Some of these photos are taken looking south down the river toward Orange Park, in fact, in a few you can pick out the water tower at NAS Jax.
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Early Friday morning I spent some time chatting with Joanne about a few things and then got myself ready for the day. My hair really needed the shower more than my body did because I have been in the pool daily all week, but my hair gets gunky from the product and the pool water. Sometimes it feels almost like plastic in my hair from being in the pool and out again. Recently I have simply been putting the swimsuit on right away instead of getting dressed first but Friday, I was on a mission!
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Upon finishing the Flock Talk and getting it sent off, I headed to the Island to do some banking and other errands before going over to see Julia at Great Hang Ups. Justin had helped me get some art supplies out of the closet in his room a few weeks ago and found a couple finished pieces that he claimed needed to be framed. So I took them up to Julia for framing and since I was right next door to Koko's...................Yummy! When I arrived at the shop, our shared friend, Sonya, was there with more jewelry for consignment, and I bought a piece to give Martie for her birthday. Shhh, do not tell her!
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After spending much time with Julia and her niece, Maggie, I came back home for a bit. Since I was going away in the evening, I decided to take a rest so I could stay up late. As I rested, I returned a phone call from Ellen, my upstairs neighbor, as we laid out timing for the evening. Originally we were meeting some other ladies at The Loop at San Marco for dinner but Ellen had made a mistake of the start time of the play. Only off by an hour...so what? While we were plotting our departure, she all of a sudden shrieked, and the phone went quiet. I figured she just got a call from someone she had not heard from in a long time.....
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In a minute, she called back, asking me if I saw the cloud "like in 'The Wizard of Oz'", and told me to go to the window. She has a different orientation than mine, where I look at Mandarin, she looks toward downtown. I did not see anything so I said I would come up there. Sure enough!!! There was a funnel cloud, more like a tampon string, as Ellen described it. Well, okay.....It was more straight up and down, less 'funnel' shaped than a tornado would be. She had the TV on and they also had live footage of this tornado/water spout that was dancing in the river. Some were reporting penny-sized hail and branches down but it never got to us, never got beyond the Buckmann Bridge. The river had waves like at the ocean but only briefly. We were just running window to window, like the dogs were, having the presence of mind to call our neighbor whose hubby is in a wheel chair to caution her about seeking shelter. Not us! Oh, no, we are standing in her river room, surrounded on three sides by glass doors!
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After all the commotion and drama had died down, we realized that the area where we were going was most likely underwater, as San Marco is known for its frequent street flooding. We changed our plans and agreed to meet Maggie O. and her friend at 'our' Loop on Wells Road instead, especially since we were not really ready to go yet! In a few minutes we transformed ourselves and had our dinner before heading to the play. It was called "Into the Woods", a take-off on children's nursery rhymes. Maggie O. is a retired drama and voice teacher so this was surely her element, with her friend, Pat, also a teacher. Maggie had performed and spent time in this theater for countless years, either performing or working behind the scenes. This is an untapped resources, at least by me, and Theater Jacksonville is going on its 90th year! Do I hear church field trip???
