Happy birthday, brother-in-law Gerald.

There was no rain bouncing off the roof this morning when we woke up, a good sign.  Admittedly, we kind of slept late, but…

There are several things we wanted to do during our stay in the Valley this winter, but some are not going to happen.  With high winds predicted today, it does not make for good birding or butterfly watching.  Nevertheless, Quinta Mazatlan awaited.  It is an old 1930s adobe estate built by a very politically conservative publisher who was also quite a conservationist—and not, that is not an oxymoron.  It was given to the State of Texas, is managed very much like a state park, and in addition to the beautiful adobe house, is know for its gardens—especially cacti, birds, and butterflies.  There were also many animal sculptures on the grounds, and they fit into the environment quite nicely.

We didn’t see many butterflies because of the wind, but enjoyed watching the birds, though we had seen most of the species before.  We did get to see the white-winged dove, a new bird for us, though there were no hummingbirds to be found; we have not seen any hummingbirds down here in the Valley this winter!  Wonder if they all stayed north?

Back at the RV park, the pool looked pretty inviting, and we only have a couple of days left to take advantage of it.  Back home, it will be mid-May at the earliest before Norfork Lake warms up enough to swim.  We spent an hour or so there, then Kay was off to buy fruit and vegetables from the “Vegetable Man”.

Our last big palapa party was this afternoon, and was both a joyous and sad affair.  We exchanged calling cards, gave and received invitations to visit, and had a pretty good feast.  The center pieces of the food were platters of butter tarts made by Lorna, from Croton, Ontario.  These had walnuts and raisins, and were similar to pecan tarts (miniature pies) here in the US.  Kay said they were very good.  Lorna had to borrow corn syrup from another Canadian neighbor as US corn syrup is too thin.  It is quite interesting to note the subtle differences in things made or produced in Canada versus those made or produced in the US. 

Tomorrow, lots of folks will be packing for the trip north, many uprooting from their winter home of several months.  For us, with all the storage in the new motorhome, it will be a pretty easy affair.  Until then.