Waiting for the washer

I have a load of laundry to throw in the machine at the start of this day, but, behold, Joanne had a couple pieces, formerly wet, now stinky, in the washer for the past couple days. I set the dial to rinse and spin to see if that takes care of it. She had forgotten it was in there when she ran out to work on Saturday but now, it should be okay after being splashed about in clean water. I will make sure to add a dryer sheet to help it smell nice and fresh. That is what she gets for sorting!

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My day today includes a funeral service at the church nearby, Grace Episcopal. Only last Tuesday when Kathy and I were swimming in my pool did I mention this man's name, laughing about the snow storm that took place here in 1989. Steve was our Realtor, our first solid contact in business when we moved down here in 1988-----I often claim, "He taught us the language" since we did not speak "Southern". Oh, he did, that is for sure. He dripped with it. Steve would refer to us (my former spouse, our partner, Curt, and me) as being "Yankees" but I would quickly correct him, reminding that we were from the upper Midwest, far from being Yankees! His reply would be, "Anyone who comes from where it snows is a Yankee!" Well, at Christmas in 1989, Steve and all other North Floridians quickly became Yankees!! And now, he is gone. At the age of 51, Steve has died after his life and its style had taken some rather dramatic swings and turns, shall we say, and I will not say more out of respect for his family, his former wife and young daughter.

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The last time I saw Steve and his wife together, I think, was at Timmy's funeral service in January, 2001. His mom, Isabel, was quite attentive to us at this time, she came more than once to my home bearing fruit for our guests to enjoy. About three months ago, I saw Steve's brother and sister-in-law at Cracker Barrel and I think Isabel, but do not remember talking with her. Clare loved my hair and was just so excited to see me again after all these years, which seems odd in a such a "small" town. Our paths just quit crossing, I guess, after the famous Christmas parties, usually the first one of the season, were no longer being held at their real estate company.

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Sunday, Justin spent time with his father, I think, and I spent the day at church and then at the beach with Judy J. and her house guest, Louie. Well, at least part of the day! We ended up eating outside at Joe's because we would have had a 35 minute wait to eat inside. Judy and I left it up to Louie because he was the father being feted, and he decided he did not want to wait that long for a table. That poor guy had sweat dripping from his goatee and was forced to endure three frothy drinks to hold heat prostration a bay! Louie ate crab legs and really had to work hard to eat them. I had chicken fingers and onion strings, of course! And only one adult beverage, thank you very much!

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At first we toyed with coming back here to splash around in the pool but Judy was so tired at the end of our long drive, most likely from the heat, so opted to go home. I thought about going down to the pool, but it did feel good to be home and settled in for the rest of the late afternoon/evening. My neighbors were not on the sundeck in the evening so I just decided to stay put. Joanne came in later and made some pasta for supper, which I shared with her. Not often do I ever eat what she cooks but the pasta was "normal", not made with veggies or tofu or anything like that. We both mentioned being tired and figured it was because of the heat. I finally surrendered to my bed about 10:00 pm and had a good night's sleep. The temps are supposed to be coming down this week, 'only' in the mid-90's for the highs. Even Manty had decent temps this past weekend, which just figures!