A variety of sounds AND sights on the river.....

The river looks like a parking lot with all the boats lining up to watch the fireworks. The show is expected to begin in around an hour but the boats have been trailing in, or floating in, as it were, the better part of the evening. At one point, a man at the pool remarked there was not a boat to be seen on the river, mid afternoon, and that must mean they were hiding in the thickets, waiting for just the right time to venture out. The police boat is circling to keep order, which might be likened to herding cats!

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And, it is so noisy out there, and that is without the fireworks going off! My neighbors all around me are having gatherings, of course, being right in the heart of the fun as the fireworks barge launches right near our building. Music is playing from below me as Tommy is having a party and from across the lawn at The Club which is featuring a live band for our listening and dancing pleasure. The noise is not bothersome, just varied. At the same time, I was printing newsletters for mailing so there was that clickity-click going on, too.

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Earlier at the pool, we had the game organizer, Skipper, blowing his whistle as the children played various pool games such as diving for rings, racing, picking up coins which he had tossed into the water, and the ever-popular greased watermelon contest. They did a do-over on one game, because a guy who was so much bigger than the rest of the kids sort of had an advantage over the little ones, ever in the name of fairness. It was nice when the games were over, so the kids were out of the adult's pool and the whistle blowing stopped. Men sure love their whistles!

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There was a nice man who picked me to talk to this afternoon, as people came and went from our table. He told me all about the history of Orange Park, the old stores, how neighborhoods were developed, and so on. Some of the names he dropped were familiar while others not so much. But the stories were incredibly interesting, the history, who is who, and so on. Finally his daughter came to my rescue which was good because I wanted to get into the water and I did not want to be rude. He was even telling me about his now deceased wife, gone a couple years, but his eyes still teared up talking about her. That was lovely.....

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Speaking of tearing up, my friend, Kathy B. lost her mom last night, as she peacefully slept away after several days of dangling on the edge. Kathy is deeply grieved but also a bit relieved that her mom's suffering on earth has ended. I have other friends who have had to watch their parents suffer before dying and experience the same conflicting emotions Kathy has right now. Catherine was 'only' 74 years old but had a myriad of ailments which made living miserable for her. Please, when you go to bed tonight, remember Kathy and her family in your prayers, ask the Lord to be with them through this most difficult of times.

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Happy Independence Day, America!!!!

Happy Birthday, America!

And what better way to start the holiday weekend than to watch "National Lampoon's Vacation" with Chevy Chase. I am busting out laughing as though I have never seen it before, even though it is an old movie. So funny to see Clark's big glasses, which I know were the style "in those days"!

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As long as we are talking about glasses, Justin called me with a very sad request yesterday afternoon---"Mom, I broke my glasses...." Okay, I figured he broke them on the job, working hard with lawn mowing and weed pulling. He said he was picking them up off the counter after showering at his dad's house, and the lens fell out. Wait! He was at his dad's house when they broke, but he called Mom for the new glasses? Why was he showering in the middle of the day? Oh, I see, first we had a nice father/son trip to buy fireworks. My eyes get tired from rolling them in disbelief so frequently, but, well, whatever, go get the glasses and I will pay for them. But cheap ones, mister!!!

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No, really, I was very nice about the whole thing, felt badly that he had super glue holding them together. Once that was arranged, I could get back to my phone conversation with Mona. As we were talking, I could hear little beeps in my ear which meant a text message was coming in. I put Mona on speaker and read the text message from Justin about where he was and so on. As I got back to Mona, I told her it sounded from his message that he was expecting me at the eye place, and here I was, on the phone and wearing a caftan, not rushing to the vision center. I told Mona I had better go and see if needs me so we hung up. Just glad I had charged my phone or our call would have been shorter yet! I use up an entire battery when Mona and I are talking!

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As I was dressing, I called Justin to see what was what, and he said he would really appreciate my "fashion advice"....of course, I will come and offer my advice. It didn't take me long to get there and he was out of the exam room already by the time I arrived. He did find a nice frame, on the sale rack, got the featherweight plastic lenses, plus a discount from his health insurance. Still, waayy too much money for glasses, if you ask me! AAA offers a 30% discount at Pearle Vision, in case you are interested.

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We came back here afterwards, Justin wearing his cool black sunglasses over his new glasses because his pupils were dilated. My stomach was growling and grinding, wanting some food but Justin claimed he did not feel well, not even having any lunch. I had some nacho chips and cheese when I came up from the pool but that was it for food since my limp Fruit Loops at 8:00 a.m. Since he did not want to go have dinner, Joanne did! We met at Carrabba's and enjoyed a lovely dinner together, which rarely do we get to do. She had spent the day in her office, cleaning, sorting, and organizing, being sooo ready to sit down and relax.

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My pool time was interrupted by thunderstorms so I had come upstairs and changed into the caftan after peeling my wet swimsuit off. Crash, bang, crash and flash, and rain. But no rain here, only on the river! Weird! While at the vision place, I kept giving Justin the business because I said he dragged me from poolside to come pick out glasses with him! By this time, the sun had come out for a bit and was taunting me, but, no, I was stuck inside with him! The lady helping us looked up, like, "Oh, oh" but saw the smiles on our faces. Whew! Justin and I chuckled and he said to her, "My mom is giving a hard time because I took her away from the pool." The lady said, "Only a mom can get away with that!" Justin had me trying on all sort of foxy frames while we waited, and then, one time he took my chin and said, "You have been smiling at the pool too much! You have sunbursts on the edge of your eyes!" Is that not the sweetest thing? No crow's feet here, I have sunbursts!!!!