December 1 - January 6, 2014

We arrived at the Arabia Shrine Center in Houston late afternoon on December 1^st. The next day, Monday, Tabeel Temple held their beautiful ceremonial and banquet, initiating 8 new motivated members!

Oooops!

A Christmas Skit by the Pageantry Unit

 

 

Tuesday we visited the Shrine Hospital and were given an excellent tour, especially in the Motion Analysis Lab. Very interesting!

 

 

From the hospital we drove directly to Galveston where we had reservations at the Bayou Shores RV park right on the bay. Beautiful! Wednesday, the 4^th was the Official Visit at Ramallah Temple, where they performed a beautiful ceremonial. The banquet was held at the famous Moody Gardens Hotel where we had an excellent meal, were entertained by 3 units form Ramallah and treated like royalty by the Divan of El Mina Shrine. These gentlemen were wonderful and so aware of the generosity and work which is done by the Daughters of the Nile.

 

 

 

The next day, Thursday, we toured the Galveston Shriners Hospital which specializes in burns. A short history – this hospital was closed for many months after Hurricane Ike put much of it underwater in 2008. The hospital reopened on November 4, 2009 with smiles and hugs being exchanged between patients and the staff. This is a fun hospital; colorful, unique, warm and friendly. The Ladies Auxiliary has worked hard on opening a new library at the hospital and SQ Margaret Ann was asked to assist in the ribbon cutting ceremony. The one major bump in the road which the library has is getting books donated that are written in Spanish. Soooooo……. While we were touring the hospital, one of the Shriner’s, Grant, arranged for Harold to have the car dolly hitch straightened at a local machine shop, which he managed before retiring. Another Shriner helping out…thank you Past Potentate Grant!

 

 

 

Off to Corpus Christie after the tour. Arrangements had been made for us to stay at Al Amin Shrine Center. I know that Corpus is a navy town but had no idea that there were so many refineries in the area. It’s a beautiful location and one I’d like to revisit.

 

 

 

Next day – San Antonio and the Official Visit at Nekodah Temple Daughters of the Nile. Another Shrine Center took us in and provided us with a place to park for the night; Alzafar Shriners. Nekodah initiated 7 new members with 3 Past Supreme Queens were in attendance; PSQ Joyce Kincaid, PSQ Muriel Knapp and PSQ Suzie Schumacher. Nice! The ladies of this temple were awesome and entertained us with 4 unit performances, what fun!! Next day, Ruh Neb Temple, Austin, Texas.

 

 

 

Now you must understand that the entire time since we left Keller the week before, most of Texas had been experiencing severe winter weather with freezing temps and freezing rain. For some reason we dodged every bad weather bullet which came our way and ran into none of it, except the cold temps. Phew, lucky for us! In Austin we stayed at the Ben Hur Shrine Center where both the Ceremonial and Banquet were being held. The food was all prepared and served by PQ Beth Wawak (sp) and her staff of three. It was an excellent dinner of consisting of Beth’s famous meatloaf! The ladies performed an almost flawless Ceremonial, one to be extremely proud of. Also, I had a chance to spend a few minutes with Past Queen Janice Hoffman, who is originally from Old Town, Maine and whom I met back in 2008 through our mutual friend, PQ Peggyanne Kilton.

 

 

 

The next day, found us on the road to Waco, TX and Merak Temple. Still bitter cold but no precip. Karem Shrine Center welcomed us to their facility. They have an RV park on their property which is where we set up. This Nile Temple also performed extraordinary ceremonial, great work ladies! The weather has been so cold that we purchased a tower heater for additional heat in the cabin and to cut down on the use of propane, which we were going through pretty fast! We found that it’s not always easy to locate truck service stations on the interstates which sell bulk propane and since many of our overnight stops are at Shrine centers this has been a challenge! Most of the Flying J’s sell bulk propane, however Pilot does not and both are part of the same parent company.

 

It is now Tuesday, December 10^th and we are enroute to Dallas and Shalman Temple which is located in Garland. Dallas and the surrounding cities were still experiencing the lasting effects of the ice storm which hit the area before Thanksgiving. Since the weather never modulated, the ice was still on the roads in many areas. The trees were still glistening in the sun due to ice. We arrived in Garland without any incidence and parked at yet another Shrine Center, Hella Shriners. I know I’ve said this before, but it so amazes me that the Shriner’s embraced this Love for the Children Tour and bent over backwards to welcome and accommodate us! I can’t thank them enough for their hospitality and generosity! The ladies of Shalman sure know how to have a good time; their ceremonial was awesome and the banquet was great, fun, fun, fun!!! Since our schedule meant traveling to San Angelo, TX the next day and to avoid major traffic we drove to Keller and spent the night at Margaret Ann’s home. Ahhhhh, a comfy bed and long shower!!! We also had a chance to get some laundry done, which is another challenging task when being in a different city every day. Oh well, all part of the tour!

 

Shalman Clowns

 

We spent the night of December 11^th at Suez Shrine Center. The next day Ziphron Temple Daughters of the Nile held their ceremonial and initiated 4 new members of which one sang a solo tribute to SQ. This lady has an amazing voice! I have to say that the ladies of this Temple are fun, they have a cohesive group and know how to raise money for the Daughters of the Nile Foundation. Now understand that San Angelo is in the middle of West Texas, sort of out there all by itself, miles from any of the major cities and from other Nile Temples. They’ve got something that really works! Keep it up ladies, you are wonderful! To get a few miles out of the way, we left San Angelo after the banquet and headed even further west towards El Paso. (Another night in a Walmart parking lot.)

 

 

 

We completed the journey to El Paso the following day, arriving midafternoon at El Maida Shrine Center, which sits high on a hill overlooking El Paso, Fort Bliss and neighboring Mexico. This is truly desert country; very few grassy spots for Mollie, if you get my drift. The Ceremonial banquet was held in the El Paso Club, on the top floor of the Chase Building in downtown El Paso. What an incredible view of the city and of Mexico! To get to Albuquerque by noon the next day, we left in El Paso in the wee hours of the morning on the 15^th. Ten days until Christmas and I haven’t sent out the Christmas gifts to the grandkids; note to self, find a post office somewhere, this is very important!

Overlooking El Paso and Fort Bliss

 

Well, Harold got us to Albuquerque and Ballut Abyad Shrine Center for the Official Visit at Yucca Temple. The Shrine Center used to be a church and the Ceremonial was held in the sanctuary, how unique and beautiful! Three units performed, one being a patrol which was top notch! Also, 2 Past Supreme Queens were in attendance as well as many ladies visiting from other Temples.

The High desert, so pretty.

Yucca's Patrol Unit

 

The next day we headed back to Texas, Amarillo to be exact, in the Northwest, and Avihk Temple which meets at Khiva Shrine Center. This is a very old building with so much character, beautiful rooms and the ladies of Avihk have their own room in which to meet. We met some wonderful Shriners, ladies and were entertained by 3 units. It was truly a great day. About now we’re getting pretty tired and have 2 more Official Visits and 1Hospital tour before breaking for the Christmas Holidays. December 17^th found us on the road, an 8 hr drive to Keller to spend the night, before moving east to Tyler, TX.

 

The Dancing Grannies Unit

 

By the way, there is actually a link on the Daughters of the Nile website, www.daughtersofthenile.com where you can track our travels by following Travelers Point. The link is near the bottom of the home page.

Understand, that Harold insists on following the GPS rather than have me give him directions based on my atlas, which I keep in my lap most of the time, so on the way to Tyler we ended up going right through Dallas during the morning commute! Holy Moly!! When arriving in Tyler, Sharon Shrine Center welcomed us to their facility for the official Visit at Sharuhan Temple Daughters of the Nile. 4 units performed at the banquet, one of which was a dance unit who uses swords as part of their routine. I was impressed! All 4 units were wonderful.

 

 

 

Next day, Shreveport, LA, last stop before Christmas. We stayed at Diamond Jack’s Casino RV Park, in Bossier. Thursday, the 19^th was the Official Visit and then Friday we were escorted by 4 of the El Karubah Motor Corps from Diamond Jack’s to the Shreveport Shriners Hospitals….so cool!!! This was a complete surprise to SQ. An entourage of Queens, Nobles and guests were awaiting our arrival. After touring the hospital, the ladies of Khafra Daughters of the Nile, hosted a luncheon and Christmas Party of the patients and their families. These ladies of Khafra are amazing and how fortunate to be close to a Shrine Hospital, that they can participate in so many functions.

Did Duck Dynasty make an appearance?

Queens and their crowns. Lots of bling!

Back awhile SQ started a “One Million Dollar, One Dollar at a Time” campaign to raise 1 million dollars during her year as SQ, for the Daughters of the Nile Foundation Convalescent Relief Account (CRA). This account is emptied out at the end of each fiscal year and given to the Shriner’s Hospitals for Children®. To assist with this campaign, Khafra Temple is selling t-shirts with all net proceeds to benefit this project.  Use the information below to order your t-shirt.  

 

Another way to support the Million Dollar campaign is by following the directions below.

 

 

 

A surprise to Harold and I was a presentation by SQ of a commemorative plate which was designed by my friend PQ Jessica Penn. The handprints on the plate are from a 4 yr. old patient at Shreveport Shriners. If you look carefully, you’ll see that there are 3 hearts depicted. This was truly a memorable day for all of us and such a great way to end this segment of the Love for the Children Tour.

 

 

 

3 quilts donated by Milcah 77 to Shreveport Hospital

Children's Christmas Party and Luncheon

Jessica, SQ and Bill

Lots of Royalty?

Plate presentation to Harold and Bev

One dollar bills stuck together and wrapped around the Christmas Tree.

We headed toward Florida to spend the holidays in Cocoa, FL and SQ was going home to Keller to be with family and friends. We left just after the Christmas party and stopped just south of Jackson, MS for the night. We arrived in Cocoa on the afternoon of December 22^nd, got set up at Sonrise Palms RV Park which is just down the road from our good friends from camp, Nancy and Ed. We enjoyed having Christmas dinner with them and their friends from Maryland, Mary and Carl; and we ate outside, overlooking the lake. Weird….Christmas dinner outside…no snow….no jackets….weird. As much as we enjoyed the day, it didn’t feel like Christmas to me and I hope to never celebrate Christmas in this way again. I guess I’m just a Maine girl through and through; give me the snow, ice, cold temps, early phone call from the kids to come over and watch them open their gifts from Santa. Yep, that’s my idea of Christmas!

 

 

Today is January 6, 2014. In two days on January 8^th we resume the Love for the Children Tour in Jacksonville, FL. Thank you all for following this blog and your support of the tour and the Daughters of the Nile Foundation. No…this is not the end of my writings (rantings), I’ll be back so stay tuned!!