Monday, February 25th:  I lost a filling out of one of my teeth last Thursday, so made an appointment to see a dentist today - very nice  guy - ran into one of the choir members in the waiting room, so got the scoop on this dentist.  He's great - and seems to have done an excellent job on my tooth.  I'm all set to play cards this evening.  Whist is the current game of choice for a group, although Golf is still preferred by another group; this is a Whist night, I believe.
Thursday I'm flying to Buffalo, walking across the bridge to Niagara Falls, staying overnight in a hotel, then flying back Friday afternoon at 5:15.  Anybody want to come see me for Friday morning and into the early afternoon??

Wednesday, February 20th:  I spent part of today with Susan and Joan, driving around Jamaica Beach (the community just up the road from the park - and our mailing address is Jamaica Beach) and seeing how the other half lives!  Houses in this area cost upwards of one million dollars - and each house has its own waterfront.  Of course, there is the "poor" part, where houses might be valued at only three or four hundred thousand . . .  Developers have dredged canals through this area and then built these houses - each one has a sling with a boat underneath it. Every seven or eight years, a hurricane comes through and destroys - or at least damages - a lot of the houses - but the owners rebuild.  There were a handful of houses which had obviously not been totally rehabilitated since Hurricane Ike, but for the most part, the houses were gorgeous - and beautifully landscaped.  There are no commercial businesses at all in this area - nothing to mar the views, I guess . . .   Susan and Joan told me that we didn't actually get to the really, really rich section of the town! Jamaica Beach has seven police cars - and a total population of just under a thousand.  Yes, money obviously talks.  Those rich homes are well protected by the local constabulary.
Tonight, as usual, was choir practice - a great time, as usual!  Rob's friends JB and Jan are visiting - Jan came over to see me and give me a big hug just before Rob and I left for choir.  I'm hoping to spend some time with them tomorrow - rain is in the forecoast, so Susan, Joan, Rob, JB, Jan and I may go visit the Moody Mansion. Sounds lovely and mysterious, but it's really an old house that's been turned into a museum . . .

Right on the bay

No backyard - just ocean!

Just look at the size of this sucker!

Canals dredged from the ocean

Everybody gets a waterfront!

House shaped like a boat

Across the road from houses at the edge of town

Corner lot

Another view of the "boat" house

Tuesday, February 19th:  This was a good day - went shopping with Dora and eight other women - our regular Wednesday trip, but Dora and Ron are going to Houston tomorrow to a four day RV show.We had lunch at a chinese buffet, which was surprisingly varied and delicious.  I was wary of Chinese food in Texas, of all places - but it was excellent!  Then we visited a number of stores - frankly, the fellowship is far more fun than the actual shopping - but I did pick up a number of items I've been wanted - a dustbuster for the carpeted part of my RV, locker shelves for my smallest closet, cotton cloths for washing the outside of my rig. This evening, I went up to the clubhouse to play cards with a group of people - met two more couples, both of whom arrived during the past week.  Great fun!  I love meeting new people and getting to know them over a game of cards.

Monday, February 18th, 2013;  Our Valentine's dinner performance was well received - Rob and I MCed, as well as siuging 2 duets - Some Enchanted Evening and Get Me to the Church on Time, and our resident celebrity, Susan Slaughter (retired principle trumpet of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra) wowed us with her renditions of  various valentine songs ( My Funny Valentine, Memory, Shall We Dance,  You Made Me Love You) and we finished with an audience participation number - When the Saints Go Marching In.  It was great fun, and was followed by a fabulous sitdown dinner provided by Dora, Ron, and family.  In what other RV park does this sort of thing happen?!
On Friday, Rob washed my awning - using a method he recently learned:  first, he spread hydrogen peroxide all over it, then rolled it up and left it for half an hour, then rinsed it with water and left it to dry.  It looks great - mildew spots gone!
On Saturday, Rob washed the rest of my RV - using RV roof cleaner (from Walmart) for the roof, applied with a brush (just a broom on the end of an extendible pole).  For the rest of the body, he used baby shampoo diluted in water and applied with a lambswool pad, then Molly Moppins Advantage to get rid of some of the black streaks.  My rig is all shiny again!  I'm going to hire Rob to reseal my roof - not that it actually needs it yet, but a lot of the caulking is starting to crack a bit, and I know that Rob will do a great job.
Sunday, I took my RV out for a spin - went to Krogers and loaded up with groceries (it's still pretty cool to go grocery shopping and put away the groceries immediately - don't have to worry about frozen stuff - it just goes straight into the freezer), then off to Walmart for various and sundry items (like Gorilla Glue to afix my awning pole to its velcro fastener). I do love driving my rig!
Today, Monday, Susan and Joan and Wilma (Rob's mom) went out to the Pleasure Pier (an amusement park built on a pier jutting out into the Gulf of Mexico) to walk around and check it out.  None of us wanted to go on the rides . . .
After that, we went to lunch at the Golden Corral, a buffet style, extremely reasonably priced restaurant with excellent food!  We took Joan and Wilma back to the park to nap, and Susan and I spent the next three hours finding the sculptures dotted around the inner city.  When, in 2008, Hurricane Ike devestated the island, hundreds of beautiful spreading red oak trees were destroyed -and the residents, instead of hauling away the remnants, carved the remaining trunks into different designs.  Actually, these sculptures are the reason I chose to come to Galveston - Murph sent me pictures of them and I wanted to see them.  So - it was a great afternoon!

The after shot - I know - wrong order.

Peroxide - ing the awning

. . . and the cleaning continues!

Yep - I had to work too

The Pleasure Pier from the road

The Gulf of Mexico from the pier

Explaining the history of the pier - used to be a very expensive hotel, but Ike wrecked it and the owner decided to build an amusement park!

The carousel near the entrance

Brave surfers (the ocean was very rough today)

The road from the pier

One of those crazy rides you would never catch me dead on!

Towards the end of the pier

These were once docks used for unloading supplies for the hotel

Ferris wheel

Typical snack stand!!

Life is like a box of chocklits!

Carved cranes

Carved into the wood of the trunk, too

Looks like the figurehead of a ship - but the tree's roots are still in the ground.

The tree had actually grown around the fence at the spot where the paws grip the fence

Little dolphin peeking out of the stump

Mermaid and pod of dolphins

As above 

Squirrel with a nut

Explanation of the process!

Two crested herons - beautifully carved!

A guitar carved by the homeowner himself.

More herons

Two angels

Angels from another angle

 A golden Lab

In a school yard - a really lovely sculpture of a woman reading to children, with fantasy figures above.  There are two benches across from this tree sculpture

As above

Toto and the tin man.  Read the explanatory not below!

Monument to Galveston's trees

As above

Mermaid holding clam shell - with a Mardi Gras neclace

Pelican sporting Mardi Gras beads

Angel cradling bunny

Mermaid again

Check out the height of this palm tree!

Pelican holding fish

Cool tree!