Getting into trouble with Art

Well, here I am in my house on a Saturday night, thanks to the rain and thunderstorms. Humph! I am fairly certain that no one will be down at the pool even if the cabana is open so I will fend for myself tonight. It won't kill me but I am certainly disappointed in missing out. Absolutely NO pool time today at all makes for a Kranky Kim! But, Kim should absolutely not be kranky because of the awesome morning and early afternoon she had!

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Yesterday I was at Great Hang Ups and saw several of my old buddies from the Art Guild. Melissa is a member of The Club and do get to see her fairly regularly over there, especially in the summer time when she brings her son swimming. The other friend is Kris, whose booth I helped with last summer at the St. Margaret's Fair, the same day I had Lynx put down. She teaches art at Grace, just down the street. She also did the fabulous piece that Linda gave to Tommy for his birthday or Christmas, that looks like a playing card, in keeping with Tommy's passion for Texas Hold 'Em.

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Kris has a number of pieces hanging on the walls at Great Hang Ups, including some particularly 'fun' ones painted in a style or method she had offered to show me some time ago. I asked her if she still does that method or if she had moved on to other things---she offered to show me how to do it. All I had to do was find my watercolor paper...hmmmm. I did manage to locate two pieces this a.m. but took only one along with me when I met her in the classroom. It took some looking but I eventually found her in one of the portables located on their school property. Tree surgeons were hard at it as was the lawn service so we were not lonely. Even the cleaning lady came in to vacuum and empty the trash while we were there.

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Kris showed me the method of painting, practicing first on one she had been working on to demonstrate how it's done. We used water color paints in spray bottles, keeping the warms and the cool color separated in order to avoid 'mudding the waters' as it were. So, that much I learned today, how to not make brown unless one wants brown! Other tools are used in this method such as rubbing alcohol, regular water, and even soap water sprayed on the wet paint to make it run in different directions and streaks. Very cool! My favorite colors were the cool ones, the 'water' hues, imagine that, and highlighted with yellows and orange. Half the page we did in one step, then turned it end for end, and painted from the bottom up, again, very cool!

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While the right-hand side of the 24" x 36" piece dried, we began another separate painting on the left-hand side of the page. Our intent was to blend the two sides eventually, but it ended up being entirely different. This was fine, as our dear friend, Dee, would certainly get several areas or 'vignettes' out of this piece of paper to frame. Kris mentioned that Dee and she seldom agree on these type of things, such as whether a piece should be mounted vertically or horizontally, and Dee is always correct. Or whether a 'vignette' jumps out or not, what Kris would discard or disregard, Dee would make into a treasure!

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I told Kris I would be able to go see Dee on Tuesday since the shop was closed on Mondays, and talk with her about what was keep-able from this newly created piece. Kris said, "Or, you could go today!" My original plan was to paint in the morning and swim in the afternoon but decided to go with Kris to Great Hang Ups since she was going to have hers framed as well. Off we go, then!

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Since I parked somewhere other than where Kris parked, I needed more walking time so headed out before she did, stopping at McDonald's to get us each a drink for at the shop. Kris was correct, Dee really has the best eye for this type of thing and she nicely carved up my sheet into several vignettes and did the same for Kris. I told Dee I would likely 'share' my framed pieces either at Christmas or special occasions or something but one particular area she wants me to keep, because it was my 'signature'----it ended up looking like a sunrise. All by accident, of course, since there is little control on my part of the spray! I imagine with some practice, I could learn to control it, manage it and maneuver the paint, but for today, I got into trouble with Art!

This morning I framed the photo of Timmy in a very special frame given to me by someone in my family a while back. Sadly, I only now got around to putting a suitable photo into it, choosing the one where he is sitting in the car with the sunshine across his face. It seems he is not in a car seat, likely to save some room, and in the photo one can see his uncle Harvey, at least his shirt, next to him. Justin thinks that photo might have been taken the same day that Harvey sneezed loudly in the car and made Timmy cry!

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When I printed off the one of Timmy, I remembered a similar shot of Justin taken at Alayna's graduation last month where the sun is coming across his face, even though we were in a church basement. Go figure! I wish I could place the photos side by side but do not know how to do that in my blog. You will have to use your "pictures eyes" to imagine it.

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I am off to have lunch at La Nopalera with my neighbors and MamMa again (she likes me, I am told!) so this is all for right now. The A/C is being worked on and I picked a stupid time to vacuum. Whew! A margarita will be most refreshing after all the perspiring I did already this a.m.

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I also made myself quite woozie after doing another fooling thing---I found a DVD made from a video taken of the first Mediterranean cruise in 2000 and sat down at the computer to watch it. Silly me---I know better than to watch one of our 'home movies' without first taking a Dramamine. Less than 5 minutes into it and I am quite dizzy. If I take one of those pills now, I will get too sleepy so will have to tough it out the rest of the day.

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Ellen has her daughter, Maggie, at the endodontist, whose office is in my former suite and texted me how much she loves it. I had to break her heart and tell her the decor and layout of this dentist office was not my doing. Our office, when yet there, was more homey than contemporary, like Dr. Smith's office is. The setting, however, is amazing!

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Here are my boys:

What to do, what to do?

I so want to go out to the pool and enjoy the balance of this tremendously hot day but do not want to leave my computer/radio at this point. Only another 45 minutes of 'my' live radio show to listen to, as though it's a job, and then I might go out. Suzanne is wondering if it is going to rain and I am not sure. Of course, it can always rain around here, somewhere, but whether or not it will rain here, I don't know. With the heat index at 110 degrees above zero, the pool sounds awfully enticing. My house temperature was at 83 when I came home from Bible study and lunch so I flipped the switch to the on position, having shut the system down last night. We are experiencing water pump troubles which is used to push water through our separate A/C systems, and tomorrow the repairman will be here to fix it up---again. It seems the problem has been ongoing since the 'big storm' two Thursdays ago.

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We just go from one repair or fix to another. This a.m. I still had to use the steps for getting downstairs as the elevator was not yet turned on. While the guys were finishing the grouting, etc. when I walked down for happy hour at The Club, they were not going to let us use it until the grout was dry. Good idea, of course, except for those of us not on the first floor! Miss Chardonnay's mom is staying with her for a couple weeks and had to use the stairs both ways today due to a doctor appointment. One of the other neighbors was able to help 'mom' get back upstairs when they got back.

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Somehow we still managed to get down and over to The Club, me fully expecting to be able to ride back up in the elevator (this before I knew the story of the grout...) I was not crazy about the appetizers being served this week but did enjoy a drink of the day, a mojito. A very refreshing summer drink, nice and light, with fresh mint muddled in the glass. One of the cooks grows the mint so we could see just have fresh it was. Many of my neighbors were there, and in fact, when my phone rang at 5:00 pm, I just knew it was going to be Penny on the other end, asking if I was going over. Yup, I was and we laughed because I said, "I knew it was you!" when I answered.

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At one end of the patio room was a group of tables set aside for a meeting of some folks from Brooks Rehab. As I walked up to the building, I saw a man walking outside as he talked on the phone. When I got closer, he greeted me and said, "I didn't know you lived here!" and I had no idea who he was. Hmmm....I did, however, know Will, my friend from days passed, from whom I bought the jet skis. He got up to give me a hug and said he was a guest of the man who greeted me. When their meeting was over, he came up behind my chair and gave me a smooch on my cheek and said good-bye. His mom-in-law is in Montana at their summer home and is freezing, oddly enough. He said when his wife or he talk to Joan next time, they will extend my greetings to her. It was just great to see him again!

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One of the other ladies at our table, Sharon, told me who the guy was who thought he knew me, and I do not know him. I believe he has me mistaken for someone else but I cannot imagine who that would be??!! Sharon is on summer recess from her Wednesday night activities at church where she is the bell director and choral director. We only get to see each other in the summer because we are both tied up usually on Happy Hour nights. If I decide not to go back to choir, I will still be able to enjoy HH anytime, as it is not a summer only thing.

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Ellen came over, and later her daughter, Maggie, showed up, who waited on us hand and foot. They were planning to come to aerobics this a.m. I wonder if they did since I have their noodles in my house since Sunday. I brought them down both days this week but neither of them came out for class so I carried the noodles back upstairs with me, literally, on the stairs yesterday. Friday Maggie will go to see my buddy, the endodontist located in my 'old' office suite on Fleming Island. I told Justin she would be there so he should go and make faces at her through the windows. Maggie is nervous about going and cannot take some of the pain meds they normally use so I hope she does okay. Boy, I do understand that being afraid of the dentist---I used to be an absolute mess before I discovered nitrous oxide plus regular check-ups to help prevent or head off problems. Usually, that helps, but not always!

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So, back to HH last night....One of the ladies, Karen, who lives next door to me, also has a gift shop she runs in Charleston and has to travel forth and back several times a month. She was asking the ladies for empty wine bottles to use in a bottle holder display in her shop. Well, that just opened the floor to enormous laughs as this group is never short of empty wine bottles. In fact, Karen could have probably taken home a bag of empty bottles from The Club last night. Some of the ladies were saying how glad they were we did not have recycling in our building because they would have so many wine bottles in a week's time. Another said they try to disguise the bottles so Connie, our maintenance lady, does not know what's in the trash when she transfers it to the dumpster. At this, Miss Chardonnay piped up, "You are hiding nothing from Connie. She knows...!" which brought big laughs. It was so funny and yet, not really. This was mentioned, too, that if a person is going around hiding the empty bottles or scattering them between wastebaskets in their home, they have a problem! I think Ellen and I were the only non-wine drinkers at the table and it is not at all unusual for folks to have a glass of wine or two with their dinners. Or use it when cooking, which should not be counted against them. But, to hear them talk, it was like these 'grandma-aged' ladies were caught doing something naughty.

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Another good chuckle we had was sort of at Maureen's expense. She is the mother hen of the group, I like to say she is in charge of arranging the chairs on the Titanic. It is her job to make sure everyone has a seat, squeezing a 13th chair around a ten-seat table. She likes the men to sit on one side and the ladies together so we can talk. Hugh, her hubby, hates to be outnumbered by the ladies all the time, or to be the only man. So, last night, after we'd been there awhile, and were engrossed in our conversations, she began the process of moving people around. "Karrie, you come here and sit, Sharon move this way, Arnie, you go over there..." Someone said, "There she goes...." and we all laughed. I told her that when they were gone to CT for a couple weeks, we all had to stand since we had no one to tell us where to sit. Everyone just laughed, especially her hubby!! A bit later she made a pronouncement and swept her hands in my direction, saying "One of you should get a boyfriend for Hugh...." and left it at that. This brought down the house, because first of all, it sounded like her hubby needed a boyfriend, and secondly, she seemed to be directing that at me. Ellen said so too, although she was right next to me. The look on Hugh's face was priceless and when Maureen realized what she said, her face turned all red. Such great laughter!

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Ellen told me that she heard me laughing in one of her dreams...she sleeps during the day and is awake at night more often than not. She had fallen asleep while reading in her front room which is on the driveway side of the house, not her bedroom. Because she was sleeping in the daytime, she actually DID hear my laughter, only not in a dream, but at the pool!!! See what you miss when you sleep all day??? This reminds me of Sunday at Victory---when Justin sat down next to me, he leaned over and said, "I was listening for your laugh...". Not in church!!! Usually...

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So more laughing, this time at something Sharon told me. When it was only the two of us at the table early on, she told me how she spent the day cooking. See, I don't get that, but she said she loves to cook and did not mind using her day this way. On PBS she had seen a recipe for a Chinese or Thai sauce made by a man named Ming (go figure!) so she went on-line to find the recipe. Sharon said she had many of the ingredients on hand like rice vinegar and sesame and other things, but did have to go buy the Chinese paste or some other unusual, to me anyway, ingredient. This brought to mind when Linda came last fall and was going to make fresh rolls for our dinner. She told me she needed flour, sugar, milk, yeast, shortening, and butter. I had the butter......but had to buy everything else!

How do you solve a problem like Marlena?

Only, there is no problem! Marlena, who works for The Club, is the most amazing woman I have met in a long, long time. Not sure where to begin but I can work backward in today alone. Marlena is about two years older than I am and thin as a rail. When I was leaving to come up after water aerobics and lunch poolside, Marlena was consolidating the trash from the outside cans and wheeling one toward the dumpster on the north end of The Club. This was after she had taken our lunch orders, plus those of others poolside, served us, and then sat for a minute to show us her photo album of when she taught baton and 'color guard' and synchronized swimming to Pioneer kids back in the day. She wants to do baton twirling with fire at The Club but cannot get insurance for so "dangerous" a sport. Funny, she said it was not dangerous when she learned it as a child and never had an incident when teaching other little ones...

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Prior to our water class she was cleaning the pools using the long poles and nets, and swept the area surrounding the pools, of which there are three. She does more before breakfast than most do in the course of a day (me!). She has the permission of the managers to institute just about anything at The Club to help stimulate involvement, except for playing with fire, I guess. While we were eating our meals, she asked Randy if he had an electric keyboard. Randy, age 75, does, in fact, have such a thing so she proposed to him that he bring it out to the cabana on Friday and Saturday nights. Not only would he play, but she, being a classically trained soprano, would sing the standards and Broadway tunes. Holy cow! What else can she do??? My question is, 'Who will wait on us?' but I should not be so short-sighted, or selfish! As long as they are not too loud, this could be an excellent draw. Randy will finally have someone to sing while he plays, but Marlena cannot sit up on the keyboard!

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Marlena, believe it or not (remember, she is rail thin....), is also a health-food nut and used to run/work for a health food store in the plaza where the 'old' Wal*Mart used to be on Blanding and Filmore. I never knew there was such a shop over there, but then, why would I? She was going to buy it when it came up for sale but when she found out Wal*Mart was moving further south, there was no way she would buy in, losing the anchor store like that. Wise move.

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Let's see, what else about Marlena? Oh, yes, she is retired from the Navy after 20+ years. She was in the aviator sector of the service, part of the team that transported people and things from point A to point B. I do not believe she was a pilot but I would not be surprised if she was! She did actually fly though, so was perhaps a navigator or similar. So add world traveler to her list of accomplishments. She also home schooled her son, who she considers her 'opera partner' as he is musically inclined as well. Her son is training to be a Navy Seal. She adopts injured and displaced animals, having a mess of dogs and cats in her home at all times.

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When Marlena is not working outside caring for the pools and serving us on the weekends from the cabana, she works inside The Club as lead waitress. Actually Lead Server, to be politically correct. It is also her responsibility to dress the tables with the fresh flowers ordered weekly and to see to it they remain fresh looking throughout the week. It is not unusual at all for her to have 12 hours a day or more, depending upon the event or function.

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In case you think this is a high paying place to work, it is not, according to her (shhh.....) so she supplements her income by working two times a week at the Golden Corral on Blanding. She shares her home with her mom, and takes her to church on Sunday to Advent Lutheran. Marlena, I believe, does not attend but likely cannot due to her schedule of serving at the cabana which opens at 11:00 a.m. Danny, the cook out there, is usually unloading supplies and getting set up when I leave for church around 9:00 a.m. Whew!

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Are you tired yet???? And she never, ever complains...what a treasure she is to The Club!

The floor is being replaced in the elevator as well as the tile surround at the opening to the car. This blue tile is evidently 'original' to the building, as the former tile was beige with blue. I learned at the pool on Sunday night that flocked wallpaper is coming back into style. What??? The lady owns a wallpaper and fabric shop in San Marco and said she has some beautiful flocked paper coming in. Oh, if I had only known it would come back into style, we would have had to only strip four layers of wallpaper from my family room walls!!! I think we did the right thing....

Such a lovely moon tonight!

The moon lit my path through the house when I got home tonight after Bible study and grocery shopping. The primary purpose of my late night shopping was to get a case of soda as tomorrow the elevator is going to be out of service for the new floor going in. I must be properly stocked for the down time! Last week they tore out the old floor and prepped it for the new tile. Tomorrow, the new goes in and then it will have to set for a while before we can walk on it, which means, stairs are the order of the day! Perhaps I can at least ride down one way tomorrow when I go out for water aerobics and only have to walk up once!

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Being it is full moon time, I got my hair cut today. I do not know how I stood my itchy shirt this long but it sure felt good getting my clothes off and into my nightie. Those tiny hairs are so aggravating, even though Barb shampooed it after the cut. Since the other night, I have been careful about undressing in my room, even by moonlight, as a passing vessel flashed a spot light on our building from the river. Between boats and helicopters, it seems there are always 'eyes' on the water!

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We had an excellent group of people at aerobics this a.m. with Maggie O. able to come. Her leg is still giving her a fit but she recently spoke with someone who had great success seeing a sports medicine guy, so she is optimistic to have good results when she goes to see him. Right now, Maggie can do about 3/4 of the routines but even being in the water is a great relief. We splashed around a little bit after class with me being the last of the gang to leave. Randy brought me a video this a.m. from his wife, Carol, called "Tea with Mussolini" with an all-star cast, filmed in Florence. I cannot wait to see it. It is so nice of folks to be sharing all these movies and books with me, and I had better watch the tapes and write a report when I am done with the books!

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That was the most delicious sandwich I just finished....Publix had Johnsonville Summer Sausage this time, and even though I already have sliced summer sausage in the fridge, I bought some more and had the nice young man slice it for me. And bought a pack of fresh dinner rolls to serve as the delivery system for the sausage. While waiting at the deli counter for the slicing, I met up with a former beautician from Hair Cuttery, named, of all things, Kim! Many years ago she had cut Timmy's hair and because he was so wiggly, ended up snipping herself in the finger. Ouch! We never forgot that, me especially, because I felt so badly about it. We made a date to meet again when we can sit down and talk without having to rush around since she has little kids at home waiting for her. We should go to Whitey's and then she can visit her old co-workers at my salon, as she used to cut hair with both Barb and Susan.

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When I came upstairs after aerobics, I was just dripping the sweat off my face onto my body. Whew, I was so hot. Normally I put on my nightie after taking off my suit before getting dressed but since I was going to the booty shop, got dressed right away. It took a long time before I stopped dripping. My air conditioning keeps running, too, even though it's set on 81 degrees which means it really needs to run. Even though it read 82 when I came in, I turned it down a degree to move the air around a bit before bed. We are expecting high temps of 99 tomorrow so the A/C will likely be running again.

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Besides the lovely moon I am also enjoying a wonderful light show behind the clouds with lightning. I know it is not really heat lightning but am not sure what else it is called, besides lovely. Last week we had some sudsy substance floating on the river but this week it seems to have subsided. Perhaps it was a product used to fight the algae which is flourishing due to the heat. At Jax Beach a young surfer was bitten on the foot Saturday and needed to have over 400 stitches in his foot. Supposedly the sharks are drawn to the warmer water as are people which is not going to be a good mix. The surfer is anxious to heal enough to get back on his board, so it's all fine at the beach!

Photos from July (click the photos to enlarge them)

Friday night I went to Great Hang Ups to see the Dueling Demos of Dee and Donna, Part Deux! This is the piece Dee was working on, started at their first Dueling Demo. This flamingo was photographed at the zoo.

Donna is sketching something and was not the most talkative of the two duelists. Donna's forte is wildlife art, animals and scenery, but shines at horses!

Martie posed for me in the kitchen before we went to lunch with Ellen P. at Beach Diner last Wednesday. What an awesome day we had!

At Victory yesterday, I got a healthy dose of hugs and greetings with some Facebook friends from 'up north'. In this photo are Becca Vance and her little ones, Sarah Joy and Nathan. They are talking with Brent's wife, Kristin. Duane was in town but had to stay home from church because of a tummy ache. My guess--too much sun from the day before! Becca was sporting quite a sunburn. Those folks from IL burn rather easily now, I am afraid and too much sun can make one ill.

I was so surprised and delighted to see the Gmuca's, formerly of Good Shepherd, and now residing in NC. They moved up there years ago, when Sam was a toddler. From left to right is Marc, Sam, Ed, and Elise. Elise went to school in MI with Rachel Huebner Cochran, and Rachel's dad was their pastor for years in Sarasota. It's a small world in the WELS! Ed's parents still reside in Orange Park so he gets here regularly, and he also runs in the River Run each March.

Elise's parents, Mary and Dave Hotvedt, were also at Victory yesterday. I was totally blown away to see them, it has been years and years, as they also moved to NC at least a decade or more ago, I believe before Pete came to Good Shepherd. Mary looks exactly the same, as does Dave, but oh, my, I was so happy to see them! Dave and Mary were among the first people we knew at GS, and very helpful in finding contractors and suppliers as we were getting our business started here in 1988. Justin remembers Dave and Mary, sharing hugs with Mary, which warmed my heart!

Here comes the rain across the river! This photo was taken the day the cable men were here, so a week ago today. It sure looks nasty and the wind is tossing this palm tree right outside my patio doors. Fortunately the rain never made it to my house so the cable guys did not get wet!

(Please click this photo to see it better)

This same day, a boater was trying to outrun the rain storm chasing it down the river, actually, up the river as the St. Johns flows north. I love the zoom on my new little purse camera, can see clearly the homes on the opposite side of the river, or at least, their boat houses.

Here is a shot taken while dangling off my balcony (well, not me, but the camera!) of the cable tech's assistant standing behind the building. My guess is that he is also watching that rain coming down the river and wondering if he has to run for rain gear. Nothing must interfere with my repairs! And nothing did!!!

The birthday boy and his mama!

I am at this moment listening to a podcast based on faith, hope and charity, hearing at this moment the little ditty called "Simple Gifts" that Justin learned how to play on the piano during his lessons, back in the day. Today is Justin's birthday and many have commented on my Facebook page about his special day, due in part to the photo I posted there, the same one shown here. It seems that Justin somehow became taller than me, but I cannot remember when that happened....My friend, Dee, claims he was my height when we first met the ladies of Great Hang Ups, but in watching the funeral video, he is already taller than me. I officially met Dee and Julia after the funeral, when I commissioned Dee to paint Timmy's portrait. They kept a growth chart on their doorway at Hang Ups, tracking Justin's leaps and spurts of height. After moving to the new store on Fleming Island, they marked it once or twice, but then, he got so tall, it was no fun anymore!

Justin and me posing after Jamie's wedding in June of 2009

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Some of the comments are about the height difference, and thanks that he did not inherit the vertically challenged gene from me. It is my hope that other traits and characteristics are passed along, however, since the world already has enough short people. We do share a smile, and for that I rejoice! This photo does not show it as obviously as unposed photos do. Our eyes are the same, too, and his biggest wish (he has many many many wishes) is to some day have LASIK so he no longer has to wear glasses. A couple years ago I bought him contacts which lasted one whole day, as he could never get them back again after taking them out. At this time, he remains in the faith and is a believer in the saving work our Savior did for us, and it is my prayer that this never fades. A mom can be weepy on her son's birthday, right?

Making an ash of myself

A little play on words there...I just sat here on my bed, scratching at my legs which are itchy like being freshly shaved, but were not. Wherever my nails touched, white streaks remain, as do my arms if I scratch them. The ash on my skin is from the chemicals in the pool and the cruddlies coming off on my bedspread are messy. 'Tis a small price to pay for the great enjoyment I experience being out there most of the afternoon. I did not get out to the pool until about 2:00 pm and came up again right around 6:00, eating my dinner el fresco in the company of Ellen. This evening's fare was eaten earlier than usual, but since we ate somewhat early at church, it was time to eat again!

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The intentions this morning were to attend Bible study at Victory since they are studying Galations but I somehow slept too late to get up and dressed to make it over in time. Rats! Thursday Lucy had invited to stay for lunch today so I had pretty well made up my mind to do that. Justin and I sat together for worship, as expected, on the piano side of the church so we could be close to Rachel. He can hear better up there. The service today resembled the Morning Praise used at First German, using many of the songs which were first introduced to us many years ago by Pete Prange. I whispered at one point to Justin, "I miss Pete..." with my sad face on, and he said, "I was thinking the same thing!" The Te Deum and You Are God We Praise You...echoing through my head much of the afternoon. The 'songs' used today came not from Christian Worship, but I loved those printed in the service folder. The sermon was excellent, where St. Paul reminded us not to get caught up with enticements of this world and its philosophies, that we are buried with Christ through our baptisms and raised again through faith in Him.

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Yesterday when I was cleaning at church, Robbie was there practicing the organ, actually, the keyboard. He makes the most joyful noise using the MIDI keyboard instead of the actual organ, changing up the sounds and tones according to the hymn or part of the liturgy. What a great way to vacuum, with the hymns booming out in the background. I shared with Robbie how moved Justin used to be, and I still am, the first time I hear the big pipe organ at First German when we go 'home'. He used to say when he won the lottery (many years ago...) he would buy a pipe organ for Good Shepherd. Pete told him he would also have to find someone to play it, since it is not that easy. Robbie and I guessed that Janet B. might be the only one in our congregation who might know how to play such a thing, but until that time, we make do with our keyboard, piano, or MIDI, and the occasional viola!

The start of a great weekend

What a different attitude this weekend as compared to last! This a.m. I welcomed an e-mail from Jen P. regarding VBS last week and our head count and demographics, etc. Victory's daytime VBS which also had a fee charged, I believe of $25 each child, had 20 kids. Good Shepherd's VBS which was free and in the evenings had an average of 35 kids nightly, with about 40 families represented, the majority of them being non-members. This is not to say the children are unchurched, but at least all of those attending heard the stories about Jesus and his saving work for them, which is the measurement to be used in addition to the numbers. At Victory, they reached out to many of their VPK students/families through the VBS and have recognized new members via their VPK program.

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During this week I have been working on the Flock Talk which seems like be shorter than usual given there is little going on, except for VBS and the preschool anniversary. Most programs are on recess for the summer leaving little to report on. Next month will be busier as programs get up and running, Bible studies resume, Sunday school gets underway, and so on. When there are fewer articles to post, I will often use photos to speak, but then it is difficult for some readers to open in their e-mail. The copied versions of the newsletter have the photos included but in black and white only, so it loses something. It is a delicate balance, to be sure!

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This weekend is my opportunity to serve by vacuuming the church which I will be doing when done with this posting. My plan is to put on my swimsuit under my clothes so that when I get home I can immediately get ready for the pool, as it might rain this afternoon. Brenda N. is coming over to enjoy some poolside fun with me and I will make an exception regarding the sun not shining. Usually I will not enjoy the pool if the sun is gone but Brenda might like that better since her skin is fair. I will also take my sun screen along down to the pool in case she needs some, and might take a dose or two for myself. Tomorrow I am going Victory with Justin, the day before his birthday, but will not expect him to be available for anything afterward. There is a pot luck taking place after worship and then a meeting but I likely won't stay after the luncheon.

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Yesterday I went to Office Max after lunch at La Napolera to get the compressed gas and to look at floor mats for under my desk. An employee tried to help me with this, showing me, of course, the wood floor-looking mat which was about twice the price of the clear plastic one. Fortunately he loaded the plastic mat into the cart but I had to unload it into the car myself. It did not remain in its rolled position and in fact took over the whole back of my car! I could not see out my back window, so I pulled over in the lot and wrestled it down lower, yikes! I sent Justin a text message asking him to stop over on his way home after work to carry it upstairs for me, which he did. Since the mat has the lip on it, which would be where one would put their feet under a normal desk, this would not work on mine. However, I had a brilliant idea of putting the mat under the desk, the whole desk, leaving enough of the plastic sticking out for the chair. And it worked! Justin held up the desk as I slid the plastic pad underneath. And then picked it up again because I needed the edges of the plastic to align perfectly with the boards on the floor. He knew that the minute he saw it and did not hesitate one second in picking the desk edge up again. Justin told me a little joke he heard about OCD-----a true OCD person would call it CDO, to make it alphabetical!!! We all have a few things about which to be quirky and that is just one of mine. I CAN mount my photos crookedly in my scrapbooks and do so regularly!

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After Office Max I was planning to go to Home Depot to get storage bins which are being advertised on the radio at $4.44 but Justin was coming to get that chair pad out of the car. So, another day for the bins, perhaps after cleaning the church. Justin had a few minutes before he had to leave (he was holding a party for himself at Ron's house last night) so I made sure to be home when he swung by. He also moved the leftover floor boards to the storage cubbie in the elevator lobby and reinstalled the cover on the ceiling vent in the hall bath after the leak incident. I am going to get some paint for the ceiling in the bedroom hallway and the hall bath, and he peeled a nice strip for me to use for matching. There had been a leak awhile ago which caused the paint to bubble and I just helped it along a bit. Now, it needs a putty knife or a blade to remove the rest of it in that area so Justin can repaint. The ceiling is low enough there that he likely won't even need a stool to reach it. He didn't need the stool in the bathroom for the fan, either, it was simply a reach for him. Humpf!

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Later on last evening I went up to Great Hang Ups to see the 'Dueling Demos of Donna and Dee: Part Deux'. Dee and Donna Grasso, set up their easels in the front window of the shop and folks could sit on chairs in a semi-circle to watch them paint. There were about 4-5 people there when I left and I do hope that more came later. They are doing it again on Sunday afternoon and we'll see if I go back again or head to the pool. After the demo, I went to the pool and found some folks with whom to enjoy the evening.

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Penny was there with her visiting family so I did not crash her party. They had eaten already, since I was 'late' in arriving. Some of the others had gone in already and others did not come out. I did set up camp with Randy, the guy who last year kept after me to sing torch songs as he played the piano at The Club during Happy Hour, and his lovely wife, Carol. I had spent part of Saturday evening with them last weekend, and it was nice to hang with them last night again. We had such a lovely visit, talking about travels in the Mediterranean as well as traveling to Fleming Island! Carol has a mental block when it comes to driving from north Orange Park to Fleming Island but no problem riding the trains all over England! We had a good laugh about that!

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She was telling about having boxes of personal papers in her trunk which she had taken to work to put through the shredder, but realized the documents and such were too new to be ground up. Less than two years old and such. Carol said she has a checklist (oooh, I love checklists!) of what to keep and how long, and what to get rid of from our personal records. She is going to make a copy of it to share with me. We laughed about the affection I have for long distance phone bills from 10 years ago, as she lost her mom in April and has been going through all her parents' paperwork and such since then. My theory, then, was a good one, about if I died this weekend, how would anyone go through those old papers and make sense from them? I must make sense of them myself long before my time to go home comes.

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At the table next to ours was my new friend, Mary Lew, who also had friends over, including one man from Mexico. Not sure how she knew him, I will have to ask her Tuesday. But she also introduced me to her gentleman friend who is an evangelist of some sort, with his adopted son, who celebrated his 22nd birthday poolside. Mary Lew brought me yet another book which she claims I will read in a day and a half! It is by Nora Ephron and is about women aging, called: "I Feel Bad About My Neck: And Other Thoughts on Being a Woman". Carol and I both feel it will be a hoot to read, as this is something many woman complain about. I love it that Mary Lew thought to share this with me. I sense a conspiracy in people trying to make me read again!!! And watch movies, as Mary Lew gave me a bag of old movies last weekend, and Carol is bringing me one this weekend, called "Tea with Mussolini" which was filmed in Florence. Nice! I am much better about watching a movie than reading. There is a "Seinfeld" episode where George joins a reading club and finds out he hates to read! Really? Instead of reading the book, "Breakfast at Tiffany's", he tries to rent the movie....It is already rented to another family, so he sneaks a look at their address from the video rental store and goes to their home to watch with them. Only in Seinfeld would this happen. When it comes to book club meeting time, he totally blows it because evidently the movie and the book do not match. No book club for me either, because I am so lame!

I am showing my age!

Either that, or I live in Arizona! Is that not nuts, folks being upset about showing their ID's if they behave suspiciously? Twice in the past couple days I had to show my ID and I was not even doing anything suspicious. The other day when I was shopping on senior discount day at Bealls, I had to show my driver's license to prove I was over the age of 50. Some people will seemingly do anything to save 15%! Today, when buying compressed gas to clean up my laptop's keyboard, I had to again show my ID to prove I was older than 18. Really! It seems young folks either like to clean their keyboards or they use it for huffing purposes so now, all must show proper ID. If I am over 18, I am free to please, go ahead, and inhale the vapors! I felt compelled to tell the clerk and the lady training her my story from Bealls, and the younger lady said, "Oh, you don't look like you are older than 50...". If I could have, I would reach around and given her a hug, but I simply thanked her. I think it was when Gloria Steinam turned 50 many years ago, someone said to her, "Oh, you don't look 50..." to which she replied, "Honey, this IS what 50 looks like!" So, yes, keep asking me for ID, I am not proud or embarrassed---yet.

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The most delightful of breezes is wafting through my doors, which I had to prop open with shoes or books to keep them from slamming closed. During the times of the full moon, we experience extremely low tides and then higher than usual tides. In between, we see yuckiness below the water, which is today wearing a coat of white sudsy looking stuff. Tracy, my neighbor, described it as the foam seen in a hot tub recently treated with chemicals. Justin looked out at it and said, "Hmmm....I have seen that somewhere before." After a moment, he said, "Oh, yeah, a root beer float!" This is the picture I have in my mind now instead of the suds from chemicals. It might be treatment for the algae blooms which caused a fish kill in late May/early June, most of which I missed. As I said to Tracy, we might simply need a good wind to come through to move things along because it has been hot so long, things are bound to develop in the still waters.

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This noon I had a lovely lunch with Tracy, Cassidy, and Mammaw at La Napolera, with the eldest one treating us all. That was unexpected, and I am most grateful for her treat. She misses living in TX but there is just no one there to watch over anymore. Tracy asked me when I was moving my mom down here with me and I told her I would do it later this afternoon if she would agree.....Sigh. As I explained to Tracy, my other sisters and the grandkids simply have me outnumbered so even though I have the time, they have the proximity working for them. So, I will just continue to hang out up there several times a year until they all grow quite weary of me!

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Time for me to head to Fleming Island to watch a painting duel between Dee and Donna at Great Hang Ups. Then, I will be back here for refreshments and time with my friends at the cabana. Yoohoo! Later!

Making progress

But I am not a progressive! The mound on the desk is getting lower, I can see daylight, and I have had to empty my wastebasket once already due to going through papers. Yes! Another friend of mine from Facebook reported this week that she, too, is going through boxes of papers dating back to the mid-80's so it must be catching! Thus far I remain at my desk but at some point will need to tackle boxes of 'old' papers which I know I will have trouble doing. Who gets attached to their old long distance phone bills??? The mindset I will have to use is this: "What will happen to this stuff if I would die this weekend? Would someone get stuck looking through this all (as we did my mother-in-law's stuff) or will it simply get dumped in its entirety into a dumpster??? Will any one miss it or find it valuable in any way?" Not likely!!!

At this particular moment I am listening to my podcast, eating a hamburger left over from Sunday's event, writing my posting for the day, and waiting for the moon to rise. Multi-tasking!! The sun is still shining at this point and, as I went to my car to get a 12-pack of soda, saw people yet in the pool. From our high temp of 96 earlier today to now only 92, it is still a lovely evening.No storms since last week Thursday's HUGE one.

Last week I was rejoicing because I got my statement from the hospital where my kaleidoscope was performed, and it was about half of what I expected it to be. The insurance lady there showed me another person's bill which was over $7000 out-of-pocket for the same procedure so.....whew! Of course, there will be more bills coming, likely from the doctor herself and from the handsome anesthesiologist, but the largest amount, I believe is behind me, in more ways than one. Sorry. I had to say that. Whew again! And thank you, Lord, for answering that prayer!

I missed the moon rising because as I look over my right shoulder, it is already in place in the sky to the south, looking white against the blue sky. It is still sunny outside and not quite ready for the moon to do its thing. Justin and I attended Bible study this a.m., having last week begun a study on The Kingdom of God, using again the series from "Good News". My guess is that it saves Pastor a ton of time to use this type of study and it is quite interesting. Hopefully soon we will be getting our Sunday and Monday Bible studies back in action at GS for more regular 'feedings'. Tuesday night's class is more like a Bible information class which is still good but more structured than a study would be. Especially since the class comes in the form of a DVD, less interaction with the speaker. Mike C. leads this class and we simply go through the worksheets and answer True/False questions and such. Some discussion but not like in a regular setting. Make sense?

My radio show is making me laugh and laugh, hard to concentrate on what I am writing. So much for multi-tasking! There is much helicopter traffic today, all day, which might mean a squadron has come in. Normally there are welcome home signs along Hwy. 17 but I didn't notice any when I was doing my thing after Bible study. I barely recognized my car when I went down for the soda, it is nice 'n shiny after its bath and vacuuming. When I went to the Hess station for my soda and was going to put it in the back, I noticed that it was still sandy looking so I went right back across the street, got in line again, and had the young lady vacuum it up. She acted like she could not see any sand, and when I walked back there, she was doing the little pockets on the sidewall of the 'trunk'. It seems what looks like sand is actually sand, but it was not loose enough to vacuum up. Guess I will need my handy dandy scrub brush to work it loose. She was acting like, "What sand?", as though she could not see it...ugh!

I cannot believe I am going to say this but I am feeling as though it's a bit stuffy in my house tonight. Nothing has changed, the dryer is not running nor the oven going. I am not exerting myself other than laughter which is not unusual, so I don't know. I could go and turn the thermostat lower, I suppose, just for a few minutes to move the air around. Maybe it is because the moon is getting brighter, but it is behind the palm tree right now. Hmmm....

The other night when my brain stayed up long after I went to bed and refused to surrender to sleep, I got up and decided to do some cleaning in order to put my brain into idle. Did not work, but the cleaning got done. The work I did was quiet so as not to disturb my neighbors above or below me. Earlier in the day I had bought some scrubbing bubbles which I sprayed on the frame of my bathroom mirror, where there was accumulated dust (there she goes with the dust again!!) and other grime. The mirror looks gilded, like a picture frame, with the part furthest from the faucets and counter looking nice and bright. Pampered Chef long handled brush and the bubbles made that lower edge look much much better, and I am glad I finally did it. I sprayed in my shower as well, but the smell was gagging me so I closed the door to the bathroom while it soaked overnight. The next day I did the same type of frame in the hall bathroom with less satisfactory results. Also, I went around and put bleach in the toilets which also burned my nose-hairs and made my eyes water, but there is nothing like a sparkling white toilet in the morning----it smells like victory!

During my sleeplessness, not at all connected to the cable TV, I made various checklists in my mind as well as plans and promises to myself, and God. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart"! That means I have a witness who is going to hold me to my checklists and promises---gulp! One checklist adds more 'work' to my load while another list removes a few things. Somehow, strangely enough, the one that removes things is the more bothersome checklist!! Might require some modification but not too much. Because a deal's a deal, right?

Midweek catch up here

A couple days ago I lamented the cable outage in my bedroom, which happened rather abruptly late Saturday morning. When I left home to set up at church that day, the TV was working fine, but when I got back later, it was out. Not a cloud in the sky or wind in the trees, and no storms since the window rattler on Thursday. Hmmm.....My friend, Gayle's husband got an appointment set up for me on Monday. Dick is in a management position at Comcast and has some pull evidently. Gayle called me twice that day to keep me informed as to the status of the service call and such. Wow! My scheduled time was between 2 and 5 pm which was fine with me, since it sure beats Thursday!, and in fact, I stayed home all stinkin' day long! I needed a day like this. Actually addressed some items on my desk and worked on thank you notes for the helpers at Sunday's event, etc.

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Gayle used to work in Customer Service at Comcast and she was saying to me that she would not have stood still for an answer like "no one is available until Thursday...". Gayle told me she would have gone higher and higher in the food chain until she got results. I told her, "That's what I did, too! I called you!" which made her laugh. I am not sure what time the guys showed up but Connie called me from downstairs to report they were on the way up. As I stood in the door watching for them eagerly, the one guy, the lead tech, looked at me and then walked the other way. I yelled, "Hey!..." and he turned back this direction, saying, "Just teasing..." My kinda guy! He made a comment to me along the lines of my having some 'pull' and he described me as being a VIP. Evidently he was sent specifically to my job, personally selected by his superiors. Oh, yes, I am big crybaby VIP who can't sleep without her TV on!!!! His helper trailed behind, more like a step-n-fetch than actual tech, I believe. We had to slide my desk over so they could access the jack inside the cabinet, and I am so glad to have wood floors to make that easier.

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The tech was getting no signal at all from the wires coming out of the cabinet which meant the problem originated outside, on the back of the building. Before they arrived, I was watching rain showers in Mandarin as they seemed to come across the river, but it was full sunshine on the pool side of the building. I was hoping they would not get rained on, too, while working down below my windows but the rain never made it all the way over here. At one point the helper came up to report that they were working on the wires downstairs, trying to sort it all out. I thought that was very nice of him. Later he came back and we had to turn on the family room TV to let the guy below know when we had signal in there and when we did not. After some time, the lead guy came upstairs again and hooked up his machinery to the cable and ta da!!!! We had a signal! He hooked up the little box on the stand where the TV is and I was back in business, including now accessing HGTV and Lifetime in my bedroom.

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I made the remark to him that I was glad to see the green light was solid and not flashing anymore, even though I know Comcast is using that to spy on me. I told them I always change my clothes in my closet but it would serve them right if they caught me on their camera. The guys laughed and said, "No one can see you through this box..." I am not totally convinced!

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Yesterday, which would have been my 36th wedding anniversary, began at the pool with water aerobics and then some lounging with Ellen. We made plans to go today to have lunch at the Beach Cafe which is located where Truffles used to be in Mandarin. My friend, Dena, who made my beautiful birthday cake one year, has a bakery in the same strip mall so I might pop in there to say 'hi'! After I made the plans with Ellen, Martie asked me if we could have breakfast or lunch today. Rats! Breakfast won't work with water aerobics but we certainly have room for one more at Beach Cafe! She will not come to aerobics though as she is not fond of the water, although one time she did get in and really enjoyed it! She said she misses me and I certainly do miss her. Her job, and grandkids really use her time these days, especially in the summer when they are out of school. So, I am looking very much forward to lovely repast in Mandarin with a couple of my lady friends, Maggie O. is likely coming, too, and, of course, spending some time with Martie!!!

Ellen took this photo of me Sunday with her cell phone, which is why it is sort of small. Good thing it is! The noodle makes my arms look fat, though!

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After the pool time, I got dressed and headed to Bealls to do some birthday shopping for Justin. I have neither seen nor heard from him since last Thursday's lunch after Bible study, but still decided to buy him a present or two. There were huge banners promoting a senior discount that day, which would be great to take advantage of. Up to that moment, I was a senior discount virgin, except for one time when accidentally getting the lower priced ticket at the movies, without my asking for it. Twila and Jean got theirs at the senior rate and the cashier simply did the same for me. Nice! Even after I pointed it out, she told me to just go ahead. So, anyway, I got what I wanted, having an additional discount on all housewares, which is where I was shopping. When I got to the check-out and began the process, I asked the lady if I could have the senior discount of 15%, too. She looked up at me and said, "That's for people 50 and older..." so I had to prove my age by showing my driver's license. She made my day---minus 15%!

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Julia did not need any lunch so I got myself a drink and stopped at Great Hang Ups for a bit. She commented that my hair was getting so light, and asked me if I dyed it that color. Nope, it must be from the sun or the pool water bleaching it out. When Dee came in, she also remarked about my hair turning lighter, both of them complimentary. Last night I got a message from my friend, Michelle, who had seen my pool photo on Facebook and told me I was so cute, especially with the red hair. Red? Okay, which is it---red or white?