Life as a "Winter Texan"

We have been in the Rio Grande Valley now for about a week and are enjoying the lives of "Winter Texans". We have always known they existed, but were not really aware of how big this community is getting to be nor how "the VALLEY" depends on them to stimulate the economy. I won't bore you with all of the daily trips, scheduled events, dining adventures etc. that encompasses these "seniors-at-play" - just note that we may very well work this into our future trips during the winter.

I do want to share one event with you - as most of you know that this is WAY out of my comfort zone! The die-hard shoppers down here love to go spend time at one of the many "Ropa Usada" stores here. I was intrigued by the description and comforted by the fact that we would only spend a couple of hours there, but I now can brag that I've done it (once) and am not especially looking forward to a second trip. Ropa usada means "used clothing" in Spanish and basically what you do is dig into big piles of clothes heaped up on the floor to look for treasures that are priced by the pound; like $.20 a pound in this case. For about $5.75 I unearthed a waterproof coat, a beautiful lined silk dress, a great jacket for wearing with jeans, a white blouse, a pair of jeans, two shirts for Dean, a rug for Molly, a cashmere sweater and a baby blanket for charity. All items have been washed or sent to the cleaners and appear like they are brand new. I've attached a picture of me in the store hanging on to my purchases. Like I said, this may be a one-time event!