The sun was awake already when I opened my eyes this a.m. but it seems to be a bit hazy out there at this point. Now that the temps have risen I can leave my sliding doors open in the river room all day. It was a bit crisp when walking through to get a soda a few moments ago but know it will soon be toasty warm, especially when I am getting busy in the kitchen with my preparations for tomorrow's feast. The geese were honking away, seemingly more noisy now that the doors are open. My neighbor reports that we are up to three of them at this point, and they seem content hanging out in our basin. I told Tracy about the goose that the ladies fed at our 'old' office in E.H. on the back step and what a terrible mess the goose made. Garbage in, garbage out!
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It seems I forgot to mention something really cool that happened for me this past week....In one or two of my posts I wrote about the Comcast situation we are dealing with here at The Palace. I wrote how the man, Travis, dropped off, at long last, the two cable boxes on Monday night. In the same posting, I wrote something about Publix, as Justin read me the sales flyer over the phone that morning. Well, the next day, I had a comment to my blog from a man who lives in PA now, telling me how much he misses Publix which he fell in love with it while living in Florida. He also works for Comcast in an official role and gave me contact information in case we had any more problems getting our cable up and going. Sweet!
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Wednesday, as I was leaving to have lunch with the ladies, my phone went off, showing a toll number from Ohio. Hmmm, normally I would have let the machine catch a call like that but I opted to answer. The man gave his name and told me he was from Life Line Screening. Oh, oh....one of my tests have come back with bad results or something, why else would they call me??? Nope!
He said that someone had told him how I wrote nice things about my experience on Friday, offering high praise for the more efficient technician, and so on. He thanked me for promoting LLS and said he also forwarded the posting to Tiffany, saying it is rare that they get positive feedback, or feedback of any kind, so he wanted her to know she did well. Awesome! He said it was also good that I wrote what the lady sitting with me said, how the doctors/insurers won't recommend tests like this until AFTER a heart attack or an issue similar, so we become our own insurer by having these tests. That was just so cool, two different businesses catching my mentioning their names and letting me know about it...cool!
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Again, with the doors being open all night, which accounts for the increased dust, of course, it is noisier. How can it be noisy on the river? Thursday night it sounded as though I lived next door to the freeway, but the racket was not from cars and trucks, but rather, helicopters! Oh, my, it was so noisy that it sort of made me laugh. Unless one was here to hear it, they would not believe just how busy the skies were up and down the river for a little while. It was not all night nor was it late night, just struck me as funny to have so much noise outside the door. Yesterday morning I could hear this steady roaring sound getting closer and closer, thinking it was a tug boat going through. Finally, my curiosity got the better of me and I went to see what was making that noise. It was a fan boat, like those used in the Everglades, stirring around in the basin area. I heard that thing coming and going for a long time before it got out here to my windows so I can only imagine how noisy that must be to have a fleet of them scooting around. Not a musical sound like a jet ski at all!
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Justin came Friday after work to do the cleaning, showering first because he said he smelled. Personally I would shower afterward, since I would work up a lather doing the vacuuming and such. He used the hose to clean off the exterior doors, both the wood ones and the iron ones, to get the pollen washed away. It worked! He got rid of the signs of winter in my decor and cleaned up the messy poinsettia. What he did a couple of hours would take me the whole day and he even took frequent breaks to chat with me. He nicely washed the baseboards in the bathroom and vanity areas in my closet, which looks so nice. And, to top it all off, he downloaded iTunes for me and set-up the podcast delivery for a radio show we like. He has the Insider subscription which he shares with me so he got my laptop geared up the same way he had done the desktop. I am up and running!
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Last night was Good Friday worship, conducted in a darkened sanctuary with black paraments and banners hung, and a black drape on the 'rugged' cross which also wore a crown of thorns. We had just a few less than 50 people which was about the same number as the night before. Mike C. conducted the worship as Pastor served the congregation in Keystone Heights, an hour away. We had readings about the suffering the Lord endured and at the close of the service, all the lights were extinguished (It is finished!). The choir sang, "When Jesus Died", and that was the end, as all left in silence. Very poignant.
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Twila was standing outside the church sort of waiting around and I asked her if she had eaten yet. Since she had not, we decided to go and grab a bite somewhere. Kathy B. joined us and because it was a Friday night on a holiday weekend, opted to go somewhere less busy for our supper. We chose Aron's where I had just had lunch that Monday. I love it! Just the three of us and we had a very nice meal, with Kathy eating my salad for me. That salad eater!! She had already eaten dinner but wanted to hang out and have a beer. Neither Twila nor I drink beer so we had soda. It was great, and I have half a portion of fetticini Alfredo leftovers to eat today.
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When Justin was here, he went down to the car and brought up the rest of my groceries from the day before, the heavy cans and jars that I could not handle. In one trip he carried three 12-packs of soda, the heavy bag, plus a package of toilet paper! He is a manly man! From the moment he walked in my door, though, he was telling me how much he ached and how hard he worked this past week to get his father's stuff packed up and then cleaned the house. But then he carried all those items up the stairs, not the elevator, for me. I am impressed!
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Today I am going to clean the church first, pick up my ham and then stop for the missed grocery items needed for the feast tomorrow. I guess laundry soap is not needed for the feast, but I still need it. Thankfully the stain came out of my first-time worn top which had patty melt dripped on it Wednesday! Anyway, since my table will now have no empty chairs, I think I will need just a few more things to serve, as if anyone will go away hungry! I could stop at the Publix by church, which makes more sense anyway, before getting the ham (can you hear the gears spinning in my brain???). As Justin re-assured me, I can make as much food ahead as I wish to, so that most of the prep work will be done well before so I won't have much to do after church tomorrow. He asked me ever so sweetly if I would be horribly upset if he attended Easter service at Victory, "in a bright church" instead of at GS. Of course, I wish he was with me but I am also so busy on Easter with greeting and attendance and the choir...boo hoo hoo! No, I like it that he is excited about worshiping there at "his" own church and truly understand his sentiment. Only, he will be a half hour behind me in ending worship and with the half hour drive over, we lose about an hour of together prep time for the feast. Which means I will have to be efficient in my preparations today, and we will have a good hour before our guests arrive on Sunday. No worries, really, at least he will be in worship and appreciating it, especially if they sing "In Christ Alone"!
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Time for me to get busy and out the door! I am so excited about tomorrow's worship, and must remember to buy some flowers to stick in the Easter cross in the morning. Thankfully it will be 'warmer' tomorrow morning so we won't freeze at sunrise service. My downstairs neighbor, Gus, was helping me learn some Greek the other morning: Christos Anesti! Christ is Risen!
