Some Gave ALL

The dead soldier's silence sings our national anthem. 
~Aaron Kilbourn

I am so grateful for all of the soldiers that fought and died for our country and for our freedom.

This week had it’s ups and downs.
Monday Sheri and I went birding and I took some great pictures of some of the birds she had found.
This is the Altamira Oriole and her nest.



 

After Sheri went home I laid in the hammock that is over at the park and just enjoyed the sounds of the birds and looking up at the beautiful sky.


Early Tuesday morning Sheri woke up in pain and went to the emergency room, spent hours there, then was finally admitted and told she needed emergency gall bladder surgery.
So we started praying!
She came through the operation just fine.  Thank you, Father!
I did some more birding this week.  I got a terrific picture of a Scissortail nest with eggs and a picture of the mommy.

Also, a wonderful head on shot of the Pauraque.
Friday we had a potluck at the Retama Club for the few of us Village people that are left.  I made a coconut cake.

Everyone always brings such wonderful dishes to share.


Our cats are so funny. Whiskers hasn’t paid any attention to Phil for seven years, and now he won’t stay out of his lap!

Can you tell my darling husband hates having his picture taken?

I love all of our fur babies


Today I went to look at the Kiskadee nest.  The babies had left the nest but there were plenty of Kiskadees around.



Books this week:

Harlan Coben  Hold Tight

One of my favorite new authors.



 Tami Hoag  Prior Bad Acts

I've read her books before. This one I liked better than the others I have read.
I enjoyed the characters and the story line.

Movies this week:
Fred Claus Starring Vince Vaughn and Paul Giamatti.
Ok movie, one I wouldn't watch again.

Valkyrie Starring Tom Cruise


I liked this one a lot. The movie is based on a true story of a few honorable men in Germany willing to stand up against Hitler, knowing it would mean their life.

Passengers Starring Anne Hathway

This movie had a real twist to it.


Twilight Starring Kristen Stewart and Robert  Pattinson 


Vampire love story, I can see why the kids like it.



Quantum of Solace starring Daniel Craig.

I think Daniel Craig does a great job as Bond. I like him a lot more than Pierce Brosan but not as much as Roger Moore. And no one stands up to Sean Connery!

Presents from Jesus

I love my friend Sheri. She makes me smile all of the time:)
Sunday she called me and we made a play date for yesterday morning to go look at some bird nests she had found over at the RV park next door. The park is empty of winter Texans, Sheri and Rocky are just about the only people left in the entire park. So we had the place to ourselves. We saw a kiskadee nest with babies. An oriole nest and a pauraque nest. That is when Sheri said they were presents from Jesus, I love it!
I got some great photos.

Pauraque



Pauraque eggs



Kiskadee nest




How many baby heads do you see?





Oriole and nest






Isn't God good to us?
More pictures later:)

Out of my mind. Back in five minutes.

Psalms 63

O God, you are my God,
earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you,
my body longs for you,
in a dry and weary land
where there is no water

A sad week this week.

Larry and Linda left for the season. They were the first people to welcome us to Retama Village, and they have been so gracious and helpful to us.

Donna and Grant left also. They are really sweet people that we were blessed to get to know this year. We will miss them. The good thing is that, God willing, we will see them again next winter!

We went to Estero Llano Grande State Park this week. Phil waited at the visitor center while I went looking for the alligator that is suppose to reside there. I didn’t see any alligators, but I did get some good shots of the birds and a rabbit.

The Visitor Center

Some pretty flowers

Some ducks

I love this picture!

We went down to Nuevo Progreso, Mexico to get some more medications, so we can leave with a full stock.

Now this looks like what I always envisioned Mexico would look like.

Outside the farmacia we go to.

Where we get our pet meds.

Phil gets a four dollar haircut at Reuben's, which includes a power sander massage!

Some pretty flowers in Mexico

We had a small good bye happy hour for Bonnie and Gail on Wednesday. They were leaving for Wisconsin.

Bonnie, myself, and Sheri

After happy hour Sheri, Rocky, Phil, and I went to Olive Garden for dinner. I had this fabulous new dish they are offering, the Lasagna Rollatini with Chicken.

This is definitely a dish I will order again.

We also had to go to Lowes to buy a new bathroom faucet. Our original faucet wouldn't shut off and replacement parts weren't available, so we needed a new one.

I really like the one we picked out.

Rocky installed it for us. Sheri and he have been such a blessing to us and we treasure their friendship.

While they were over we fixed homemade pizza and spinach salad. I’m always intending to take a picture of our homemade pizzas, but I always forget! Maybe next time.

I did take a photo of one of my favorite deserts.

Baker’s One Bowl Brownies with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, and cherries. Yummmmm!

Saturday afternoon we had storms, with flash flood and high wind warnings. Thankfully we didn’t get any damage, just some much needed rain.

I made a pot of all day spaghetti sauce and some homemade bread sticks, so we invited Sheri and Rocky over for dinner.

Books this week:

Until We Meet Again: A True Story of Love and Survival in the Holocaust by Michael Korenblit

Too Far Gone by John Ramsey Miller

Movies this week:

In Trazit starring

Vera Farmiga and John Malkovich

In the chaotic aftermath of WWII, a group of German POWs are accidentally sent to a female-run Soviet prison camp.

Taken starring Liam Neeson

A former spy relies on his old skills to save his estranged daughter, who has been forced into the slave trade

A Freudian slip is when you say one thing but mean your mother

Happy Mother's Day.

I miss my mama, I miss my sons. Today is not a great day for me.
My mama

She passed away in February, 2005
I miss her every day.

I sent my Stepmom, Ann, who has been terrific to me, a dress from Mexico. A lot of the gals here wear them to the pool. I love the loud colors and the hand embroidery.

We sent Phil's mom one also. Hers is a little more subdued.

I spent most of the week trying to get pictures of a black neck stilt. There is a pond being created down the road for the use of the Village people and the other residents of the area. It will have an island and fishing for those that like to fish. Right now the birds are enjoying it. I've been having some trouble with my telephoto lens though.
I have the Nikon TC-E15ED Tele-Converter Lens for Coolpix 5700 and for the life of me I can't figure out how to use it. I have read the manuals, read all I can find about it online and my photos are still slightly out of focus!
Anyway, I made several trips down to the pond and
kept trying.



They make a sharp yipping sound continuously when disturbed. I guess I was disturbing them a lot:)

In other news this week I won a set of Lock & Lock storage containers from Tammy from Love My 2 Dogs.

I’ve won some neat things entering online sweeps over the years.

Friday Jamie and Jack picked us up to go to lunch.

I love their car. It was too hot to have the top down though.
We went to Gonzales, the best burger joint in the valley.

Unassuming place but don’t let that fool you.
Look at the size of this burger!

And the fries and onion rings

And the prices! Cheap Cheap!

More photos this week.
We have this bush in the island of our lot and it is an unruly beast but it does have some beautiful blooms.

I love the Bokeh filter.

Other Photos

Books this week: Valhalla Rising by Clive Cussler.
I use to read his books all the time but I haven't read one of his in awhile now. I enjoy the blend of "history" and suspense.

Movies this week:
The Secret starring David Duchovny
This was an excellent movie.
It's a supernatural drama based on the Japanese film Himitsu about a woman who dies and yet her spirit takes up residence in the body of her 16 year old daughter. This causes the husband to have to deal with some sticky situations.

Appaloosa starring Viggo Mortensen and Ed Harris.
A good western.



Good video for Mother’s Day