Pet Parade and Mystery Dinner

Bentsen Palm Village, the park next door, had a pet parade last Sat,and I decided to go take some pictures.  The dogs were all dressed so cute.






This cockatoo was raising cain. His owner rides him around on the handles of his bicycle.






Sat evening the Retama Village actors put on a great show for us.  We had to guess who killed Sam Disney. Dinner was provided also with the show. A lot of the dialogue was ad-libbed. Everyone did a great job entertaining us.



The butterfly bush next to our lot is full of these beauties!


I went on the bird walk Sunday at the Bentsen State Park. The only unusual  bird for me was the Black Phoebe








You know you are in the valley when in the doctor’s waiting room a man comes in selling fresh fruit and people buy it and he pulls out a bottle of hot sauce for them to put on their fruit.
One of the doctor’s receptionist reached out and touched my ring. Then she explained why.
It’s typical that Hispanics believe that if you desire something or maybe stare too much at someone that you might, unintentionally, cause them harm. Example: If you look at a beautiful child/infant you need to touch them in order to prevent them from becoming ill (touch their hair, their face, a hand, etc.). Or maybe you like something someone has (i.e. necklace, earrings, bracelet, etc.) you would have to touch it to prevent it from breaking or becoming lost. I think it’s just the idea that jealousy/desire/admiration for something can cause unintentional harm, so you must acknowledge your jealousy/desire/admiration otherwise you might cause it/the individual harm.
. In Mexico and other Latin American countries, you must touch a person or item that you verbally admire or risk invoking El Ojo, the Evil Eye. So I learned something new culturally.

Book I’ve read this week