IT’S COLD IN SOUTH TEXAS Guess the north arctic winds followed us down, because the week started out rather cool by South Texas standards, with highs in the 50s and lows in the low 40s. Fortunately for us, the cool weather abated about mid-week, and temps returned more to normal, with lows in the 50s and highs in the 70s.

WE’RE GETTING TOO BUSY AGAIN Both of us had forgotten how busy one can be down here. Our Monday AM started with a “Tourist” Club meeting, which is a meeting summarizing upcoming activities for the week. This was followed by choir rehearsal. This is the choir that will perform at the annual spring show in March. Free time Monday afternoon allowed us to do some much needed shopping (yeah, right) at the Outlet Mall for Crocs; at the fruit market for fresh pineapple, oranges, and peppers; and the hardware store in Mercedes for a shuffleboard stick—you know, all the necessities. Then, it was back to the park for the weekly Monday evening pancake supper, followed by shuffleboard. And it’s only Monday! The rest of the week found us cleaning DunnGone, washing the Saturn, and washing clothes; Kay doing some hard core shopping with Karyn who is down for business (as a government employee, she works about 12 hours a day, getting paid for 8), reading (Kay finishing The Shack, one of her best reads ever, and Donald reading 4 westerns), renewing our Texas 2-step dance lessons on Tuesday afternoon (we hadn’t forgotten everything, didn’t try anything fancy, and were more tired than we remembered from last year), church choir practice, a friendly shuffleboard tournament with the park next door, dinner and a movie on Friday evening, a quiet day on Saturday, and church, homework for Kay, and our January street party, all on Sunday. The street party deserves some additional mention. The theme was Robbie Burns Birthday, celebrating famous poet and song writer Robert Burns. The party began with a short quiz about Robert Burns’ life, followed by saying of a Scottish grace. We ate traditional Scottish food, mince and tatties, which is sort of a ground beef cooked au jus with green peas served over mashed potatoes. Both lad and lassie toasts were offered, and a somewhat naughty Scottish song was sung. All residents of our street were present except for one. After the street party, Kay attended a concert in the main hall. WOW, we can rest until 9 AM tomorrow, Monday, only 12 hours away!

SNOWBIRD SUBCULTURE The snowbird subculture still amazes us. There are a couple of hundred parks like ours in the Rio Grande Valley (RGV), and our park has about 1,000 residents. Ours is a gated community where most people walk or ride bicycles for their most basic needs, everyone is friendly, and you know your neighbors, as well as many others in your “park city”. Activities are too numerous to mention, let alone in which to participate, and almost everyone volunteers to help or do what’s needed to be done; the one thing you don’t hear is, “We’ve already served and done our part, and it’s our time to rest.” Everyone participates in some form or fashion. Also, almost everyone is internet and email savvy, communicating with folks back home. About 65% of our park residents are from Canada, and most of those from Manitoba. A vast majority of the residents were farmers in Canada, Iowa, and other midwestern states. They seem to have brought the farm culture to us.