Forty six

It was forty-six years ago that I went to a little white steepled church in Willis, Kansas and did something that I would do again if I was suddenly transported back to that time. I got married. I got a bride that I took to my home in Colorado. Erma joined me in a place that she had never seen, or had not even seen a picture. Some time later I remember thinking that I had hit a milestone when I had been married more than half the time that I had been in Colorado. There were other milestones that came frequently. I was married a length of time longer than I had known Erma, and then it seemed soon that I was married more years than I had been in school. Now I have been married more than two thirds of my life. At least my life so far, I do intend to live longer and be married longer too.

I have always had one problem with the day that I was married. I have never been able to remember which of two dates we got married. I am lucky in that one way. If a man forgets his anniversary and he is late he is in trouble, however if he is early he is just anxious to celebrate. I will never be late but I might be a day early. I was either married three days after Christmas or three days before New Years. Well it was on the 29th, which is three days before New Years Day, by my way of counting. My wife gave up on me years ago.

I must have told some friends of mine it was the 28th because they wanted to take us out. They had also invited several other couples to go with us, but we did not know that. One of the couple was one with whom we had celebrated their anniversary just shortly before. It was pretty special to be with a group for our anniversary. I recommend it to others too.

We spent Christmas Day here in the park. Again the park provided turkeys to be cooked and many people cooked them at home. It is a good thing that a lot of people have standard sized ovens. We could not cook a full sized turkey in our oven. It is a microwave/convection oven that is not much larger than a large microwave. In addition to the turkeys every person brought a dish to share. Like any meal of that sort there was a lot of food, more food than twice as many people needed. There was nearly 500 people that attended the meal. It was divided into several groups, and each group had three or four long tables loaded with food. In fact there were so many people that two buildings were needed to hold everybody. People always hope that all the food they take to a pot luck will be eaten so they don't have to take any home. Erma and I are no different of course. We were not disappointed either. Both the spinach balls that Erma made and the stuffed mushrooms that I made disappeared down to the last crumbs. The fact that they are different and very good helps.


OUR ORANGE GROUP HAD OVER A HUNDRED PEOPLE

It seems that I am constantly helping someone with their computer. I am not sure how I got myself into a situation where I do so much of this kind of work. But I guess it is because I seem to be able to get results and I want people to be able to enjoy their computers. One thing for sure is that having a computer that is not doing what a person needs to have it do IS NOT ENJOYABLE. Some of the problems that people have are really simple to solve, but if I cannot solve the problem then there are two of us that are frustrated. One of the problems have a lot of trouble with is an anti-virus program. We try to load AVG and it takes so long that the chance of failure is high. Therefore it may need to be loaded several times before there is success. I have have success with every computer that has had fair access speed to the Internet, but some connections are too slow to be effective. I need another solution.

I have a friend that is coming into the airport tonight about 10:30. It has been along time since I have been in an airport later than 9:00 or so. Years ago we had a tradition of going out Stapleton Airport in Denver and having strawberry pie after midnight in the first few minutes of a New Year. Then one year we went out there with a young daughter and friends and they had taken the pie off the menu. There went a fun New Years tradition. As odd as it may seem New Years has not been the same since then. We still have fun but I never fail to miss the outing to a now non-existent airport.

If there are people that read this from the northern US I will apologize ahead of time. Our temperature here tomorrow is supposed to be up in the 70's. I keep seeing so many reports of snow and hear that it is cold too. I sure am glad that I am here in the southern part of Texas and the possibility of snow is very small. I just got Roger from the airport and he says that where he left is fourteen degrees. I am glad that I was not there.

So to all of you readers, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Till later this is Uncle Duck

Christmas Eve

Here it is Christmas Eve and I actually had to check earlier today to see what day of the month it was. When I was a kid I got the idea that it was not Christmas Eve until the sun went down. I don't know how old I was when I realized that any "eve" was the entire day before the day of the event. I guess that it made some sense to think it had to be evening. Even to this day I really don't think of it as much different, time wise at least.

We have gotten a lot of cards from people across the USA and a lot from people here in Bentsen Grove. All are very nice and I appreciate the thoughts that are expressed and the thoughts that prompted the sending of cards. I have not sent out many cards in several years. I wonder once in a while if people know that there are thoughts of well wishes for them even if they so not get a card. For several years I have been sending out and giving out a lot of calenders that I have designed and print. Perhaps when those are used during the year people know that did think of them. I give them out both as a Christmas gift and a gift for the entire year.

Living here in the Valley we eat out on a regular basis. There are a lot of nice restaurants with good food that are available. I almost feel that going to one of them has become pretty common. I find myself getting more picky over the years, or I am becoming more aware of my feelings. Either way there is one restaurant that always has good food and there is always a good show to go with it. The name is Hayashi Hibachi. The cook their food on grills in front of the customer with a lot of theatrics. So not only is the food good there is a show that goes with it. I had taken my camera and had taken a couple picture. The chef asked me if I wanted some fire. Of course I said yes and he really gave fire show. I don't know what kind of fuel they used but it made a great flame. I had shut my camera off and I almost did not get the picture.


FIRE AND FLAME AT HAYASHI HABACHI

One of the traditions here in Bentsen Grove is to put two luminarios at the front of every lot and light them at 6:00 on Christmas Eve. This is the fourth year that we have been here for the lighting. I just went out to light ours and the there were at least a dozen other people doing the same. The only problem tonight is that the wind is blowing. Within a few minutes of the lighting of one candle there was a bag casualty. The wind blew the flame into a bag and the bag quickly burned down one side. It is still pretty. The wind is supposed to quit here in just a bit so maybe it will get better. I see that several men are still "relighting" the luminarios that have blown out. Unless the wind does stop soon they could have an all night job. The first time I saw luminarios was when I was in high school and it was something new to a nearby town Ottawa, Kansas. Out in an affluent area there was a whole neighborhood that had nearly every street lined with a luminario about every five foot. It was very impressive.

Bentsen Grove is located on two side of Bentsen Palm Drive here in Mission. Because of this fact a lot of people cross the busy road for activities or visiting. There has been a lot of talk and warnings to the residents here that if a lot of caution is not taken in crossing the street there could be an accident. The cars that come along the street are going fast and they will pass turning vehicles on the right hand side without slowing down. It happened yesterday. The only thing good that can be said it that the lady was not killed. That could have easily been the result. But as I understand she suffered a broken leg, damaged muscle or ligaments of one arm and blow to the head. Someone said that she was hit by the mirror of the vehicle, but that is unconfirmed. Any way it gets looked at, it is a poor way to start the Christmas period.

Tonight in the church where I grew up there will be a large Christmas tree set up in one corner. I would bet that corner has had a tree in it every Christmas since the church was built in 1872. I would also be willing to bet that every child that attended services on Christmas Eve got a bag of candy, nuts and some fruit. That is the way it was during every Christmas I can remember when I was there. There are so many traditions that are wonderful to remember. There seems to be a tradition in a near town that is quite impressive. Just about twenty miles from where we stay is the town of Hidalgo, TX. It is a border town with an international bridge going across the the Rio Grande river into Mexico. It is well known for that reason but the town goes all out to decorate with Christmas lights. There are three miles of lights along the route they suggest. There are trolleys that have narrated tours and there are horse drawn buggies that take viewers around. To say the least it is impressive.


ONLY A FEW OF THE LIGHTS OF HIDALGO TEXAS

Here in Bentsen Grove we have three primary languages that are spoken. Mostly English by the residents. We have a lot of French speaking people that come down from the cold in Quebec every winter. And of course since we are so close to Mexico there are a quite a few workers that speak Spanish. There is at least one couple that come from Germany. Without a doubt there are other languages that are spoken here, but I have not had the privilege of meeting those people. So since I really know only the first three this is all I will say.

Joyeux Noel to my French speaking friends.
Feliz Navida to my Spanish friends.
Merry Christmas to those friends that speak English.

Till later this is Uncle Duck