Cummings...and goings...: Bay View RV Resort – Rockport, TX

Wow! We’ve been here 3 weeks already, and starting our 4^th. 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.

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.

Happy hour at Lynda's.

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!!

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!

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.

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.

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.

First floor, clockwise: Entryway, Conservatory, Library and Dining Room

The Parlor is at the top; the others show the fabulous workmanship throughout the home.

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!

The sitting room where most of the sewing and needlework was done.

Basement clockwise: Kitchen, Larder, Laundry and Pantry

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!

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.