Justin took this photo of me yesterday at Clark's Fish Camp where their remodeling continues. One can see the plumbing pipes in place on the right beyond the sign, which means they will likely be putting the bathrooms back where they were. But the structure is built up on legs, which will hopefully prevent water from rising into the stalls! I am sporting my fur cap and matching collar. Silly me---I wore an animal print hat and collar to Clark's so people kept coming over to our table to take my photo, like they did the rest of the animals in the restaurant!
This photo was taken Tuesday night at Johnny Angel's Trivia Game. Justin's friends came to join the fun: from left is Ron, Josh, and next to Justin is Sarah, Ron's girlfriend. Next to Josh is Anthony, a friend of Erica's, then Erica, Stephanie, plus her dad, Dale and mom Jean (who are from Janesville) and then Chantey, me and my Justin!! What a group and yet, we did not win!
Or is the thunder noisier? Earlier I posted on Facebook about the wind, rain, and thunder but now it seems to have passed. Not the wind portion, that continues, but the rain ended and I hear no more thunder. Before 6:00 a.m. I was awake for no apparent reason and have been listening to the wind whip the trees. The fourth day of such winds. I caught a glimpse of two white egrets, flying up much higher than ordinary, battling the breeze outside my windows. I should be getting up to ready for the day, but am also saving my steps for Bible study and lunch since my knee began to act up during the day on Sunday. The ice pack, ibuprofen, and caution really did the trick but I am most cautious not to mess it up again.
Oh, what a game that was! The team made me very nervous last night, sometimes had me thinking they were going to blow it. Could have happened, too, if the Eagles had gotten a TD and gone ahead by one point. Fortunately a Packer player intercepted what would have been a touch down pass, and saved the day! David, my bro-in-law, works for WinCraft in Winona, MN and David wrote: "ideally, GB/N.O. win, then GB beats ATL and CHI beats NO... the best ever NFC Championship game in the century!" There are no fans like Packer fans, I aver! Justin attended a Jaguar game when the Eagles came to play and he said they were the worst! Boorish behavior and all that….not nice!
Now, I am home again after Bible study and lunch, not at Longhorn after all. Because of the bad weather, Gretchen did not venture across the bridge so we could safely go across the parking lot to the Olive Garden instead. The world is upside down now, for sure! Most of us had the soup and salad lunch, but Michael, our Bible study leader, had a regular entrée. We all received a gift card from the manager worth $5 off two entrees so we will have to return another time, either as a group or with others.
Soup was wonderful on such a cold wet day, as we were thoroughly drenched leaving the class and going to our cars, and then from the cars to the restaurant.I should have remembered when parking my car at church that this part of the parking lot where I pulled in ALWAYS floods when it rains. The water was over the top of my shoes and dampened the bottoms of my pants legs. Brrrrr…..over 50 degrees but the wind and rain made it feel incredibly cooler.
The soup did help, though. I thought of Pete Prange as we were given our Andes Candy mints after lunch, although he has been close to my thoughts anyway, as we approach ‘the week’….When I was looking in my wallet for my library card (we were discussing them at lunch), I showed Betty S. the photo of Justin and Timmy I carry in my wallet. She admired them both and mentioned the dimples in Timmy’s cheeks. Of course, I had to tell her that he got those from me, but my pants cover mine…..She found that amusing, so I did not have to laugh alone.
My suitcase remains out, not yet entirely emptied of its contents. A few odds ‘n ends remain inside but the clothing has been removed. A blessing for me occurred when doing the wash the other day---my grape colored turtleneck had gotten a stain or two on the front but did not come out in Mom’s washer. I did not pre-treat the spots and it was dried in the dryer on top of that. Well, I figured there was nothing to lose in trying it again once home, so I sprayed the stains with Shout, let it sit overnight and rewashed the shirt. Sure enough, the spots were gone! The other option in a case such as this is to simply wear the shirt backward since it would not matter in most cases. I am just so glad the spots came out and I can wear my clothes the right way!
On the way home from church and lunch yesterday, I decided to stop at Winn-Dixie to get raspberry sherbet for consuming during the football game. I got into the habit of enjoying raspberry sherbet when at Mom’s house, originally purchased because sherbet was the only thing which felt good on my throat. At that time I had no appetite and food had no taste, but the sherbet did feel good and taste just fine. Mom also purchased mint chocolate chip ice cream but it took me until just before my departure to finish the sherbet. My mom loves her ice cream so it was no problem to leave the mint ice cream unconsumed. So, anyway, the sherbet was priced on sale at 3 for $5.00 but my better reason prevailed and I took only one container. Sadly, it was all frosty on the outside, and later, I discovered the inside of the container was also frosty. Really, I don’t like that, having had something frozen/defrosted/refrozen but the taste of the sherbet was unaffected. The texture was a bit icy, but the taste and flavor fine. But, I must say, the brand from Mom’s store, Festival Foods, was a better quality. Which might be why this was 3 for $5!
Our sleepy town of Orange Park, okay, maybe not so sleepy anymore, suffered another tragic loss. It was on the news yesterday about the accidental death of a young woman a few years behind Justin in school, who was shot. Not like what happened in AZ with the shooting rampage. It was another student from this area showing his new rifle accessories to his buddy in the parking lot. The gun discharged, apparently, with the bullet passing through his friend’s hand, and striking Ashley in the chest. Not sure about all the details of the incident, but know she and her twin sister both graduated from St. Johns, as did their sister who was with Justin’s class. Both girls attend FSU where this occurred. Apparently they had just returned to school after the ‘winter break’… now it was late at night/early morning and some questions remain, of course. But this is so terribly sad a situation, what appears to be entirely an accident, a horrible one. Since I do not normally watch local news, I got this information first via Facebook, when a friend of mine extended her sympathies to the family for their loss. From there I looked on-line and found the story.
Later last night, then, my friend, Sandy, called from Chattanooga to see if I had heard the news. She had already read about it on-line so we had nothing new to add, other than to express our sorrow over the loss to the family. Sandy also told about the inclement weather heading their way (Olivia, Grandma, and Sandy are all up there in the mountains) and school had been called off for today already. I heard from others via Facebook about school closings and snow days today. At least we do not have to shovel this rain and gloom. But I do have to dry my shoes!
