This week welcomes in November and the beginning of
the holiday season. In that light, activities continue to ramp up here at Bay
View. However, with temperatures like they are, it’s a little difficult to get
in the holiday spirit. We’ve had temps ranging from the low 70s in the mornings
to the high 80s by mid-afternoon. And, we’ve had very little rain—that it until
Saturday night when the heavens opened and it poured for about ½ hour, giving
us 6/10” of rain. Then again, Sunday night there was a repeat, with another ½”
or so in just a short period of time.
Dick continued to work all week (I had other
commitments), but took time to walk the park in the early morning to capture
these fabulous photos of birds (spoonbills,
egrets, herons, godwits, great kiskadee). I have a difficult time selecting
my favorites, but as I mentioned in an earlier blog, the spoonbills are my favs.
 |
| Clockwise: Great Kiskadees (rare for this part of Texas), Ibises, Little Egret, Tricolored Heron, Great Blue Heron, Great White Egret |
 |
| Clockwise: American Black Ducks, American Coots and Ruddy Ducks; Least Grebe, Black-tailed Godwit |
 |
 |
| Spoonbills! |
Here's a video of the spoonbills, we hope you'll enjoy. And, a video of the "bird convention" in the back pond here in the park. They're so cool!
These 2 photos were taken along Fulton Beach Road:
 |
| Left: Royat Terns. Right: Ruddy Turnstone |
The Halloween happy hour and potluck dinner on
Monday evening started off our holidays, which included a game, karaoke, and
dancing to our in-park DJ, Bob. About 40 people showed up for dinner—only a
couple in costume but many heralding the Halloween colors of orange and black.
 |
| Halloween dinner; Sharon and Alice were sportin' their Halloween shirts. |
Friends Gary and Pam arrived Tuesday afternoon, and
have the site directly across from us. So good to have them back again! More friends will be arriving this week!
That morning I attended Stitch and Bitch with 5
other gals, and began our year’s project of crocheting plastic mats for the
homeless. Our first job was to collect clean and dry plastic shopping bags,
then cut them up and connect them all. It’s not a difficult job, and could be
tedious without friends joining in. All the while we laughed, talked and got
caught up on our past few months away from one another. I’ll have photos next
week to share.
That evening, and continuing our tradition for
Tuesday nights, was pizza at Panjo’s—Gary and Pam’s first of the season. Eleven
of us showed up to chow down! L to r: Lynda, Marihelen, David, Gary, Steve,
Marty, me, Pam, Sharon and Bob. Dick was taking the photo.
Laundry was the first order of the day on Wednesday,
following our take-out breakfast from Whataburger: sausage, egg and cheese on a
bun with 2 senior coffees. Pretty good stuff! On our way home after laundry we
stopped at the bank to get cash for our trip to Mexico Thursday, and H.E.B. and
Walmart for a few grocery items. Then, Dick worked until happy hour and the
Wednesday night dinner in the clubhouse.
Dinner that night was cabbage rolls (the huge cabbage was provided by friend Art,
from Wisconsin and prepared by Lynda, our camp cook, and her helper Marty), corn,
salad, rolls and butter, followed by apple crisp and ice cream for dessert.
Good stuff! We never go hungry around here! Thanks, Lynda, for another
wonderful meal! About 40 people showed up for dinner. Marihelen and I helped with serving, and Gary and David did the
dishes. A good time was had by all!
Later that evening Dick returned to the clubhouse
for another rousing time of Texas Hold ‘em—he left with $6 in addition to his $5 stake in his pocket!
Thursday Dick and I joined Lynda, Ed, Bob and Sharon
for a trip to Mexico—everyone’s main reason was to visit dentists. We left at
6:00 a.m. (YAWN!), stopped at Whataburger in Robstown for breakfast, and made
it to Progreso, Mexico by 9:40. We did our share of laughing along the way!
And, we did see a 9 or 10-point buck alongside the road, back by a fence, as we
were going by. What a magnificent animal!
We arrived, parking on the main street in Progreso,
and walked across the street to our dentists of choice. Dick and I had our
teeth cleaned, Dick had 2 crown preps done, and I had 3 very minute cavities
filled (no novocaine, and pretty good for not seeing a dentist in about 4 years!). I
was in and out within 45 minutes; Dick was in the chair about 1½ hours, but he’s
returning to Progreso this coming Thursday to have the permanent crowns
inserted. Lynda will also have her crown inserted Thursday. Ed had impressions
taken in preparation for having all his teeth pulled for a full set of dentures.
(He said that he’d have to get used to not talking for about a week—as if that
were possible! Ha!)
We all had lunch at the Red Snapper in Progreso,
before we did any shopping. Good food! We noshed on shrimp tacos, enchiladas,
coconut shrimp, and a grilled ham and cheese sandwich. A 2-piece “band”
entertained us with singing, keyboard and bass guitar. They were very good.
 |
| Clockwise: storm clouds over Progreso, looking north toward the U.S; the entrance to our dentists' office; sign for the Red Snapper restaurant; one of the dental assistants outside trying to drum up business; Bob and Sharon; and, Ed. |
We returned to Rockport by about 5:00 after a quick
stop in Robstown to pick up a bag of Texas grapefruit and a bag of pineapple
oranges. We had time to rest before heading to the clubhouse for Pegs &
Jokers with Bill and Carole that evening.
Women rock: 3:2 over the men!
Friday’s lunch was burgers at the clubhouse at noon,
happy hour at 4:00, again at the clubhouse, and dinner at the Oyster House that
evening to celebrate Pam’s birthday. There were 13 of us at dinner; we chowed
down on raw oysters--lots of them! (Pam and I loved them; I hadn’t eaten any since the early ‘70s!),
shrimp, oysters Rockefeller, catfish, steak, gumbo, salad—well, you get the
picture. Oh, so good, and oh, such a good time!
 |
| The Oyster House is right down on Aransas Bay; Pam with Gary being silly; the band (never did get their name); and, our gang: L to R: Tom, Joy, Marty, Pam, Gary, Lynda, Marihelen, David, me, Steve, and Sharon (don't know what happened to Bob, and Dick was taking the photo) |
Saturday was our granddaughter’s 3rd
birthday, so we celebrated long distance since she’s in Incline Village, NV. We
did talk to her on the phone, however. She’s growing up much too fast! This photo of Anastasia was taken in late October before she went to pre-school.
Dick worked most of the day, returning to the camper
just before 5:30. Knowing Pam and Gary were outside, we joined them for an
impromptu happy hour before heading home for dinner. It’s so relaxing to be
with friends, and enjoying each others company.
Sunday morning we attended the 8:30 a.m. service at First
Baptist Church of Rockport; David and Marihelen joined us. Pastor Jones’
message was taken from 1 Corinthians 16:1-12: “The Glocal Church.” The “glocal” church is a local church that should
also be part of God’s global church, aware of and ministering to the needs of
people globally as they are led by the Holy Spirit. Here’s the link to his
sermons: http://fbcrockport.net/sermons/
After church we headed to Aransas Pass for breakfast, at The Bakery. Yum-yum! We sure ate our fill! Biscuits and gravy was enjoyed by
David, while Marihelen, Dick and I had DJ’s Western Omelet. Marihelen also had a biscuit and grits, while
Dick had hash browns and a pancake; I had hash browns and rye toast toasted
dark. Oh, my…
Dick decided to spend a few hours working in the
office again, since he’ll be gone at least 1 day this week, so off he went
after we returned home. I started working on the photos for this week’s blog.
We met at the clubhouse for ice cream at 2:00 and a few games of Pegs &
Jokers with Bill, Carole, Sharon and Patty (Sharon became Chad for the games).
Women stomped the guys 3:0! YIPPEE-SKIPPEE!
That afternoon we went to Jerry and Bonnie’s for
happy hour, and to help them celebrate their 39th wedding
anniversary. There were about 15 of us there, enjoying the weather and each others
company. Again, good times, good friends…you can hardly ask for more.
That’s it for this week, folks. Again, we hope you
enjoyed our blog. We leave you with a photo of a sunset taken from our site on Sunday evening.
Hugs,
RJ and Gail
No comments:
Post a Comment