April - Part 2

As we settled into the Edinburg routine, it was a thrill to watch the garden come into it's own.

Although Stanley isn't happy unless he's busy, I made sure we spent some time just being quiet. We enjoyed some lovely meals with friends - at our home and theirs. We took in a evening of Flamenco guitar and another evening of choral music presented by Dr. David Means. I had a couple of days with Veti out and about in town and one day with Sue Z, Catherine, and Veti. We toured a craft place that specializes in stain glass art, a couple of art galleries, and had a great lunch. Of course, no trip to town is complete without a stop at HEB.


April 16th - Blood Moon
We got up in the middle of the night to see it. Wow! I'll admit it's a borrowed photo, but a lovely one, don't you think?

April 19th - Last day of Lent. If I was going to make Capirotada this year. I had to get on the ball. Thank goodness Jim and Veti were willing to help us eat it.


And, then, like magic . . . it was Easter.

We banked on the weather being nice and planned to have Easter dinner at our house so we could enjoy the porch. We were teased all day with hard wind gusts, but as we were putting the final touches on preparation, the wind died down and we had a lovely evening.

Green eggs and ham, soup and Jim's homemade bread (delicious as always, Jim!), rack of lamb, asparagus, and roasted potatoes, followed by the creamiest coconut pie imaginable.

Hobbes cleaned up the dishes for us so we had nothing to do except sit back and enjoy another glass of wine.

April 23rd - The first of the birthday celebrations. Veti and Jim put together a lovely dinner complete with a delicious strawberry birthday cake. Making friends with Veti is one of the smartest things I ever did!

We left the following day for Mexico. Time to put in some real muscle in the vineyard.

Today is May 5th and in the ten days we've been here, Stanley has done enough work for ten weeks. He has torn down fence, built fence, repaired net, replaced a broken gate post, redone the herb gardens, hoed weeds, continued the process of tying up vines, sprayed the vines with sulfer, and more. He has bottled wine, installed a fancy door closing apparatus on both our screen doors, and Lord only knows what else. 

Me? Well, I've played in the garden, done some computer work, communicated with some friends, 

cooked some meals - like this attempt at green chili burgers, 

put in a little effort on my language course, done a bit of house keeping, watched some birds, 

enjoyed some sunsets, 

 done some bontanizing, (Anyone know what this hard, woody mushroom might be? It's been growing here for days!)

(And what's with these wasps attaching their nest to nothing but an exposed electric wire?)

and I have spent considerable time applauding Stanley's efforts. 

And then it was Birthday Time!

On May 3rd, friends from Monterrey came to dinner.

We put together a real birthday feast

And it came complete with gifts: treats from HEB and a box of "just harvested" vegetables. Do these ladies know me, or what?

On Sunday (the real day), Stanley and I went with Ernesto and Alida to their vineyard.

On the way back, we saw this pair. Aren't they sweet?

After an afternoon siesta, we packed the picnic basket and headed to the bat cave. We were rewarded with tons of bats - none of whom wished to be photographed. As always, just as the bats were coming out, a huge group of people showed up, but we had already finished our picnic and they were a welcome addition.

Walking back, we just caught the end of the sunset.

It had been quite a day! The rest of May promises to be low-key. We'll see!