Winter 2021-2022

This is our 13th winter volunteering for the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge. We arrived back in the Rio Grande Valley November 1st, ready to begin another year of checking properties, repairing/replacing fence, posting signs, trash cleanup and whatever else needs doing on the LRGV properties. We have also inherited the job of maintaining the campground. After cleaning up the Marinoff campground, we loaded our work truck and headed out.

One of our first accomplishments was replacing a 500-foot section of four wire barbed fence that was accidentally destroyed by a tractor/brush hog on the Los Olmos Tract.

Our favorite lunch spot is out at the Boca Chica Beach.

Moving signs back from the highway medium onto our property after an electrical pole upgrade to support the Space X facility. Glad we took our Muck boots that day.

The Boca Chica Area is being transformed by Space X.

What a great surprise when Virginia's high school friend, Rosetta and husband, visited South Padre Island for a week. 

Another one of our jobs is to keep the visitor parking lots clear at the few LRGV properties that have public access.

Constructing a fence at Teniente property.

Spring has sprung in the desert. A little late this year.

After two years of exceptional summer rains, the grass has grown up into the trees.

Being a desert climate, things are returning to normal, leaving the grass to die and cause exceptional fire danger.

Very low humidity combined with strong winds is fueling fires all around the Rio Grande Valley. The La Grulla area had such a hot fire, many of the trees were destroyed. Even our boundary fences burned, leaving the refuge signs laying on the ground in a pile of ash.

These round hay bales, which now resemble large Brillo pads, were transformed to ash.

Border Patrol piles confiscated homemade ladders, used to scale the "Wall", on the Marinoff burn pile.

Four feral cats have taken up residence in the volunteer campground.

They did a great job of rodent control.

FAMILY REUNION IN WEST VIRGINIA

Over Easter weekend we flew to West Virginia to join our children and grandchildren along with Virginia's sister and her husband for a four-day reunion. The rental house, located near Davis, WV, had six bedrooms and another two above the separate garage. 

An outing to the Blackwater Falls State Park

Hannah and Julia coloring Easter Eggs

Twins in the hot tub

Sisters

 

Mediterranean Cruise - Barcelona, Spain

TOURING BARCALONA

We arrived in Barcelona on Tuesday, January 4, our last stop on our Mediterranean Voyage. This beautiful city in northern Spain is in the Catalonia Province. It has its own unique language, Catalon. We extended our trip by two days staying at the Melia Barcelona Sarria Hotel.

We had a beautiful morning for arrival into Spain.

The Christopher Columbus statue sits at the end of the iconic tree lined La Rambia street.

The monument marks the spot where Columbus stepped ashore after returning from the "New World."

We had a pleasant walk along the shoreline. 

The Arc dei Triumf built for the 1888 World's Fair Exhibition

Beautiful fountain in Parc de la Ciutadella

Overlook of Barcelona from Montjuic

The beautiful Holy Cross Hospital

The city of Barcelona loves its native son Antoni Gaudi (1852-1926). He was known as the world's greatest Modernism architect. His creations are seen throughout the city. We took three tours of his works, Gaudi's Houses of Modernism, Park Gruell, and Basilica de la Sagrada Familia.

CASA VICENS

This was Gaudi's first major project, built between 1883 and 1885.

Gaudi made use of tiles throughout this building,

He decorated everything, including the ceilings in all the rooms.

Even the rooftops were decorated

CASA MILA

People referred to this work, built between 1906 and 1912 by Gaudi, as the "Stone Quarry" because of the use of all the stones in the facade. We did not go into this home.

CASA BATLLO

Built by Gaudi in 1904, considered one of his great achievements.

The wood around the windows gave the building its nickname "House of Bones."

Staircase within the six-story home, of which we took a tour.

This unusual roofline is referred to as the Dragon's Back.

PARK GUELL

In 1910 Gaudi was commissioned by Eusebi Guell to lay out a private housing development for well-off clients on a hillside overlooking the city of Barcelona. The project fell through after Guell's death in 1914 and only two of the 60 planned homes were built. What remained was the ingenious layout of Park Guell. 

The double staircase entrance to Park Guell

Gaudi designed stone bridge to the upper hill.

Casa Trias, one of the two homes built.

At the highest point in the park is the so-called Hill of The Three Crosses

The city of Barcelona and the Mediterranean Sea beyond viewed from the Public Square

The serpentine tile bench surrounds the edge of a large public square that overlooks Barcelona.

Hypostyle Halls 84 columns support the Square above.

Dragon at the double staircase entrance to the Park

BASILLICA de la SAGRADA FAMILIA

We spent several amazing hours exploring this architectural masterpiece of Gaudi. The work on the Basilica of the Sacred Family was begun in 1883. Gaudi took over as chief architect in 1910. He spent the last 14 years of his life consumed with design and construction of this church. It is still under construction today. Following Antoni Gaudi's blueprints and models, it is not expected to be completed until 2026 (100 years after Gaudi's death).

Eight of the 12 Apostle Bell Towers are complete

Nativity Facade was almost complete when Antoni Gaude died in 1926. 

Scenes of the Nativity cover the facade.

The Three Wisemen of the Nativity

Each Apostle Bell Tower is topped by Venetian mosaics

Passion Facade was completed in 2000. 

The bleak Passion facade whose boxy forms are very unlike the organic shapes on the Gaudi-designed Nativity facade.

This star sits atop the Tower of Virgin Mary just dedicated December 8, 2021.

The ceiling towers 200 feet over the sanctuary.

The east side had cool colors for the morning sun.

The west side had warm colors for the afternoon and setting sun.

Gaudi visualized the inside of the Basilica as a huge forest. The columns would appear as tree trunks where the capitals would branch out into the vaults. The sunlight would filter in through the stained-glass windows representing foliage.

The engineering of this church is spectacular. The balcony seems to be floating.

Antoni Gaudi Death Mask

The Crypt, where Gaudi is buried.

As shown in this conceptual drawing, the Basilica will have a total of 18 towers when completed. Gaudi put them from shortest to tallest, based on their celestial hierarchy. The central will be the tallest and dedicated to Jesus Christ (576 feet). Next to it will be the tower of Mary (453 feet), completed in 2021. Then will come the towers of the four evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John (443 feet). Then finally the 12 Apostle Bell Towers, eight of them now complete.

We arrived back in Dallas on January 7.

After clearing customs, we flew back to McAllen.