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.
*
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.
*
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.
*
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!
*
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.
*
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!
*
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.
*
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!
*
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...
*
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!
