The 14th was Valentine's Day and being the romantic sorts we opted to go over to the Messina Hof Winery and enjoy their evening stay and dinner special. As you come into the B&B part called the Villa you have this awesome entry and stair, here highlighted by sun through the really neat chandelier.

 

 

We checked into the Hof room, named after the city where one of the winery owner's family harks from in Germany, and it was great. On the wall are notes and pictures from the city of Hof in Bavaria and greetings from the mayor there.

Outside on our private balcony we watched the sun set over the fountain in the pond with our complimentary wine and cheese.

And then went over to the restaurant part of the complex for our dinner.

Dinner was three courses begun with a grilled salad ... really different. Followed by the main course of either lobster filled ravioli or fillet mignon ... we did both and shared a bit ... both beyond excellent.

The setting overlooking the vineyard and the quiet professional service made this a really great evening without hurry or pressure.

And the happy youngsters enjoying both a chocolate cup with frozen delight inside and a red velvet cupcake with additional sauce. Wow!

Great hospitality, wonderfully quiet and scenic room, perfect dinner, and perfect companion ... here's to many, many, more.

A few odds and ends here to catch up.

 

Below are the first five years of Have Gunns Will Travel that we produced as our "scrapbooks" of the adventures of the Flying Scotsman. Once I have blogged a full year I go to the www.blurb.com site and "slurp" my blog into their book format. The result is a slick, color, 150 page rendition of all of the entries (photo and text) from the last year's blog ... really neat and easy. I'm slurping the 2012 year for production as we speak, because in April we will begin the seventh year of the Grand Adventure.

 

 

Also our schedule for the Flying Scotsman for 2012 is firming up. After one or more visits to the Dallas area, we will head down to the Austin-San Antonio area in the end of March to say hi/bye to friends there and then motor east toward Florida. The intent is to do the coast of Florida and the Keys and then all the way up the coast to Canada for the summer. We've booked our seasonal spot in Barrie for $4000 and hope to arrive there in the first week of May.

One of the reasons we are here in Bryan is that is where we still get most of our medical care. Over the holidays I wrenched my neck somehow (thinking I'm 20 or something) and the left arm pain was pretty good. On to the MRI. Kinda reminded me of survival school when they lock you in a box and pound on it for hours ... Prognosis is good with a few more visits.

OK, serious stuff is over. Here is a new addition to the park here. Let's see we have a nicely landscaped 90 foot parking spot made for that million dollar Prevost, but ... this is a pickup bed camper being lived in. I know the picture might be confusing as I have included a normal trailer just behind the camper ... only the gray part and below it count for this RV.

Again another poorer picture but worth it. As I was leaving the assisted living facility yesterday after seeing Dad, I met this small Cooper's hawk sitting on the sign that reads, "Resident Drop Off." I guess I really shouldn't go further with that one, eh.

To catch up a bit, we are in Bryan again at the Aggieland RV park. This particular site had been occupied by a seasonal resident but they left and we jumped at the opportunity to be at the edge of the woods. Really nice to be able to have our bird feeder and look out at trees rather than white trailers.

 

 

On another issue, this December, Mom had some health issues which required her to be moved to the nursing unit in the St Joseph facility where they already were living in the assisted living wing. The prognosis so far is that because of diminished capability to care for herself and Dad at 96 who is less able to be a full time caregiver that she may remain "next door" for an extended time.

Above is the front of the nursing part of St Jo where Mom is and to the right is where Dad is. The significance of this is that over Christmas, Dad took this picture and made a pen and ink sketch for key administration personnel and presented it below as gifts.

Even at 96 it took Dad only about two weeks to sketch this beautiful representation of the building and present framed copies of it to both the financial manager, Carol, to the left, and Joanne, the assisted living manager, to the right. It was an emotional presentation and Dad made a great speech commending both on their great contribution to his and Mom's comprehensive support at this great facility.