2026-5-16 Cindy's Memorial Brunch

 Having a Memorial Brunch is not something we always do as we have lots of members. Cindy was a member of the Full-Timers chapter, the Texas Ramblin' Roses chapter, and the Heart of Dixie chapter. The Heart of Dixie chapter is no longer a chapter and that is where Carolyn and Mary knew her best. The Full-Timers chapter does not have regular in person rallies but I contacted them about Cindy and they said they would get the information to RVW for the magazine and take care of the plaque for Celia's Memorial Garden in Quartzite. We told Carolyn and Mary that we would be happy to have them host a small Texas Ramblin' Roses Memorial for Cindy and her family.

Cindy Foreman

The rally was planned for Louisiana so Cindy's family could come. Her sister and her niece and husband came for the brunch. I t was nice to meet them and remember Cindy. 

Olivia played her guitar and sang a very nice song before we all sat down to a very nice brunch prepared by all of us.

They stayed for several hours and we shared stories about Cindy. It was a very nice day for all of us.

After the family left, we all sat around and talked about when we might all get a chance to see each other again. Carolyn, Mary, and Irene all live in Louisiana but we all travel so hopefully it won't be too long. Later we all started gathering things together for departure in the morning. Olivia was planning to pull out early. She winters in Rockport in her RV and lives on her houseboat on Lake Texoma in the summer but this took this opportunity to come to the rally and then go on to visit her sister near Lake Ponchetrain. Carolyn and Mary were headed back to Butte LaRose and Baton Rouge. Elaine was headed to Waco for a few days before heading back to Abilene. I was headed home with an overnight stay to check out the RV park for our July rally. Jimmie was not sure if she was headed to San Antonio or back to Rockport.....she is a full-timer so she takes her home with her. 

Moving on down the road......

2026-5-15 Pot Luck

 We were fortunate to be able to use the pavilion at Bundick Lake. It was one of the few things that was actually in relatively good shape other than the fact that the ladies room toilet was broken and filthy.

This might look like an ordinary fishing lure but it was actually a decoration hanging from the pavilion ceiling. It was about 2 1/2 feet long. Nice touch.

Olivia scrubbed the men's room and relabeled it in preparation for our memorial brunch tomorrow.

We played a lot of games here. Most of us carry Mexican Train and Rumikub with us because they are very popular and easy to learn.

Carolyn is always taking pictures and she took most of the ones on this trip. She is very generous about sharing them and letting us all use them as long as we don't harass her too much about taking so many.

There were many individual pictures of every single dish that was on the table but I have limited to just an overall view. You can thank me later.

I don't think I have mentioned all the birds here. This one just kept hanging around. Isn't it beautiful?

Olivia surprised us when she gifted us each a bag that she stenciled. She is so talented and such a good friend.

Just relaxing after dinner was over and cleaned up.

Our chapter has moved to 4 raffles a year to raise money for chapter expenses so tickets are available over several rallies and the drawing was scheduled for this rally. Since you don't have to be present to win, the drawing can be held at any rally. Treasurer Elaine asked RVW member guest Irene to draw the two winning tickets. The first was for a $150 Visa card and was won by Frankie Swift. Irene reached in and drew a second ticket. The unbelievable happened and a second ticket bought by Frankie was pulled.

When Frankie was contacted about her two wins, she said she was in Alaska and the prizes would certainly be put to good use.

Last but not least, we took the group picture with Carolyn's phone on a stand. After several false starts with the timer, we were captured.

2026-5-15 Coffee and Crafts

Mornings usually started with coffee. We each made our own. Some are earlier risers than others. I don't usually count myself among the early risers but you never know. Our site varied depending upon the shade available. Mary likes to have her rug out and with all the rain Louisiana gets, putting it on the grass is not a problem.

We all got together at various times of the day.

This particular day we decided to work on some craft projects. Olivia is a natural leader for this. She brought her acrylic paints and a huge binder of templates. Elaine had a few stencils and markers. I had some metallic markers that I initially planned to use. 

Our particular projects this day were our outside chairs. Now, Roses come prepared with many different kinds of chairs but many of us have the green or blue aluminum chairs from Harbor Freight. They are lightweight for carrying, sturdy, and reasonably priced. So when there is a gathering, it can be a bit difficult to find your own chair. My initials in magic marker sufficed until now but then we got to see Olivia's work. She started simply with her last name.

Then we started planning and plotting what we wanted to do. I was going to freehand some fancy initials.

Jimmie started with her name using stenciled letters.

Elaine already had a bee that she had done as a project started by Anne on the Winter Rolling Rally.

My freehand drawings were not everything I hoped they might be but I wasn't giving up.

I decided to try a stencil as the initial start and then freehand the rest of the way I wanted it.

Elaine decided to add some more art work to her initial work plus she wanted to work on the colors and detail of the bee.

Mary got Olivia to work on her "Canadian" chairs bought on her RV journey in Canada.

Now, you might think that Hail Mary is a little "Queenly" but the name of Mary's RV is the "Hail Mary" named when it hailed on her within hours of her first use. There is usually a story behind RV names but sometimes you have to ask about it.

Elaine's finished product.....or is it.....you never know.

Jimmie's chair art on her brand new chair.....the seat disintegrated on the one she brought with her but Deridder has a Harbor Freight so she was back in business.

Carolyn also got our artistic Olivia to work some magic on her chair. It says "Cajun Demoiselle" which, you guessed it, is the name of her RV displayed proudly on the back of the travel trailer. It means Cajun lady and Carolyn definitely is that.

Olivia is faster at this than all of us so she had time to add and trim out some beautiful starfish on her chair.

All in all, it was a very fun time. But I still have another chair with nothing but initials on it and I guess you will just have to camp with me to see what is on my chairs because I didn't get a picture, lol.

 

2026-5-14 Brunch in Deridder La

 The next morning, we all met for coffee. Everybody brought their own.

It wasn't long before everyone decided they needed some breakfast before it got any later.

So we made an executive decision to head into DeRidder for brunch.

Several of us saw this place when we had been to town earlier and decided we needed to try it for brunch.

Martha and Carolyn had already headed into town earlier and so had Olivia so we called them and we all met at the Waffle Shoppe.

The food was good and so was the service. Our waitress was happy to snap a photo in between bringing more coffee and then our food which ranged from omelettes, chicken and waffles, to waffle, bacon or sausage and eggs. It was all good. Right behind where we were sitting, they had a board with order checks on it for various amounts. The waitress explained that they were part of a pay it forward movement where anyone who needed coffee or a meal could get it. Customers often paid a miscellaneous amount or just paid for a second meal just like they had and the paid check was pinned on the board for anyone that needed it for any reason. Needless to say, a number of us left a paid meal on that board for someone else.

Irene  and Carolyn went back to sightseeing as did some of the rest of us.

Back at the park later in the day...

Dogs were looking for walks around the park. It would have been a great time for a swim but one look at the pool made that a very definite NO. It was milky white with no visibility of the steps let alone the bottom. Sadly, this is a once beautiful place that has been let go to ruin with no management or even workcampers on site. We were lucky the grass had been cut recently because some of those staying longer term at the park said it was over a foot high before it was cut. If you look at the pictures online, what you actually get isn't even close to those very old pictures.