The ups and downs of refrigeration

Right off the bat this morning I am mopping up tears! Cindy sent some photos taken for Mike's and her 30th wedding anniversary. Tara's friend is a photographer and an amazing one at that. There is a slide show on the photographer's website and I simply adore the photo of Cindy laughing, head thrown back---ala Cindy-style! Love it! Great shots, great subject matter. Shiloh is Miss Photogenic, wearing her grandma's veil and posing on her gown!

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Well, the wait is on for the repairman to come and see what's wrong with my fridge. Yesterday morning when I went for a soda, it seemed to be nice and cold again. Great! I decided that something was still wrong with it because turning the temp up as high as it goes before it'd kick in......that's not right! So, today, between 8 and 5, I can expect company!

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I had good company yesterday afternoon as "Dr." Colon and his lovely wife, Marilyn Julaine, came over to look at the lemon tree. I had moved the tree outside by the front door since I knew chemicals and such would be sprayed on it. Fausto first used clear water to wash the leaves, picking off those destined to fall anyway, checked the soil acidity (which tested okay) and then sprayed it with a mixture of Dawn soap and veggie oil mixed with water. Under his microscope we could see "the little bastards", which are normally called 'mites', the guys wreaking all this havoc. The soap/oil mixture suffocates them as well as sealing the leaf from disease. He also left me printed materials and a book about Florida plants for my perusal. We shared a lovely lunch at The Club which brought back many memories for Fausto, as he used to keep a boat at the marina here and also held Club membership. His son and he made sure they had their "required" meal each month, never let the opportunity pass, something which I cannot claim.

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I told them how at first Justin and I ate at The Club frequently, loving the food and the whole idea of it, but gradually quit going more than once each month. Often when it's getting close to the end of the month, Pam will call and say, "I haven't eaten at The Club this month--wanna meet for lunch?" What's nice about summer is that our membership obligations can be fulfilled at the Cabana where I can have a nice cheeseburger and pina colada on the weekends without having to dress up! I can drip and order my food at the same time, and then rinse off in the pool!

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I've tried my hand at using the old-fashioned method of recording the "old" TV programs with VHS in my room. Skillfully I set the machine to record about 8 episodes of "Seinfeld"; however, when I tried to replay them this a.m., to see if it worked, I had several episodes of "Reba" and one of a show called "Still Standing". Ugh!!!! Please!!!! It's not a productive time for me to go sit in the family room and watch the DVR recorded programs so am ridding myself of the digital converter and HD thingy. Most of the time I'm in my room at the computer, during the day listening to talk radio, but I'd hate to miss my re-runs of Seinfeld and Frasier. As Justin said the other day, I'll probably get the DVDs anyway and can watch them at my leisure, sans commercials. I will keep trying my hand at mastering the remote control to record on VHS. Talk about living in the past!!

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Work has begun on the marina which is being re-built since the destructive Hurricane Jeanne took it out in 2004. The barge with the scoop shovel is idle today but during the week was busily pulling sand or silt from the basin area in preparation for the docks to be put in. I hope the manatees still come to do their thing out here by my window, as they put on quite a show for us. Pretty? No. Interesting? Oh, yes, they are! Here is a pile of manatees, doing whatever it is that manatees do......

The rumor mill claims the marina spaces will sell for $100,000.00 American money, which is wwaayy too rich for my blood! Let's say they are offered at that price---is this the price people will wish to pay? Having the marina will improve the property value, of this we're sure, but there is some question about the parking situation and so on. I'm not concerning my pretty little head about it, but do look forward to hearing the clang, clang, clang as the sailboats bob around in the water, the sail hardware hitting against the mast.....At my lake house, a friend, Alan, had his sailboat tied up at my dock and I loved hearing the clanging from his boat.....I grow nostalgic for the lake house, but not when I think about all the extra work there was to keeping a big house on the water like that. My condo on the river, as Fausto said repeatedly, is perfect for me!

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p.s.: My friend, Brenda, with whom I had drinks and chips at Whitey's, reports my "pool boy", Jeff, has broken up with her daughter and is no longer in the picture. This makes my heart heavy because I care about both of them. I used to say that Jeff woke me every Saturday morning, bright and early, when he came to clean my pool. My room was on the patio level and the bank of windows wore no curtains..... poor guy!