major accident had traffic at a near standstill. We saw lots of flashing lights but couldn't really tell what had happened. We're hoping no one was badly hurt. We were able to pull into the center turn lane and inch forward until we reached the hall.
As usual, Joe called a great dance. Jean got lots of hugs and greetings. Everyone has missed her. While we danced, she set her computer up and got online with her Jetpack, which just hasn't been connecting in our Texas room. Sue and Arnie were there. He's growing a beard (to avoid cutting himself shaving, since he's taking high powered blood thinners). Sue got him an electric shaver, but then decided that she really liked the beard.
Bill and Bev will be leaving on their trip to Iceland the end of this month and have offered Jean the use of their house while they're gone. That will work out well for both of them. The Kramers will have a house sitter, and Jean will have a house to herself in Pharr South, which is where she usually stays.
Earlier in the day we went to Target Pharmacy and picked up our prescriptions. It was a really good experience to get just what the doctor ordered and to deal with friendly, helpful people. I asked about getting smaller bottles to take our prescriptions to France, and they offered to make them up for us while we shopped. Nice folks!
We walked for half an hour today and later rode our bikes for half an hour, which is three laps of Green Gate Grove. There wasn't much traffic, so we were able to average over 10 mph, which is pretty high for our Electra Townies, with their foot forward design. They are built for comfort, not speed.
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Tuesday, February 17, 2015
Michigan Cherry Light Roast Coffee
That's what we woke up to this morning, the aroma of Meijer Gold gourmet flavored coffee that Jean brought for us. Delish.
Fortunately Ken's lab test this morning did not require fasting, so he could enjoy the coffee and breakfast before we headed to the doctor's office. Afterward we went shopping again. Our bottom sheet had somehow managed to shred in too large an area to patch. We found a set we liked at Ross.
Jean joined us for dinner tonight. She provided the table decor and the margaritas.
Jean made the cleverly designed wine glass lampshades this afternoon at the clubhouse. Sandy Walenter provided the materials and the artistic expertise. The "lampshades" are made of vellum, and can be decorated any way you wish. Jean used rubber stamps which she colored in. The edges of the shades are cut with fancy scrap-booking scissors. The shades are set atop wine glasses, and battery powered tea lights provide the soft, flickering light. After dinner, Jean left one for us to keep. Thanks, Jean!
I'm definitely feeling better, but I leaned on Ken to wash the dishes after dinner. He takes such good care of me. Read more!
Monday, February 16, 2015
Jean Is in the Valley!
Our friend Jean arrived this afternoon, after a couple of long days driving south from Indianapolis. She got here just in time for the north wind from the approaching cold front to blow her south. She encountered low visibility and bits of debris being blown at her car. We don't know if she believed us that we had the air conditioners on earlier today.
She brought along a much appreciated gift, some of her son Bill's great beer. He has a microbrewery in Indy called Daredevil. Its motto is "Aggressively Fun." We've enjoyed sampling Bill's beers over the last few years, some from before he opened his brewery. All delicious.
We are so glad to have Jean with us, and we're hoping that her ankle will continue to heal well.
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Sunday, February 15, 2015
New Glasses
We went to Costco today to pick up our new glasses. We are both pleased with them (and will post photos later).
Other than that, I didn't do much. I thought I was getting better, but then this evening got congested and sneezy. Fortunately, it doesn't take much energy to watch Downton Abbey and Grantchester, our Sunday evening treats.
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Saturday, February 14, 2015
Quiet Day
I'm still not feeling well, so we didn't go to Darryl's C-2 class today. Jan is sick too, so she sent Steve alone to the class. I'm beginning to feel lazy, but if I try to do too much, I just get dizzy and exhausted, so I'm letting Ken take care of me some.
He finished patching and painting the holes in the plaster in the Texas room, so that looks really nice now. The clothes hanger bracket was moved over to a nearby stud, so it's very secure now.
The big move today was getting a round oak table for the Texas room. We've been looking for one for some time. What we really wanted was a light oak round table with a butterfly leaf, like the one that Steve and Jan have in their Texas room. We even went to the furniture store where they bought theirs, only to find out that the manufacturer has discontinued the light oak finish. We looked around town and didn't find anything.
So yesterday when we stopped by the clubhouse to check out the Friday night movie, I was interested to see that someone in the park had a table for sale: "Make me an offer I can't refuse." We stopped by to see the table. It's very nice and will be perfect for the Texas room. Unfortunately the leaf is not a butterfly leaf, so we will have to store it behind the sofa. We paid for the table, which was on the patio, and said we'd be back in the next day or two with friends to pick it up. Today we got our neighbor Rich to help. He graciously left his own remodeling project to help us move the table. Thanks, Rich! The chairs we already had match it perfectly. Score! It looks much better than the plastic patio table that was in there before.
Aunt Iris called tonight. She and Beth are back in Florida. She said that Janice's funeral service was very nice. My uncle Jesse helped to officiate. She stayed with Hazel and said that Hazel is doing well, though her foot is still swollen some.
Terri called. It's really nice that she has a Vonage phone now, so calling Singapore is just like calling across the street. Blake has been in DC the last two weeks but is coming back tonight (well, "tonight" in Singapore, which will be tomorrow here....).
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Friday, February 13, 2015
Under the Weather
Not much to report today. We had planned to take a bike ride this morning, go to Darryl's dance this afternoon, and do some shopping. I just wasn't feeling up to any of it, so we stayed home. We did walk, but other than that I mostly laid around.
Ken went to the Friday night movie at the clubhouse, which was Red 2. He enjoyed it and reported getting a big laugh out of Steve's reply to a woman telling Bruce Willis: " I like you with no hair. Bald men are so sexy. Virile." Steve retorted: "Thank you!"
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Thursday, February 12, 2015
Biking in Green Gate Grove
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
Sofa Sleeper Blues
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
Susan Egan: the Belle of Broadway
This morning we went to Randy’s C-2 workshop. As always, he didn’t have to look far for workshopping material.
This afternoon we biked down to and around the state park, for a total of nearly ten miles.
This evening we went to the Community Concert featuring singer Susan Egan (“the Belle of Broadway”) and pianist Christopher McGovern. We were supposed to pick up Jan and Steve, but unfortunately Steve wasn’t feeling well (and Jan wasn’t feeling much better), so they decided to skip the concert.
We hadn’t heard of Susan Egan before, so we didn’t know what to expect. From the very first moment, we were caught up in the songs, stories, and humor of a very talented vocalist and an equally talented pianist, arranger, and director. Egan began her career on Broadway, where she was the original Belle in Beauty and the Beast. In addition to years of starring roles in musical theater on Broadway, she has also acted in film and television and been a voice actor for many of Disney’s memorable films. She sang songs from the musicals she has appeared in and also wove in some of the story of her life as an artist, highlighted by some less familiar but humorous songs.
The audience was wowed by the performance tonight. It was one of the best we have ever attended in the McAllen Community Concert series. We were sorry that Jan and Steve missed it, but Ken bought a CD of her earlier Live! Performance of a few years ago, so they are looking forward to listening to that. Read more!
Monday, February 9, 2015
Company's Coming
We got a message from Jean today. She has decided to leave Indy on Sunday and expects to arrive here on Tuesday. That gave us some motivation to get some work done preparing the Texas room for visitors. One of her friends, Mary, will join her for the hiking week, February 21-27. We are really excited about having Jean with us.
We've been steadily eating fruit from our citrus trees, but there's plenty left. This photo shows why grapefruit is called "grape" fruit!
We biked down to the park again today. It was another warm sunny day that inspired the thought that days just don't come any more lovely. We biked twice around the loop, making a total ride of about ten miles. And yes, our butts did notice the longer ride. We're trying to toughen them up for the longer rides we'll be doing for the bike and barge trip in France. While we were in the park, I got a text from John and Sandy. They're up in the frigid north babysitting for grandchildren while their parents take a vacation. We are looking forward to seeing them back in the Valley Thursday evening. They will be happy to leave the cold and the white stuff on the ground behind!
Tonight we went to Darryl's C-2 workshop at TVA. He called some unfamiliar applications of the "Crazy" concept with inside and outside triangles. He also did some crazy circulates specifying a given number of circulates for each part of the call. Our square fumbled a bit at first, but then we caught on. At the table between tips, we talked with Hardy and Judy and Bob and Marilyn. It was an engineering table for sure (Bob in mechanical, Hardy in electrical, and Ken in aeronautical engineering).
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Sunday, February 8, 2015
Breakfast and Biking
As usual we had breakfast with our friends at Rosie’s. We
had a small group this morning, just Bob and Pat, Hardy and Judy, and us, but
we found plenty to talk about.
Saturday, February 7, 2015
Back on the Bikes
This morning we went to Darryl's C-2 lesson, which just for today was held at Twin Lakes, where some of our dancers live. Our usual venue was being used for a rummage sale. The room was a bit crowded, but we were grateful to have a place to dance.
Steve and Jan joined us afterward for lunch at the Subway around the corner. They were getting ready to leave on a trip to Rockport to meet up with some friends for a couple of days. We headed over to Costco to order our glasses and get some groceries. Now we just have to wait a week or two for the glasses to come in.
After we put the food away, we headed out on the bikes. This time instead of riding in the state park, we took the bike path for a way before deciding to turn around because it was quite bumpy. We rode through Retama and stopped to chat with Stuart and Lynn. Stuart was regenerating their water softener and showing Lynn how to do it. He showed us the microbeads that are the heart of the system. Then we rode through Bentsen Palm Village and reminisced about friends we made there who have since quit coming to the Valley.
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Friday, February 6, 2015
Darryl Dance
We walked in the park again today, since it's still cool and overcast. This afternoon we went to Darryl's C-2 dance, where we faced some real challenges in the Challenge 2 choreography Darryl offered.
Afterward we did some grocery shopping, dropped off a UPS package, and headed home for dinner (leftover West African Chicken and Peanut Stew over quinoa--yum!). Meanwhile we did some laundry.
One of our main concerns right now is getting ready for our trip this summer. Ken is reading through the pre-trip information on the bike and barge tour and sharing tidbits with me, like "Don't bring large suitcases on board" and "the fitter you are the more easily you will adjust and enjoy yourself." So we have our marching orders--or is that cycling orders?
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Thursday, February 5, 2015
Confirmed
Happy 80th birthday to Richard Hurzeler. I first met him when I arrived in Nacogdoches in the fall of 1976. He was a professor of anthropology at Stephen F. Austin State University, and I was a brand new academic librarian there. He reached out to me and invited the family over to his home for Thanksgiving dinner. That was nearly forty years ago.
We got our confirmation today that we are booked on our bike and barge trip starting July 25. Yay! So we went ahead and booked flights. We'll be flying out of Cleveland to Nice on July 8 and returning from Paris to Cleveland on August 3. As usual, it took us quite a while to check out all the available flight options and settle on one. Some of the trip times were very long, or the layovers were too short for comfort.
Now we have to find suitable travel insurance, which is required by the tour company through which we booked the bike and barge trip. And of course we have plenty of itinerary decisions and hotel reservations to make. That will be enough to keep us busy for a while.
Today was cool and overcast. We bundled up to walk around the park and reminded ourselves not to complain-the weather could be much worse!
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Wednesday, February 4, 2015
Another Birthday
Today is my nephew Jeff's birthday. Happy birthday, Jeff!
It was mostly overcast and cool so we just walked in the park. Just as a small bonus, the sun came out briefly as we were finishing our second walk.
This evening we went to Joe Saltel's C-1 dance. We had seven squares plus two spares. Joe's mom is still taking the money at the door. Mom visits every year. This year Joe's first grandchild and family are also visiting, but they haven't come to the Wednesday night dance yet. Maybe next week. We'd love to see that cute grandbaby. We stopped on the way home for food and fuel, so we were late getting home and even later getting to bed.
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Tuesday, February 3, 2015
Freezing
No, the weather here isn’t exactly freezing, though it is cold and depressingly rainy. The actual freezing took place during Ken’s visit to his dermatologist today. She froze a few areas on his face and scalp and then removed a very small dark mole for biopsy and just to be on the safe side, since he’s had a melanoma.
We also danced this morning with Randy. We had three squares and three spares, not a good number, but Randy kept things moving. He’s always stretching our capabilities to the limit—and beyond—but we always learn something too.
After the dance we ate our packed lunch with some other dancers who stick around for the afternoon C-1 session. We left after lunch and went to Costco, where we looked at glasses frames. They are offering Essilor progressives but not the Varilux Comfort. We found frames we like, and their prices are much lower than at the place we had our exams done. So now we have some choices to make.
We walked indoors at the mall on the way home, much drier and warmer than walking outside, and the crowds weren't too bad this afternoon.
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Monday, February 2, 2015
Bike and Barge, Redux
We called today to make a reservation for the Loire Valley trip on the Anna Maria IV starting July 25. Annika seemed quite sure that space was available. We expect to hear from her tomorrow. Then we can start making other plans and arrangements. We think it's actually going to happen.
We walked this morning, but by the time to take our afternoon walk it was cold and drizzly and we were busy with paperwork, so we missed our second walk.
Tonight we went to Darryl's C-2 dance. We had eight squares plus three extra couples. We were out one tip, but otherwise had good squares and lots of fun.
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Super Sunday
We started the day with our usual Sunday morning breakfast with friends at Rosie's. Carol joined us again, and she had invited Ray and Pierrette. We haven't seen them in a while but we used to dance with them regularly at Joe's Wednesday morning Advanced dance.
Afterward we stopped to do some quick grocery shopping, including picking up some zucchinis and yellow squash for a summer squash casserole we took to the Super Bowl party. Once we got the food put away, we headed out on our bikes and rode down to the state park and around the outside loop, which makes a nice one hour bike ride. We actually saw an Altamira Oriole, Cardinal, and Great Kiskadee at the feeders by the Nature Center on the way out. That was a real treat because we've been seeing mainly LBBs and mockingbirds.
We made our casserole in a 9 x 12 pan. To keep it warm and protected on the way to the party, we put on the plastic cover and put it in a Styrofoam cooler. There was extra room in the cooler, so I stashed a couple of other things, including a lightweight plastic bowl and lid. Definitely a mistake-- when we opened the cooler we found a melted puddle vaguely shaped like a bowl. It went straight in the recycle bin.
As usual, G.W. and David threw a great Super Bowl party with lots of good food and good company. As for watching the game, probably half of the folks spent more time playing cards and visiting rather then focused on the TV. I don't think anyone was too invested in which team won, but it was a good game. The halftime show was more over-the-top spectacle than musical entertainment.
When all the dust had settled, Bill Kramer won the pool, We're not sure if the Kramers will host Super Bowl 2016 or if the party will be at G.W. and David's again. They have a great house for entertaining. Read more!