Wednesday 2-27 Disappointed

A little disappointed

Today was another hot humid day in the Valley.

It's Wednesday and in the mornings Darryl has his A2 Dance at Pharr South. We had exactly eight squares so everyone had to dance. Darryl had a couple of open tips so people could rest if they wanted to. For the last two days we have been attending C1 workshops and dances. Some of the dancers this morning thought we had gone home because they hadn't seen us in a couple of days. We told them we weren't leaving until the middle of March. We also told them we had been doing C1. During the dance Darryl played three songs that Karen Tripp cued for line dancers. We sat out the last tip so I could take pictures. We had a great time dancing with friends and Darryl. I had fun line dancing to Karen and friends.

Line dancing with Karen and friends

Friends getting ready to dance

Friends enjoying the dance

Friends having fun dancing to Darryl

During the dance we were notified that Joe Saltel's C1 dance at 1:00 was cancelled due to doctor appointments. We were going to attend and were disappointed because we were excited about dancing C1 to Joe. 

We spent the rest of day hanging around the Minnie reading.  

Tuesday 2-26 I'm excited!!!

I'm excited!!!!

Why am I excited? Because we have graduated from our C1 classes so I can now play bingo on Tuesday night with the J-Five people.

The day started out with fog but once the fog lifted the sun came out. The temperature got up to 85 degrees and it was very humid. Thank goodness for air condition.

We spent the day dancing C1 to Darryl Lipscomb. The first session was at 10:00 to 12:00, it was our last official class. Darryl walked us through the last few moves on the list. We spent a lot of time on modifiers. The modifiers are where the caller will start, finish, replace, skip, ignore, but and interrupt a certain call. We had six couples for the class. Darryl called a few six couple squares.

We had an hour break for lunch and were back with Darryl at 1:00 to 3:00 for his C1 dance. We had five squares and an extra couple. Larry and I and Rhonda were the only ones from the class. Darryl went through a lot of the things he did in the morning. We had a great time because Darryl and the experienced dancers were very helpful. 

By the end of the dance we were mentally tired because of all the thinking we had to do to figure out the moves. 

In the evening I went over to the recreation hall to attend J-Five's Tuesday night Bingo. I paid $3.60 for three cards. I won one game along with another person so we both got $1.75. It only cost me $1.85 for a couple of hours of fun with friends. The ladies that were running Bingo night made homemade chocolate chip cookies and peach cobbler. The peach cobbler was made with an oatmeal crust and it was delicious. So were the cookies. We had 25 people playing Bingo. I had a very nice night of Bingo.

     

Monday 2-25 Getting Floor Time

We're finished with our C1 square dance classes so today we started to get some floor time. We began the day by going to Bronc Wise's C1 workshop at the Peppermint Palace. We worked on Making Magic and Magic Columns. He put us in different positions and even the experienced dancers were struggling because they're not use to doing the moves from those positions. The next one was Three by Two Acey Ducey. Four couples from the class showed up which made exactly eight squares.

We had an hour and a half break for lunch before we started our second C1 workshop, this one was with Darryl Lipscomb at Pharr South, he had seven squares. Once again all four couples from the class showed up. Darryl went through a few more moves. He put us in different positions on each move. He worked on Linear Action, Vertical Tag and Siamese Concepts. The one I had the most problem was vertical tag, I kept turning the wrong way. 

Both of the workshops were run by computer and when they programmed the computer they made sure the class couples weren't in the same squares together. This worked out great, it put all of the new folks with experienced dancers. We had super squares and the dancers were very helpful. By doing the workshops I found out what moves I need more work on. Once I know the definitions and dance a bit I will do a lot better. Just like anything new it takes practice to get better.

By the time we got home I was tired. I spent the evening reading and studying the C1 moves. LIFE IS GOOD!!! 

Sunday 2-24 J-Five Shuffleboard Tournament

Friends

It's Sunday!!! What should we do? There is no dancing. We didn't have anything on our agenda.

I read awhile. Then I cleaned the bathroom and swept out the Minnie. We have this beautiful huge Live Oak tree on the site right next to us. It keeps everything nice and cool but it has started loosing its leaves. Every time, we come in the Minnie we end up dragging a few leaves in with us. After I swept the Minnie out I swept what I could off the sidewalk and the slab in front of the door. Hopefully this will help keep some of the leaves out.

Every Sunday afternoon a group of J-Five people get together and play shuffleboard. Today there was a shuffleboard tournament. I have never played or seen shuffleboard played so I decided to go over and check it out. They had fourteen couples in the tournament. It started at 1:00 and they stopped at 4:30 for an hour break for a special service. After the break they played the final round of the tournament. There was a lot of joking around and cheering. People were cheering USA and others were cheering Canada for the Canadians that were playing. I had a fun time watching the players play and learning how to play shuffleboard.

Playing shuffleboard

One of the players dressed up for USA

Representative from Canada and USA doing  a commercial together

Now that we only have one more C class we have been invited to attend the C workshops and dances. I'm still not confident on knowing all the moves. Throughout the lessons I have studied the moves and definitions via a program called Taminations. I studied on and off today since tomorrow we will be attending a couple of workshops.

We had a very relaxing day. 

Saturday 2-23 National Butterfly Center

Having Fun

We started the day out by go to the J-Five get together. There were a few less folks today because some people were participating in the Comfort House walk raising money for the local hospice.
 

After the get together we went to Mission to visit the National Butterfly Center. It's a 100-acre preserve for free-flying butterflies of all varieties. It has a museum with photos and signage that explains the different butterflies. Did you know there are over 300 species of butterflies?  There's a walking trail through the facility with different types of plants to attract a certain specie of butterfly. The center has its own nursery and observatory that teaches children about the different butterflies. At the beginning of our walk it was overcast so we didn't see many butterflies. By the time we finished the sun was trying to come out so more butterflies were coming out. We walked around for 45 minutes.

Before leaving the center we drove down to the Rio Grande River, it separates the US from Mexico. The last time we drove to the river it was very muddy but today it was clearer. We didn't see any hordes of people trying to get across the river but we did see a Border Patrol truck patrolling the dike and a Border Patrol boat on the bank.

National Butterfly Center

The butterfly observatory

A Monarch Butterfly

A couple of butterflies hanging out on a log

Holly Blue Butterfly

Border Patrol boat on the bank of the Rio Grande River

Before going back to the Minnie we stopped by Earth Born Market and bought a couple of oranges. The fruit and juice in the market are from local orchards and are all organic. The market also sells jellies, jams, nuts and a pecan pie filling. It was a nice little store and it is just down the street from J-5.

Standing in front of an orange orchard next store to Earth Born Market

In the afternoon I did laundry. 

Doing laundry

In the evening we went to Fiesta Village RV Park to see Shake Rattle & Roll perform. It is a four female group performing tribute to songs in the 50's and 60's. The group members are Tavie Spivey, LeAnn Bemis, Debi Comis and Brenda Spencer. Tavie is the leader of the group and performs by herself at many of the shows. During a few songs they had audience participation, a few ladies got up and did the twist while one of the performers did the hula hoop, later they got a gentleman on the stage to sing "why you always picking on me" to the song Charlie Brown. The performers did a great job of singing and joking around. The park offered ice cream one scoop for $1 and two scoops for $1.50. I got chocolate cherry and Larry got butter pecan. We had a great evening. 

Tavie Spivey

The outfits the group wore the second half

A gentleman from the audience playing Charlie Brown

The outfits the group wore the first half

Friday 2-22 Saying Good-Bye to Friends

Good-Bye Friends

We had a fabulous day of dancing with Randy Dougherty. We started out with his Plus DBD dance. His Friday dances are in a church hall and every Friday volunteers from the church prepare a meal to raise money. This morning one of the ladies put a tray of cookies (oatmeal, chocolate chip and white chocolate chip) on a table for us and made coffee. We donated money for the cookies. We had four squares of dancers. There is normally a C dance on Friday mornings but this mornings dance was rescheduled so some C dancers joined us. Our friends Char and Glenn were part of the group. Our friends Pam, Bruce, Brenda and Mike were also there. This was their last day of dancing in the Valley, we won't see them again until we get home. Pam and Bruce only danced with us in the morning because they were going to go to a round dance in the afternoon. We said good-bye to them. We had a great morning of dancing with friends and Randy.

After taking an hour break we were back dancing to Randy for his Freaky Friday Dance, which is an A DBD dance. We had four squares. Brenda and Mike were back dancing with us and after the dance they headed home. We said good-bye to them. We had another great session of dancing to Randy.

In both dances everyone laughed and had a great time.

We spent the evening relaxing. 

Thursday 2-21 A Wonderful Day

It was overcast all day. It was suppose to get in the 70's but it only made it to the 60's. It started out being chilly but turned out to be very pleasant.

We spent the day dancing to Randy Dougherty. In the morning we did his A DBD Workshop.  He had exactly five squares and a lot of the dancers were C1 and C2 dancers. This was fantastic because we got to dance with Char and Glen from Sun City. We also danced with our friends Pam, Bruce, Brenda and Mike. Randy once again made the workshop very challenging. We had a great time. Randy had to stop fifteen minutes early due to Tip of Texas RV Park having a radio control car event. The lunch for it started at 11:30 but the good thing was that the lunch was over at 1:00, just in time for Randy's C1 Workshop.

During the C1 workshop we had five squares plus a couple extra couples. We were the only class members and the other dancers were very helpful. Today it seemed a little harder than last week. Randy worked on the move Ah So in different positions. We had a super time.

In the evening I went to the recreation hall and played card bingo. The paybacks were 3, 3, 3, 4, 4 and 8. The very first game six people won so they all won $.50 a piece. I didn't win but I had a fun evening.      

Wednesday 2-20 Finishing C1 Lessons

We had a gorgeous day of sunshine. It started out a little nippy but it got up to 70 degrees.

Sun shining day

In the morning we went over to the our park get together. It's always nice to hear about what's going on in the park. Comfort House is a local hospice that is free to anyone. Every year they have a walk/run to raise funds, some folkls from J-Five are going to do the walk and they needed sponsors so they passed a hat. A lot of people put money in the hat, in fact the hat was full. We believe hospice care is extremely important and it is one of our donations every year.

After the get together we went to Darryl Lipscomb's A dance at Pharr South. We had eight squares plus an extra couple. Our friends from Sun City were there. The last tip was an open tip so we got to dance with them. Karen Tripp did one line dance which I participated in. We had a great time.

In the afternoon we went over to Peppermint Palace to do our C1 class with Bronc Wise. This was our last day of class with him and he invited us to his C1 workshop. We had exactly one square and all the couples were students. It was a lot of fun.

In the evening we went over to Alamo for our last night of C1 classes with Randy Dougherty. We had exactly one square, two of the couples were students and two were experienced C1 dancers. We had a super time. Randy had already invited us to his C1 workshops but tonight he also invited us to his C1 dances.

It took seven weeks of classes with Darryl, Bronc and Randy to get through all the C1 moves, about 80 moves are on the list. For the remainder of our stay in the Valley we will be attending the C1 workshops and dances to get floor time. We're very excited.

Tuesday 2-19 Park Dinner

A chilly day

It drizzled all day and didn't get out of the high 50's. There was also a little wind.

We started the day off by going to the Tropic Star to dance A with Joe and our friends from Georgetown. Joe had eight squares plus two extra couples. We stayed and did the Hot Hash tip. We had a super morning of dancing with friends and to Joe. We love Joe, he is always positive and enthusiastic.

In the afternoon we hung around the Minnie. We studied for our C1 class and read.

At 5:00 we went over to the recreation hall for the  J-Five annual Pork Loin Dinner. It was a full house. The dinner consisted of smoked pork loin, pinto beans, potato salad, corn, barbecue sauce, bread, ice cream and punch or coffee, all for only $5.00. The plate had more food on it than we normally eat and we were still full when we went to bed. The food was delicious. 

Our Pork Loin Dinner

In the evening we went to Pharr South to attend our C1 class with Darryl. He has finished up his C2 review session on Tuesday mornings so he asked us if we wanted to move our class into the slot, we all agreed so now our classes will be on Tuesday morning at 10:00 instead of 7:00 at night. We should finish the list of moves next week. We are having fun. 

Monday 2-18 William Florian Show

Smile and have fun

We woke up to a cool morning with a north wind. The temperature got into the 60s, very pleasant. 

We started the day out by going to town to get Larry's hair cut. We got  to Supercuts before they opened and by the time they opened there were a few people waiting. Luckily there were two hairstylists. Larry got right in and out. They did an excellent job.

On the way home we stopped by a local park to walk and get a bit of exercise. There were quite a number of young folks participating in a workout program, they were laughing and having a great time.

Time for a haircut

In the afternoon we decided to go to Bronc Wise's A2 Workshop/Dance. Our friends from Sun City were there (John & Diane, Mike & Brenda, Bruce & Pam). It has been over two months since we have seen them. Our friends Jim and Mary Beth from the Tyler area were also there. Bronc worked on Trail Off and Checkmate the Column. He put us in different positions with both moves which made it challenging. We had three squares plus an extra couple. We were told that today was the last week for this workshop/dance because Bronc only had the hall through February and he will be out of town next Monday. We had a fun time dancing to him and with friends.

Having fun with friends

In the evening I went over to the recreation hall to listen to William Florian, he was the former lead singer of the famous 60's band The New Christy Minstrels. He did the greatest hit songs from the 60's from The Mamas & The Papas, Peter Paul & Mary, John Denver, Pete Seeger and The New Christy Minstrels. While performing he told stories of his life in a humorous way. The songs he sang everyone knew so we sang along with him. He had Linda join him when he sang "I'm Leaving on a Jet Plane". At the end he had a few people come on stage to be the Mamas & Papas when he sang one of their songs. The closing song was "You Are My Sunshine". William did a great performance.

William Florian

Linda and William getting ready to do "I'm Leaving on a Jet Plane"

A group from the audience and William performing as The Mamas & The Papas

  

Sunday 2-17 J-Five Valentine Parade

Cool overcast day

Today started with a little drizzle and a little breezy. I didn't get out of bed until 8:30.

Last night J-Five had a Valentine Ball where the new king and queen were elected. Today they had their annual Valentine Parade. At 12:30 people met in front of Donna and Tom's house to decorate three golf carts and a flat bed trailer for the parade. The parade started with four men caring flags (the United States, Canada, Texas and Military). Next came a golf cart with a gentleman dressed up like Cupid. Then another golf cart with the new king (Kim) and queen (Fiona). Next was Mary as the princess. Then another two golf carts. Next was the walkers (me and three other ladies making noise). Next was the previous kings and queens in the flat bed trailer. As we walked around the park people came out of their homes and cheered us on. The people in the golf carts threw candy at them. I was only going to take pictures but I decided to walk in the parade. It was a lot of fun.

King Kim and Queen Fiona followed by Tom and Donna

Cupid on the back of a golf cart

The king and queen followed by Princess Mary

In the evening I walked around the park for a half hour to get some of my steps in. Today I only did a little over 5000 steps because I just didn't feel like doing anything. We had a relaxing day.

Saturday 2-16 Ice Cream Social Dance

Ice Cream Social

It was another beautiful day with the temperature getting to 90 degrees. Sure glad we have air conditioning.

We started the day off by going to the J-Five Saturday get together. The gentleman that bought and served the donuts is going to be 88 tomorrow, he looks decades younger. At the very beginning of the meeting Mary came in dressed up like a sheriff and blowing a whistle. Then she started reading out citations for some of the activities going on in the park such as at the game show night when Marty won a car, she asked her if she filed for the taxes on it. When she entered the room everyone was caught off guard. She did an excellent job of impersonating a sheriffs officer. Everyone laughed and had a great time. When Mary was finished we continued with the meeting. They went over all the activities that's going on in the park for the next week.

The Winter Texan Fiesta started yesterday, it is a two day event with Artesand Market Days and an Outside Concert. It is free to attend and lunch was free if you picked up tickets in advance at the Chamber of Commerce office. We planned on going today but there were hundreds of people waiting in line to get inside the building. We decided to come back later, a couple of hours later there was still a huge line so we decided to pass. 

We walked through a couple of western wear stores, Boot Town and Boot Jack. Larry wanted to buy me a pair of boots but most of the boots didn't have much color to them, you could find boots with colorful shafts but the foot parts were mostly dull brown, not only dull but as with a lot of clothing today they make them look old and scuffed up. Why would anyone want to buy a new pair of boots that look old and worn. We also looked at clothing but we didn't find anything we wanted. After walking through Boot Town we walked through Northern Tools which was right next door. We were just killing time but it was nice to walk through the stores.

We stopped and had lunch at Taco Rico. We had one of their Panchos, they are nachos. It was too big for us to finish. It was good. Then we walked next door to Paris Bakery and bought a piece of carrot cake and a cinnamon roll. When we got home I heated up the cinnamon roll and we shared it, the carrot cake was so dry that we threw it away.

We spent the afternoon hanging around the Minnie. In the evening we went to the Tropic Star to attend Joe Saltel's Ice Cream Social Dance. Ron cued the round dancing and only had six couples. Joe had six squares and an extra couple. We danced with Barb and Larry. We had fun dancing to Joe and with dancers we don't usually dance with.

      

Friday 2-15 Day of Dancing

Hot and Humid

Today it got up to 95 degrees. It was hot and humid in the morning but by the afternoon the humidity went down

We started out by going to Joe Saltel's Plus Dance at Casa Del Valle RV Park. We were short one couple to make ten squares. We were lucky in being able to dance with our friends Barb and Larry in the open tips and a couple of other tips. Joe did one line dance, I and a few more folks joined Joe. We sat out the last tip so I could take pictures. It was hot in the hall so it was a bit uncomfortable, maybe they were having problems with the air conditioner. The dance was a lot of fun and we really enjoyed dancing with Larry and Barb.

Joe having fun calling the dance

Our friends Larry (plaid shirt) and Barb (green blouse)

On the way to Randy Dougherty's Freaky Friday Dance we stopped at Taco Bell for lunch. By the time we got across town we had about a half hour for lunch. We know when we go to Taco Bell we will have plenty of time to eat and we like the food.

After lunch we were back on the floor dancing to Randy. We were short one person to make five squares. I sat out one tip so Larry could dance with Shirley, she is single, he was also able to dance with her on a tip when we were out. Other men also danced with her, I think she only sat out one tip. Randy brought his dog Abbey with him today.

We attended eleven dances this week, I'm tired so I spent the evening relaxing. LIFE IS GOOD!!!!  

Thursday 2-14 Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day

I hope everyone had a happy Valentine's Day. We had a wonderful day with the temperature in the low 80s. 

We started out by going to Tip of Texas RV Park to attend Randy Dougherty's A2 DBD Workshop. We had four squares, 15 couples and one extra man who was waiting for his wife to show up, Randy filled in until she arrived. Randy went over different positions that a caller can put dancer in when doing a Counter Rotate, Chain Reaction and Linear Cycle. Mary Lee brought in Hershey Valentine Kisses for everyone for Valentine's Day. Each kiss had a message on the bottom. We had a great time.

At last nights class Randy invited the C1 students to attend todays C1 Workshop. We took him up on his offer. There were enough people to have four squares and two extra couples. We danced every tip and had a fun time. We did very well considering it was the first time we have actually danced C1 with all the calls at normal speed. We did make some mistakes but the other dancers helped us through the moves we had trouble with. We had fun, 

Every year Fiesta Village RV Park has a baked potato dinner for Valentine's Day. We bought a couple of tickets from a square dancer. She sold 72 tickets to square dancers so they reserved 9 tables for us. They limit the event to 360 people and they sold every ticket. We got there early so it gave us time to relax. The potatoes were huge and there was no way Larry and I would eat the whole thing. We decided to only get one and an extra plate. We didn't want the other potato to go to waste so we told them to keep it. The potato was loaded with butter, cheese and chili, pork n beans was on the side. They had a table for you to get sour cream, onions and jalapenos. For dessert there was vanilla ice cream and chocolate syrup. The potato was cooked perfect, the food was delicious. We had a great time visiting with our square dance friends as we ate.

Standing in line for our bake potato dinner

Sour cream, onions and jalapenos.

Almost to the front of the line

Our baked potato loaded with chili and cheese

Kathy and her baked potato dinner

Some of our square dancing friends

Larry and some of our friends

Larry and Kathy

In the evening I went over to the recreation hall and played card bingo. We had  30 people so the payback tonight was $4, $4, $4, $4, $5 and $9. I won one game but another two people won so we all got $1.30. I had a lot of fun.

We had a busy Valentine's Day but it was a lot of fun.