What? Is it raining again?

Tell me this is rainy season or tell me that no hurricanes are going to come this way so I will not complain about the continual storms! Barely did I get home before the lightning began to flash around me and the heavens opened. Seems that every time I go to Publix, I return to a storm, or find myself in the midst of one.

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Today I had the thrill of meeting a brand new American, a couple with an infant baby adopted from China. They just got back Sunday from their ordeal, bringing their child home from China. Mara is adorable, has the cutest little pug nose, and gorgeous dark eyes. For eleven months old she is incredibly tiny but since they took her in their arms, about three weeks ago, she has already gained a pound and a half. While she does have some catching up to do developmentally, she is way ahead in the charm department. Right now she cannot sit up on her own, but already mastered the art of keeping herself covered with her blankie!

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Today as I was leaving the property, my phone rang with Joanne on the other end. Once more she wanted to have lunch, this time meeting Twila at Red Lobster. Cool! My only other plans were to go to Hang Ups (where I met Mara!) and go to Publix, so yes, lunch it is! As I walked from my car to Red Lobster, I saw this family of three walking along Blanding, including a young child. Today was obviously my day for young kids! The man had this enormous back pack on and was walking what I consider too far ahead of the mom and little girl. Mom was pushing this huge stroller laden with what might have been their entire household. I called to her and asked what was going on. She said they had been evicted from their house and were walking to her friends' house to stay. The area they were heading was just beyond the cemetery so they were nearly there, but my heart broke for the little girl having to walk so far. This stretch of Blanding had no sidewalks but they would be on sidewalks once they crossed Wells. Call me a bleeding heart, especially when it comes to little kids....Oh, the mom did say they were waiting to hear about getting into an apartment complex, which is good news. My, it was sad to see this, but it happens for a number of reasons.

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Brenda N. came over this late afternoon since she was working nearby. She told me the most incredible thing---ever since she was in a car wreck, late June, she has been going to physical therapy and such to help heal her "sprung" body. The frame on her car was sprung and rendered nearly undriveable and I compared her to the car frame. Her recent MRI, as reported by the doctor, indicated that her discs are dehydrated because she does not drink enough water. Get out!!! I just cannot believe this. She is now forcing herself to drink more water daily and I promised her that I will, too, because I certainly have dehydrated discs. Maybe all this rain will help with that, too!

I thought Brenda looked like a million bucks this afternoon when she came, letting her hair grow out naturally, only scrunching it in the morning to make it look so darn cute. I think it is fun that I have both Joanne AND Brenda in the same photo, although it was taken several months ago....

"I'm just sittin' here waitin' for my sugar to show...."

....well, I do not know if he is my sugar or not, but I am awaiting the arrival of the computer man to take a look at the ailing laptop computer. For some reason it shows I have a corrupt file. I take offense at that, because I am not a corrupter!

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Wally has come and gone in a moment's time. He thinks the problem may have developed during the shut down process which is often difficult, as I must sometimes manually turn it off instead of waiting for it to do it itself. Aha! He is going to try some "repairs" that can be run at their office and if that fails, they will do a system restore. I hope it is not too expense a fix, because if so, it might not pay to repair it. Wally, my sugar, will call me later today to give me the word. Think I will go to lunch in the meanwhile.

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Guess I am not the only one with "electronic" problems today. I tried to listen to the radio on-line but the streaming was not working. I did connect once with WSB in Atlanta but the second time I tried it, no streaming from there either. Might be a system problem with Streaming, and not specific to the stations. Instead I am listening to melancholy music from iTunes on my computer. (I just tried again and now the Streaming is working, from WSB!)

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Yesterday was my last official aerobics class. From this time on, I can pay per class if I wish to attend, and I might do that with Maggie, until her punch card is full. She expressed a desire to scrapbook and you know I am all over that!!! Goodness knows I have a ton of paper to share with her, if it suits her projects, plus I am making a list of supplies which are "must haves" for scrapping.

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After class, my piano-playing friend, Randy, wanted to have lunch so we ordered from the dining room and sat poolside. Joanne had been trying to reach me to have lunch so when she finally did, Randy and I had already ordered our meals. Perfect! I will just order another burger for her and we are good to go! The three of us enjoyed our lunch el fresco and poolside, and I rejoiced that her previous lunch date cancelled.

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When I came upstairs later, I changed into my nightie before getting dressed in regular clothes. Our evening plans were to have an "Insteada Dinner" social on the sundeck and in checking the weather report, it did not appear as our plans would be rained on. Well, that didn't work out as planned....We no sooner got situated and it started to rain. The food table was carried under roof and chairs moved along the walls as the gentle rain fell. It was not terribly long before it ended and we moved once more, out into open air. We certainly would have welcomed a breeze, even me, because it was quite muggy after the rain. The turnout was modest but still quite nice, with my favorite being the Rice Krispie Treats with mini-M&M's in them! It took Ashley Rose upwards of 7 kitchen implements to put together, much harder than it should have been. She found out the hard way NOT to microwave marshmallows.....

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One of the ladies, a friend of Ellen's and now mine, brought these baby grapes which she sells from her store on Kingsley Avenue. I was coaxed into trying some and they were quite good, like tiny beads of sugar!

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While sitting outdoors, I shared some of the laughs from the previous nights' TV viewing, and then did a few of my "lines" from Roseanne's stand-up humor. They all said I sounded just like her, and wanted me to go on, but I did not. Always keep 'em wanting more...I did use the one where, in her nasally voice, she declares: "While my husband was watching TV, wanted me to get him something to eat.....like he couldn't pick up the sofa cushion himself..."

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The river is dotted with small boats today, I can see about six from here, all seemingly in a straight line from this vantage point. Only one has an umbrella sticking up, so that means the rest of the fishers out there will be fried to a delicate crunch before the day is over. The water is calm and the temps are expected to reach 90 for the high, and I wonder why I am still in the house at this machine....Bye!