What beautiful week here in the Coastal Bend of Texas. Temps
every day started out in the mid-50s to mid-60s, rising gradually to the mid-
to high 70s by mid-afternoon. Humidity was low, the breezes were light, and the
sun shone brightly, with just a few clouds occasionally flitting by. Perfect.
Monday morning I spent an hour doing Yoga at the clubhouse.
Whew! Starting in March we’ll have 2 classes per week with an instructor, rather than just 1. We can really see how we’ve improved since our first class in January. The
Yoga instructor's studio had a photo competition last week;
participants were to submit photos taken during their classes. We submitted one,
since many of us were wearing the same patterned “Yoga Happy Pants” (sold by friend
Marihelen). We won! Here’ the photo we submitted. Left to right: Marihelen,
Pam, Diane, Sharon, me. Funny!
That afternoon Dick played Texas Hold ‘em for a few hours,
while I worked on the blog and knitted.
I attended Tuesday’s Stitch and Bitch session at 9 a.m. Tuesday
morning. I have 5 baby sweaters on order to make before the end of April, plus
2 as gifts from me, so I’m busy knitting. So, while I knit, Dick walked through
the park and along Fulton Beach Road. After that he worked for a few hours,
then we met at Wii bowling for an hour of fun. What a crazy crew! Four teams of
3 played 3 games, with Dick’s team winning 2 of the 3 games.
Later that day, friend and neighbor Art had a fish fry at
his place, using up just some of the fish he recently caught. We didn’t stay
for the food, but did enjoy the company of friends for a while before we went
to dinner with friends Jerry and Bonnie. Dinner was at Paradise Key, located
just to the south of Rockport, along the water. We noshed on crab cakes, shrimp
Alfredo, and chicken Alfredo. Yum-Yum! No room for dessert that night!
Wednesday morning, after I “sweated to—and with—the oldies”
Dick and I went to breakfast at Whataburger on our way to do laundry. For $6.04
we can get 2 breakfast sausage, egg and cheese sandwiches and 2 senior coffees.
Just the perfect size meal.
When we returned to the park, Dick took a walk through the
park and along Fulton Beach Road where he saw birds, as well as oyster and
shrimp boats.
That evening we attended happy hour and dinner at the clubhouse.
Chef Betty served tossed salad, fried chicken, twice baked potatoes, cooked
carrots, rolls, and bananas Foster. Yum! No one went away hungry!
Dick returned to the clubhouse that evening to play Texas
Hold ‘em for a couple hours. I stayed home to knit.
5:30 came early Thursday morning, when we got up to get
ready for our trip to Progreso, Mexico for the day. Eleven of us piled into 3
cars and headed out at 7 a.m. for the 3½ hour trip. Progreso is located just
across the border from Harlingen, Texas, and is one of the safest border towns
in Mexico. We stopped at Whataburger in Kingsville, Texas for breakfast,
arriving to Progresso about 11 a.m.
Although you can drive into Mexico, we opt to park on the US
side and walk across the bridge, crossing the Rio Grande into Mexico. For $2
the parking fee can’t be beat! There’s also a $.50 fee at the border to walk across into
Mexico.
Once in Progreso, you’re greeted by locals soliciting your
business, for pharmacias, dentists, and
optometrists. There are dozens of pharmacies, dentists, and eye care offices
lining the streets—crazy! Many folks, including Winter Texans cross into Mexico
to buy their medicines there, as they’re a lot cheaper than in the US. And…no prescription
is necessary. They also have their dental work done in Progreso; most of the dentists
have received their training in the States, so their work is really quite good. Here again, the price is usually
less than 1/3 the cost of having work done in the US.
Shopping is the main activity of Winter Texans in Progreso.
Vendors line the streets selling their wares: Mexican arts and crafts, clothing,
leather goods, jewelry, pottery, glassware…the list goes on. Two “super stores”
(The Canada Store and El Super Disco) are located within 2 blocks of the border,
offering food, liquor, medicines, clothing, housewares, Mexican art, etc. You
can usually bargain with vendors over the price, getting some good deals if you’re
willing to search them out. We got some good deals on Sterling Silver pieces for gifts.
Of course, we had to get the obligatory t-shirts, too. Although there’s a
shopping center several blocks from the border, we haven’t ventured that far into town.
Lunch was at Arturos, a restaurant within 2 blocks of the
border, and one of the most popular. The food is excellent, service is great,
and prices are reasonable. They’ve been in business for over 50 years. We
noshed on chips and salsas, fajita rolls, enchiladas, tacos, shrimp-stuff
tomatoes, and other stuff I can’t remember. Yummy stuff! I’m told the
Margaritas were pretty good, too!
Restaurants, bars, and outdoor cantinas line the streets
amid the vendors. I’ve been told food from the outdoor food vendors is good,
but we haven’t dared try it.
Our drive back seemed longer than 3½ hours, but we were home
by 6 p.m., in time for some of our crew to play Bingo at the clubhouse. Dick
and I opted to stay home and not go up to play Pegs & Jokers. We did hear
that the women won all 3 games that night, though. Hoorah!
Friday morning’s Yoga class (via DVD) was really a workout. It’s much
more difficult to practice Yoga to a DVD than in an instructor-led class, but
we still do it. Of course, it could be that we were tuckered out from our previous day in Mexico... Dick worked most of that day, as the park’s owner was in town.
He did finish up in time to come to happy hour and chili cook off at the
clubhouse at 4 p.m.
This year there were 12 participants in the cook off; most of
the entries were red or tomato-based, and some were made with venison. There were 2 white chicken chilies, too—one
was mine. I won 3rd place for the 2nd year in a row.
Friends Patty won 1st, and Laura won 2nd. Guess Texas chili needs to be red! Quite a good
time and a fabulous turnout--both participants and those that came to just eat
and vote. There were almost 60 people there. Along with the chili there was cornbread and garlic bread, as well as crackers, cheese and sour cream. Good times!
Saturday I spent the day knitting, hoping to put a dent in the
sweater orders (1 down, 1 almost completed, 5 to go). Dick worked, giving me
uninterrupted time. I did sit outside, though, in the beautiful weather to
knit.
Later, Gary and Pam invited us and a few other friends to
their place for happy hour, and to meet their friends Dan and Charlene from Oregon.
What a hoot! We enjoyed ourselves outdoors for about 2½ hours, and then, when
the temps started dipping a bit too low to sit outside, decided to go to dinner
at the Oyster House (used to be Alice Faye’s).
We were seated almost immediately, which was a surprise, as
there were 10 of us. David ordered 2 dozen oysters on the half-shell, Bob
ordered a rib-eye steak, Marihelen had fried shrimp, and the rest of us ordered
sandwiches: French dip, grilled Reuben, burgers and grilled chicken. We had
such a good time; we get together with friends, and all we do is laugh, talk,
laugh, eat, laugh, laugh, laugh...well, you get the picture.
Sunday morning we attended the 8:30 a.m. service at First
Baptist Church of Rockport. Pastor Jones is continuing his sermon series on the
Israelites’ exodus from Egypt and journey into the Promised Land, entitled: A Journey of Hope and Life. The main point of this week’s
message was on the “Old Covenant” relationship the Israelites had with God. (Exodus
19:3-8) By keeping the covenant they made with Him, they agreed to fully obey
Him, and in turn God promised they would be His treasured possessions, set
aside for His purpose. The Israelites were to be an example to other nations so that
others would see God’s truth in them; they were to proclaim God’s truth and
extend the invitation to others to experience God’s love and truth; they were
to offer acceptable offerings to God to bridge the gap between Yahweh and themselves;
and, they were to hold to God’s Word and promises so anyone could also benefit
from God’s divinely revealed truth. Bear in mind that at that time, blood
sacrifices were required to satisfy the divide between God and man.
When Jesus
became the “New Covenant” by his death on the cross and resurrection, man was
no longer required to provide a blood sacrifice—that blood sacrifice was
already made for all of us through the blood of Jesus, shed on the cross. Thankfully, this isn't a work-based faith; all
we need to do is accept and believe that Jesus died to pay our sin debt for us.
Ephesians 2:13 explains the “New Covenant”: “But
now you belong to Christ Jesus. At one time you were far away from God. Now you
have been brought close to Him. Christ did this for you when He gave his blood
on the cross.” Amazing and unconditional love. Here’s the link to his sermon: fbcrockport.net/sermons/
After breakfast at home, Dick worked for a few hours before
the ice cream social and Pegs & Jokers at 2 p.m. That day we played 2 tables,
and women took the men 2:1 at each. Hoorah!
After dinner Dick went back to the clubhouse to play poker
with a group from the park. He’s really gettin’ in to it! Although he won over
$3, it’s a good thing it’s only a nickel/dime game! Ha!
Well, friends, that’s it for this week. Time is flying by,
and we’re getting close to the time we say farewell to quite a few Winter Texan
friends. Some are leaving the beginning of March, more toward the middle and
end of the month. We’ll be here ‘til May 1.
Until next week, we send you love ‘n’ hugs.
RJ and Gail
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