The Flea Market

I have a feeling that the life of a Winter Texan in the Valley might be kind of unique. Few Mid-westerners and Canadians actually move to Texas in retirement. Most are only here for the season. This part of Texas is completely dominated by Mexican culture. A few billboards are only in Spanish and are not interested in Winter Texans unlike most of the area's business. Every store clerk that I've seen speaks Spanish as easily as English and switches from one language to the other from customer to customer. Few places is this more evident than at the Donna-Weslaco (wes-luh-koh) Flea Market which is held every Saturday, Sunday and Wednesday from November to April.

On Saturday some new friends Ray and Cindy invited us to join them for a trip to the flea market. We had been told by several people that is is a must-see for all Winter Texans and indeed it is. It is a huge conglomeration of small vendors, some crowded into ramshackle old warehouses and some under awnings outside of the buildings. They are selling everything useful for Winter Texans including RV parts and accessories, high quality Egyptian cotton and bamboo sheets, fishing gear, knick-knacks and gadgets, and of course clothing. including diabetic socks and tee shirts with any statement one might want, some not very tasteful. One old man proudly sported a shirt with the statement, "Why Grandpa can't wear shorts" beneath which was a caricature of an old man with his genitalia hanging out the bottom of his shorts. Our friend made a comment, "grandparents behaving badly" which I think is another slogan of Winter Texans. There was an open air area under cover with picnic tables and a concession stand selling fajitas, corn dogs, nachos and onion rings. The corn dogs are not as good as the ones at the Illinois State Fair in case anyone wanted to know. A musician played old familiar tunes accompanied by his keyboard doing a pretty good job of it. Thousands of shoppers filled  the streets and buildings on a beautiful sunny Saturday, almost all of us with gray hair and white skin.

Palmdale is beginning to fill up now as more people are escaping the north after the holidays. There is a big New Year's Eve party planned for tomorrow and I will need a new dress. Which reminds me that I haven't written about the Christmas celebration yet. I have to confess that I spend a good part of my time now reading novels... mostly mystery and some not so good. I took a break from mystery after a particularly cynical and dark mystery and read a Rosemund Pilcher novel. Now I'm back with another Anne Perry novel. My sister Kay told me about Anne Perry last year and I've enjoyed her mysteries which are all set in historical times mostly Victorian London. This is why I don't have time to write much. I digress.

Back to Christmas. Christmas dinner was served at 1:00 on Christmas day in the rec room at the office. The place was filled with tables of 12 all decorated by the group at the table. There were over 100 people present. We had been invited to join a group and had included Ray and Cindy who are also new to this place. Ham, turkey, potatoes, gravy, dressing, and yams were provided. Everybody brought a dish. I brought Peas Epicurian. This meal was served buffet style. There was a 50/50 raffle to raise money for the resident's association and door prizes. One of the parties at our table was a couple who would have been our neighbor had we moved into the the site which we had originally reserved. They each had a bottle of wine in front of their plates and were very talkative. We didn't take wine with us so I wasn't so talkative. I know better than to leave the wine home tomorrow night. Also, most people were dressed up in festive attire while we were in the normal Winter Texan uniform, tee shirt and jeans. It was actually very enjoyable and the food was pretty good.

It really doesn't feel much like the holiday season here with 70 degree weather, green grass and palm trees. Next week, I will be taking a break from this nice weather and go up to Minneapolis for 10 days. I don't know what I was thinking when I scheduled my flights. Actually I do know. I will get to spend a good amount of time with Edie for her birthday this year. I should also get to see her parents and some other family. I have a suitcase with winter clothes in our storage bay for this exact purpose.

Sunday was rainy and chilly so I made a batch of granola. We went to bingo  and I won the big pot ($10).  I added that to the $1.50 that I got from playing 500 2 weeks ago. So that is going well. Not doing so well in cribbage. Fortunately we don't have money riding on that.