Wow! We’ve been here 3 weeks already, and starting
our 4th. Time flies!
Temperatures have been in the high 60s in the
mornings, rising to the mid- to high 80s by mid-afternoon. There’s always a
breeze off the Gulf, so we’re quite comfortable being outdoors, although the
humidity has been in the 70-90% range. The breeze sure helps.
Dick and I walked the park a few times this week, and
along Fulton Beach Road, seeing lots of birds: herons, ducks, egrets,
spoonbills (be sure you watch the video of these amazing birds), ibises,
buzzards, the ever-present kingfisher, and pelicans.
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| We were fortunate to see all these birds in the back pond in the park. Absolutely beautiful! There were Egrets (Great White, Little and Snowy), Ibises, Spoonbills, as well as American Black Ducks, Great Blue Herons, Tricolored Herons and, Lesser Yellowlegs. You can probably see that the Roseate Spoonbills are my favorite! Love the one of the Spoony dancing in the last set of photos! |
Our happy hours were at Lynda’s on Monday, the
Family Clubhouse prior to dinner on Wednesday, Prescott and Pat’s on Thursday,
Robin’s on Friday, and Jerry and Bonnie’s on Sunday. Whew! It’s so good to get
together with friends to talk and rehash the week’s happenings—and laugh. We
have a great time with these special friends.
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| Happy hour at Lynda's. |
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| Happy hour at Jerry and Bonnie's. Notice the bananas! There are three huge bunches on her trees! |
It seems we’re having meals out quite a bit, too.
Monday was dinner at the Oyster House with David and Marihelen, where their
special was all-you-can-eat shrimp for just under $19.00. The shrimp could be
baked, blackened, broiled, grilled, or scampi. So…Marihelen and I did our part
to help relieve the restaurant of their shrimp, while David had fried oysters
and Dick had grilled shrimp on a salad. Wow! But, oh, so good!!!
Tuesday evening was our weekly pizza dinner at Panjo’s.
This week there were 11 of us, and I’m sure our numbers will continue to grow.
We shared our dinner with David and Marihelen, Bob and Sharon, Lynda, Steve and
Marty, Jerry and Bonnie—good friends, good times, good food!
Wednesday was our first dinner of the season at the
clubhouse, with good friend Lynda at the helm in the kitchen. There were 40 of
us noshing on Lynda’s meatloaf, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans and
brownies. Good down home cookin’—yum-yum! Wonderful job, Lynda! We're so happy you took this on!!
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| Left photo: kitchen help Marjory and Margaret; and Lynda (our new kitchen boss!). |
Friday was our first hamburger lunch at the Family
Clubhouse. $5 got us hamburgers done to our liking, Angie’s potato salad (a big hit here in the
park!), and huge chocolate chip
cookies. Can’t go wrong with that! We were so full we couldn’t even think about
dinner!
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| The dish on the right is the super molcajete--lots of food! |
Sunday we had dinner at a local Mexican restaurant,
Aranda’s. Joining us were David and Marihelen, Margie, Bob and Sharon. Wow!
Good food, and not very expensive. Four of us had small margaritas, but they
weren’t very small! 16 oz! and, for $5. We had enchiladas (beef, chicken and
cheese), chili rellenos, super molcajete (a bit of everything!), shrimp tacos—well, you get the picture. We will
definitely be going back there!
Our activity calendar is filling up, too.
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| Carole hoping to knock 'em all down! |
Wii bowling on Tuesday brought out 8 of us: Lynda,
Sharon, Bob, Patty, Bill, Carole, Dick and me. Such fun!
After dinner Wednesday night, Dick returned to the
Family Clubhouse to play Texas Hold’em. He’s not getting rich, but made up $2
for the evening.
Thursday evening we played Pegs & Jokers with
Bill and Carole, while about 30 others played Bingo. Our game netted the guys a
3:2 win over us gals. However, we did not go down without a fight!
We dragged David and Marihelen with us on Friday,
after hamburgers, to the Fulton Mansion. The mansion had just undergone a $3.4
million restoration, inside and out, from 2013-2015, so we hadn’t visited it
since our first year in Texas in 2012. We happened to hit the mansion during their "period of mourning" for the death of George Fulton, who died October 31, 1893. During the entire month of October they were observing the tradition of mourning; all mirrors were covered and draped in black, all window coverings were drawn so all the rooms were pretty dark. A casket was placed in the Parlor, with chairs set around for mourners. We will definitely go back again, most probably during the Christmas holidays to see the home in a better light.
Here’s a very brief history of the mansion:
East Coast entrepreneur, George W. Fulton, married Harriet
Smith, daughter of a powerful Republic-era politician Henry Smith in 1840. He
later acquired a land inheritance when Harriet’s father died (back then, all woman’s
property automatically transferred to her husband). As a result of the
acquisition, he turned the inheritance into a ranching and meatpacking empire and,
later, in the 1870s, the Fultons made their fortune shipping cattle tallow and
hides to New Orleans.
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To show their great success, the Fultons built a mansion
they originally called Oakhurst for the magnificent windswept oak trees that were
prevalent in the area, and surrounded their home. After 3 years the mansion was
completed in 1877, and it became quite the showplace of the town. The home
features gas lighting, central heating, and indoor plumbing with hot and cold
running water. Built to withstand hurricane-force winds, the mansion has poured
and pre-cast shellcrete basement; the upper walls were made of stacked and
spiked pine planks. Steel beams were also used to reinforce the floors and the
overall structure. It has a slate-shingled mansard roof. The kitchen is located
in the basement (unusual for homes of that era), and served the couple by way
of a dumb waiter to the butler’s pantry adjacent to the family dining room on
the first floor.
They lived in this magnificent home for 18 years. After
the Fulton’s occupied the mansion, it passed through a succession of owners: a
private residence, a restaurant, a trailer park, and a recreation center. It
was acquired by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department in 1976, and in 2008 the
mansion became a Texas Historical Commission property.
Here are just a few photos of the mansion. It’s
worth a visit, and is inexpensive for this trip back in history: $6 for adults,
$4 for kids.
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| First floor, clockwise: Entryway, Conservatory, Library and Dining Room |
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| The Parlor is at the top; the others show the fabulous workmanship throughout the home. |
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| Clockwise: Stairway to 2nd floor; Master Bedroom where George Fulton died; Guest room and Master Bath with his and hers lavatories. There's a copper tub and hot and cold running water throughout the home. In the bathroom there's a roll of onion skin toilet paper that's over 100 years old! |
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| The sitting room where most of the sewing and needlework was done. |
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| Basement clockwise: Kitchen, Larder, Laundry and Pantry |
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| Basement clockwise: Furnace (to be installed soon); a diagram of the home's heating system--there was no fire in any of the fireplaces, but rather the heat generated in the furnace would heat the entire house through duct work; the water cistern, and the Butler's Pantry and Dumb Waiter. |
And, we found wildlife at the mansion, too! Ha!
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| A Mockingbird, Gecko, and the wildest of all: Marihelen, Dick and me! |
Just around the corner from the mansion is the “windmill
in a tree.” During the hurricane of 1919, what is believed to be the blade of
the Fulton’s windmill became lodged in a tree. It was never recovered and the
tree grew around it. Quite the sight!
We then needed a bit of nourishment so off we went
to a local ice cream parlor where we dove right in to scoops of strawberry,
pralines and cream and, cherry vanilla ice cream. Nothin’ better!
Saturday while Dick worked in the office, I worked
on Christmas gifts. Need to get them done!
Sunday we attended church at the First Baptist
Church of Rockport. Pastor Scott Jones (now Scott Jones, PhD) was back in the
pulpit after being gone a week. After a wonderful time of worship music, he
continued his series from1 Corinthians on “The Resurrection”; this week’s
scripture was on verses 35-38. His main points were that God will defeat death
and will redeem all that sin has destroyed; the power that raised Jesus from
the dead is the same power that will used to change Believers to the new
eternal life; and, God will restore the unity of creation and spirit to what he
originally planned, which was destroyed by sin. Our hope for eternity is connected
to our lives now, and the decisions we make with regard to Jesus Christ. Here’s
a link to his sermon(s): http://fbcrockport.net/sermons/
After church and breakfast, Dick worked for a while
before we headed to the Family Clubhouse for another round of Pegs &
Jokers. Gals (Carole, Patty and me) played the guys (Bill, Al—really Alice—and Dick);
we ended in a 2:2 tie. Good times!
I neglected to include photos of birds Dick took
when he was at nearby Goose Island Texas State Park last week, so here they
are.
Well, that’s it for this week. We’re becoming busier
as the weeks go by, so stay tuned for more adventures!
Hugs,
RJ and Gail
