Remembering Freddie - Fender, that is

Today we went to look at the 2 bedroom condo we're moving into on Sunday. We had originally wanted it for the last half of March but were informed that we had to take it for the entire month. It is very nice, had granite countertops, mostly new appliances and a washer and dryer in the unit. But IT DOESN'T HAVE INTERNET!! We are going to take a laptop over there tomorrow and see if someone nearby has an unsecured signal we can pirate. If not, we'll need to explore our alternatives and see if we can find an internet provider for a month.

We then drove to San Benito to visit the Freddy Fender Museum - actually a section of the San Benito Community Centre. It also shares the space with the Texas Conjunto Music Museum (basically music with guitars, drums and accordion) and the San Benito Historical Museum.

Freddy Fender (nee Baldemar G. Huerta) first became famous by taking well known rock and roll hits and translating them into Spanish and recording them. He took the name from the guitar and amplifier, and Freddy because the alliteration sounded good to him and it would,"...sell better with Gringos!" He even did three years in the Louisiana State Penitentiary. Two of his most famous hits were "When the Next Teardrop Falls" and "Wasted Days and Wasted Nights".


















We were made aware that he was a native son of San Benito by seeing his face emblazoned on the San Benito water tower adjacent to the main highway.





















His Grammy awards were on display won from his work with two bands, " The Texas Tornados" and "Los Super Seven".
















as well as his Tejano Walk of Fame star,

















his ALMA (American Latin Musician Award)






















proclamation for the Texas Walk of Fame from the then Gov. George W. Bush


















and a commendation for his exemplary musical talent and ability.























Also of note was a honkin' belt buckle

















and a jar of Freddy Fender "King of Tex-Mex" picante sauce.

















We were also informed that this Saturday will be the 1st Annual celebration of Texas Independence.

Taped in the front window of the community centre was this unusual poster about "The Big Squeeze - Accordion Throwdown". We weren't too sure about the outfit the accordionist was wearing.






















Signs like this are ubiquitous and certainly nothing we customarily see in the True North.






















While Skip was perusing a free map of San Benito, he noted an advertisement for Vicky's Restaurant, specializing in Mexican cuisine. We programmed the GPS and went there for comida (lunch).

















Growing like a weed in front of our car was this

a tomato plant - in bloom! It's freaking February 26th for Pete's sake!

Did I mention it was over 90F today as well?







After lunch I reprogrammed the GPS for Judy's Stitchery Nook, just a couple of kilometres to the north. Wow! What an amazing stitchery store! I have never seen so many colours of cotton perle floss! There was a hardanger class going on so the 'man chairs' were occupied - Skip stood outside in the heat and chatted with a retired Gr. 6 teacher (36 years in the classroom!) from Chicoutimi, Quebec whose wife and friend were in the store with me. Another Canadian was also visiting the store from Winnipeg. Basically, half of the customers at that moment (excluding the hardanger students) were from Canada. I did look through their extensive hardanger pattern complement and noted that she did stock some patterns from X's and Oh's. I exercised a tremendous amount of self-restraint and only bought three things:

Hardanger for the Holidays,

Heart and Hand "Summer Alphabet" sampler kit and

Victoria Sampler "Hearts of America - Texas" kit