May 2014

The rest of May was low key, at least for us.

The first rain of the season came. It felt so good! So much time had passed since the last good rain, I rushed out to take this photo. I would not have been so happy had I known it was the beginning of one of the rainiest summers on record.

All the clouds made for some lovely sunsets! That's a good thing. It doesn't make the grapes any happier, but it does make me smile.

Friends showing up always makes for a good time and when Eduardo and Magalie are involved, it's especially nice!

Friends from Monterrey, Ceci and Diego!

A bonus Thanksgiving Dinner! Complete with mashed potatoes and gravy. Ferdi was even giving lessons on turkey deconstruction.

Stanley started the first of the garden remodel projects. He loves moving rocks around.

In the vineyard, things were really looking sharp from top to bottom. Weed free and no vines tangled up in the net. 

You may remember Raul from a posting about dinosaur bones and another about rattlesnakes. This time he came with a display of arrowheads. Beautiful!

By the 20th, we were back in Edinburg checking on Veti's new plantings. They were looking great.

A few days to catch up on Thorn Thicket, visit with friends, and dance a couple of times and before we knew it, Memorial Day celebrations were happening all around us including this one at Sandpipers. 

As I was finding fault with all the rain we were getting in Mexico, the rain in South Texas was more than welcome. All things - including rain - are relative! I was hoping this rainbow promised to put down the rain where it was welcome!

On the 31st we took off for Houston to visit Ken and Ivy. On the way, we stopped and bought some beautiful shrimp for Ivy here at the Shrimp Shack in Tres Palacios. We always enjoy this little town and its giant shrimp fleet.

And that wraps up May!

Picnic with Ferdi and Lucy

Before we left the valley, Ferdi called to see if we would come to his place and see his new vineyard site.  I promised that we would.  However, the first few days we were back in Parras, the time flew and we still hadn't made the effort a week later.  On Sunday morning, we determined that today was the day!  No more excuses.  


Before leaving the house, I checked my email and FaceBook and discovered much to my surprise that Ferdi and Lucy were in town actually planting the vineyard.  We left immediately and arrived just in time for the celebratory picnic.  As usual, the food was delicious and the company was even better.  


Only one glitch . . . the pictures we took of the vineyard that day are on Lucy's camera and she has not sent them to me.  I will include them here when I get them.  The new vineyard is lovely.  4 hectares and almost 7,000 plants.  That should keep these two love birds busy for a looooong time!

Congratulations!  We wish you great success!


On the lighter side, Lucy rarely comes to Parras without a little horse riding activity.

This is one of my favorite cowboys!

You just never know what kind of surprise they might bring.  This time it was crab from Tampico!  Yummy!
With no crab cracker,  Lucy joked about eating it shell and all . . .

while Stanley employed the only tool he had . . . a lime juicer -----------------  

Yes, it worked.  By using his head and his tool, Stanley released more crab meat than any of us.  


And, we met Bill Doer, a friend and business associate of Ferdi's.  We've already added Bill to our list of friends and hope to see him again soon.

  
Solo Vino worked so hard running up and down the road by the vineyard, he had to take a very long nap during the picnic.  

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!