C-1 Lessons With Friends

It's way better than Words With Friends: everybody wins. We all have our brains challenged, learn new things, get some exercise, and have plenty of laughs with our friends (sometimes it's even more fun when you flub). Darryl's Saturday morning C-1 lessons extend into the afternoon, with a break for something to eat. For the last couple of weeks, we've had the additional interest of browsing the contributions to La Hacienda's annual rummage sale. The sale itself is next weekend, and so far no alternate location has been found, so we're uncertain whether we'll be able to have this much fun next Saturday.

We spent some more time trying to do some trip planning. The next bike and barge sailing of the trip we asked for is July 25. We called Vantage Travel, and we're considering one of their river cruises, but we haven't made up our minds... Read more!

Mexico!

We went to Mexico with the gang again today, which meant missing Darryl's C-2 dance. This morning some of the folks went to Darryl's Friday morning A-2 dance from 10-12, so we agreed to meet at Pancho's Bar around 12:30 or 1:00 p.m. Unfortunately that meant that we were too late to get tables together for the group, but we were able to do that at El Rancho Grande Restaurant where we ate lunch afterward.

Some of the people in the group were ones we have danced with a lot in the past, but not recently because they are primarily C-1 dancers and don't come to Joe Saltel's Wednesday evening dance, which is the only C-1 dance we usually attend. It was nice to chat with old friends. In the bar we sat with Hardy and Judy, so we got a chance to hear their tale of woe. Judy had gone in for some follow-up blood testing of her thyroid levels and found the doctor's office closed. Meanwhile, Steve and Jan didn't make the trip to Mexico because they had their initial physical for the Medicare Advantage plan they just joined. It started at 9:00 and was supposed to last three hours, but it ran overtime. Not that they are missing out on Mexico fun: they took some visiting friends over earlier this week.

We got a rather disappointing email message today from the travel outfit. The bike and barge trip we tried to sign up for is full, and so are all the other sailings until the end of July, which won't work for us, so we're back to the drawing board.

We did get one hopeful communication today, a letter offering us AT&T U-verse service. We are not sure it's actually available at our address, but we'll check tomorrow.

This morning we had a 9:00 a.m. appointment at Hammond Vision Center for our annual eye exam and refraction. It was a very thorough exam, and we didn't get out until after noon. We had forgotten that we needed to go out and move the truck because the meter was limited to two hours, so we found a parking ticket tucked under a wiper. Fortunately, it was for only $4 if it was paid by 5:00 p.m. tomorrow--all we had to do was put the payment in the envelope and deposit it in one of the yellow payment boxes conveniently distributed on poles on each block.

On the way home after the trip to Mexico, we had to go by the library and return the Alan Turing book. It was not eligible for renewal, so someone else must have seen The Imitation Game and gotten curious about the real story of Alan Turing's life and work. Read more!

Quiet Day

Today was a warm, sunny one. We did some grocery shopping and read parts of Rick Steves France 2015. We know some of the places we want to visit and some things we want to see, but we're interested in what Rick advises. We got some great ideas from reading his books and travel websites when we visited Jeff in Germany. Meanwhile we got an email from Worldwide Expeditions advising that they will let us know by tomorrow if our trip reservation is confirmed. Read more!

Biking and Boats

We finally settled on a bike and barge trip and filled out the online form, so now we have a "tentative booking" and should know for sure within 48 hours. The trip we signed up for is eight nights in the Loire Valley, but starting and ending in Paris.

Meanwhile, we biked down to the state park and around the outside loop, which makes about an hour long ride. We were reminded that although there are no hills around here, there are definite rises. As you can see, it was another lovely warm sunny day.

This evening we went to Joe's C-1 dance. Hardy and Judy were there. Steve and Jan have friends in town, so they haven't been dancing this week. Read more!

Challenge Dancing, Challenge Biking?

We drove over to Pharr South for Randy's C-2 workshop this morning, arriving early so that we could do some of our walking around the park there. The workshop was challenging--as usual. We had three squares and three out couples, never a great situation.

This afternoon we headed out on our bikes. It was 79° and sunny. We rode around Bentsen Grove and Bentsen Grove West. Lots of people were out and about, and we saw tree trimming going on. One heap of branches by the curb looked like nearly a whole orange tree--including the oranges.

We are planning to take a bike and barge trip in France this summer. Daily biking will average over 30 miles, and the terrain is not perfectly flat. We really need to start getting in shape for that kind of challenge. There aren't any hills around here, but we will start to take longer rides. Read more!

Sunshine and Dancing

We enjoyed a lovely sunny day today and then a Darryl C-2 dance this evening. Well, I say we enjoyed the dance, and we did enjoy most of it. But one tip in particular was excruciating. We spent more time looking at the wreck of our square than we did dancing, mainly because we had a lot of trouble trying to restore offsets in parallelogram formations.

It's very frustrating to actually have some idea what to do, but not be able to think it through in time to actually execute it properly in real time. Multiply that by eight dancers and you have a formula for a square so bad there's nothing to do but laugh at yourself after a bit. Carl suggested that we should have charged for the entertainment that we must have afforded the people who were watching.

We did enjoy talking with friends, and surely we'll do better next time! Read more!

Happy 5th Birthday, Jesse!

Jesse is five today. I tried to FaceTime with him this morning, but the connection was poor. They could see me, but I couldn't see them, darn it! His cousin Jolynn shares his birthday and spent the night. She is turning sweet sixteen. They had a joint birthday party at Nana and Papa John's house.

Edward, Jesse, and Jolynn

Julie posted this photo with the caption "My Cool J"!

We mostly had a quiet day today. We did get out on the bikes for an hour, and we watched Downton Abbey (what else???). Read more!

More C-2

Today we went to another of Darryl's C-2 lessons at La Hacienda. On the schedule, it's listed as running from 10:00 a.m. to noon, but Darryl doesn't stop there. We take a break for lunch, and then go back to dancing until 1:30 p.m. This time around, it's much clearer than it was when we went through lessons a year ago. Darryl has some great tips, and we probably heard some of them last year but weren't ready to understand and remember all of them. I'm hoping that this time around more will stick.

After the class we went grocery shopping and then for a walk for an hour. We went to our neighboring park, Bentsen Grove, just to see some new scenery.

After dinner we watched the first episode of Grantchester, a new Masterpiece Mystery series. It was engaging, and we're looking forward to the rest of the six-part series. Read more!

Windy Walking

Today is my granddaughter Kelley's 27th birthday. Happy birthday, Kelley! She texted me that she got her very first massage today. What a nice way to celebrate.

Steve came by this morning with his Dremel tool and engraved our new propane tank with our names. He also looked at our sagging shed door and suggested that we probably need to have a new one made. Oh, the joys of being a property owner. Ken replaced the broken spring cartridge on our toilet, which is now working properly again. Another small success in the do it yourself arena.

This afternoon we went to Darryl's C-2 dance. He confused us mightily with "initially initially"; fortunately he cued it, but it still hung up in my brain a couple of times.

After the dance we went to the state park to do our walking for the day. Once around the outer loop road makes a one-hour hike (plus time spent admiring the birds). We saw mostly flocks of very active LBBs, but we also spotted some cardinals, chachalacas, green jays, mockingbirds, and the ever present grackles. The park makes a very good place to walk on a windy day like today because the trees provide a good windbreak. The weather was decidedly cooler today, but the sun was shining, the sky was blue, and the birds were chattering, so it was a good walk.



After dinner Ken went over to the clubhouse for the weekly Friday night movie, The Hundred-Foot Journey. I gave it a pass, hoping to catch up on some of my blogging and things. Read more!

Remembering George

This afternoon we attended a " Meeting of Friends/Celebration of Life gathering" for our friend, George Hemphill. We met George when we came to the RGV in 2008 at a square dance, and we danced with him and Zeta for the next few years, until Zeta succumbed to cancer and then George had health issues that kept him from dancing.

We did stay in touch with George, because he regularly joined our Sunday morning breakfast group. He was quite a character, outgoing and a bit quirky. He always wore his western hat. One of the wait staff at Mi Challitas, Jessica, would take his hat and wear it around the restaurant while George ate and bring it back when he was ready to leave. George enjoyed flirting with the young ladies. A year ago, he moved to an assisted living facility, where he got three meals a day, so we hadn't seen him for a while, but our friends Hardy and Judy and Steve and Jan were still in touch with him.

The gathering today was well attended. George's son Rick and his stepson Jamey talked about their dad. We learned a lot we hadn't known about our friend. Some of the people in attendance volunteered their thoughts and memories too. Our friend Jim Booth is a strong Ohio State fan, and George (who lived in Eugene, Oregon) was a great Ducks fan. They had a friendly rivalry and bet on the games. What was at stake was wearing the winning team's tee-shirt to two square dances. George ended up hating that Ohio State shirt!

[photos later]

After the gathering Steve and Jan joined us at Costco. They are Sam's Club members and were curious about Costco. They were impressed by the selection and the wide clean aisles. We got our favorite La Brea Bakery bread and some other groceries and headed home for dinner. Read more!

Busy Day

Today is my niece Bernice's 40th birthday. Happy birthday, Bernice!

We spent the day in the usual way: walking, doing laundry, catching up on a few to-do's. Ken removed an unneeded post from the back yard. I glued together the broken pieces of a turn signal lens on one of the truck mirrors.

This evening we went to Joe Saltel's C-1 dance. More and more people are showing up in the Valley. His mom was taking the money again. Read more!

Happy Birthday, Edward!

Today is Ed's 47th birthday. He had to celebrate the day partly by working all day, darn it, but a crowd of well-wishing friends sent him birthday greetings on Facebook. He used his Amazon gift certificate to get a new fancy 10th anniversary edition of Ticket to Ride. I'm sure it's even more fun to play with the larger trains that come in their own little tins. Enjoy, Ed!

We went to Pharr South today to Randy's C-2 workshop. Today was the warmest, sunniest day we've seen in weeks, and we enjoyed our walks outdoors. Read more!

Propane Success

This morning we took the propane hose over for Steve to look at. He had a locking wrench and was able to get the sections apart, after which it was relatively easy to set up the new tank. When the Pony Express truck came by, the owner happened to be on the truck along with a new employee he was training. We were able to get our questions answered and the new tank filled. Success! Now we won't have to deal with the 40 lb. tanks, at least not as often. One of them is still attached to the other side of the regulator from the 100 lb. tank, so we'll use it when the 100 lb. tank is empty until it can be filled again.

Today was a pretty day, and we enjoyed the sunshine during our walks. We did some trip planning (still trying to zero in on a bike and barge trip). I talked with Aunt Iris. She and Beth are doing well.

We started a "Family Library"--Amazon's term for a new program to allow a household of two adults and up to four children to share Kindle books. Each person has separate "furthest page read" and highlights and notes. We agree with CNET's question, though: "Now could we just get some decent e-book organization tools, Amazon?"

This evening we went to Darryl's C-2 workshop, where we had eight squares and lots of dancing fun. Afterward, we stopped at the nearby recycle bins, where we were able to recycle a lot of plastic. There were bins for paper too, but not for glass or tin cans. We'll have to take those elsewhere. Read more!

Alice? Alice Who?

We went to Rosie's for breakfast this morning as usual. Carol joined the gang, so we had nine at table.

Some of us were planning to attend the Sharyland High School performance of Alice in Wonderland this afternoon. Carol and Rich had been to see the show, and she noted that it is Alice in Wonderland "With a Twist." She also mentioned that Rich was talking about seeing it again. That piqued our curiosity.

Steve and Jan picked us up to go to the play this afternoon, and we met Bob and Pat there. To say that it was an unusual interpretation is an understatement. The familiar elements are there: a little girl in a blue dress, a rabbit in a perpetual hurry, the Cheshire Cat, the Mad Hatter, Humpty Dumpty, etc. The familiar part ends there. We actually see two Alices, as Alice falls into the rabbit hole and finds herself in a dark, insane world. She searches for her identity amidst the cacophony and confusion. The music is modern, with dueling rappers. The entire performance is high energy, and these kids clearly have talent and heart.



The other thing we worked on today was the new propane tank. Chuck helped us get it out of the truck and set up under the overhang, near the on-board propane tanks.

We had a problem getting the hose attached to the regulator. Our friend Steve looked at the fittings and showed us where they were supposed to be taken apart. This might have been clearer and easier if Mr. G's hadn't tightened that joint so tightly that we couldn't get it apart. Read more!

Dancing and Stars

No, not quite the same as Dancing with the Stars! We went to Darryl's C-2 class at La Hacienda. We had four squares, including new students, some of last year's students (like us) and some more experienced angels. It was very helpful to go over the calls with explanations and walk through, so we actually learned a lot. Some of the explanations made more sense this time around, since we've had some experience dancing the level. Unfortunately Ken tripped over someone's shoe in a square and twisted, which hurt his back. He used a heating pad a couple of times and is feeling better tonight.

This evening I went with Jan and Steve to Hardy's star program at the state park. He gave a talk inside first, with some slides and some examples of telescopes. Then we went outside to try to see the conjunction of Venus and Mercury. The clouds and light pollution made some things difficult for me to see, but Venus definitely stood out brightly, and I think I saw Mercury using binoculars. I was having a lot more trouble seeing stars than other people were, so I guess my eyesight is definitely dimming. Read more!

Another Busy Day

We went to Darryl's dance this afternoon. We had eight squares and lots of fun (and plenty of flubs--but hey, we learned something).

Afterwards we did some grocery shopping, stopped at Best Buy for Ken to pick up a new camera, and went to the library to renew our library cards and pick up a book about Alan Turing. Tonight Ken is watching the next Planet of the Apes movie at the clubhouse. I decided to pass and try to catch up on my blog posts and other to-do items.

We got to walk outside again today and even enjoyed some sunshine. Yay! Read more!

SAXsational!

The highlight of the day was the Community Concert featuring SAXsational!, an unusual program featuring Rob Verdi. He's a saxophone aficionado who has a large collection of unusual saxophones, from the tiny to the huge--even a slide sax. He was a founding member of the Side Street Strutters Jazz Band, featured at Disneyland for 22 years. (He promised not to play "It's a Small World" tonight.) He did play a selection of twenties and thirties jazz, using a different instrument for each piece. In addition to the music we were treated to some historical information about the saxophone, plus some humor that had the hall laughing and applauding.

For the second half of the program, he was accompanied by the Sharyland High School Honor Band. They were terrific, and we all agreed the night was one of the most entertaining ever in the Community Concert series. Steve and Jan rode with us, so we got a chance to catch up a bit. They've been busy with their daughter Cheryl's visit, so we hadn't seen them for a while.

Our mission earlier today was to buy a 100 lb. propane tank with hose and fittings from Mr. G's Propane. Now all we have to do is get it home and install it. Fortunately since it's brand new and has never had propane in it, it's safe to transport lying down in the truck bed. On the way home we mailed a wedding present for Jeff and Sabrina. The clerk at the post office tried her best to up-sell me, first offering two day delivery for $36.

We stopped by Target to pick up some prescriptions, the first this year with our new insurance. The good news was that the prescriptions were ready. The bad news was that they had charged us full retail, even though we had given them the insurance information. After some delay and apologies, that was straightened out, and I picked up a Target gift card for a birthday present.



Read more!

Propane, Again

We woke up this morning to a cold house an two empty propane tanks. We have noticed a couple of fifth wheels with larger 100 lb. propane tanks, and on our walk today we stopped to talk with the owners of one, Tom and Melinda. They were happy to show us their setup.

We've been looking at ideas for a trip to France this summer. Today we decided to go ahead and buy Rick Steves France 2015, so of course we turned to Amazon and soon had a copy guaranteed to arrive Friday (thanks to Prime free two day shipping). We're hoping to get some tips on selecting barge trips.

We had maple banana quinoa for breakfast this morning--a new recipe I found on the web that both of us liked. I'm always looking for variations on hot cereal to keep things interesting, plus looking for ways to get more protein into our breakfasts.

Tonight we went to Joe Saltel's C-1 dance at Tropic Star. The hall there has a nice wood floor, but it has no heat. Half the floor were wearing coats and even some gloves and hats. Even getting warmed up dancing didn't make me take my coat off. Joe's mom was there. She comes every year for a visit. His granddaughter had her first birthday, and we saw photos of her with her birthday cake, a giant cupcake larger than her!

When we got home, we had hot chocolate and toast to warm up.

Read more!

Dancing and Doctor

We started the day walking at the mall on our way to Randy's C-2 workshop. He can always find plenty of workshop material to keep the floor challenged (or should I say sometimes pretty confused in my case). After the dance we stayed in the hall and ate lunch along with some of the other dancers. They were staying for the afternoon dance.

We were headed to the RGV Retina Specialists for my checkup with Dr. Vann. It was another hurry up and wait. First I waited to check in. Then I waited to be called. Then after some testing by an assistant, my eyes were dilated and we were sent to another waiting room. Finally we were called to an exam room to wait for Dr. Vann. He looked over the report and retinal photos from my August visit to the Casey Eye Institute. He says my eyes are pretty much stable but that I need new glasses. He recommended Hammond Vision Center in McAllen, so we stopped by there and made appointments.

We also stopped at Costco to finish our walk and pick up a few things. Can't be out of our favorite La Brea Bakery bread for too long! Read more!

Congratulations Newlyweds, Jeff and Sabrina!

The surprise news today is that Jeff and Sabrina decided to get married at the county courthouse. They will go on a Hawaiian honeymoon in May. Congratulations to the newlyweds and best wishes for a long and happy life together!

We stopped by on our afternoon walk to see Hardy and Judy. They have returned from their Caribbean cruise with lots of nice photos and stories from their trip. They came to Darryl's dance tonight, but John is not feeling well, so Sandy says they probably won't be dancing this week.

I went online to look for a book about Alan Turing at the McAllen Public Library. That's how we found out that our library cards have expired and we'll have to stop by one of the library branches with our driver licenses and a piece of mail we've received in the last 30 days. Hmmm, we just don't get much mail addressed to us in Mission, and we sure don't save envelopes! The person I spoke with said that we could show them an online utility bill.

We turned on the NCAA championship game when we got home from the dance. At that point Oregon and Ohio State were neck and neck. Then we watched Ohio State pretty much roll right over Oregon. Our friends Jim and Jane are big OSU fans, so they will be crowing when we see them next. Read more!