Bob's Birthday

76 years ago in McGehee, Arkansas on a cold snowy Wednesday afternoon, Glennie Harrod Spears brought into the center of the world one, Robert Luther Spears, also son of Bruce Wilson Spears.
So much for ancient history.
On a beautiful winter day in the South of France with the sun shining brightly Bob & Iris awoke to celebrate Bob's birthday (a day early) by making the trip of 1 hour, 20 minutes to Maussane where we visited the olive plantation and processor, Le Mas des Barres just outside of town.  Last year this favorite place of ours had no olive harvest so we could not get their oil but this year they had a good crop in November so we bought some of the new harvest.  We had a tasting and it was delicious, maybe not on the same level with what we used to produce in Secciano but certainly very good.

 Iris at entrance to the shop at Mas des Barres

 Olive trees at Mas des Barres

 Scenery from Mas des Barres

 Our 3-litre can of olive oil

Display at Mas des Barres
Next we had a few minutes to kill so we stopped at the La Fountain Cafe in Maussane where their outdoor cafe is across the street beside the church.  On the public parking area just in front of the Tourist Office there is a huge cruifix that must just drive the moslems crazy in Maussane.  We had a "Gran Creme" and relaxed at the cafe.

From Maussane is is a 2-minute drive to Paradou and our favorite restaurant in France, Le Bistrot du Paradou, where we have been coming since 1994.  This was the first time to be here in the winter.  Inside it was nice and warm and the bottle of "Cotes du Rhone" wine was sitting open on our table so we enjoyed that for a little while before ordering the only thing available, lamb.  But first we had a choice of escargot or foie gras so we opted for the snails and were not disappointed.  Lots of butter, parsley and garlic.

 Bob standing in front of Bistrot du Paradou

The lamb was next and it was done exactly like we like it and it was very special.

Then the cheese platter where we got greedy and had too much.

The cheese was followed by dessert.  Iris had chocolate cake with whipped cream.  Bob had ice cream with a sparkler in it to mark the birthday.

What a great birthday.
One last photo of a space that used to be a window at Bistrot du Paradou especially for Nancy who knows how to pronounce this properly.

Trip to France

Left our house in Georgetown on Monday, January 11 for the airport in Austin.  8:00 departure from home for 11:20 flight to Chicago.  It was snowing when we arrived in Chicago and the temperature was 1 degree F.  We tried to find a warm place to wait for our flight to Madrid but mostly unsuccessful so we spent time at Starbucks for some hot coffee.  Views from the terminal.

The gate agent announced that for boarding we should wear our coats as the temperature in the jetway was 0 degrees.  We believe it!  We sat on the plane for about 45 minutes extra while they sprayed de-ice fluid on the plane.  This is what it looked like before the spray.  Note the snow in the lower right of the window.

After take-off we had a nice meal with some good Spanish wine before our naps.  We slept somewhat uncomfortably for quite some time.  The arrival in Madrid caused a long train ride between different parts of the airport and then lots of walking to reach our gate to get the Marseille flight.  A small plane so had to check our carry-on bag and naturally it was damaged upon arrival in Marseille.  Also one of our checked bags did not show so we spent some time trying to claim so Iberia could find our bag and deliver it to Roussillon.  Finally all the paperwork was complete and we exited the customs area where we found Brigitte waiting for us as usual.  Loaded our luggage into her Ford Ka (tiny) and Bob went immediately to sleep.  Iris entertained Brigitte.
Entering Le Mas du Close we found our keys in the mailbox just as Eric had promised so we gained entry to a cold house ( 40 degrees F) and turned on the water and both heat pumps to try and get warm.  A ham sandwich was all we could manage for our supper along with a glass of wine and soon we were in our bed with the big blanket that has not been used in 5 years.  Needed it tonight.

Unity Murphy Bed

We drove to Fort Worth on January 7 to attend the Fort Worth RV Show at the Convention Center starting that day.  Arrived about 10:20 AM at the Holiday Inn Express and caught their shuttle to the show to see the 2016 Unity MB (shown above) to put our hands on one like we have ordered and will be delivered in September.

Iris had some specific things she wanted to check out.  One important one was the height of the toilet:

 We also wanted to see how the recliners worked and how the murphy bed was lowered on top of the recliners to make the bed.

 Ron and Michelle accompanied us to the show from Georgetown and they also wanted to see how the systems worked.  Iris and Michelle compared notes on fabrics and leather colors.

 The Fort Worth Convention Center had a unique chandelier made from cowboy hats that we thought was very interesting.

We had a burger at the Omni hotel across the street from the show and returned in the afternoon to see the Unity again.  We are pleased with our choice, however, our order is for a lighter color exterior and white leather.  It will look like this.

Had dinner at P.F. Chang's downtown, spicy and too much but enjoyed it before hitting the sack to dream about motorhomes.
Up early for breakfast on the 8th and drove back to Wahlberg where we stopped at Dale's for fried catfish for us and burger for Ron & Michelle.  Then home to return to reality and packing for our departure on Monday for France.
Peace to all!

New Year's Eve

December 31, 2015
We got an email from Billy Mata showing the following advertisement so we signed up to go with our San Marcos friends, Eleanor and Allan.

 We drove down to San Marcos, had a great BBQ rib dinner and then Eleanor drove us down to Adkins, TX and the Mesquite Hall.  We had never been to this dance hall in the middle of nowhere east of San Antonio. The parking lot was full when we arrived.  Eleanor, having called ahead to the drummer, Rocco, had arranged a table front and center of the band for us.  It is a BYOB type place with beer, soft drinks and setups so we tucked into some refreshments just as the band was ready to start.  Billy Mata and the Texas Tradition Band hit us off with a fast one so we sat out that until the real two-step began and the dance floor filled up but not crowded even with lots of children mingling among the dancers.  We had a lovely time dancing and seeing some old friends from prior dances.  We had enough at the second break so we took off to return to San Marcos.  We brought in the New Year while still approaching San Marcos and enjoyed the fireworks that lit up the sky around the city.  It did not take us long to get to bed and slept until 7:30 AM New Year's Day.  A big breakfast hit the spot before we started our return drive to Georgetown.
All in all it was a great way to celebrate the end of 2015 and to begin 2016.