Tourists!

Sooo good lookin'

Our hosts

On Sunday we took one last tour. We drove to Rockport for a last visit with former Goliad hosts Bob and Ruth Bolthouse. After a wonderful 'picnic' lunch of bbq ribs, potato salad and watermelon at the dining room table, we took a driving tour of the town. It was a beautiful sunny/blue sky day, although the wind was chilly. We ended up bayside. There is a little free aquarium there and a beautiful little park space with some really nice sea themed sculptures. After our picture session, we went back to their 'house' for coffee and pie. Yum! We had a very nice visit, but eventually had to head home.

Rockport is a nice little town with a lot of rv parks and a few shops. Situated right on the bay, it looks like a nice quiet place to spend the winter. However, we were told that things get liviler after the first of the year. We will have to wait for Bob and Ruth's report on that!

Basta por hoy,

Louise and Duane

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Our Christmas Tree

Emma and Ava in Louise's sleigh

Cousins

Merry Christmas Faithful Readers. We hope you enjoy our tree as much as we are enjoying it. The pic of the twins, Emma and Ava means a lot to me (Louise). They are sitting in the little sleigh I rode in before I was a year old. Son Duane Jr., wife Brandey and the girls were visiting daughter Rachel, husband Benji and Madeleine, Simon, and Judah. As you can see from the bottom picture, two of the babies (Judah is a month and a half older than the girls) needed attention. You can also see that Maddy's hair is really getting long, Simon is mimicking his dad with his hands in his pockets and one of the girls (Emma, I think) is sitting pretty.

We are celebrating the season by going to Christmas Eve services tonight and having the neighbors (other hosts) over for dinner tomorrow. We will be serving the traditional Wegley feast of ham and homemade maccaroni and cheese. The weather here has been sunny or at least partly so for the last week, a welcome change after almost 3 weeks of overcast and rain. Today the wind is blowing to beat the band. We are off the next two days, then back to work for 4 more days. The time has flown and we have enjoyed our work camp experience here at Goliad State Park. The staff and other hosts have been a joy to work with, but we are ready to get our wheels turning again.

Happy Holidays,

Louise and Duane

My first cypress knee carving

Old World Santa

Jeremy gave me a cypress knee from his place in North Texas. I decided to try my hand at carving an Old World Santa in it. I was pretty happy with the way it turned out. I hope others like it too.

The photo above represents a breakthrough for Duane. A week ago last Thurs. he came down with a bad cold that has hung on forever. The Santa above is a sign that he is on the mend. Fortunately I have been well so was able to fulfill our hours of requirement at the mission. Otherwise, we have been getting ready for Christmas here making gifts for friends and family. We have several boxes ready for the post office. On Christmas day we will celebrate with the other camp hosts by sharing dinner here. Good times!

More later. Louise and Duane

A few days off

Ye Olde Blacksmith Shoppe
Goliad loves its live oaks!

South Padre Island

Bob's World

As you can tell by the interesting pix, we have been touring again. We had a few days off due to some scheduling irregularities, so we decided to see what else the world could offer. First was a driving tour of Goliad. Duane was particularly attracted to the blacksmith shop. To the uninitiated, this looks like a junk shop, but of course we know better. There are real treasures to be found--if you know what you're looking for. I liked the trees in the middle of the streets. Seems the founders of Goliad admired the live oaks so much that there is a city ordanance against cutting any down. They grow where they are and life goes on around them. Next day we drove down to the Rio Grande Valley just to see what we could see. We found South Padre Island and its beautiful white sand beaches were not so inviting under gray skies, chill winds and blowing sand. By the time we were back in the car after our 10 minute visit, my teeth felt as if they'd just been cleaned by the dentist (full of grit). We drove to the end of the island, then headed for the causeway. We did enjoy seeing and hearing the ocean again, and the big dunes at the far end, but had to admit that blue skies and warm breezes added much more fun to a beach outing. So we headed north again, intending to turn west toward Mission, the winter home of a lot of RVers. We wanted to see if we would be happy spending the winter there sometime. We got sidetracked by Bob's World. We had to stop and explore the parking lot. It was way cool! (I particularly liked the norman sized dolphins where everything else was giant sized.) Then we got sucked into the store. Hundreds of shells (fake and real), lots of ornaments and other personalized items, lots of touristy stuff, but none of what we call truck stop kitsch. We wantered around for a while, then headed out again. By this time we ran out of light and Duane started to come down with some kind of cold or sinus infection, so we looked for a place to eat dinner and hole up for the night. Next day we woke up to cold rain and a forcast for ice and snow for the afternoon, so we gave up any idea of further fun and headed home. We are not enjoying the weather here now. Last night the low was 31 on our themometer and the water froze. (We unhooked first, of course.) I wonder if people showed up the the lighted parade in downtown Goliad in the snow. This am is sunny and cold. I think it put the damper on Goliad's Christmas on the Square. The vendors must be frozen! We were planning on going, but to us cold is a nasty four-letter word!