Sunshiny morning

The sun was shining this morning. Sorry to say that has been a rarity of late. But today was a mostly sunshiny day. The end of the month is about to slam into us and the beginning of March people start to get the itch to head north. Especially those fellows who have their heart , souls and feet planted firmly in the soil. (Farmers) They start looking at the crops hereabout peaking through the earth and then the itch begins. Those who succumb to this pull make the trip in a couple of days only to discover spring is not in evidence in the good ol' Midwest. Some learn fast and hold back the next year, others learn slower and inch out a bit later each year and some never learn and March 1st is their leave date no matter what.
   So decision time is soon upon them. We will miss you but see you next winter. Take care and may all your roads be smooth ones.

Most of us here are too busy to even think about what is happening up north unless the kids call to remind us. As I write this we have the windows open and a nice tropical breeze is blowing across me and my keyboard. And the time is 9:14 PM.  I know, I just had to do it.

Sunday Service

I can't believe that it's the last Sunday in February as the season is going by so fast....The weather is finally starting to warm up and spring is just around the corner....I know that many are already talking about heading NORTH, but I hope that they check with the weather man in their area before they head out as it's still COLD I hear and snow is possible any time at this point in the season....OH well some are always ready to go see the grand kids and I don't blame them at all...

Today was another great day to go to Church and hear God's Work being taught...Pastor Stacey brought the lesson today on the continuing study of the Book of Malachi,  chapter 3, starting with verse 6....The theme of the message was "Tithes and Offerings"....Pastor brought out that we as a people have failed at times in our tithes and offerings to God....God says in his word that to do unto others is doing unto him....We need to bring all our tithes into the storehouse of God and his word says that he will pour out his blessing upon all....This was a great lesson with much to think on and for us to study....We need to examine ourselves to see just where we stand....

We need to remember that there are several among the Magnolia family that are sick or in the hospital or have family that need prayer so be generous in giving prayer for all those you hear of or think of...God Bless All....See you in church next week....

Slacking Off

Last week Leroy decided it was time to put a new coat of paint on his backside. His neighbor Don Schmatlz took notice and quietly placed his chair on our patio to watch the process. Butch happened to take notice too and suggested I get a picture of it. Leroy was very focused on his work so this was all done without his knowledge. Good job, Leroy!!!

The slacking off part of this post is for me!! There have been so many activities and events all piled on top of each other I have not had much extra time for posting or anything else. But as you can see from the above post there is always time for mischief and fun. 

Women's Pool Champions

Carol Kapke and Char Wolfrom worked their way to the top to claim first place in the McAllen Park and Rec's Senior Olympics held at Fast Eddies last Tuesday. Congratulations Champions!!!!

Bill Moritz

  |   Visit Guest Book

WILLIAM 'BILL' A. MORITZ, 85 LOVES PARK - William "Bill" A. Moritz, 85, of Loves Park passed away Monday, Feb. 20, 2012, at home, surrounded by family. Born July 17, 1926, in Freeport, the son of Hester and Olive (Johnson) Moritz. Veteran of World War II, serving in the U.S. Army. Married Doris E. Erickson on Nov. 14, 1953, in Waukegan. Employed as a crew leader by Commonwealth Edison for 32 years, retiring in 1986. Bill was a volunteer with Habitat for Humanity from 1998 to 2004, working with their "Weekday Wonders Group". He was very skilled and helped build many habitat homes. Member of Grace Lutheran Church where he attended the men's Bible study. Member of Pecatonica American Legion, Boy Scouts of America for 52 years and IBEW for 60 years. Bill enjoyed golfing, camping, traveling and biking. Survivors include wife, Doris; sons, Craig Moritz of Rockford, Brian (Leann McNeal) Moritz of Paynes Point and Dale (Anna) Moritz of Cherry Valley; daughter, Elaine (Ron) Heiderscheit of Dixon; daughter-in-law, Cindy (Kurt) Johnson of Louisville, Ky.; and grandchildren, Allen, Emily, Mary, Kevin, Rachel and Jacob. Predeceased by son, Allen Moritz and brothers, Charles and Robert Moritz. The family wishes to thank the staff at Northern Illinois Hospice. Service at 11 a.m. Friday, Feb. 24, in Grace Lutheran Church, 343 Grand Ave.; the Rev. Brent Dahlseng will officiate. Burial in Willwood Burial Park. Visitation from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 23, in Delehanty Funeral Home Ltd., 401 River Lane. In lieu of flowers, a memorial will be established. For more information, visit delehantyfh.com.

Published in Rockford Register Star from February 22 to February 23, 2012

From Barb: I have Dori's mailing address. I will give it to you if you contact me.

75 Years!!

Floyd and Eva Foote celebrated 75 years of marriage  on February 20th 2012. Floyd and Eva have not been able to come to the valley this year for the first time in over 30 years. Health reasons. We have missed them very much but so glad they can celebrate so many years together.

Presidents Day

Choralier leader Deon put together a very moving patriotic program for Presidents day.

Presenting of the flags-first American and then Canadian

Each branch of the services were represented in a medley with the members of each branch standing as their song was sung.

This was followed by a ceremony of the folding of the flag as each of the 13 folds were explained as to their meaning.
It was definitely a 5 hanky day.
Good job Choraliers!!

Mardi Gras Parade 2012

Esther and Teddy are waiting for it to start.

Doral  and Judy W

Mamie

Thelma and Duane

Lucy

Jack and Marlene

Bill Bruce

Verla

Todd

Marianne's company

Sandy

Marty and Todd

Loni

Chili Cookoff Winners

Natalia Poprawski (left) won first place in the Chili Cookoff with a delicious white chili. Chairpersons Doral (center) and Thelma ( right)  made the presentations.

Susan Van Howeling won second place with another tasty white chili

Natalia also won third place with a true Texas chili. True Texas chili does not have any beans. 

The chili cookoff was a huge success!!

Valentine celebration

Jan Brom-Stinchfield was chairwoman of the Annual Valentine Celebration and she put together a fine program and then fell ill shortly before the final event but having many helpers already in place it went off without a hitch. Great planning, Jan!

Carmen Friesen and Bruce Scott

Mary Bruun made and served the cakesCelebrating 60 years together

Celebrating 50 years

Sunday Service

Today was another great day to be in deep south Texas to enjoy the weather and to spend Sunday attending Church at Magnolia...We had a good gathering of worshipers today to hear Pastor Stacey's message for those in the service.....The study was a continuation of The Book of Malachi....With the lesson taken from the 3rd Chapter.....The theme of the message was "Encouragement for God's People"...Pastor Stacey was the messenger for the Lord today giving us encouragement to continually give our best to the Lord....We should be ready to help our neighbor and any other who is in need for as we are ready to give and help we are serving the Lord.....The Lord knows our hearts and knows when we are doing and giving our best to him....He is not deceived in any way.....This was a great lesson which should we should look at  ourselves in the way we serve the Lord.....Remember to continue to pray for those that are sick and for those that come to mind in the coming days....We all need prayer at times in our lives......God Bless All....See you in church next week......

Hibiscus

This is not the best quality photo.....my very first bloom on my new plant and the wind blew it off in less than 15 minutes!! It was so pretty on the plant, but is short-lived off the plant! We bought it because it was light liac in color.

From the South Texas Rain Forest

Donn and Peggy Gordon hatched a fine bunch of mushrooms after the last rain

Doris rustled up some French toast for breakfast this morning in Allen Hall. It was a tasty treat.

Thunder boomie and golfers

We had another thunderstorm this morning, a rarity for Winter Texans. Kind of nice for a change but once again we are wishing for the sun to make an appearance. The locals tell us this weather is more reminiscent of June and July in Sunny (?) South Texas.
The golfers in the Valley Senior Olympics did not fair well for score yesterday but that is the way golf goes some days. An oddity of golf is that you have to maintain a relaxed attitude about it and that seems to be in direct conflict with really, really wanting to do well. We know they did their best to represent Magnolia Park and as they say, "There is always next year." So congratulations to Butch Brooker, Roger Reynolds, Marty Harper and Janet Rader and thank you very much for doing your best.

Medal Winners

Eugene Pratt and Don Soole, our resident expert cribbage players took first place playing cribbage in the Senior Valley Olympics. Leo Tcshetter and Kyle Wickware brought home medals in Darts while Mary Pierce and Thelma Jordan claimed a medal for Euchre.

Pictured left to right- Eugene Pratt, Leo Tschetter, Kyle Wickware, Mary Pierce, Thelma Jordan. ( insert- Don Soole)

Elmer Anderson-

Elmer Anderson, longtime resident of Magnolia Park is in ICU at one of the major hospitals here in the RGV. He is not doing well and the family has been notified.
I will post more info as it becomes available.

76 degrees

Butch tells me this morning we can expect 76 degrees today. I am guessing it could happen but first we will need to see the sun. I was feeling kind of sorry for us but then I read a blog from Florida and she said they had 29 degrees this morning! Just as it is in life we can always look around and see someone who is much worse off than we are. We are so lucky!!! Our plants have been safe and we didn't have to cover them. 29 makes 45 look very good!

Sunday Service

Even on a very cool and damp day it was great to be able to attend Church Services at Magnolia on Sunday....We have had good attendance the last few weeks and today was no exception....It's great to come together each Sunday and be able to study God's Word...

The lesson today was a continuation of Pastor's study of the Book of Malachi, chapter 2 with the theme of "Giving and doing your best to and for the Lord"....This is a great study of just how God feels about us either Obeying Gods word and giving praise to him or not doing his will....I should be an eye opener for all that study the word and heed the message....We serve an awesome God but we should be aware of the consequences of disobeying the Lord...

We also found out that we lost one of our members of our congregation...This morning Jim Vargason passed away about 2 AM.....We need to pray for his family that the Lord would comfort them at this time in their grief.....Remember to also pray for those that are sick and one another in general....God Bless All....See you in church next week.....

Sorry!!

Sorry is all we can say to those who are visiting for the very first time and to those who can only be here a short time. We have had a streak of cold, damp and cloudy weather. We are supposed to get a break from it mid week and then another dose of this stuff next weekend. Fortunately we are all a hearty bunch from hearty stock and we know how to deal with it from the many years we too were up north for the icky winters. We snuggle in, watch movies, play games, do our crafts but this is not what we came here for. Let a smile be your umbrella!!
I ran across  a little story this morning about an Indian Chief and his grandson. It has been a favorite of mine for a long time and I decided to share it with you today.
Here it is...

An old Cherokee chief was teaching his grandson about life…

“A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy. “It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves.

“One is evil – he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, self-doubt, and ego.

“The other is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith.

“This same fight is going on inside you – and inside every other person, too.”

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?”

The old chief replied, “The one you feed.”

Char Wolfrom-Pool Champion!

Char Wolfrom brought home the honor of winning the women's singles 8 ball pool tournament sponsored by McAllen  City Park and Recreation Department. The event is held at Fast Eddies Pool Hall in McAllen. There are two divisions; women over 66 and women under 66 but the event is played until there is only one champion. 36 women participated in the event. Congratulations, Char!!

Things you could do today

Things you could do today:

Play cards with friends
Check out the pool hall and play a game or two
Go to a matinee
Cribbage in the little hall at 1:00 PM
Potluck in Allen Hall at 5:00 PM
Watch the mixed league players in the blue hall at 6:30 PM.
Also the South Texas Whiskey band will be practicing in Allen Hall after potluck and they welcome listeners.

Pat Jones-Artist of the Month

Our Pat Jones has been chosen Donna Texas' Artist of the month. A picture of her and an article will be in the next issue of the local Donna paper. I think I have a photo of one of her works and I will see if I can find it.

Here is one of the many paintings Pat has done.

Pudding Dessert

Recipe:   Pudding Dessert        2/6/2012
Category: Dessert
Author:   Noreen Ergen

1 1/2 c. flour
1 1/2 sticks butter
1/4 c chopped walnuts
8 oz cream cheese
1 c. powdered sugar
1 c. Cool Whip
3 c. cold milk
2 ( 3 oz.) pkgs instant pudding, desired flavor

Combine flour and softened butter. Add walnuts. Press into cake pan and bake for
15 min. at 350 degrees. Mix together cream cheese, sugar and cool whip. Spread
on top of cooled crust. Mix pudding and milk with electric mixer and spread on top
of  filling. Top with remaining cool whip. Keep refrigerated.






The recipe above was featured by the hostesses at crafts this afternoon and Swedish Weaving guests requested it. So thought it would be a good idea to post it here. It was really yummy.

Sunday Service

Well the weather was kind of cool this morning in deep south Texas, but the church service at Magnolia was warm and wonderful.....We had a great crowd for such a cool morning, but of course this is suppost to be our winter time so we should expect the cool temperatures....

The lesson today was taught from the Book of Malachi, chapter 1 with the theme of " What kind of praise do you give the Lord".....Pastor Stacey gave another great lesson teaching that we all should examine ourselves as to just how we praise and serve the Lord....There are times when all of us fail to give our best to and for the Lord either in our giving to the Lord or in serving the Lord.....We should always be will to give our best to the Lord for he is there to provide for us....God the Father gave his best for us when he gave his son to die on the cross for our salvation....This was a great lesson for us to think on and to study and learn from.....We should all examine ourselves to see just how we are doing in our walk with the Lord....

Also to day was the first Sunday of the month so we had Communion at the end of  the service...I am always happy when we have Communion as it seems to draw us closer to the Lord....Also after service there was breakfast served for all that wished to partake....It was very good and many thanks to those who cooked and served it.....Continue to pray for those that are sick and any that you can think of as we all need prayer at some time in our walk of life.....God Bless All.....See you in Church next week....

Hunkered down

This is the week of the Valley Senior Olympics and I must say this has traditionally been a bad weather week in the valley. Two different years I played for women's golf representing Magnolia Park and neither time was the weather pleasant at all. And Butch plays in it nearly every year which has kept me up on the weather situation. I cannot remember one time where it wasn't cold, windy, wet or all three!! And this days weather is what can typically happen this time of year. Yesterday I cleaned house and the sweat was dripping off my face so I finally gave in and turned on the AC. Last night the cold front came through and the furnace was running by 3:00 AM. So Butch will be playing in the Valley Olympics this week and we hope he and all the other participants can enjoy a good weather week even though it isn't starting out that way.
So today finds most of us holed up in our tiny houses because of the weather and the Super Bowl. Have a good one...

Potluck Thursday

Allen Hall was a busy place this afternoon. New to us curtains were being modified to fit Allen Hall. Last summer Irma Johnson happened to notice that a nursing home in their area was getting new curtains so she asked what was being done with the old ones. Long story short they gave them to her so this afternoon Kay Voss, Irma Johnson, Dorothy Wendt, Edy Larson and Mary Bruun were making the curtains fit the windows of Allen
Hall.

While the women were busy with curtains the men found themselves left to prepare bean soup for tonight's potluck. The ham bones and some ham were left from Christmas and being the thrifty folk we are it is being used productively. There will be other offerings brought as well.

Good to see the men getting their turn in the kitchen.

Dave, Jon , Jim and Mary

Magnolia Park artists

Latest news flash!! The artists of Magnolia park will have their paintings displayed at the Donna Museum from now until a week from Saturday. They are a very talented bunch and well worth the trip to the museum.

Bingo Pictures from last season

Photgrapher- Donna Terryn