Bay View RV Resort – Rockport, Texas – November 21-27, 2016

Hope y’all had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends. We certainly did! The week was full of eating, talking and laughing with our Bay View family. Friends from Wisconsin, Cindy and Ray, showed up here in the park, too, which was a wonderful surprise. Wish we had had more time to talk; perhaps when they come back in March we’ll have that opportunity.

Temperatures ranged between the mid-50s to the high 70s this week, with sunshine almost every day and, low humidity. Perfect!

Dick worked most every day, both in the office and at home. And, since he’s the park’s “computer doctor” he helped friends with their computer issues, too. He did a few things around the camper, as well, like sealing the area around the antenna, eliminated a squeak that had around the jacks and, got rid of a crop of mushrooms growing in the back yard. There were dozens of them!

I attended Yoga classes Monday and Wednesday and, Stitch & Bitch on Tuesday. We’re making quite a bit of progress on the “plarn” mats for the homeless, although the cutting and rolling plastic strips is going a lot faster than the crocheting. Friends Tom, Steve and Marty and I got together on Monday, again, to rehearse our chosen songs—apparently we’re singing at happy hour at the clubhouse on the 16^th. Won’t that be a hoot!

Other activities included Wii bowling on Tuesday afternoon and Texas Hold ‘em on Wednesday night. We also played Pegs & Jokers Thursday night and Sunday afternoon. Gals are falling a bit behind in the winning bracket but we refuse to give up! The guys have won 5 of the last 8 games played. Sad…

We ate out quite a bit this week, too. Monday was Mexican at Arandas here in Rockport, with friends Pam and Gary and David and Marihelen. Good stuff! Tuesday night was pizza at Panjo’s with friends Bill and Arleen, Dick and Fran, Sharon, Marge, and Dick and me. Again, good stuff! Then, Wednesday night it was on to the Oyster House for raw oysters (and other stuff from their menu) with 11 friends from the park. Good times and good music and good food! Lovin’ those oysters—can you believe it?!? (David shared his love of these delectable morsels, fixed his way: a bit of red cocktail sauce and a drop of Tabasco. YUM-YUM!! I can’t get Dick to try them—yet… Thanks, David, for getting me to try them! I’m sure Pam thanks you, too!)

Here are photos of our Thanksgiving Day feast that we shared with about 100 of our “closest” friends here in the park. The park owner provided food that Chef Lynda and her kitchen crew prepared: 12 turkeys, the stuffing and the gravy and a ham donated by a park guest. Everything else was provided by us campers: salads, sides (including tons of mashed potatoes) and desserts. Good food, good fellowship, and fun times. 

Friday, after burgers in the clubhouse, Dick and I drove to Portland, Texas to shop at Academy Sports. Their sale was pretty good. We picked up a couple of Christmas gifts and 3 fleece jackets ($9.99 each!), a pair of capris for me. Then on to Walmart for a few grocery items and to refuel the truck. By the time we returned it was time for happy hour at Pam and Gary’s—just the 4 of us. We enjoy their friendship so much.

Saturday afternoon we headed to friends Butch and Laura’s for happy hour, with about 16 friends. The weather was a bit cool, so some of us sported jackets for that hour.

Sunday morning we attended First Baptist Church of Rockport, for the first Sunday of Advent. Pastor Scott Jones continued his Christmas sermon series, “God With Us.” This week’s message was from Matthew 1:18-25, entitled, “Savior.” His 2 main points were these: 

1.     Jesus’ birth occurred to fulfill God’s ancient promise to be with us—Jesus came to be with us, right where we are. When we trust in God’s Word and what it reveals to us, we need never doubt God’s presence with us.

2.     Jesus’ birth means God’s presence accomplishes our salvation from our sin. “Jesus” or “Yahweh” means “salvation.”  Do we/you believe and trust that in Jesus Christ your sin is forgiven?

Here’s the link to his message: fbcrockport.net/sermons

Returning home for a very light breakfast, we headed to the clubhouse for a mini repeat of Thursday’s Thanksgiving dinner, with leftovers. Still good! Then it was Pegs & Jokers, during which we introduced the game to friends Mitch and Cindy. (I covered the outcomes of our games this week earlier. ‘Nuff said…)

We leave you with photos of birds taken earlier this past week—mostly ducks in our back pond. There were a lot: American Black Ducks, Black-bellied Whistling Ducks and, Northern Shovelers. Of course, there were the Roseate Spoonbills, too!

That’s it for this week. ‘til next time, we hope you have a wonderful week, happy and healthy.

Hugs,

RJ and Gail