NELSON'S NOTES #57

San Benito, Texas, April 14, 2006

SAMANTHA SWEENEY AT 9 WEEKS

Our great granddaughter topped the growth charts at 13 lbs. 11 oz. at a recent doctor's checkup. She was nine weeks old and was just one ounce shy of doubling her birth weight of 6 lbs. 14 oz.

SLEEPYTIME FOR SAMANTHA AND HER BROTHER CONNOR

SAMANTHA'S AND CONNOR'S UNCLE, MATTHEW SWEENEY, AGE 7

If it looks like the baby alligator Matthew is holding has a pink fish growing out of it, look again. It's a picture of an angler on Matthew's T-shirt. The man in the photo runs a business called Curious Creatures, and he brought several animals to show Abby and Matthew's home schooling group. In the green tubs in the background he also had a boa constrictor, a hedgehog, a box turtle and a tree frog.

AMARYLLIS IN BLOOM

Janet Nelson took this photo when she and Bruce's brother Gene stayed at Fun N Sun for the month of March. The amaryllis was blooming at Millie and Joe Wooton's, across the street from the park model Gene and Janet rented (four doors from us). The amaryllis looked beautiful, even though the Valley was (and still is) in the midst of a drought. Rain that falls in other parts of Texas hasn't been making it this far south.

THE CAMPAIGN FOR LUAU KING AND QUEEN

Our campaign managers, Roy and Judy Pool, and their crew worked creatively and tirelessly. They did everything for us as they led us through two very active weeks of campaigning. Here's a photo of one of the 130 campaign badges that were made and distributed in our behalf. These were a lot of work. After Lou Beveridge took our photo and designed the badge, people made copies of it, cut the copies into circles, pasted the circles on used compact discs and punched holes and strung them so that the discs could be worn. And that was only the beginning. Big signs with our pictures were posted in the windows of RVs, cars, trucks and golf carts. Two days before the election, we toured the park with our supporters in a caravan of vehicles led by the Fun N Sun train.

THE 2006 LUAU

Yes, you're seeing right--that is an airplane in the background. The entrance to the dance hall was made to look like a plane so that when people arrived at the Luau, flight attendants would board them on the plane for a quick trip to Hawaii. Held each March at Fun N Sun, the Luau is the big social event of the season. As king and queen, we sat at a special table near the middle of the dance floor. The hula dancers dedicated a special number to us and we were presented with a roast pig and served dinner by our royal escorts, Roy and Judy. Dinner was followed by music and hula dances including one by the Hula Honeys (men dressed as lady hula dancers). The photo shows the authentic kukui nut necklaces we were given to wear for the night and the white sashes embroidered with "Luau King" and "Luau Queen."

A few days before the Luau, Gene and Janet (they're standing behind us) helped the decorations crew transform the dance hall into the Hawaiian Islands. Val Dillon had painted the scenery last summer, one of the many, many things she and chairperson Ellen Kizzar did to make the Luau special. And it really was special!

CORTISONE INJECTIONS WORK

Finally, my sciatica is "in remission." For over a month I've been able to stand and walk without pain. The underlying problems--the disc bulges and other signs of spinal degeneration--are still there but surgery can be delayed as long as the cortisone keeps working. In February and March I had three sets of injections in the lumbar spine (four shots each time).

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Marianna Nelson

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