NELSON'S NOTES #63, Fun N Sun, San Benito, Texas, Sept. 26, 2006

OUR BIG 50, AUGUST 18, 2006

Surprise! When I booted up my computer, this picture appeared on my desktop, thanks to Bruce. The black and white photo was taken in Eaton Center, New Hampshire a year before we were married. The colored insert was taken last spring at Fun N Sun.

VALLEY NEWS

We've had 3.58 inches of rain so far this month. Rain runoff from as far away as McAllen and Mission flooded the Arroyo ("little creek") hike and bike trail in Harlingen last week.

Because of the wet ground, construction of the 2.76-mile Resaca Recreational Trail in San Benito was stopped temporarily. Once the ground is firm enough to hold heavy equipment, construction of the trail will take about two months.  The trail will go along both sides of the resaca, from 77 Sunshine Strip to U.S. 77/83 Frontage Road.

Thanks to volunteers from the woodshop, the snack bar in the dance hall has been expanded.  I'm standing in front of one of the two new concession stand windows.

New Stores: A Lowe's Home improvement Center has opened across from the Camelot Retirement Community. A Tractor Supply Store featuring farm implements and lawn and garden supplies is being built next to the Sunny Glen Children's Home. Premium Outlet Stores will open in Weslaco on November 2.

First South Padre Island Film Festival. Bruce and I saw two unusual independent films that we wouldn't find elsewhere: Plagues and Pleasures on the Salton Sea, a 71-minute documentary that explores the lives of friendly, eccentric residents along the shores of Southern California's newest ecological timebomb; and Dumpster, a 64-minute drama about a scavenging janitor employed at an elite university who strikes up a friendship with a college fraternity brother living in a dumpster.

LYMPHOCYTIC COLITIS

This condition, a type of microscopic colitis, is uncommon and little is known about it. You've probably never heard of it and I hadn't either until last month when daily diarrhea and debilitating fatigue took over my life. The diagnosis was confirmed when biopsies showed increased lymphocytes in the lining of the colon.

There is no proven treatment for lymphocytic colitis but medications can help. Treatment is tricky and that's the phase I'm in now. If you want to know more about this disease, Google it or paste this address in you browser:

http://www.gihealth.com/html/education/printable/printCollagenousColitis.html

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Marianna Nelson

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