Judy C. and her son, Mike, are gone to Nashville and beyond to see Judy's grandson graduate from Vanderbilt University. I cannot remember if they are coming back today or not, I lost track of the days. This resulted in my coming home from church instead of going to eat. Twila had only the day before gotten home from her week stay at Sanibel and needed to regroup in the afternoon, and Judy J. was counting the offering. Others stayed for a luncheon put on by Thrivent but I was not interested in that, so, I came home. And had a lovely quiet day in so doing!
My first stop after church was the cemetery as Gretchen had donated the flowers from the altar, given in memory of her loved ones, to my loved one. Yes, I was teared up right after Bible study when she told me that I should take them for Timmy's site. When I got there, the bouquet from Easter was gone already, the guys must have thought it looked tough and took it away. We have had some wild weather, either the heat or the wind must have wreaked havoc on the bouquet. When it gets hot, the bouquets just do not last very long.
For my lunch I had the last of my roast beef, which makes a lovely sandwich with the seeded rye from Winn Dixie. Oh, first I had stopped at WD on the way home to pick up another container of raspberry sherbet, some of which I had for dessert. Later, I went to the fridge to get a square of chocolate from the bag Justin gave me for Mother's Day, which is also raspberry. I am definitely on a kick here!
Most of my day was spent on the computer, looking up things or reading, until my eyes bled! After a certain point I took a little rest, probably less than a half hour, but enough to rejuvenate myself. The sun was out most of the day and since the trees were pruned, it seems that my view is even more vast. Bugs have again gathered in the corners of my windows but I guess they will have to stay there as I am not about to wrench those windows out of their frames to sweep them down. The professional guys that came to wash the windows had a hard enough time with them, big strong guys, so the bugs win until I have the windows done again! So there!
At some point this week I am getting together with Carol before I take off for WI at the end of the month. She wants to come here because she gets stir crazy being at home and would feel like she should be exercising her knee if she is at home. She even goes along with Cliff to check the jobsite just so she can get out. They will be heading to Highlands in a few weeks themselves and our paths might not cross much. I am working ahead some on the newsletter for church as I will be away and it just won't work for me do it from Manty. Mom being on dial-up just will not allow for downloading and editing and so on. Jill has high-speed access but I hate to tie up her machine and such, so will get it out the door, so to speak, before I leave town.
My can of compressed air worked just amazingly for cleaning the dust from my bedside lamp. It has nooks and crannies where the dust gathers and the air simply blew the dust away. Somehow that did not work on my remote controls, those must actually be touched with the baby wipes I normally use for wiping them clean. The wipes don't get into the small spaces on the lamp, though, so it delights me!
Monday is the final flight of Shuttle Endeavor which goes up just before 9:00 a.m. I hope it launches and I hope I can see it from my porch. Must remember to send out a reminder on Facebook for my Florida friends to watch for it. Today's worship was very nice, Good Shepherd Sunday, and we used Divine Service I, with nearly all the hymns chosen from the Supplement. Our closing hymn was printed in the service folder, from the CW, so we did not have to play quick draw with the hymnals during the service. Robbie, The Maestro, sang the psalm as cantor, while the congregation joined in the refrain. Jean N. asked me if his voice was improving or was she only just noticing. I said, "Both"! He also had recorded the accompaniment on the keyboard and then stepped near center aisle to sing, which likely came into play for her noticing. His young lady friend came to church and sat with the family in the pew. Brad and the boys sat with Great Grandpa in the row behind the rest of the family.
During the Bible study, one of the members came in about 3/4 of the way through to whisper to Pastor about a visitor being outside, hesitating to come in. She thought church began at 9:00 or something that mixed her up. Jackie went outside with Rick to meet the young lady and escorted her into the class. Later I was introduced to Stephania, whom Jackie excitedly reported was from Italy. The name rather gave her away. To make it better yet, it turned out Stephania lived near Naples and would go on picnics along the Amalfi Coastline, eating on the beach. Her story is a bit tragic, though, as it seems she followed a Navy man here and that did not work out. She spoke enough English to say it was very bad and that going back would be very hard. Yikes! Stephania said she was looking for a church with people she could trust. I hope that is us, but I am not sure she knows what she is in store for at a Lutheran church. My guess is she is not a Lutheran, not from Naples, anyway. She needs to come up here to my house and we can have a picnic, she might feel a bit 'at home' in my environment!
