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Published: February 11th 2010
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Police protection to go!
We see several of these in the larger parking lots~~malls and hospitals, etc. Sometimes they're manned, but usually they're a camera that's manned elsewhere. One policeman told us they take many many of them to San Padre Island during spring break! (Shining Light Ministries)
We went to the Citrus Festival in Mission two weekends ago~~we skipped most of the Mexican food (we’ve had plenty of that already!) but we did enjoy the parade. It was two hours long, and had 203 floats! I’m not kidding! And there wasn’t a tractor or combine to be seen! The whole festival featured the crops grown in the Rio Grande Valley, but there were fire trucks (with sirens that they were VERY proud of) and police cars from other valley towns. Also there were lots of government representatives from Mexico. The floats had grapefruit and orange slices on them~~the slices were curling, and looked real, but the information coming from those sitting around us on the bleachers was very uncertain. Well, to be more specific, they were all very certain, but very contradictory! They may have been from real fruit, but they may not have too! I am certain of that.
The street vendors were selling food that we weren’t familiar with, and pretty much still aren’t…some kind of fruit/candy mess that people ate with a fork; corn on the cob that was red (we later found out about that, and wait till you
Duchess of Ruby Red...
Notice that she's dressed in ruby red (graperfruit) colors? Guess what color Duchess of Valencia (oranges ) was wearing! hear!), and plastic cups filled with different fruits cut in strips, about the size of celery, so you could just eat them with your fingers…those looked good. I didn’t get any because I’m pretty careful about eating things that have been handled by other people’s fingers, and then are to be eaten with my fingers, when those fingers have been touching public things. Even though God gave me an immune system, I’m just not very daring!
About the corn: we watched people eating big fat ears of corn on a stick, and they looked red. At first we weren’t even sure it was corn, because it was so red; they were very popular, though. We found out that when you buy an ear of corn, you have the choice of what you want to put on it (or decorate it with, as Bob puts it!), and butter and salt aren’t at the top of the list! The people we were watching were slathering it with mayonnaise, and then powdering it with chili powder….oooook. But the other choices were sprinkling dry cheese or salsa (of course!), or sour cream. And feel welcome to put as many items as you want
Isn't her dress pretty from the back?
Duchess Prickly Pear had a plum colored dress, and on the back was green that sort of looked like a prickly pear cactus. (It was prettier than that description makes it sound!) on your ear! Later at a different event we saw it served cut off the cob, and put in a styrofoam cup, and people would pour the different stuff in the cup, stir it together and then eat it with a fork as they walked around! I wouldn’t mind trying the cup style corn, but I don’t think I could put the decorations on it! 50c a cup, buck a cob.
We went to a flea market over the weekend, and this is one that could possibly have had fleas. When we drove where the sign said parking was, we found a dirt parking lot with people selling everything from hay to goats to oranges to chickens to puppies to palm trees. The puppy was tempting; the palm tree is mine! When I was talking to the men in the parking lot about the goats, I asked what you do with them, and was told (by his teenage son) that you can have them as a pet, like a dog, or eat them. Nope….can’t have pets in RVICS, and don’t have a recipe for goat meat. They’re skinny pathetic looking things, and yet you see pens and yards full
Did I mention that it was a citrus festival?!
Nearly all of the floats had slices of grapefruit and oranges on them. The slices looked real, and when we asked the people around us some said they were from fruit, and others said they aren't...so there you have it! of them all over the place, but we’re told they’re cheap to raise, so even though they don’t give much meat, it’s still economical. And it’s really good meat~~come on, they eat trash, how good can the meat be???
Across the street was Leo’s Flea Market, and it was for the Mexicans; by the Mexicans, for the Mexicans! Lots of things right now are geared toward the Winter Texans, and getting them to spend their money, but this one was not. Most of the vendors spoke Spanish, and I mean spoke it only! When I would ask a question, if they cared to answer me, they would get one of the kids to give me information. Usually, though, they just repeated the question to me and smiled: “Do you have naval oranges?”
“Si, navel oranges.”
“These aren’t navels.”
“No, not navel oranges.”
They had lots of books and music, but not a word of English in sight! I didn’t eat anything because of that bare fingers thing. Took my palm tree and we headed home, but we really did enjoy the whole experience.
Before I move on, I want to tell about the
birds; I think I talked about grackles when we were in Pharr~~the black bird with the large wedge-shaped tail? Apparently they migrate to this area in the winter (I wonder if that makes them Winter Texans?!) There are thousands and thousands in the area~~the yard in front of us will be black with them sometimes, and if you’re uptown in the evening, it’s just spooky. They line the electrical wires, even the vertical ones, and they’re in the trees, and packed on top of the signs for buildings, and they poop as much as all birds do! You seriously have to be careful walking from the car to the store during the evening hours. One grocery store manager told us they’ve tried everything to get rid of the birds, because they’ve hurt business, but they keep coming back. We mentioned being ready to get a gun, and he said they did, but there are so many birds that it wasn’t successful! In the very upscale shopping centers they’ve installed systems that give off sounds that only birds can hear~~it must be like bird rap music, because it’s effective. But the smaller shopping centers can’t afford them. At least the BMWs
Did you see the movie?
Even I can remember the movie Birds, and I suspect it was filmed here! This is just one intersection, and they're this thick in a whole section of town. don’t get messy! The pictures on this entry are taken at the one intersection, looking different directions. They make a cawing sound when they’re flying, but if they’re just hanging out, they have a pretty songbird-type sound.
We’re all moved and at Shining Light Ministries, in Mission, right now. This is a pretty camp, and I will get pictures and get it posted soon, for sure. But in the meantime, let’s go to the parade…
PS When/if you leave a comment, will you please post your name? I've always been able to see who the sender was, and now, for some reason, that information isn't included. I'm working on getting the site manager to put it back on, but in the meantime, let me know whose voice I'm reading, ok?
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Patti
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The parade sounds great but I've got the creepy crawlies with all that talk about the birds and their poop!! It would make me want to walk around with an umbrella.