Know Your Neighbor! Alan #508

KYN (Know Your Neighbor)

We are a family! Get it? Kin! I fear being too subtle!

This is an on-going series by and about SandPeople. Today's victim...errrr...subject is Alan, #508. Alan is one of the biggest contributors to the blog via comments, and a familiar sight pedaling around the park.

Stevie is an excellent Petanque player, and let's not forget Joey!
Joey is well known by the tennis players. That bouncing tennis ball is a dog's dream.

This is Joey with his good friend Zack, a Golden Retriever owned by Stevie's sister.

Age 72; retired Chartered Accountant (CPA to Americans) - specialised in taxation.

Avid reader and cyclist (as many will already know).

Likes: family is #1.

Dislikes: phony people.

Oui, je parle francais mais pas aussi bien

que les autres qui vien de Quebec.

We have been going to Sandpipers for 10 years (but missed 3); we love NOT having to shovel snow!!, other than that we do much what we would do at home.

Married to Stevie for 48 years; 4 children (boy, girl, boy, girl); 8 grandchildren (5 boys, 3 girls); 1 great-grandchild (girl).

Full blooming Crab Apple tree in our back yard, back home. See, it doesn't snow ALL the time!

This was taken at the 1st Sandpiper's Nude Olympics.

I set up the petanque events, both the tournament and the skills events, in 2000.

East Haven Sun Club (near Ottawa) at a corn roast. Stevie and I were the "King & Queen of the roast, also 2000.

Patsy & Garland's Most Excellent Adventure

It Was A Two Museum Day!

Garland and I had a delightful Sunday afternoon visiting two interesting places. First, we stopped at UTPA to see "Sue", the Tyrannosaurus Rex casting from an actual dinosaur skeleton now housed at the Chicago Field Museum.

It was found on a Sioux Indian Reservation in South Dakota so I suppose that it is how it got its name.

I call it "Big Sue" for obvious reasons.

It is a free exhibit, and it was fun watching the families (especially the little kids) enjoy it.

Even though it was Sunday afternoon, there were no lines and it was not overly crowded. It will be on display at the Visitors Center until Jan.4, 2009. For info on times and days, go to http://www.utpa.com/.

Then we visited the Museum of South Texas History in downtown Edinburg. We hadn't been there for two years, and we were surprised at how much had been added.

If you start at the beginning (which for some reason, we didn't), you can browse through the rich history of the Rio Grande Valley starting with dinosaurs and ending about 1950.

I really enjoyed the video on the steamship era, 1850-1900 when steamships sailed all the way up to Rio Grande City and Roma. Imagine! Be sure to go through both buildings upstairs and down. We spent a pleasant afternoon in this little jewel of a museum--we won't wait two years to return. For more info, visit http://www.mosthistory.org/.

After absorbing all this history and culture of this unique South Texas area, we had built up quite an appetitie, so we celebrated by eating at Luby's (another Texas treasure started in San Antonio in 1948. See http://www.lubys.com/ )

Patsy

Bob & Bernie's Wonderful Wine Tour

La Dolce Vita Spain and Italy Wine Tours
By
Bernie and Bob

We flew into Madrid, Spain then went by Express train to Valladolid where on Monday we began our tour on Rioja Wine.

It was 2 wineries (at least) each day with the winemaker or someone on his/her staff.

We tramped over vineyards, thru the fermenting rooms, barrel rooms, bottling lines and saw HUGE amounts of wine in storage. The wineries we saw produced from 30,000 bottles per year to nearly 2,000,000!




The first day we were introduced to syrah and petit verdat at the winery Abadia Retuerta then it was on the Emina winery museum.

The afternoon was spent at an enjoyable winery, Rento. Terrific wine! This was the start of our tastings of the tempranillo grape.

Day 2 we went to the smallest winery in the Rioja which has outstanding wines.

As the days passed we went to more modern wineries to see their interpretations of how to make wine. We saw wine fermenting in American Oak, French Oak, stainless steel, and concrete.

Night time found us staying in converted convents and monasteries. Dinner started around 10 p.m. Well past our bedtime, but it was exciting and we had new foods from what we usually eat.

In Italy we really had our fill of Chianti and Chianti Classico. We learned all about the rules that have to be followed to get the Classico stamp. We also found the different approaches being taken by the individual wineries. One, Donatello Cinelli Colombini, is operated by all women.

The wine was well done with many in our group buying cases to be shipped home. This is a very expensive endeavor. They felt it was a bargain paying around $146 to $160 per case for shipping for the value of the wine. We decided to try and find the wines here because there is no guarantee it will ever arrive (especially watching them load the planes). The wineries on the north and south sides of Montalcino are well known for their Brunello wine.

These tours also covered famous museums, cathedrals, cheese shops, and an evening cooking class. We were also able to spend some time on our own in Florence and Rome. Needless to say we had a great time. The 2 days we spend in Florence were a good chance to transition from Spain to Italy before we did the Italy tour portion.


After the tour we spent 3 days in Rome doing the tourist things at the Coliseum, the Vatican and all the fountains and ruins.
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And, as if that was not enough to keep her busy,

Bernie also made a beautiful quilt this summer.

We won't be able to appreciate it in person 'cause she sold it! Gorgeous, Bernie!

Luncheon Reminder and Football Fantasy Fiends!

Calling all Gals
Luncheon: Tuesday, October 7 Th, 2008.

Place: Victoria's Antiques, Gifts,

and Tea Room

1524 N. Conway

Leaving; SPR's at 11:00a.m.

Sign up sheet in the pavilion, reservations need to be called in by October 6Th.

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Now, to inspire you further and to show I don't just hold the guys up for inspection, dissection and ridicule...I present the Heisman Trophy Wannabe's from 2007.

But first, the refresh your memory, the girlfriends:

Now, the contenders for the Football Hall of Fame:

Stagger-Lee

Billy-Bob

Bubba

Famous AmosHappy GilmoreThe Best Players of 2007

Truly an inspiring bunch!

Get your costumes ready for October 31st. Get a group together and do a theme, or just throw caution to the wind and try something really wild. Come alone, come as a pair, come as a group...but do plan to attend Sandpiper's Wild Halloween Party.

Know Your Unknown Neighbors!

It's never to early to plan ahead. Halloween, the unofficial start of Sandpiper's jam-packed-with-fun season, is right around the corner. To inspire you, or amuse you, or just downright alarm you...here is a quartet of lovelies from last year's frightful celebration. Can you guess who they are? Do you want to know?

Precious!

Sweet!

Charming!

Lovely!

Kind of like a beauty contest, isn't it? Who's your favorite?

Know Your Neighbor! Jim #38

Intrepid Reporter: Jim, what do you do to relax? What are your hobbies?

Jim: I like woodworking, computers, golf, water volleyball and I used to do a lot of glass work.

IR: How did you get started on working with glass?

Jim: Several years ago I noticed my wife (that's me) selling jewelry made from glass beads she bought on Ebay. I had just retired and was looking for a new hobby. After a short learning curve we started up a small business selling beads on-line and thru Ebay to other jewelry makers. This was back when there weren't too many artisan bead makers so for awhile we were pretty successful. We stopped doing the on-line sales when competition increased, and gradually I became less interested in it.

IR: Do you think you'll ever return to glass bead making?

Jim: I still have the tools, and who knows...maybe the muse will strike again, someday.
IR: So what now?

Jim: Now I'm really into woodworking. All my life I worked behind a desk, so when I would go home at night I was looking for hobbies that involved working with my hands. I did a lot of handyman, do-it-yourself projects and became adept at plumbing, electrical work, even building my own computers. I stuffed my garage and basement with every tool. I've always loved working with wood...building useful things.

Tools.

More tools!

Coffee Table-Shaker style.

IR: What did you do this summer?

Jim: We stayed here this summer. I maintained the water volleyball equipment, replacing balls and nets as needed...also played a fair amount. Helped you with some of the park gardening, like replacing the fountain garden pump, and weeding. And I did several woodworking project around the house. I built a sink cabinet for the hall bathroom, designed and built a new kitchen island, built several bases for power tools in the shop, built a large wall clock...and I'm about to build you a new potting bench.

Kitchen island...love it!

Rocking Chair New hall sink cabinet. IR: So, what else?

Jim: I love, LOVE, playing Civilization on my computer...watching football...and going to Lowe's....that's pretty much it.