Toasty the III

You would think such a beautiful placid scene would never have been the scene of a murder. 

The victim was heard screaming, “Some legs! Some legs! My kingdom for some legs!” Sadly, this was not Richard the III; it was Toasty the II, innocent victim of the most mysterious unsolved murder in South Padre Island’s history.

It was time for good to overcome evil in this world again and Sandy Feet came to the rescue.

From a shapeless mound of sand, she began recreating Toasty.

 I admired the skill and talent in those hands of hers

 and the gentle way she worked on him showed how big her heart is.

 Just as every student is unique to a teacher, or every client is to a businessman, so must it be with her creations. 

It must be neat to see what is in your mind come to fruition. 

 

After a lot of hard work on Sandy Feet’s part, Toasty was up and providing photo opportunities for Islandgoers of all ages.

No matter what paths life has in store for these girls, they will always have this photo to remind them of the awesome weekend they spent with us. It was the perfect topper for a weekend that included movies, pizza, ice cream, lighted boats, chocolate cake, a pirate ship, more ice cream,  learning about the history of the area at the museum, more ice cream with a pina colada cake, volleyball on the beach, a boat ride and finally, a root beer float to relax with… of course, made with ice cream. Thank you, Sandy Feet for not giving up and for having such a big heart. We LOVE you! You can find out more about Sandy Feet here.

Christmas Boat Parade

I am from the time when a mouse was a mouse and a byte was something you did to a cheesecake, so this new-fangled digital camera Santa brought me had me worried that I wasn’t going to be able to take good photos of the boat parade…

It has something called “macro” close-up which is better than “get yourself closer” like my old camera but it still was not behaving at times because of all the separate functions and all you must program it for. Sometimes simpler is better. This camera is so new, there are instructions for the instructions and I was a little worried I’d get too frustrated and give up.

Once people started gathering at the end of the “fingers”, the streets in Port Isabel that jut out into the water like an outstretched hand, I knew it was about that time and do-or-die time for my camera.

Close-ups worked fine now, but it was the ‘night’ function that had me a little apprehensive.

You could hear loud boat horns honking and carolers singing.

 

Santa was “Man of the Hour.”

It was a beautiful balmy evening.

Some boats looked good even without the lighted decorations.

Once the sun started to go down, I wondered if I’d be able to get the pictures I wanted. I was getting frustrated with the ugly and out-of-focus shots but when I saw the following picture through the display screen, I knew everything was going to be okay.

 

 

 

 

 

 This is why I don’t need drugs. 

 

 I love the way these pictures came out. 

  

 The height and spiderweb-like quality of this boat’s decor was impressive.

 Some of these shots were absolutely beautiful but the parade was even nicer in person.

This was a good parade with many participants, viewers and it spawned many holiday parties that led on into the night. This boat parade is a tradition here and many people get together for the parade then go to each other’s homes here along the water for great food, drink and fellowship to celebrate the coming of the holiday season. We served homemade tortilla chips and excellent salsa, enchiladas, Spanish rice and a big ol’ pot of beans a la charra topped off with Pina Colada Cake, pumpkin pie, pumpkin cheesecake and root beer floats. Outside you could hear the sounds of other gatherings. Our whole street was rockin’ and rollin’ deep into the night. This parade also heralds a welcome to our winter visitors who are now in the warm embrace of South Padre Island’s and the neighboring Port Isabel. Welcome back, friends!

If you want to see what the beach looks like today, click here

Christmas Came Early

Santa Claws came early this year. Actually, I ordered this in October and waited for weeks, put my faith in “the system”, and did not call to double-check the order. I just figured I would leave things alone and they would go as they should. WRRROOONNNGGOOO! I called to track the trikke after a few weeks and the girl told me there was no record of the order. I waited for weeks and weeks and those were weeks full of good weather and warm sunshine. This lady was telling me that even after Laquisha took my order, checked my address, double checked and repeated the credit card numbers out to me and told me to have a nice day, NOTHING was put into the computer. Now all I had was the cold winter months coming and I figured the bike would come just in time for the rain and slush and cold and mud. I had to reorder but luckily, it came today, DECEMBER 1st. I hope that the weather is sunny all through December so I can ride my new toy. My next goal is to lose enough weight by March to go public in a swimsuit, but look badass in it. It can be done. I have done it before. I lose enough to look good for an event, turn heads, then the next day it is right back to my old eating habits. This time I want to go for a complete year staying in shape. December 1st is the beginning of my new journey.

 

It looked challenging in the box.

 

After some easy assembly, it was ready to go. In just a few minutes, I was rockin and rollin’ rather leanin’ and slicing.

My new neighbor was putting a wreath together.

The iridescent butterfly was gorgeous.

She said, “I’m gonna have to do it in blue.” I said, “We are going to do our boat in blue for the South Padre Island boat parade. Blue and silver is beautiful.”

They gave my daughter a tour of her new house.

 

 

It is houses like this that led my daughter to call us poor. I am a little bit older than the child and am grateful to have a place to live.

Tonight, Venus, Jupiter and the moon were bunched together and posed for a group shot.