Summer Heat

Summer has arrived in the RGV with a passion. The days are hot and humid, although the mornings seem cooler and breezier, but even the birds seem to slow down and nap during the heat of the day. In the Northern states, the hottest time of the day was around noonish, while down here on the border the hottest part of the day stats around 3 or so and continues until early evening hours.. How lucky we are now to have A/C where ever we go - all the stores, schools, restaurants, churches, cars and even homes. It is hard to remember how we existed with just fans and open windows. I worked at a manufacturing firm in the office - the only one in the office, which had no air conditioning - and that was in the 80's! I remember having a big fan in my little office blowing right on me. As a kid growing up, we opened the windows of the car and let the wind blow though. There were small vent windows by the front seats that could be situated to blow right on the driver or the passengers in the back seat. A person got out of the car feeling wet and sticky - and cranky! We've come a long way, baby.

Our food ministries are overflowing again - thanks to God for the great abundance of produce and other commodities we receive. We are only going to serve the Tuesday distribution until the end of this month. Ida will cancel it so she herself can have some free time for a few month before beginning again in the fall. She has a few health issues and needs the rest. The Tuesday distribution is more difficult as it is at ehr church and requires clean up afterwards as it is too hot to have it outside (or it rains).  She is lucky to have lots of help, but it does require a few extra hours of work.We received garlic for the first time - huge healthy looking bulbs with large cloves. I love cooking with garlic - the smell alone reminds me of pizza and pasta! As a child on Chicago's West side, our Italian relatives would come to our house a couple of times a year to make homemade pasta - huge ravioli's filled with meat and sauce or cheese, spaghetti, pizza, you name it. Our kitchen filled the neighborhood with wonderful smells. I especially loved the meat filled ravioli with lots of sauce, followed by a huge helping of spaghetti and meatballs. The pizza was no where near the pizza served today in restaurants - it was a thin, crispy crust loaded with sauce, pepperoni, Italian sausage, even Canadian bacon sometimes, mushrooms, onions, olives of course, and mounds of mozzarella cheese. The adults drank dark red wine (Dago Red perhaps?) and were kids were served a bit of wine watered down with 7 up or sometimes just water. I really do not remember any other kids there except my brother and cousin, Johnny Boy. Perhaps there were, but in the cooking frenzy and the chattering in Italian, arms cooking and waving in the air, it was quite a chaos.  It never seemed that we were in the way - always ready for a first taste of ambrosia.

large garlic bulbssitting on a 1/4 measuring cup to show size


A resident of our park was recently honored by the city of Alamo as citizen of the month. Daniel (Dennis) Tomlinson picks up trash all  along the freeway, the park, and the surrounding roadsides as a sort of daily exercise and a way to help keep Alamo clean. It seems as if as soon as he cleans an area, more trash appears, but he keeps picking up things. When he finds clothes he brings them to me, and I wash them. Most of the time they look almost new and can be donated to the colonias. One day he brought me a beautiful dress for a teen-age girl still on a hanger. Either it blew off someones fence at a yard sale or fell from some one's vehicle. Many thanks to Daniel for his devotion.

Alamo Mayor on the right, Daniel next to her, other aldermen

one of Daniel's awards

Citizen of the month

Park manager, Barbara Hamel and Daniel

We were at the Friday distribution in the colonias when I needed a pocketknife to cut the knot off a large bag of donuts that I needed to re-package. I hollered over to Fred to see if he had his, and I heard another Mexican gentleman who was helping Fred say that he had one. I asked to use it please, and when I looked up he came towards me with a machete!!! Well,  not really that big, but a knife way too large to be in a pocket. Some of the ladies laughed at the expression on my face as he tried to hand it to me. I politely asked if he would cut the knot off - no way was I going to touch that weapon. I have a tiny Texas toothpick pocketknife in my purse which I can handle, but not a huge scary looking knife.

We did make it to church Sunday on a beautiful morning - cool and breezy. But by the time we left Sunday School it was already hot and humid. The sermon was interesting, addressing the obstacle of church! How can a church be an obstacle?? Can we stand in God's way by observing the church's rules and laws and not God's?? Church members tend to sometimes criticize others who want to become members of the congregation based on their looks or actions , not their Christian values or their hearts. People leave churches because of harsh words spoken to them. We need to be welcoming and helpful to all those who attend our churches,  including new members. I remember that church we attended had 3 spinster, farming sisters as outstanding members of the congregation. They attended every function of the church, always sitting according to their age in the same pew each Sunday as also in in their old beat up pick up truck with the oldest always driving or leading the way. A young mother with 5 children always attended every Sunday and sat not too far from the sisters, and us, too. I was busy keeping our 4 girls under control, sometimes changing their seating arrangements when things got out of hand, or seemed to be headed in that direction. The single mom with her children were really well behaved, only getting antsy if the sermon was too long. If one of the children acted up, the sisters would tsk tsk in unison. They commented on the the clothing the family wore, very evidently hand me downs. But Mama was there every Sunday. If I did not have my 4 to contend with, I would have offered to help her with children. But the sisters continue to make noises and comments, not offering to let one or two of the kids sit with them, or sing with them. Soon the Mon quit coming - perhaps it was too stressful getting those kids ready for church,or perhaps she sensed the disdain from the sisters. I missed seeing her and wished I would have tried harder to help her. This is how folks let churches become obstacles in their lives. God is the only one who is able to judge who is able to worship Him and be saved. Our job is to be just welcoming and greeting others with open arms, regardless of anything else. It is impossible not to love others if we love Christ - all of His children not just those we deem worthy to be loved.