New Orleans Experience

While Lum and Donna were at the hospital getting Lums first chemo treatment Butch and I held down the fort at their place AND went to New Orleans with Dutch, a longtime friend of Lums and Dutch's relatives visiting from Holland, Jelmer and Alie Kuipers. We had met Dutch at Snow Mountain Ranch where he is also a volunteer.
We had a great time getting acquainted with the city. It is charming, no two ways about it. The people are friendly and outgoing and the streets are clean. There is evidence of the homeless but that is a nationwide thing.

Katrina's aftermath is still in evidence but they have come a long way from the dreadful scenes we all saw on tv. One of the things Donna told me was that the birds left after Katrina and they returned just this year, four years later!

We noticed a street musician trying to herd a young injured bird into a box before it was run over on the busy street. The young musician told me that Jesus says we will be judged by how we treat the least among us so he wanted to do something for the bird. I helped him herd the bird into the box and he decided the least he could do for it was to move it to a location less traveled and asked me to watch his CD's while he did so. I was happy to do that.
In the cathedral I noticed a shabby man saying his prayers and wanted to get his photo. I did but unfortunately he caught me doing so. I hope his prayers were answered.
We had cafe au lait (coffee with boiled milk) and beignets (pronounced bin-yay) early in the day. A beignet is a doughnut/sweetbread type dough that is deep fried then doused liberally with powdered sugar.
For lunch we had red beans and rice with Italian sausage. It was a house specialty of the restaurant and a typical New Orleans meal.
Still later we had a pralines...hey, we were on vacation!!!
Lum is home now and resting and so are we from our big day.

New Orleans 2009 Slideshow

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Make a Smilebox slideshow

We are in Pass Christian Mississippi at the home of Lum and Donna Ellis friends of ours we met at Snow Mountain Ranch YMCA of the Rockies. Lum and Donna have been volunteers at Snow Mountain Ranch for the past 15 summers but will miss this year because Lum finds himself in the middle of a battle with stomach cancer. He will be going for his first round of chemo tomorrow. We will not ask anything of Lum and will try to pick up the slack for him on his chores around here. Lum did say it will give him a chance to plant a garden this summer and he has already started on it.

Big Woodpecker

Taken at Stephen Austin State Park near Sealy TX

Exit 121

We are at exit 121 in Louisiana- near Lafayette. Butch is struggling with the satellite for Direct TV. Every now and then when we move we have a problem. We were in amongst a bunch of trees at Stephen Austin State Park and every time we have a tree problem we subsequently have a sattelite problem... Oh well, this too shall pass.
Tomorrow we get to see our good friends Lum and Donna and that will be a fun time.

This place we are staying( Welcome Center) is a boondock situation but they are kind enough to let us stay. Earlier today we went to a Wal-Mart and they had all the entrances fixed to be unavailable to RV's. Needless to say we didn't spend any time or money there. Lousiana I-10 isn't too bad. It was worse in East Texas.
Till next time...

Tight Parking

With these boats parked so close together I cannot imagine how they get them out. We leave today for Stephen Austin State Park located about 20 miles west of Houston. This allows us a shot at getting through Houston on a Sunday morning. The park is only 92 miles from where we are so we are not in a big hurry to get going. We will not have Internet there so won't hear from me again till sometime Sunday.

As Promised

Cosmetic Surgery on Capt. G.C.


It looks to be a beautiful day- sun shining-light breeze-cool temperatures so today the plan is to get some pictures on the pretty side of town. Along with washing sheets and working on a new Swedish weaving afghan for a September wedding.
Butch found a little Mexican restaurant yesterday so we had lunch there. Chicken quesadillas and they were delicious. So today I had my usual toast for breakfast but he decided to try the breakfast tacos at Maricellas. He said they were huge,delicious and cheap ($2.00)

Palacio TX

We arrived in Palacio yesterday afternoon without incident and we will be here 3 days. We remembered why we prefer Palacio over Rockport as a stopping place. It is the walking! Palacio has a beautiful little park with a walkway built along the coast. It is about a mile and 1/4 long. Perfect for the morning and evening walk. Last night we ate at the seafood restaurant that is a favorite. It lived up to our expectations too. We both had catfish fillets.
It is cloudy today with a severe thunderstorm watch...not the ideal time to take photos but I do hope to get some soon.

Child's Napghan

Finished this one the other day and took a picture of it before giving it to Norma to enter in the Clay County Fair for me. We head out tomorrow for Palacio TX. A stop we have made before and like.

By Request

Recipe: Marble Bars 3/29/2009
Category: Snacks
Author: Barb Brooker


1 c White Sugar
1 c Corn Syrup
1 c Peanut Butter
6 c Rice Krispies
1 c Chocolate Chips

[Note: I add a little more cereal than 6 cups. Personal choice.]
Combine sugar and syrup in heavy saucepan. Over medium heat bring to
the boiling point but do not boil. Remove from heat and add peanut
butter to syrup mixture; stir till combined. Pour over rice krispies;
stir till covered; add chocolate chips and stir for marbled effect.
Press into a 9 x 13 pan. cool and cut into squares.

In Ol' Mexico

There is one store in Progreso that sells some craft supplies. The yarn is $1.25 a skein. I purchased three skeins to give it a try. It was nice to the touch. Appears to be two-ply but the ply's are heavy. They also have a large supply of embroidery floss.

Pecan Bill and Norma otherwise known as Pinky are having a discussion in Elsa's.

Thoughts of leaving

As the end of March is upon us we start to think about our trip away from Magnolia Park. Just as I always look forward to arriving I also look forward to departing and moving on to see other people, places and things.
We leave the park April 1st and will go to Palacios TX for a couple of days and then to Stephen Austin State Park and then through Houston on Sunday morning and then we will go to Pass Christian MS to see friends from Snow Mountain Ranch, Lum & Donna for a few days and then to Moultrie GA for awhile and then we shall most likely head north. Do not have any firm set plans for length of stay in MS or GA. We need to get our annual doctoring done in Iowa late April or May and then be at Snow Mountain Ranch by June 1st. I imagine a chunk of April and May will be spent parked at Leo's. But I am getting ahead of myself. It is a beautiful day here with light breezes and warm temps. Big fluffy clouds in the sky. Laundry is nearly done and getting close to lunch time.

Keep Movin On....

I have the GPS out again and am working with it again to see if I can justify the money spent on it again. We went to McAllen the other day and I took it with me just for fun. While waiting on an appointment I programmed it for our return trip. There is nothing like setting it up for failure when you are in familiar territory and know how it is messing up. I had programmed it for the town of Donna. We live on the edge of the city limits east of Donna so I knew we were going to pass our turn...the one programmed into it and we did. The GPS had us going clear to the next town to turn around. I told Butch that if we had been in an unfamiliar area we would now be having an argument over the darn thing. It simply cannot be trusted. I view it as a very expensive toy nothing more. The screen is too small and too dark too. Now before I paid big bucks for this tiny little thing I had used the one I have with the computer. The screen is bigger and it works much better. The downside here is it is bulky and I have to find a place to set it where I can keep it from falling and still see it. I am going back to this method on our trip out of the valley. Butch likes to know the elevation as we travel along. Like I said, it is a toy.

Apple Pie!!

Yesterday we went to Harlingen to visit with Marlene and Bernard. Marlene cooked us a scrumptious roast beef dinner with apple pie for dessert. Then we enjoyed an afternoon of cribbage and the guys were too, too lucky.

Ethan's Latest

There are some great pictures here of the handsome boy but that last one might find it's way around the Internet. Just think of the captions that could be added! Look below for one that comes to mind.

 

 

 

 

PHRRRT!!!!

Old Picture

Taken in about 1957

March Birthday Party

The birthday celebrants are Dale Cooklin March 1, Bill Stilson March 3rd and Barb Brooker March 6th.



The women at one end and the men at the other...some things never change.

Berwyn isn't shy about wearing his wifes hat!

What does it say on that bottle? Monkey what?

Growing like a weed!!

These babies grow so fast!!! This is good friend Connie Jones grandson Hayden.


"Hey World, I am looking you over!!"

Butch has/had a cold

Butch has/had a cold. You do not see this guy slowed down by much but he said this one was a BAD one. He could not get the faucet shut off. Finally resorted to Nyquil which the doctors tell us no one should ever use. So then he was able to sleep and get the faucet turned off. He missed golf yesterday if that gives you an indication of how bad he felt.
Allergies are bad down here. The humidity is high and the tree pollen is high, making for a bad situation. In northern climes the cold kills off all kinds of tiny bad boys but down here they thrive.
Next season I plan to start the allergy meds when we first arrive. Maybe I can ward it off. AaaaaaCHOO!!!!

Jared Hall and the Governor of Iowa

Jared is the son of my good friend Sherri. Be sure to check out Jared's website below. I love listening to Jared's music while checking out his website.

This is from Jared:
I played at the Heart Ball for the American Heart association last
night and the Guv and his wife danced to our last song "Piano Man"
-he liked the accordion!
www.jaredhallmusic.com