Company #5, the last that we know of!

Kristin was leaving Thursday so Sue, Gerre, she and I went out for a bit in the morning. When we came home she gathered up her things and was on her way about noon.  She would spend a night in Houston and one other one on the road.  She called early evening to say she had arrived in Houston safely.

Gerre and Barry came over after lunch and spent the afternoon with us out under the pergola in nice, but windy, weather.  We have yet to put the cushions out except for the open houses.  We haven't sat out there and only used the table once for Mexican train with Tom and Eileen.  They stayed for dinner as planned and then we visited with Susan and Teri when they came by.  We still have Tucker with us so Ted walked him before we called it a night.

We spent all day Friday in Progreso, Mexico.  

We started with a coffee and a bite at Rene's followed by a lot of shopping for Gerre.  She bought several Christmas gifts and a few colorful mariposas (butterflies) for their backyard fence.  We spent time looking for a red pendant for me but there are no true red semi precious stones I guess.  Too burgundy or too orange were constant problems.  I left without one.  We ended up at Pancho's where Gerre and I spent most of the time shopping in the attached store.  The fellows enjoyed margaritas and listened to music.  We returned back to the U.S. and eventually went to dinner.  We still have Tucker and we came home to spend some time with him after feeding and walking him.  

Saturday Ted was feeling poorly from a cold so the three of us went to Pioneer Days at the Museum of South Texas.  We enjoyed some bluegrass music and Mexican folk dancing.  

Dancing with filled trays on their heads.  There was water in the glasses but no casualties!

The children in their colorful costumes.

The littlest one who performed alone and did a great job

There were demonstrations of cooking, weaving, churning, etc. outside and the museum was open inside.  It didn't take too long to see it all and we came home.  We decided to go to Cheddar's to eat and while we were waiting, Jay and Stella arrived with friends.  I guess we are on the Winter Texan Trail for sure!

From there we went to church where we learned Newlie, Fr. Roy's little dog (one of many), died on Ash Wednesday.  He was distraught but gave us insight into how such relationships teach us to love.  We checked on Veladora and she is growing and looks just fine.

At home we took down our front shade that needs restringing.  Ed next door came over when we couldn't get it unclipped after we took the valance down.  Not hard when you know how to do it!  Thanks, Ed!

After such a busy day, we ended up at the clubhouse playing card bingo.   We all got down to one card at times but none of us won.  Since we were all very tired, everyone went right home.

On Sunday Gerre and I took the shade to the flea market to get it restrung and buy some fruit for her to take home.  Ted went shooting and I'm not sure what Barry did.  We all met back at our place where Sue and Kathy were waiting for us to play Mahjong and Barry and Ted were heading to the gun range for Ted to do some instructing with Barry.  

By 5:00 everyone was finished with their afternoon activities and Ted grilled steaks for our dinner.  It was our last night together and we sat around a bit before they headed back to the hotel.

Monday morning I couldn't get dressed because the gray tank was full and I have a sneaky suspicion the black one wasn't far behind.  Ted was doing his "outside" duties when they arrived to pick up Tucker and get on the road.  We wished them safe travels!

Here is a photo of the principal of the elementary school accepting our Fashion Show proceeds.  Many children do not have warm clothes because they are seldom needed down here.  This latest cold snap saw children shivering in their lightweight clothing and the teachers want to build a supply of warm things for such times.  They were ever so grateful.  My friend Mimi is in yellow, Trudy in black.