Settling In

We spent Monday and Tuesday getting accustomed to our surroundings and getting in more provisions. We did some birding at the convention centre here on the island. Wednesday morning we took advantage of Winter Texan Appreciation Day at the Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville. We had a discounted admission fee and received a coupon for a free coffee.

The Gladys Porter Zoo is well laid-out although quite small - under 30 acres. There is quite a variety of animals including the rare Komodo Dragon.
















There were bongos,
















a 1 1/2 month-old camel,
















a serval cat (which made me miss my Ollie),
















a very bizarre-looking marabou stork that was about 5 feet tall and many other species.




















Yesterday, we met Ken and Donna Eyre at their vacation home in Weslaco, about 95km west of South Padre Island. Ken was the music consultant and in on the interview when I was hired to teach at St. Patrick's High School in Sarnia 1978. I taught there for 11 years before moving to Durham Region. The four of us golfed at the Llano Grande Golf Course, very close to one of our favourite birding centres. We had a very pleasant, relaxing day.

While golfing we saw long-billed curlews, eastern meadowlarks, a rookery of egrets, anhingas, cormorants and white pelicans.

I've been fighting the cold I caught from Skip and had a really scratchy throat last night but I think I'm better today. I sure hope so. The golfing yesterday wore us out. It was quite windy but nice to be out in the sun. We didn't really get going today until after lunch when we went back to the convention centre to do some birdwatching.

On the knitting front, I started a lace scarf using the Madli's Shawl pattern from Nancy Bush's "Knitted Lace of Estonia". I'm only doing 4 repeats which will block to 11" and the Aegean colourway from KnitPicks Gloss Lace.