Wednesday, February 16, 2011

MARIACHI AND FOLKLORICO

Saturday, February 12  - Tonight is Mariachi Night! We went with friends Betty & Jay to Juarez-Lincoln High School. The students presented Mariachi and Folklorico, dances that emphasize local folk culture. This high school is located in the La Joya Independent School District. This was an amazing show. The kids are 9-12th graders. The entire show lasted two and half hours but flew by. The dancers, singers and musicians were all wonderful!

Here are the groups

AZTECA (CONCHEROS) – Mexico
Mexican ritual dance that preserves many elements of pre-Columbian religious ritual.

Azteca-3

Azteca-2

Mariachi Sol
Combined mariachi and contemporary rhythms.

mariachi-1

mariachi-2

Jalisco Ranchero – Mexico
National dance of Mexico.

jalisco-ranchero-1

jalisco-ranchero-2

Conjunto Sol
Another type of Mariachi band.

conjunto-sol

Baja California (Calabaceados) – Mexico
”Cowboy Dance”

baja 

Flamenco – Spain
Music and dance of the gypsies.

flamenco-1

flamenco 

Tabasco – Mexico
A very colorful form of dress.

tabascco-1 

tabascco-2

Panama
Dance of Panama – great influence of African, Native American and European backgrounds.

panama-2

panama-1

If you get an opportunity to see one of these shows, do it! We are going to attend another show on March 6. The performers will be from La Joya High School.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day!

Sunday, February 13, 2011

SPRING CLEANING

Friday, February 11 – Well, with warm weather returning to the RGV (that's Rio Grande Valley), Paul took the opportunity to wash the MH. He decided to do roof and all. Usually Mother Nature takes care of the roof, but one should try to wash and wax it a couple times a year. So with the sun shining and the temperature rising, he gathered his bucket and brushes and headed “upstairs;”

washing-MH

It needed a good scrubbing! Then he washed the rest of the MH. With the hard water here in the RGV, of course there were now water spots to be taken care of. Paul uses “The Solution” a dry wash, a waterless wash and polymer protectant to remove these spots and put on a protective coating. You can read about it here: http://www.thervsolution.com/rvsolutionproducts/solution.html.

solution

Often, Paul uses this product without a bucket of water, but when the MH is unusually dirty, as it was today, Paul washes with soap and water first. It's nice because you can clean a small area at a time. Simply spray on and wipe off with a clean cloth.

waxing

No, Paul is not in business selling this product....simply sharing what he found works pretty well.

While Paul was risking life and limb on the roof, Marsha was working on her “new hobby” basket weaving using pine needles. She is enjoying it so far......we'll see how she reacts when her first basket comes out looking like something the cat drug in.....ha ha!! That's only a joke dear! Marsha is pretty much a perfectionist, so I am sure it will turn out beautiful!!!!!!! Love you, dear :=) He will pay later!

sides

After cleaning up, we drove into McAllen to do a little shopping. Marsha wanted to stop at Sears, which is at the Mall. You would not believe the crowd. It was more crowded than a typical mall at Christmas time. We couldn't get over it. We just kept saying, “This is unbelievable.” Every store, every kiosk, and the mall isles were packed! Texas has to be loving this economic boost (especially with nearly a 9% sales tax.....no income tax though).

Saturday, February 12 – Gotta' finish waxing the motor home today. Paul did most of the MH cleaning project yesterday, but ran out of time and energy before finishing. So up on the roof with wax and rags to put on a good coat of wax to protect the “lid” from Mother Nature. He then had one side to finish, and the job was done. One thing he failed to mention, about The Solution, is that it can be used on painted surfaces, chrome, rubber, plastic, and even glass. So, Paul “does windows” too! Of course, everyone walking by, asks him to do their rig next....Ha Ha! There are crews that come through the park washing RV's, but he actually enjoys working rather than sitting.....crazy huh!

After finishing the wash and wax, Paul had time to install wasp screens over the furnace vents. If you've read the blog in the past, you'll remember he had to clean out mud dabber nests this fall. He should have installed these screens long ago but put it off. Now those wasps will have to find somewhere else to leave their mud nests.

screen

Marsha was busy cleaning the inside of the “house” while I was working on the outside. She had the radio on so she wouldn't hear the “thump” if I fell off the roof!!!

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day!

Friday, February 11, 2011

RETIRED/RETARDED GRANDPARENTS

Recently we read a cute story about third grader describing his recent holiday experience. Thanks to Dwight & Carroll aka Fester & CC, "The Next Chapter" Rated RV-13, for allowing us to share it with our readers. Hope you all enjoy it as much as we did.

"RETARDED" GRANDPARENTS
Written by a third grader, on what his grandparents do.

After Christmas, a teacher asked her young pupils how they spent their holiday away from school. One child wrote the following:

We always used to spend the holidays with Grandma and Grandpa. They used to live in a big brick house, but Grandpa got retarded and they moved to Arizona. Now they live in a tin box and have rocks painted green to look like grass.

Pictures taken from their blog.

They ride around on their bicycles, and wear name tags, because they don't know who they are anymore. They go to a building called a wreck center, but they must have got it fixed because it is all okay now, they do exercises there, but they don't do them very well.

There is a swimming pool too, but they all jump up and down in it with hats on. At their gate, there is a doll house with a little old man sitting in it. He watches all day so nobody can escape. Sometimes they sneak out, and go cruising in their golf carts.

Nobody there cooks, they just eat out. And, they eat the same thing every night - early birds. Some of the people can't get out past the man in the doll house. The ones who do get out, bring food back to the wrecked center for pot luck.

My Grandma says that Grandpa worked all his life to earn his retardment and, says I should work hard so I can be retarded someday too. When I earn my retardment, I want to be the man in the doll house. Then I will let people out, so they can visit their grandchildren.

Wednesday, February 9 – What the heck is up with this CRAZY WEATHER???? It started out at 66 degrees this morning and by noon it's down to 39 degrees and by tonight.....28 degrees. We don't like this one bit.....and the darn wind is blowing like crazy! Guess we can cross South Texas off our future winter stay list! If Mexico had there act together, we'd be considering heading further south......LOL

Went to a 50th Anniversary party at the Activity Center for friends Winnie & Les. What a great time with plenty of delicious food, tasty adult beverages, laughs with many friends, and country dancing. Congratulations Winnie & Les and thanks for a wonderful party!

Thursday, February 10 - Another blustery day here in the Valley.....brrrrrrrrrr! Temperatures in the low 30's this morning with some mighty COLD wind chill factors!

Marsha had her first lesson on making a pine needle basket. She is using a needle basket kit for her first time. Pine needles are available to purchase, but since she had these, the kit was much cheaper.

Supplies for the basket.

supplies

Marsha and her teacher, Karen. Thanks Karen for all your help!

marsha-and-karen

She is very excited about this project. Marsha came home with two rows completed in TWO hours. Looks like this is going take a bit longer than she expected.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all again real soon. Have a great day!