Playing peek a boo with the sun

Am I ever enjoying my day today! At this moment I am chortling at a “Frasier” episode, how I do love their banter. The other night I sent my sister, Lori, a snippet from a script which had me, figuratively speaking, rolling on the floor. It was a description Niles was giving a bartender when Frasier and he were looking for Daphne. Something about 'skin like Devonshire cream and eyes that pierced the soul'…typical Niles. Lori and I would simply roar at these if we watched them together. Perhaps Lori and David will come down at Christmas this year and we can sit together and watch. Sitting on towels, of course!

Earlier in the day, as I waited for the sun to come out, I watched the news and then “You’ve Got Mail”, the second half of it anyway. What a sweet movie it is, gets me every time! The news program I was watching switched to coverage of the murder trial going on further down the state which I refuse to give a moment’s time. Ugh! So, I found this charming movie and visited New York with Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks instead.

At long last, I gave up waiting for the sun and went out to swim. In fact, I broke my own rule about swimming when the sun is not out and got into the pool. It was much cooler than the last time I was in, likely because of the lack of sunshine to warm the exposed parts of my body. For an hour I did my laps and when not circling the pool, I kept my legs moving when I stopped to talk. This nice lady, Kay, was sitting on the edge of the pool and we got talking about movies. (Her hubby is the one who reads in the pool and acts like he doesn’t want other talking when he’s reading…) She mentioned that she would like to see “The Way We Were” again, had not seen it in years so I am going to let her borrow it. She has never seen “The Bucket List” either so I am lending that movie as well.

One of the older ladies at The Club named Caroline was at the pool, arriving after I did. She comes to walk in the water, parking her walker at the top of the steps for when she gets out. Back and forth, back and forth she goes and what a pistol she is! I can only imagine she was a spitfire in her day, working as a Realtor back in the ‘old days’ of Orange Park real estate. Oh, the stories she can tell! It is obvious that she resents having been laid up by her malady requiring the walker, wanting to be free of it, but the recent doctor visit reported no change after three years of using it. Caroline did mention dancing a bit the other night with a fellow strong enough to hold her up! She was complaining that Pasta Market charges too much for their wine, which might be why they don’t do good business for the dinner hour….I found that amusing!

Speaking of spitfires, last night was Happy Hour at the cabana (instead of Wednesdays) and only a handful of people were there, due to a turn in the weather just prior to 6:00 pm. Fortunately I have Danny’s phone number now so I could text him to make sure activities would take place. Penny was waiting for me, and it was just great to see her again. Mary Lew, the low talker, was there, announcing to all who entered that she was the first one there! Randy and his wife, Carol, came later and I am always so glad to see her. She is simply a delight, and told me she finally made it to Great Hang Ups---without me! Carol had been a client of theirs for years when they were on Kingsley Avenue but not in the 7 years since the shop moved to the Island. Penny told Carol, “Kim doesn’t like it when we go to Great Hang Ups without her….” and she was right!

A couple whom I did not know joined our group, members of The Club, who live in Ft. Lauderdale. What a fun couple they were! The man sort of reminded me of Jim B. from church, and she, Joan, was just a hoot. They are about to celebrate their 50^th wedding anniversary and she told us her life story as we sat there. Most of us were riveted to the love story but poor Mary Lew, on the end of the table, sort of missed out on it. She was talking to Betty’s daughter, Kathy, who was trying to listen to this other story as well. I felt badly for Kathy, as I doubt she could even hear what ML was saying to her, just smiling and nodding at her. Next time I see Kathy, she might be wearing a puffy shirt! “…but I don’t want to be a pirate!”

Joan told us about how her hubby and she lived on the same block in Brooklyn, NY…she was 13 and he was 14 when they fell in love. They got married when she was 19 years old, and he was in the Air Force. After the Air Force he went to work for IBM and continues to work with Microsoft as a consultant. They were fascinating folks and I enjoyed meeting them. They come up about once a month, having already met Penny a while ago at a Wednesday Happy Hour. Joan and her hubby have a big shindig planned for their anniversary and after that, taking their entire family on a cruise. Joan mentioned she might have to just get up and dance on the bar at the party, and I believe she can do it!

Since it was Happy Hour, the regular menu was not being offered, only some appetizers were served. Being such a spoiled brat, there was nothing I was interested in eating. Some kind of bean dip which was to be stuffed into a pita thing, plus homemade salsa and chips. I could have had some chips but I do not eat the rest of that. Later on I made myself a summer sausage sandwich on a dinner roll for my dinner…..so sad for me! Not really, it was wonderful!

The other night when Judy J. picked me up for dinner and Bible study, she remarked how much she liked my hair. It is bleaching out, as it does in the summer, some natural highlights especially where the silver usually is. She said it looked good against my tan and I thanked her. But I also told her I just bought silver remover that very day! At first I thought I could stand waiting for a few months to do it, but gave in, and removed the silver before getting dressed again after coming in from the pool this afternoon. When I mixed it up, the new foamy type of treatment, it looked quite red so I tested an area first to make sure it would not turn me into Lucille Ball. Nope, I am more like Desi! Using the lightest brown color seems to be the closest to the color the rest of my hair is, for some very strange reason. Lightest brown would not be the color I would use to describe my color but I leave that to Nice ‘n Easy to figure out!