Another wonderful, fun-filled day

Judy and I are sitting here, sprawled out after dining sumptuously at The Blu Grotto. We had 13 of us there including Judy and laughed 'til we ached! Besides the most excellent of feasts, our server was delightful. Gia, from Sarnelli's, was working as Hostess tonight and tried to help the poor guy waiting on us deliver the meals to our table. She couldn't tell by looking at the entrees what they were so great fun was had trying to figure out who had whose meal. Put some marinara on it and evidently the food becomes unidentifiable!

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Janet was true to form tonight and entertained us all. Both Janet and Judy went to DMLC, one year apart but somehow their paths didn't cross. Didn't matter though, they still hit it off famously. Some of the ladies were there when we headed for home, but not sitting at the table. After some consideration, Judy and I decided to not stick around and head for home. Judy felt she should "cram" before going to see "Seinfeld" so we are soaking up some of the culture which is "Seinfeld"! She also got to meet Emily who will be joining us at the show Thursday night. We are all getting so excited about seeing his show!

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While we were strolling on St. George street today, we happened upon, quite by accident, the most wonderful chocolate shop where we all three picked a delicious treat. Mine included some dark chocolate angel food candy, EXACTLY like I get in Manty at Beernsten's! I don't need to go up there anymore since I can get my angel food just down the road at St. Augustine!

More about the big visit.....

We are back from our time in St. Augustine, spent with Judy's niece and my new best friend, Chrissie. We picked her up at her home near Clark's and off we went. It was not as cold, excuse me, chilly, as I thought it would be but I was dressed for it in layers, as was Chrissy. A great great day!

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But, first, back to Sunday......at the appropriate time, Judy and I drove over to Clark's to meet Justin as well as Judy's extended family for dinner. I think Judy was quite taken with the place and truly loved her stuffed flounder, Mom. Your favorite dish at Clark's! She took a really nice photo of Justin and me sitting at the table with a scarecrow over our shoulders! It's hair looks like mine does!

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When we finished our meals and headed for the door, we said "bye" to Justin before heading over to Chrissie's to see her home and such. We took the fifty cent tour and then had a lovely kitchen table visit with Chrissie. The two cooking ladies enjoyed pouring over the cookbooks, trying their very best to interest me in recipes from, get this, organic food cookbooks. I had been to the health food grocery store on San Jose with Joanne several years ago for something for me, but what it was I cannot recall. Some vitamin or other supplement available only in this emporium of nature's products. Judy took down a recipe to make for our ThanksLiving feast tomorrow night so we'll have to go shopping tomorrow at some point to get the supplies. I know there's a natural foods store on the Island and hope they can help us with the needed ingredients. Or perhaps, I'd be safer taking her over to San Jose Blvd. where I'd have less risk of being spotted by someone who knew me..........

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On a serious note, however, Chrissie has fallen into the web of scrapbooking and is joining us here on Friday night. While they looked at recipe books, I busily removed photos from her childhood picture album so that she can re-apply them in an album. Originally she was going to work on Halloween pictures but now has decided to do her own pictures instead. Yippee! The sad news is that she is taking her Auntie Judy back to her house with her on Friday night, and will drive her to the airport on Saturday morning in my stead. This way, I can still attend an Outreach Seminar in Tallahassee that day with some guys from church. It breaks my heart to even consider saying "bye, bye" to Judy, but I now have a fast friend in Chrissie which will keep Judy close even after she's gone home!

...and the morning and the evening of the first day...

.....were fantastic! As I write, the hymn which brings me extraordinary joy is playing in the background, "Jerusalem, the Golden" from the church of the same name's website. This version is from the Worship Conference a couple years ago. In case you don't remember, when we sang it for Easter, I could barely make it through the rehearsals, but on that celebratory Sunday, no tears were shed! This was possible by my not considering the words as I sang, which was incredibly difficult because of the wonderful message behind this haunting melody. I'd read through it yesterday during worship and felt the need to hear it once more. I can always re-do the eye make-up!

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For an interesting change of pace I've now rolled into "Raised on Robbery" by Joni Mitchell. I am dressed in three layers of fabric as I prepare for a day in St. Augustine. The high temp today expected to be "only" 70 above zero so I must prepare for the worst, like going to Alaska in August!

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Well, Judy's here! Funny that I didn't open with that announcement! I collected her from the airport about 8:00 pm on Saturday evening and we squeezed the stuffings out of each other before getting back in the car to head for The Palace. She told me about the great fellow travelers she'd engaged on the way down here, and reminded me of me! As soon as we got home she was given the grande tour and before long I'm certain she'll find her way around, and in fact, she's gotten much better of figuring out which direction leads her to her room.

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After yakking for a couple hours, we retired to our "cabins", to be well rested for the Sunday's adventures. I'd pre-set the coffee maker for her so all she had to do was hit the button, and for her breakfast, I'd gotten some raisin muffins. We left home in plenty of time for me to get my morning Sonic and headed toward church. At the corner of Wells and Blanding, something rare and special occurred----looking to the left for oncoming traffic, there was not one car in sight!! I told Judy how unusual this was and that she'd most likely never see this again on her visit!

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Once at church, the first person to greet Judy was Gretchen, much to my delight. All the folks who were introduced to Judy remarked, almost to the person, that finally!, they get to meet her, after hearing about her arrival for weeks! All made Judy feel at home and she amused herself as I went about my busyness pre-service. The choir sang two hymns from the CWS to be joined with the congregation after a few stanzas, and the one in particular, "When Peace Like a River" stayed with me all day long. A great time of worship and praise! My thanks to the Supplement committee for their hard work and the fruit of that effort. Love it!

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After worship we had lunch with Twila at Chili's so they got to know each other a bit before Judy and I came home to watch the Jaguars whup the Detroit Lions. We visited and I computed while watching and Judy knit a scarf for her daughter as the afternoon went on.

Oh, oh!, it's time for us to head to Mandarin to pick up Judy's niece, Chrissie for our winter visit to St. Augustine for a day of bonding and making new acquaintence....more about making new friends later!

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Judy said to say "hi!" to all the readers and that she's happy to be here!

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Lord's blessings on your day, and, Linda, I hope your feet were warm this a.m.!!!!