Winter Texan Times

Memories and resolutions

Details: Published: Tuesday, 02 January 2024 21:15

The Holiday Season is now behind us and what a wonderful time of the year it has been with friends and families joining together to celebrate the season. Now it is time to put away the Christmas decorations and store away the memories of this special time. On Christmas Eve we recalled some of the past Christmas celebrations.

How about the time that the tree shoppers just couldn’t seem to find the perfect tree. Finally, they found one to their liking. But there was just one big problem…it would not fit through the back door as it was just too big. The big, beautiful tree had to be carefully wedged through the double wide front doors. Or how about the time that the Christmas tree fell over on my tiny mother-in-law. She was absolutely buried under the tree. After that we always tied the tree with fishing wire to an overhead ceiling beam.

Where do you want to go?

Details: Published: Wednesday, 27 December 2023 18:07

Just a few more days and this year will be behind us. A New Year is just around the corner. I am sure all of us have a special plan, a dream that we want to make come true. What is your dream? Will it be a cruise? Travel to a distant country? Or just explore locally?

Travel seems to be on a lot of people’s minds right now as we are receiving a great number of calls asking what we will offer in 2025.

Organizing a tour does take some time, especially into a different country. Many hotels and attractions are hesitant to commit to a contracted rate. This has always been true but now there seems to be more reluctance as the value of the dollar, the value of the euro and of the peso is so volatile. Just look at gas prices, which have dropped noticeably in the last two weeks. But will they remain lower, or will they go back up again? Just as soon as I can get commitments from hotels and transportation, I will publish the tours we are planning.

If you are wondering about itineraries, look at our website. If a tour in the past has been successful, we generally will repeat that same itinerary. The hotels may change, because sometimes a hotel is sold, a new management takes over, and the service and quality may remain the same or it may drop in quality. When this happens, we look for other hotels, but the itinerary may continue the same with only the hotels changing.

Christmas traditions we love

Details: Published: Wednesday, 20 December 2023 13:31

Firefly traditional christmas tree with decorations 39913 web We are quite traditional in our family. And I bet that you too have traditions. In my family, my children just won’t let me take the easy way out. It is no trouble to pull out the artificial tree still decorated with strings of lights and glittery ornaments. Well, not in my family – my children won’t let me do it the easy way.

The tree has to be real, and the house has to smell like Christmas.

Christmas Eve begins with the traditional homemade chili and delicious tamales. The tamales have become my responsibility. This year, I decided to try a different company – but which one? I had no idea where to begin, so I turned to the experts – my Mexican friends who know much more about tamales than I. After I narrowed down the recommendations to the top two, it was time to sample and make the final decision.

Now the only way to make that decision was to sample the goods. For several days, we were eating tamales for breakfast, lunch, and dinner as we enjoyed the different flavors of cream cheese and jalapenos, chicken and cheese, pork, and spicy pork. Oh yum – Were they good!

Showing you care

Details: Published: Tuesday, 05 December 2023 21:53

20171221 Tims Coats El Valle del Sol MILLER IMG 6698 web I will have to admit that I rarely watch the news on our local television channels. If I listen at all it is generally to world news on British Broadcasting Company. I much prefer to read the news and re-read it to get a better understanding of what is really happening in our world. For local news, my source of information is generally our local newspapers.

One of the things happening locally right now is the drive for contributions to Tim’s Coats. This is a very worthy cause. There are many needy families who could use some help in providing warm clothing for their children. Since our winters seem to be getting colder, the need for warm clothing is even more critical than it used to be.

At one time – quite a few years ago – I taught in the Harlingen Public Schools. On the coldest of days, fewer children attended classes. I wondered why – my curious mind sought the answer. We do live in an area where there are families without enough money to provide warm clothing for their family. The answer was to keep children out of schools and in bed under the covers so that they could stay warm.

Even though many years have passed, this situation still exists … hopefully not to such a great extent but poverty is still around. Even though we should encourage those of us who are able to share and to give freely to those in need, the request for money to solve the need is somewhat disturbing. Let me give you a little history as to how what we now know as Tim’s Coats started.

So here goes … There was a gentleman in the Upper Valley who realized there was a need. This gentleman – Bill Stocker – owned and operated Palace Cleaners, a business that was opened in 1929. Mr. Stocker’s family bought the business in 1951. Just this past year the business was closed. Bill Stocker was a man dedicated to his community. When he saw a need he found a solution.

Now on to the Christmas festivities

Details: Published: Thursday, 30 November 2023 13:11

ON THE ROAD Festival of Lights TrainRides 2012 12 15 317 web And how was your Thanksgiving? Mine was extra special with a visit from my grand nephew and his father. It is so great to have family come visit, especially when one of them is a champion at almost every cook off that he enters. So naturally, he cooked the turkey … and I had never had smoked turkey before. Since I had already cooked two turkeys for a special early celebration, I was more than glad to turn over the chore to someone else.

However, I still wanted to do my share and contribute to the festivities. Desserts seemed to be in order along with homemade cranberry sauce. It had been a while since I had prepared that and oh it is so good – much better than the canned you buy at the grocery store. The supply chain interfered somewhat with preparation of the pecan pie – there was just no Karo syrup on the shelves at my local store. What a disappointment. For years, our family has been ordering green label Karo from Amazon – but not to find any Karo at all on the shelf, that is really unusual.

Sharing your talents this holiday season

Details: Published: Wednesday, 22 November 2023 11:53

On the ROad Kids Quilts web Thanksgiving! It’s a time for caring. It’s a time for sharing.

As we turn our thoughts to the Thanksgiving celebration, let us remember how much we have to be thankful for. How grateful we all should be to be living in a beautiful world. And to be able to see and enjoy the flowers and trees that surround us. How thankful we should be to be able to communicate with each other. How grateful we should be for the skills, the attributes, and the talents that we have.

But what are we doing with our talents? Are we sharing them with other people? Do you have skills as a mechanic? Are you sharing those skills by offering to help a neighbor with a problem that he cannot fix? That he knows nothing about?

Perhaps you were a teacher or a tutor. It’s not too late to give of your time and talent to a local school or to your church.

So many of the Winter Texans share their skills with us. Thank you for your time and talent. Let us follow their example.

The water and rich soil of the Valley

Details: Published: Tuesday, 07 November 2023 22:06

20181215 Riverside Dreamer Tour JMB 0025 web Thanks to the Winter Texans, I now understand more about the game of Cricket … at least on paper. Now all I need to do is make time to go to one of their games. In fact, one way to keep up with all the happening in the Rio Grande Valley is to read the Winter Texan Times.

And there is a lot going on. Just take your pick – there is something for everyone – music, art, dances, garages sales, cruises on the Rio Grande River or on the Laguna Madre for fishing. The Rio Grande Valley has just about all you could ever want. Sure, we are not really a Valley, and we don’t have any mountains. In fact, we are virtually at sea level.

I live in Harlingen, where just a few miles up the road is a small town named Combes. Now old timers would call that town Combes Mountain. But why?
When I look up the elevation of Harlingen, my computer tells me that the average elevation of Harlingen is 46 feet. The elevation of Combes is just 39 feet. Could it be because Combes is somewhat north of Harlingen, people identified north with going up? Now I am really beginning to wonder why or how we look at things.

Residents of Harlingen have always said that downtown Harlingen is 33 feet. Since the Rio Grande River is actually higher than downtown Harlingen, it stands to reason that when the river floods, Harlingen, as well as most Rio Grande Valley cities, are going to be flooded. The natural flow of the flood waters will be from the river toward the Gulf of Mexico. Anyone living in the Rio Grande Valley in 1967 when we experienced Hurricane Beulah will remember how most of our Valley towns experienced major flooding. With excessive rain and slow drainage how can we not flood?

Enjoy the great outdoors with sports

Details: Published: Wednesday, 01 November 2023 17:05

November – truly a wonderful month to enjoy the great outdoors… It’s not too hot and not too cold – it’s just right. Our beautiful weather should be enticing all of us to step outside. I am sure the golfers are having a field day. Golf must be a wonderful sport. In the little farming community where I grew up, nobody knew anything about golf. Our school had a baseball diamond and a basketball court. Those were our two sports and that was it … you chose one or the other or perhaps, even both. If you learned to swim, you learned in the creek.

Welcome home and enjoy this paradise

Details: Published: Wednesday, 25 October 2023 17:42

20210202 SPI SPI Convention Center CAB 5630 web A big, big Welcome Home! We have missed you…. And you missed a hot, hot summer. In fact, we had record-breaking heat and very little rain. When the temperature dropped below a hundred it was like a cold snap and were we ever relieved.

Now the weather is just perfect for enjoying an early morning walk or a golf outing or a game of shuffleboard with your friends. In fact, the weather is just right.

Our Winter Texans contribute so much to the Valley. I know economically. You help us out. And we appreciate that. But you offer so much, much more to us and you do it with so much love and understanding.
You are a pleasure and a great benefit to us. We will never be able to tell you how much we appreciate your sharing your talents, your experiences, and your loving nature with us – The most wonderful thing is that you are willing to share with us. Thanks!

Some of you may drive a little slower than some of the others who are always in a hurry to get to their destination. But I drive a little slower than I used to also. You may not see as well as you used to, but then I don’t either. But why not go a little slower. Let’s enjoy this paradise.

Quilting: Just one of the things you do

Details: Published: Wednesday, 18 October 2023 13:33

20191111 Brookridge RGV Quilt Guild Presents Quilts to Veterans CAB 0528 web What a wonderful contribution our Senior Citizens make to the Rio Grande Valley. They are just so willing to share their talents. Some volunteer to tutor in public schools. That is a great service not just to the teachers, but what a blessing for the students who may be having trouble reading or with math.

I think back to the time when my only grandson needed a tutor in math. He was a June baby and just a little behind in math comprehension. Today, at age 25, he is a straight A student in a prestigious law school on the East Coast. Many thanks to that tutor who was able to give her time and talents to help a child succeed.