Crafty Ladies

Crafty Ladies get together here Thursday mornings. My original thought was a bunch of old ladies sitting around knitting. Quite the contrary!

Some do beautiful beadwork, some work on Monk's cloths, some crochet, some work on patchwork jackets and I must say the age range is from mid 40's to 80's.

I always wanted to learn to crochet those neat cotton dishcloths that Barb our housesitter leaves for me. And I found a great teacher.

My next project, after I find another jean jacket, is to learn to knit a ribbon collar. Isn't this neat?

Good sport

Blaine and I were both proud when he ran the Port Isabel Causeway 10K Run in under an hour, shaving over 10 minutes off his last 10K run time!!!

The height of the bridge worried him, but all around him people were huffing and puffing and walking, but not him. He ran the whole way. He wrote his Manitoba Marathon buddy, Marie-Anne, that after the Causeway bridge, the Bishop Grandin bridge should be nothing!

Since I was not in the race, I couldn't take a picture of Blaine on the highest part of the bridge, but the run's photographer has one near the top. See it at:

http://www.riobravogallery.com/picc-run-walk/2009-run-walk/content/run_walk20090110_53_large.html

And then to top off his sporting activities over the last few weeks, he had another hole in one. His favorite part of vacation is golfing almost everyday with his friend, Michel.

Fancy meeting you here!

When we first arrived, there were so many mosquitos it reminded me of a Manitoba summer. And of course, the ones down here love me just as much as the ones back home.

I was bitten many times and when I itch, I scratch and scratch and scratch. And they get infected.

Along with the mosquito bites, I got sand fleas and some other mysterious bites. All told, I have over 40 bites from my knees down. I was up several nights, scratching and making it worse. I thought it might be fleas, as the carpet here is dirty and perhaps there was a dog. So I went out and bought some flea spray to add to the collection of remedies, creams, itch relief (none that work).

Blaine then reminded me that neither he nor Benson, the dog, are scratching.

So off I go back to Walmart, the only department store in town, to return the unopened flea spray.

I am standing in line and there at the counter waiting for the clerk to check something is none other than an old colleague from the airline and his wife. Seems that Barry and Marilyn have a place about an hour from here, but were over on the island meeting friends. They also know Rose and Wayne. What a great coincidence to be in that returns line at the same time! How cool is that!!

Christmas in Texas

I know, I know, I should be posting more. Somehow the days just go by too quick and/or I don't want to sit inside and type.

I must admit, I missed the white stuff just a little bit on Christmas. Without decorations in our house here, it really didn't seem like Christmas.

It was in the 80's and 6 of us went golfing then later that day we all got together for Christmas dinner...barbecued filets and golf shrimp.

We bought a bag of shrimp right from the fisherman for $30 for a huge bag. There is such a difference in the taste compared to the stuff we get at home that is from China or Thailand. (Even the shrimp from Gimli Fish is from overseas!!). Yummy.

We played cards, drank, laughed and had a great time.

Earlier that morning, I took a picture of Blaine (topless) walking Benson and sent it off to his brother and his wife (Barry and Lois). Later that evening, we received an email from them, with the subject 'Oh Yeah!'. Lois had taken a picture of Barry, in shorts and sandals, outside their snowy front door landing!! That was too funny!!