First Few (Frozen) Days in our Beach Cottage

We moved into our little beach cottage JUST ahead of the big storm that's been sweeping the country. We hauled everything from our camping trailer, Lucy, into the house and quickly established her at her winter resting place at one of the Rv parks in Rockport. As we got back to the cottage and began unloading my mini-van, we could feel the temperatures dropping by the minute. The wind started roaring down from the north, and the usually placid Aransas Bay that we overlook from our sun room began tossing spray and was covered with whitecaps as far as we could see. We were so thankful for the timing of our move and the storm. We couldn't have cut it much closer!

The first thing we did was buy a pound of fresh shrimp from our favorite shrimp shop and make a big pot of shrimp gumbo. Now THAT'S the way to ward off a chill!

With this being an older cottage, and with so many windows facing the ocean (eleven big picture windows in he sunroom!) I expected it to be pretty drafty and cold with this blustery weather. But it's surprisingly warm, and we've been very comfortable the past few days. 

Our first night, before the storm hit full force, we wandered out in the windy darkness to see how the place felt outside at night. The Harbor Light Cottages sign was rocking around in the wind.

Across the street you can see Fulton's Convention Center, named Paws and Taws, a square dancing expression which indicates its beginnings as a square dance venue. And in the parking lot for the public pier across the street, the trunks of the Palm trees are all wrapped with spirals of festive lights. It's a great view out of our sunroom windows...a little bit odd not being able to see the tops of the Palm trees!

We've spent the past several days fitting things in, moving things around, and generally just getting settled. I didn't post a blog, because I didn't think you wanted to see the not-very-exciting process of moving in. Once we get everything in place, we'll give you a photo tour. We've also been taking advantage of our membership at the health club and have already used it 4 times out of the last 6 days for workouts. They also have a Tuesday & Thursday ping-pong set-up at the fitness club. We LOVE ping pong! Curt and I are pretty evenly matched, so we really never know until the very end of a game who the winner will be. It can turn on a dime. So far, out of 4 games, we're 2-2. We can't wait till Tuesday to see what happens next!

After a good workout we usually come home and collapse on the sofa and watch the waves toss around for a while. I really liked the shadows in late afternoon a couple of days ago. These are the same Palm trees that light up at night. Here the wind is blowing their branches straight up!

Yesterday and today we made a flying trip to Kerrville and back to pick up more items from our storage unit, and, most importantly, Curt's motorcycle and my scooter! We want to be ready for fun when this storm blows on by. 

A quick trip to my favorite store in Kerrville, Belk, where I was delighted to run into my friend Mirabel. 

She and her husband Tereso (did I spell that right, Mirabel?) and their son Ray live next door to the cute little cottage we rented for a year and a half in Kerrville, when I was teaching music lessons there while we resided outside of Leakey at the Children's Ranch.

And then today, on to Destination Cycle Sports to pick up the fun-mobiles.

Curt has always owned and enjoyed motorcycles. Though I was happy for him to have so much fun on them, I never really caught "the bug" riding behind him. Logging hours sitting behind a big round helmet, mostly watching the stripes in the road, not wanting to lean too far for fear of throwing us off-balance, never really held great appeal for me. So one day about 3 years ago when Curt asked if I wanted to go with him to pick up some coolant for his motorcycle, I went along mostly just for the company. As he headed out to the service shop to talk with the mechanics, I wandered around this showroom, just killing time.

That's when I saw it. The cutest little cobalt blue scooter, a Yamaha Zuma 125 cc. Suddenly I knew that I COULD enjoy motorcycle riding with Curt! When he returned from the service shop, I was just finishing up the paperwork on the purchase. He couldn't believe it! I took a motorcycle safety class which just happened to be scheduled for that weekend and just happened to have one space left for a rider with their own bike (all the rental bikes were claimed). I went from never having sat on the drivers seat of a motorcycle to grinning my head off as I swerved around obstacles and leaned into the curves. I LOVED it! I took a lot of good-natured abuse from the other students in the class about riding a scooter instead of a "real" motorcycle, but I bet I have every bit as much fun with Piglet as they do with their big motorcycles. (I named her that  because she's nowhere near a "hog"...just a little Piglet.)

So today we picked up Curt's BMW and Piglet after they had their post-storage safety check-ups.

 Here they are side by side in the utility trailer as Curt ties everything down.

In searching through our storage unit yesterday, we found all our motorcycle gear except our helmets. Since we are firm believers in the importance of protective headgear, we had to shell out the shekels today for two new helmets. But wait! These helmets are even ventilated! Yahoo!

Here's Chuck, our favorite parts manager, sealing the deal.

And Curt, who can find something fun to do with even the simplest of objects....

I've been writing this blog in the car between Kerrville and Rockport. We just passed the windmill that signifies we're almost home, but as you can see, we didn't beat the rain we were hoping to avoid.

Now to continue the moving-in process!