Decade End Wrap-Up

It’s a new decade, not just a new year! Whoa! Where does the time go? We had a very nice Thanksgiving with good friends. We squeezed in 10 at the table. The table will fit twelve but the room won’t. From all the laughter I can say everybody had a good time. We served our traditional Tequila Bloody Marys, turkey with all the fixings and lots of wine. Our good friends Bill and Janelle came down to celebrate with us and we all enjoyed laughing around the table.

A friend here had a memorial service for her husband who died last year and we planned another dinner for her, his daughter and visiting friends. At the last minute, one of the guests came down with the flu. What to do? We had had out flu shots but they hadn’t incubated for the required two weeks and we didn’t want to risk everybody getting infected.

We put together a last minute group and had a delightful evening. Sometimes the best laid plans don’t work out but we put together an alternative plan and had another grand time getting to know our neighbors better.

Christmas was fast approaching with all the usual stuff to do. We didn’t do a tree this year, just our Santa which Jim’s parents gave us many years ago when we moved to Washington D.C. Carmella hunted down all the catnip toys. We had a quiet dinner with just the two of us and some delicious rib eye steaks.

Back to Thanksgiving… At the table people started to reminisce about families and loved ones and June told her Mom’s cremation story which reminded me that I still had my mom’s ashes from when she was cremated seven years ago. I actually dragged them from the cabinet and showed everybody the box which I had never opened.

I decided then to do something with them before the end of the year since it was at least still the same decade she died in. Jim portioned out the ashes into thirds and we determined the size containers we would need. The teddy bear was Mom’s constant companion in her nursing home days. He’s staying with me. Mom donated her body to science; she was Donor #11284. They sent along a silver disc with the number which probably hung around her toe. I am going to make a necklace of it.

Jim and I headed to Mexico and got three containers so I could split them up with my two sisters. Of course we had to get margaritas at Angel’s and met some fellow Winter Texans, Linda, Bonnie and Tom who knew people in our park. Small world! I also picked up a nice sterling silver and malachite bracelet while Jim was getting the margaritas. Hey, it was 50% off. Life is short. And getting shorter.

Linda and Bonnie. Hi girls!

This is the one I got for my share. I forgot to take pictures of the other two before I shipped them off. They are all different. Mom loved to travel and now she still is.
Right before Christmas we had an emergency with our new quilt, which we love. We have only had it a couple of months but some of the black fabric in the center square started to fail; not at the stitching but the fabric itself. I texted our lovely friend Marg and she said to ship it back, she can totally fix it.

She said sometimes you get a bad piece of fabric and she has never had that happen before. Now she has reported that it is totally fixed and she is shipping it back, minus all the cat hair. OOPS!  She said unless you knew where the damage was you would never suspect. She is the best. Check out her Marg Art page on Facebook. Warning: it’s addictive.

The garden is continuing to fill in. It is winter, so things are cooling off a little. Today the temperature is 70 degrees and we are starting to get a little rain, which always helps. It actually rained three inches a while ago!

We have booked two international trips so far for this year, one back to our spot in Xcalak, Mexico where we haven’t been since we started traveling in the bus. It will be nice to be on a “real” vacation. Everybody thinks when we’re in the bus we are on vacation all the time but you still have to cook and clean and shop and do laundry. We will meet up with our friend Michael while we are there along with the aforementioned Okies who we saw at Thanksgiving.

And Jim, the exhaustive researcher, has completed the booking for our bike and barge adventure on the Danube in August. We will fly into Munich, spend a few days getting oriented, then on to Passau where we will board the barge for the bike/barge portion of the trip. That lasts two weeks with between 20-40 miles a day on the bikes. Then we will head to Prague for several days before heading home. We will be gone almost the whole month of August, my birthday month! I am thinking we should maybe look into a cruise to Alaska too. That will be my fiftieth state. We’ll have to see if we have any money left… Amber?

Jim’s band played for folks in the park on New Years Eve and they knocked it out of the park! Everybody drank, danced and had champagne at midnight. It was a great show.

We had another dinner on New Year’s Day. Peni brought a bone-in ham, Debbie made black eyed peas and green beans and tater tots and Peni also made rolls and dessert. All I had to do was make a salad and pour the wine. Another great evening with friends. Jack was there too but he leaned out of the picture.
Even though the chickens are still in the park, they don’t come to the garden anymore, thank goodness. Well, thank Doc. But we have a duck! What? Rhymes with duck! So far she is not destroying anything but providing endless entertainment for the cats.

The bougainvillea is blooming along the avenues on the way into town. They are spectacular. Enjoy and Happy New Year.