Man, it is windy out there again!

Not quite like it was a couple weeks ago when the winds were clocked at 71 mph...Nowhere near THAT wild but enough so that all the papers blew off the table in the river room where Joanne had been busily working last night. Once gathered, I weighted the tossed pages with the binoculars. Finally I had to go close the doors because the decorative pane hanging in this room was just going bang bang bang against the wall, something which could not be tolerated for very long.

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This morning was Bible study and then Longhorn, with a total of 10 people in attendance, so much for my wondering if we were even going to go! Gretchen had a birthday recently so the wait staff brought out a dish of ice cream with chocolate on it, sang and clapped, and she turned every shade of red. Then I led our little group with "Happy Birthday" and made her redder yet. But she also loved it! Sorry this is not more clear, but since I took it with my phone, that is the best I can do! See Darwin, Ethel, Gretchen, and Bonnie all having a good laugh over the birthday treat!

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I nursed my last can of soda during Bible study, "Come, Worship Christ". We had the real treat of seeing and hearing Pete sing on the video tape, which was moving enough, but then the choir was singing, "I Know That My Redeemer Lives"...oh, my! Our discussion took us through selected hymns which clearly detail what the Lord has done for us, spelling out His creation, the gifts He gives us, the things done for us, especially our salvation. One of the hymns he mentioned was "In Christ Alone", a newer hymn which so perfectly sums up the work of the Lord.

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We turned in the Bible to Philippians 4: 8 (Linda!!!), which is my funeral chapter, and read this Bible passage that helped me get through a lot of stuff before and after Timmy died. It served to help steer my mind away from what was happening around me, redirect toward more uplifting thoughts. Next, the lesson took us through how the melody and tone of a hymn or song move us, such as elevator music, shopping music, on-hold music, Christmas songs, etc.

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Pastor went to the boom box and asked us to listen to an unnamed hymn, and indicate how or if it moved us....Two notes and I knew what it was, to which I piped, "You're killing me here...." almost without thinking. Yes, he played "Jerusalem, the Golden"....." "forever and forever are clad in robes of white. Jesus, in mercy bring us to that dear land of rest..." I commented that we about conducted my funeral today with seeing and hearing Pete Prange, the Bible reading, "In Christ Alone" and now "Jerusalem, the Golden"! Sniffle, sniffle....

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"Jerusalem..." is playing right now as I write, because it has been rattling around in my head ever since he played the snippet during Bible study. Most of the people said they could not really understand the words but did notice the dynamics of the piece, how it begins softly and crescendos with the addition of horns and louder singing, "Forever and forever are clad in robes in white"...Pastor asked us what the hymn made us think about, and since the others had problems with the words, I offered my response (surprise surprise!) that it is a picture of heaven and what we long for. "The shout of them that triumph, the song of them that feast..." If memory serves, when Pete and Tarren played this for me the first time on his laptop, the words were not so clear, and I fear that the initial impact was lost on me. Now, of course, it's a whole 'nother story. The best story!

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My phone was active during Bible study and in the restaurant, and I caught up on the calls on the way home. My dear friend, Judy, called from MN with her excited report on the weekend WELS Women's Retreat in Stillwater. She is pumped and inspired by the wonderful messages she heard, the hymns she sang, and people she was with. She is trying to think of ways to lure me up there for a retreat, even asking me later via e-mail if I would ever consider being a speaker at one of the sessions. Certainly much much consideration would need to be given to this idea, since much expository information would need to be shared. Would I be up to it? Sure! Would I get through it? No promises there!! Makes me think I should be working on my book, getting it wrapped up, as it were, to help me get wrapped up, too!

I am nearly in violation of my discipline...

.........so have to write quickly! This a.m. is Bible study and probably lunch at Longhorn. The reason I say "probably" is because we have a Ladies' Group dinner social tonight and some people do not like to eat out more than once a day. I know, I know, people are quirky sometimes...

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Our dinner is at Up the Creek, a rustic-looking restaurant in OakLeaf, just up the road from church. This area is being developed tremendously, or at least it was before the housing slump. Or thump, as the case might be. When we were first looking for areas to build in when moving here 20 years ago, our partners' friend, Al, steered us away from Argyle, saying it was going nowhere. Well, Al??? What do you say now????

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The movie Joanne and I saw yesterday was fantastic and I really recommend it. "The Soloist" is a movie based upon a real-life situation, where a newspaper writer has a chance meeting with a schizophrenic musician, beneath a statue of Beethoven, of all things. The writer manages to get the guy's name and tracks his history backward to determine what happened that this genius musician ended up living on the streets in LA. The movie exposes or shows the underside of the way some live as street people, the ugliness and sense of hopelessness mentally ill people experience. But the beauty is weighed against the ugliness, the writer's words expressing the unheard music of his protege.

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Memorable thoughts from the movie include the musician, Nathaniel, describing the flapping wings of the pigeons as they fly off as sounding like applause. That struck me. At one point, the writer, Steve, managed to get a private seating to hear the symphony rehearse so Nathaniel and he could listen without him being freaked out. We "watch" the music through Nathaniel's eyes, the colors swinging and swooping behind closed eyes, much like the colors you see when your eyes are shut. He was obviously tranformed, and served to transform others at the safe house where his donated cello was stored. His music soothed the savage breast around the facility. Steve did not want to care about or for Nathaniel, starting out as "only a story" but then was sucked into his life and and and....I won't give the whole thing away before you all go see it!

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Afterward, we met Twila and Jean at Mojo's BBQ for a wonderful dinner. They had been at the new theater with us, only saw a different movie, "Earth". Their movie began 15 minutes after ours so the timing was just right. We liked the new theater on Fleming Island although all four of us were plenty cold. Joanne and I could not figure out how to lift the arm rests but the nice young man said they do go up if you pull really hard. Because they are new, they don't operate quite freely yet. It cost twice as much for popcorn and soda than for admission, though, and I ended up bringing 3/4 of the popcorn home with me...too expensive to waste!