Weather is like a broken record around here—repeating day
after day temperatures starting out in the mid-40s, but reaching only the
mid-50s, with overcast skies, some drizzle, and a bit of wind. Ugh! We finally saw the sun for a bit on Friday
afternoon, and then all day Saturday and Sunday. Temperatures on Saturday and
Sunday reached the mid-60s, which was a nice relief. Hopefully the warming
trend will continue for a while.
This was a week of celebrations for us. First, Dick’s alma
mater, The Ohio State University
Buckeyes, won the inaugural college football playoff National Championship game
against the Oregon Ducks, 42:20. The game went late into the night, but Dick
stayed up to watch every last second. He was a happy buckeye!
Friday, Dick and I celebrated our 33rd wedding
anniversary. These days, that’s an accomplishment. We both agreed to sign up
for another 33 years—just too hard to break in someone new. Ha! These are the flowers he surprised me with: they're beautiful--red roses and Oriental lilies--and they smell so good! Thanks, Honey. I love you!
Actually, we did our main celebrating on Saturday night with
12 of our close friends from our RV park, as we dined at Latitude, a local
restaurant and one of our favorites. Folks dined on shrimp served in various
ways, salmon, oysters, black drum fish, duck and beef burgundy. All this was
followed by lovely desserts: crème brulee, chocolate mousse, and key lime pie. Need
I say, YUM??? Thank you, Larry and Terry, Marvin and Shirley, Steve and Marty,
Mary, Betty, Bob and Sharon, and Bill and Carole for helping us celebrate this
milestone. We’re so very thankful for your friendship.
 |
| Latitude with an "attitude" the evening we had our anniversary dinner there with friends. Terry and Larry, Marvin and Shirley, Bill and Carole, Marty and Steve, Sharon and Bob, Mary, and Betty. Fun times! |
Then…in the NFC Championship game the Seattle Seahawks
stunned the Green Bay Packers, in the 28:22 win in overtime, sending the
Seahawks to the Super Bowl for the second time in as many years. The Seahawks
were looking poorly as the first half ended in a 16:0 deficit. The game was
going the Packers’ way until the 4th quarter when Seahawk’s
quarterback Russell Wilson unleased his mojo to overcome his career-worst 4
interceptions and 5 total Seahawk turnovers to pull out one of the most
remarkable wins in Seahawks history. Now, it’s on to Super Bowl XLIX on
February 1 in Glendale, AZ against the New England Patriots. GO HAWKS!!!
Whew!
 |
| Betty (left) and friend Mary with the cinnamon apple streusel pies. Yum! |
Thursday was a day of running errands: laundry, groceries,
etc. Of course we had to have breakfast from Whataburger beforehand to get our
day started off right—they have a wonderful sausage-egg sandwich that we
thoroughly enjoy. That evening was spent playing Pegs & Jokers with friends
Marvin and Shirley, and Bill and Carole. Unfortunately, ladies, we came out
losing to the guys 3:1. ‘Nuff said. For the first time in a long time we were
able to see countless stars on our walk home from the club house. Beautiful!
Friday, our anniversary, we had lunch at the
clubhouse—hamburgers for $5, and Chef Betty’s wonderful oatmeal raisin cookies. (Notice how so many things here
center around food…?) She also served homemade chicken noodle soup, selling
quarts of it for $3 if anyone was interested. Yup, we were! (It made for a good
Sunday evening dinner as we were watching the Seahawks, so I wouldn’t have to
cook.)
Because we were going out for dinner on
Saturday night, we stayed in Friday night to watch a movie, “All is Lost”.
“All
is Lost,” stars Robert Redford as an aging sailor fighting for survival at
sea (2013). He suffers loss even though he does everything right. Collision with a
wayward shipping container rips a hole in the hull causing water to flood his
sailboat. The bilge pump isn’t working so he uses his hand-bilge pump to remove
the water; then, he sets out to patch the hole. Then, he
finds that the boat’s navigational and communications systems have been
damaged, due to saltwater intrusion as a result of the collision. He tries to
repair the radio but is ultimately unsuccessful. And, when he climbs the mast
to repair an antenna lead, he sees an oncoming tropical storm. He runs before the wind under bare poles for a while, and intends to
bring the boat into a hove-to position, but
when crawling to the bow to hoist the storm jib, he is thrown overboard and only just regains the deck after a long
struggle. The boat capsizes and flips over, and after another 180-degree roll, is
dismasted, and most of the equipment on board destroyed. With the boat badly
holed and sinking, he decides to abandon ship in an inflatable life raft, salvaging whatever he can to survive. This is a story of survival at
its utmost. Does he make it? You’ll need to watch the movie to find out.
Sunday we again attended First Baptist Church of Rockport.
Pastor Jones spoke from Galatians 5:16-26. There were 3 main points: 1) our
lives are in conflict with the Holy Spirit when we live according to our
desires, opposing God; 2) if we walk by the Spirit our words and conduct will
be directed by the Holy Spirit, allowing us to experience the blessing of God’s
presence to the fullest; and 3) our role is to crucify our fleshly desires and
then keep in step with the Holy Spirit through prayer, fasting, repentance and
self-control. Good words… Here’s the link to the message: http://fbcrockport.sermon.net/
After breakfast—and before ice cream and Pegs & Jokers
and the Seahawks game, we walked along Fulton Beach Road for about 45 minutes,
where we saw egrets, blue heron, gulls and ducks. Beautiful day! The Seahawks may
have won, but the ladies went down again: 2:1. Dang… At least we could
celebrate the Hawk’s win!
 |
| Top 3 photos: Great Blue Heron. Bottom 2: a Herring Gull |
 |
| Great White Egrets, a Snowy Egret and a Red Head Duck |
The month of January is officially half over. Unbelievable! Time
is flying by, and even though the weather hasn’t been all that great here in
Texas, we’re still enjoying our time here.
 |
| What we see during our walks along Fulton Beach Road |
 |
| My favorite house along our walk, for sale. |
Well, that’s it for this week. Thanks for sticking with us,
and we hope this finds you well. Until next time, we send you hugs and love.
RJ and Gail
No comments:
Post a Comment