Maintaining a daily blog is proving difficult; not so much because of the effort involved, but because we do so many things that it’s difficult to find time to actually write the blog and incorporate photos.

After waking, coffee, email, and newspapers, Kay left for exercise class in the Clubhouse and I walked a couple of miles in the resort. While not feeling bad, I have not been 100% for a few days—perhaps too much sun, perhaps just going full blast for too long. Consequently, I have not ventured out on the bicycle nor have I been going to the pool and spa; I haven’t even been to the National Butterfly Center or the Bentsen Rio Grande State Park.

We played Court Whist tonight in the clubhouse—Kay’s first time to play this game. Regrettably, she got really bad hands and was unable to score many points. I however got good hands and had good partners and finished with five points for the night, getting the ante of quarters deposited by the players—a grand total of about $7.00.

We finished playing cards early enough to watch a couple of recorded television shows before calling it a night.

February is the month of love, and Valentines Day is right around the corner.  Kay and I have given much thought to the scripture found in 1 Corinthians 13:13, “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”  While the meaning of this may be discussed and debated, there is no question that Jesus places a high value on love—and especially loving one another.  The Carpenter’s said it all with their hit song, What the World Needs Now Is Love, Sweet Love.  Oh, if only our local, state, and country’s leadership could acknowledge this!

The message this Sunday morning was on the 5 aspects of love. Pastor Bill Duke, FUMC, Mission, Texas, preached a great sermon again, and gave pause to the subject of love.  (Dr. Sam and Annette Bailey preached on a similar series when we attended Twin Lakes Baptist Church.) I sure wish these ministers would quit preaching directly to me!

• Eros—Romantic side of love
• Storge—Trust, stability, secure love
• Epithumia—Love making, sexual relations kept sacred and holy
• Phileo—Friendship, soulmate love
• Agape—Unconditional, umerited love

Agape love is best described in the words of the Apostle Paul, “Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. Love does not demand its own way. Love is not irritable, and it keeps no record of when it has been wronged. It is never glad about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.” (I Corinthians 13:4-8)

After church, we stopped by Sam’s Club to pick up some “play” coffee for Kay, and then drove to Costco for a few items.  It is so nice to have Costco close by.

I cleaned the RV while Kay did laundry, and then met Al, Sharon, Wayne, and Betsy at Crazy Joe’s for some Texas 2-step dancing to the sound of Roland Garcia, Jr.  Back at Bentsen Palm Village, Kay watched part of the Super Bowl, and I watched other stuff on TV, not having an interest in football since Peyton Manning was not playing. We caught the latest episode of Downton Abby, the hot BBC Masterpiece series on PBS, and then tuned back to the Super Bowl to watch the final minute.

It was a pretty great Sunday here in the RGV.

An early start this morning with Al, Sharon, Wayne, and Bessie took us to South Padre Island for their Kite Festival; it is to be their last. The hour and a half ride was quite pleasant, with lots of conversation among the six of us in Al’s van. We arrived early enough to get great seats along the rope just before the kite flying began; from left to right, sitting, are Al Crawford, and Bessie and Wayne Nickerson. Kites of all shapes, sizes, and colors were visible; some were so large that they had to be anchored by automobiles.

Apparently, kite flying is very competitive, and we were privileged to see some of the best flyers in the US. Also, much of the competition is between teams, and we saw two world champion teams flying as many as six kites simultaneously, doing unbelievable aerial maneuvers and acrobatics with a kites. The kites danced at the end of the lines, and the flyers could softly touch each other’s kites in the sophisticated formations. Each of the demonstrations was set to music and the maneuvers and acrobatics were synchronized with the various tunes. Watching the experts fly their kites gave this sport new meaning, and made it look simple.

With over 5,000 people in attendance at the Kite Festival, all the restaurants on the Island were overwhelmed; we opted to try our luck across the bay in Port Isabel. Traffic on the bridge between Port Isabel and South Padre Island was congested with the roadwork forcing three lanes of traffic into one. After the slow trip on the bridge, we stopped at Dirty Al’s on the bay for a late lunch and were met with a one-hour wait. Nevertheless, the food was very good and not too expensive.

We made our way back to Bentsen Palm Village, all having had too much sun. In fact, Kay and I skipped card bingo.

More kite photos, and our entire Winter Texas album, can be seen at: https://picasaweb.google.com/DunnGoneTravels/WinterTexans20122013?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCID41uiC4OrOGw&feat=directlink

Can you believe it? February is already here. This winter has flown by.

Our weather here in the Rio Grande Valley has been spectacular the last couple of weeks with the same forecast for the next 10 days. Mornings are cool and calm, and as the day begins to warm winds from the Mexican desert began to blow, continuing to blow until sunset. A few mosquitoes remain, but are not as bad as in December.

Usually, the highlight of Friday’s is the weekly entertainment at the clubhouse, and tonight was no different.  Tonight, a local young man, Rolando Reyes, performed vocally and played trumpet. He is a choral director for middle school in Harlingen, Texas.  He definitely has the best voice we’ve heard in the RGV, but lacks stage presence.  He fiddled with his sound system the entire night, which proved to be quite distracting; in most cases the audience does not hear the little nuances he hears.  AS the night wore on, he got better and better.  His rendition of  “Ave Maria” was the best I’ve ever heard, complete with the full vibrato and resonance of his voice.  And his self-accompaniment on the trumpet was very good.  He ended the night with a couple of Gaither gospel songs, and was awesome; his Baptist upbringing and strong belief in Jesus as the Son of God showed through in both his words and music.  Rolando Reyes’ CD, I Surrender All, can be purchased by emailing him at rolando.reyesmusic@hotmail.com.

Still tired from going strong for the last couple of months, I opted out of the bird trip today to South Padre Island. However, there was a need for exercise and so after our morning walk, I asked neighbor, Chuck, if he would like to go on a ride and he replied in the affirmative.  Chuck is a retired educator from Ontario, having spent most of his teaching career instructing Special Needs students, many who were juvenile delinquents.

The city of Mission, Texas, has outstanding bicycle trails, and a nice trail is adjacent to the resort; Chuck has named it the “Roadrunner Trail” because he usually sees a Greater Roadrunner along the trail when he rides.  The Greater Roadrunner, taxonomically classified as Geococcyx californianus, meaning “Californian Earth-cuckoo,” is a long-legged bird in the cuckoo family, Cuculidae. It was a great day for a bicycle ride—not too hot and not too cold.  Shortly after we left the roadside trail, we saw a large bobcat standing on the trail ahead of us.  We approached and the bobcat did not appear disturbed; as we got closer it trotted into the woods, and stood there, partially concealed by shrubs to an extent that a photo was impossible.  Further along the trail, we saw a Roadrunner, bearing out the trail’s nickname. It is in the center left of the photo, just off the trail.  After the ride, we had lunch, and road another 5-mile loop at the Bentsen Rio Grande State Park next door, making for a total of 15 miles+ today.

We finally reached Carolyn Todd to wish her a happy birthday, having left a “Happy Birthday” song message earlier in the morning.

We skipped Margarita night in the Club House, and enjoyed another quiet evening in the motorhome watching TV.