We departed home for the Rio Grande Valley near 7 AM, arriving at our motorhome about 8 PM–700 miles in 13+ hours—driving through a light rain and cold temperatures most of the way. It remained like that, cold and wet, for the rest of the week, finally breaking near the weekend. After looking at Christmas photos, I decided it was past time to DIET!

Before the rain began…

Early evening on New Year’s Eve, Kay and I joined some 20+ neighbors for dinner at Republic of the Rio Grande, a really good restaurant in McAllen; Kay had shrimp kabobs and I had grilled fish and both were outstanding.

Back at the resort, we attended the New Year’s Eve party, sharing a table with Dale and Donna Short, Rudy and Sherry, and Paul and Steve. The rock and roll band was much too loud and we left after only a couple of hours. What a way to end a great year!

Overlooking #9 at Balboa

We slept late on Sunday, and therefore did not attend church. Kay drove to Maumelle for an overnight visit with Karyn and her family, and a date day with Ridge on Monday. I played golf with Don Atchley at Balboa Golf Club, enjoying one of the Village’s great golf courses, but not the cool temps. Don and I played again on Monday, this time at Desoto Golf Club, and Kay returned home late in the afternoon.

Christmas Eve was our big Christmas holiday celebration. The morning saw us at the Adams’ with Ron, Cheryl, Kaden, Karyn, Matt, and the kids—not as chaotic as I remember.

The matriarch and her husband

Ron and Cheryl

Karyn and Kaden

Aker

Ridge

Kay and I attended Christmas Eve Candlelight and Communion service at COHUMC; this is a tradition we have honored since the beginning of our relationship some 18 years ago. Following the service we had Christmas Eve dinner at the Morris’ with Jim and Jackie, Jackie’s sister and her husband, Pam Williams, and Don Atchley. This is a new tradition that I really enjoy; reminds me of Christmas when I was growing up, absent the kids!

Back home, Kay and I exchanged gifts; this was quite humorous. We had been ordering gifts for each other since late November, having them shipped to friend’s houses, to our house in the Village, and to our RV site in the Rio Grande Valley. Consequently when all these were collected, we had forgotten to whom each belonged. We opted not to wrap them, instead leaving them in their Amazon Prime boxes. Each of us would begin opening a gift until we could identify it as belonging to one or the other, then passing off the gifts that belonged to the other. It was a hoot, and possibly a new tradition. That pretty much ended our Christmas holiday celebration.

Amazon Prime did our gift wrapping

On Wednesday, I did a short afternoon bicycle ride, despite the chill and wind; was opting for a longer ride but thought that rear tire was losing air.

Since we had plans for the afternoon, I did only a short 10.2 mile ride Saturday morning.

In the afternoon, we attended McAllen Memorial High School’s musical production of Cinderella with Van and Bonnie Holmes and Sue Mercer. It was incredibly good and featured a large cast. Several of the high schoolers had really good voices, and will have a bright future. 

We finally made it to winter church (First United Methodist Church of Mission) on Sunday, and really enjoyed the “praise and worship” service. This is our 6th year attending here. Brother Bill Duke preached a short, but good, sermon, and we took communion as it was the first Sunday of the month. A late breakfast at Diaz Diner, one of our favorite eating places in the Valley, followed. Sue Mercer joined us at the Rio Grande Valley’s 29th Tuba Christmas. Tuba Christmas is a music concert held in cities worldwide on the same day each year, celebrating those who play, teach, and compose music for instruments in the tuba family, including the tuba, sousaphone, baritone, and euphonium. The RGV’s Tuba Christmas features 580 tuba players in a packed gymnasium; it is the largest assembly of tubists ever in North America. Though unusual, the concert was very good.

Tim Creaghan and I had a tee time at Cimmaron County Club on Monday morning, but an early text from them stated they had cancelled all tee times due to a lack of enough players! Tierra Santa in Weslaco did have an opening late in the morning. It is a very nice course and almost always windy which adds to the challenge, but Monday was unusual in that there was very little wind. Tim had a good round, but my round deteriorated with every swing and putt.

Saturday was a great day. Kay, Sue Mercer, and I did a short ride to Mission Park (aka Roadrunner Trail), the ladies’ first ride of the season. Riding at a relaxed pace and stopping often, they really enjoyed the ride. 

With little wind and warm temperatures, I liberally applied insect repellent, loaded the camera and big lens, and rode to the National Butterfly Center. It was perhaps the best day of photography I’ve ever had there, with some pretty decent shots of the beautiful creatures. Though I did not target nor shoot any rare species, the other colorful fluttering insects were almost mouth dropping.

The motorhome got a beauty treatment Friday morning, with a wash and dry; not too bad, but it will be dusty/dirty in a couple of weeks because of the wind and blowing dust.

Cycling was amped up on this day as Van came by and asked if I was interested in pedaling to Best Buy, perhaps 7 or so miles away. I agreed, but after stopping at Best Buy, we continued to ride on 26h Street north (great bicycle lane), all the way to Edinburg, and then back to the RV resort, some 38.8 miles. In retrospect, we both overdid it!

During Kay’s visit last week to the Mission Regional Hospital ER, Dr. Rodriguez gave us names of internal medicine doctors that saw only adults. Kay phoned Dr. Abreu at the top at the top of the list and they offered to work her in as the day progressed. We drove to her office, Kay filled out paperwork, and we returned to the motorhome to await their call. In the afternoon, they called, and Kay drove to the office and saw Dr. Abreu. Kay really liked her, and she prescribed a neurological block tablet that should ease the pain from shingles.

Despite winds of almost 20 mph, I did another short bicycle ride (10.2 miles) on Wednesday.

And then it was off to the National Butterfly Center where a few of the butterflies and a moth cooperated, posing briefly for the camera. Otherwise, things were pretty quiet for us.