A week ago I held a Southern Living party here where I used some of my serving dishes to present my delicious treats. Yesterday I finally emptied the dishwasher and put the dishes away again. One of the items is a "silver" tray, probably intended for breads, a long narrow piece. Another giant plate I used, not especially decorative or ornate, just a great size for serving foods. As I emptied the machine, it occurred to me that these two pieces in particular have "served" me since I got married---1974! The tray was a wedding present and the platter was part of the first set of dishes we bought from, believe it or not, Fingerhut! I think the dish set had been sold many moons ago at the church yard sale but somehow this serving platter was saved from being sold.
As I was putting stuff away in my laundry room not too long ago, I saw a stack of hand towels I keep there for cleaning (ha!) or wiping up a mess or whatever. Some of the towels are from our set also bought from Fingerhut and some are from when we decorated our bathroom in the "big house" in Indian Bluffs, the maroon and dark grey ones we got at Prange's Dept. Store. I still have some of the towels in use from that set but the rugs bit the dust a long time ago. We lived there from just after Jamie was born until 1988, so about 2 1/2 years. Those were some good towels!
Some of the towels we use for the pool or as jumbo bath towels were from the kids, both of them, with pictures of trolls, Thomas the Tank Engine, Star Wars, and other cartoon, kid-oriented designs. Obviously, if Justin used them, they are quite old already and am not sure which ones were his and which were Timmy's, but it's fun to keep them around for guests at the pool. They were used much much more at The Preserve and at the lake house than now since the large groups aren't gathering here as much anymore. Lisa and family used them when they were here in August and they haven't quite made it back to their storage area yet, still stacked in the laundry room.
When we moved into the lake house, I bought new towels and mats for my bathroom to coordinate with my paint colors, of course. I had four different colors on my walls, and one was painted in stripes to match my dust ruffle and valances. Justin requested having black towels for his bathroom, nearly sheet sized, which makes for a whole lot of towels being accumulated in our bathrooms. When the preschool asked for bath towels to use in the classroom, I donated a mess of them. When Martie's son got his own apartment, I gave him a mess of them. And I still have a mess of towels here to use in the bathrooms. I need to have a houseful of company or another tropical storm to make use of my bounty of cotton----wait! What am I saying????
In August, my sister, Lynn, and her daughter and family came to visit. My enticement, as if I needed one, was we'd be able to sit poolside and enjoy our lovely weather. It wasn't three days after this gathering of friends that the heavens opened and TS Faye moved in! As part of that gathering, Jimmie and Rick are chatting while the kids play in the pool between rain showers. Rick was our draftsman, hired at the tender age of 20, younger than Justin is now. Jimmie was our superintendent and worked closely with Rick. I love it that after all these years they have remained friends!
Here is a picture of Justin showing his toothy grin. Love his Packer shirt, and so did he, until he wore it to work and got black paint on it. We got him a new Packer shirt when we were in WI.
JD and Justin are sitting poolside watching JD's little girls play in the pool. In the background you can see the recent addition to The Club, enclosing the south promenade. 
JD is listening to Justin tell a story about something while Gabe sits at the table eating some grapes. We had to come in the house for awhile during a quick rain storm but were able to go back out after it stopped.
Jennifer is probably going to smack me for posting this picture of her!!! Behind Jen, barely in the shot is Christine, coming around the table with her plate in hand. Betty is also barely in the shot, chatting with Jimmie and Rick. Rick and Jen have two kids, Chris and Memrie.
Jimmie and Justin share some 'guy-time' poolside where Jimmie's granddaughters were swimming. Jimmie and JD, a father/son team, were both pall bearers for Timmy's funeral. JD used to be his babysitter before getting married and Jimmie is my former co-worker, my dear friend through thick and thick. He now works with another builder alongside Brenda N., who, unfortunately couldn't make it to this gathering. Michael was at the party earlier but had to leave because of previous plans. At least he got to see Lisa and family first, and meet Noah, finally. 
Jimmie and Lisa having, not guy-time, but friend-time, in the river room. Lisa has been coming down to visit us ever since we moved to Florida and became quite friendly with our staff. Brenda (see the next picture) and Jimmie, Christine, and Brenda N. were the top on her list of people to see, and of course, the Ross's and Betty....the whole gang, as it were!
Here, Brenda and Hope are diving into their enormous sandwiches which I had for feeding the group. Hope is JD's oldest daughter and behind her you can almost see little Faith, talking to her daddy in the family room. Down at the pool later on, JD had us in tears of laughter, telling the story about how his dad drove him to my house in The Preserve and commanded him to "tell Miss Kim what you need to tell her". It seems little JD got into some kind of mischief and found himself about to become a father.....this is before he got married. He said, "I was more scared of telling you than telling Daddy!" I always held the boys in high regard and both JD and Jason hated to let me down. At least, that's what they tell me! It's funny now to tell the story, but, at the time, not so much.
This is Lynn sitting in my dining room. She is not crazy about having her picture taken but this one is absolutely gorgeous of her! She was here with Lisa and her family in August and is coming back again in December to attend the Packer/Jaguar Game with Justin and me on the 14th. Our plans are to escort Lynn back to WI later that week so we can see/hear Gabe in his very first CHRISTmas program on the 21st. We are not sure how long we'll stay after CHRISTmas as Justin hates to miss too much work--loves the $$$!
My beautiful niece, Lisa, wearing some of her hand-made jewellery. When Lisa was born, back in 1973, she turned our world upside down, adding one more girl to our mix (I have 5 sisters!!!). The sun rose and set on her, and sometimes, it still does! Especially when she presents us with those absolutely adorable little boys! 
This shot of Justin I've titled "BUSTED!" because of the look on his face plus the fact that I discovered him having a can of beer with JD. That sounds so weird because JD used to be the babysitter of choice by the boys, mostly Timmy needed the sitter, and now they enjoy an adult beverage together! And, yes, he's old enough to drink beer, but he doesn't flaunt it in front of me. JD must have gotten to him, told him not to let me down! 
Lisa enjoys getting her picture taken poolside, too---NOT!!!! Her face is a dead give-away. There she is, wrapped in one of the towels mentioned in the previous posting today. The kids sure enjoyed the pool toys I got for them, so inexpensive and yet provided hours of fun. Just beyond Lisa and Manny is the cabana where my friend, Chris, would conduct business, making wonderful food smells and running his blender to island music....ahhhhh! And now it's so chilly in my house that I'm wearing my fuzzy slippers!
