REUNIONS & MEETINGS!
Meet up and mingle across the Rio Grande Valley!
UPCOMING EVENTS!
Check out this week’s listings of what’s happening in the RGV!
www.welcomehomergv.com • • • March 21, 2018 1 RECIPE CONNECTION! Executive Chef Bettina Tolin shares another restaurant dish recipe!
Welcome Home See upcoming dates on page 22.
See calendar starting on page 25.
VOLUME 3 • ISSUE 22 • March 21, 2018
Try this recipe on page 37.
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WINTER TEXAN
• • • your official connection to the rio grande valley • • •
It’s hard to believe the end of the
season is here. It seems like just yesterday it was October, and we were anxious for your arrival. Many people ask what we do over the summer months, and aside from notso-patiently waiting for you to come back home to the Valley, we plan. We come up for air for about five minutes and then start putting all the ideas that have come to us over the season into action. But we’re not done with this season yet. Our Converted Texan Corral is right around the corner, and those of you who aren’t heading back just yet are more than welcome to join us! We want to take this opportunity to recognize all of our Converted Texans (and prospective ones, too). Leslie Blasing will be entertaining us, lunch will be served, and, as always, we’ll have plenty of door prizes and fun. The event will be held April 10 from 11 a.m. -2 p.m. at Llano Grande Resort, and everyone is welcome. Advance tickets only, so please call our office at 956-687-5115 to reserve your spot. If you aren’t going to be here for the Corral, I wish you safe travels. Bring a friend with you next season. We’ll be waiting for you! • We’re just connecting the dots,
Kristi
Project Martin Watch:
Citizen Science Project
Lemon Tree Estates Surprises Two Veterans with Quilts of Valor Special to Welcome Home RGV
W hen
Lemon-Tree-Estates residents Joe Reynolds and Merle Mikkelson arrived at the RV park’s Rec Hall February 7, thinking they were just going there for some sweets, they were instead surprised to see roughly 175 of their neighbors and friends there to honor them for their service to our country. Reynolds and Mikkelson are World War II veterans. Both live in Iowa. Both served in the Navy from 194446. And both chose to spend their winters in the Rio Grande Valley. It wasn’t until they did so that the two met. According to Les Peugh, manager at Lemon Tree, 53 veterans live in this Mission RV park. Peugh and Gwen Baker, a Lemon-Tree resident and a quilter, planned the surprise. Baker created the Quilts of Valor
that were awarded to Reynolds and Mikkelson at the surprise event. Quilts of Valor began in 2003 after Catherine Roberts, whose son, Nat, was deployed to Iraq had a dream. She vividly remembers the message of the dream: Quilts=Healing. The mission of the Quilts of Valor Foundation is “to cover service members and veterans touched by war with comforting and healing Quilts of Valor.” As of March 7, 2018, 182,257 Quilts of Valor have been awarded to our veterans. To learn more about the organization and their mission or to see how you can get involved, visit qovf.org. A beautiful surprise and an unexpected gift of gratitude for two of our nation’s veterans. •
at Edinburg World Birding Center March 24 Special to Welcome Home RGV
Spring is on the way, bringing in
wildlife ready to nest and raise its young. To help with that endeavor, the Edinburg Scenic Wetlands & World Birding Center (EWBC) has installed its first Purple Martin house. A kick-off event is scheduled for Saturday, March 24, followed by weekly monitoring beginning in April. The installation of the house was done in conjunction with Purple Martin Watch, a continent-wide scientific project where volunteers monitor Martin nests from the beginning of nest construction until the last fledgling has left. The data collected by the Project Martin Task Force will help scientists determine the population’s reproductive PROJECT MARTIN WATCH CONTINUED ON PAGE 14 >>
A SPECIAL THANK YOU TO OUR 2017-2018 SEASON SPONSORS