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No longer on the river and, again, an empty nester. Back to living on Fleming Island and making some more friends!

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Hurray for the sunshine

Now, that’s more like it! The sun returned today, very little fog that I noticed, but plenty of moisture on the car windows from the heavy air. The temperature got up to 79 which was nice, but hardly seemed like November football watching weather.

I had the challenge this afternoon of switching between games as the Jaguars and the Packers were playing at the same time and were aired here. The Jags, sadly, lost by four points but it easily could have gone the other way. The Packers fought a mighty battle and came out victorious in the end. I was “watching” with my sister, Kerry, who is in Oshkosh, and she was having a fit from the closeness of the game. I won’t get to see the Packers play again until Thursday!!!

When I sat down here at this desk’s computer, I started to watch my Internet show which required more of my attention than I was able to give at this moment. There was a man being interviewed, a graduate of Penn State who works as a reporter with the Defense Department. He is a graduate student in Chicago but I sure had a tough time listening to him. At the first question, he began his answer with, “So, blah blah blah…” This is such a terrible habit people have, beginning sentences with the word “so”. I see it on Facebook and hear it in conversation often, and I have even done it myself!

Another bugga-boo I have is “I mean” and “you know”. This same fellow being interviewed used both of those expressions regularly as well, as does one of the guys on the radio program I watch. Ugh! Those are space fillers, I realize, but how much space does a reporter or radio personality need? Saying “I mean” is nothing new, as there was a woman at FG a very long time ago who used that in nearly every sentence. By the way, there is an ‘n’, or even two of them in the word “sentence”. If you listen to people use that word, the first ‘n’ is often omitted. I must sound like “Frasier” now, you know???

I am having a pounding head ache, the kind one gets after crying. It is Christ the King Sunday, the last Sunday of the church year. For Bible class we studied Advent, had a sort of worksheet, testing our Advent knowledge. Our table team did well, especially since I had only spent the night before writing about Advent for the newsletter! The questions were some false/trues about the history of it, the order of lighting the candles on the wreath, what type of services does our church body use (reflective, meditative, etc.).

After class we recessed to church to practice singing some of the parts of the Compline we are using the first midweek service. We had practiced some of the portions at choir and have two Sundays to go through it ahead of time. Robbie is such a good leader for this! Since it was a special Sunday, he had the choir wear the robes when we sang our anthem. It went well, no mess ups, even though we sang part of the refrain in the form of a round.

The Sunday school kids were set to sing last week but only two of them showed up. Today they had a good number of kids although a couple do not sing due to being too shy. They were incorporated into the service as well and did a nice job singing their anthem. The sermon hymn today was “Jerusalem the Golden”, which explains the head ache I have now, but I did plow through with only a couple of sobs breaking free. Any time the readings or hymn texts discuss the glory waiting for us, and what others are already enjoying, my cheeks get wet. Today was a rough one in that regard!

It was sweet that two different people, one on each side of the church gave me ‘the look’ before we sang “Jerusalem….”, the knowing look, as they both appreciate the value of the message therein as well as how moving it is. Not only for me, as I noticed that Jayne was dabbing a bit, too. Mike K. sort of heaved a great sigh as he heard the opening chords playing and Terri T.’s face spoke for her. After church she came in search of me to give me a hug, saying, “Rough one today…” Say no more!

Another ‘sweet’ thing was a bake sale sponsored by the Ladies’ Group. Before the sale began, as Betty was bringing her baked goods in, I nabbed a plate of frosted sugar cookies! They never even saw the sales table! Have no fear, I paid for them, dearly, but they had my name all over them! When Judy saw the sugar cookies she said, “Oh, Kim’s favorite!” Nearly I got a pie but realized it was sweet potato and not pumpkin. This means I will have to go shopping to get a pie or two for ThanksLiving day.

Joe snapped up the cherry cheesecake, also made by Betty, as we knew he would. He is a huge fan of cheesecake! I asked if he had plans for ThanksLiving as his family was either gone or spoken for, and he reported he is going to an area ‘retirement’ home he had checked out, for dinner. He told me they ‘interviewed him’ but I bet he is the one who did the quizzing! They called and invited him so off he goes! At least Robbie is coming here to share our feast with us even if Grandpa is not.

Brenda had a bad day Saturday, ended up having to sit down right on the floor in Kohl’s after suffering a dizzy spell. Her son, aged 35, had to drive them home, although he is not licensed to drive. Yikes! They live only a very short way, but what else could they do? Because of those episodes, she usually does not drive and I feel so badly for her with this never ending business. Her condition has something to do with crystals in her brain which will require on-going treatment that is nearly as awful as the episodes. I hate this for her!

If anyone remembers, I had made a fast friend of a visitor to our church during the summer. Her husband was my pastor’s mission counselor in the VA area years ago and now they live in Texas. Ellen was doing the flowers for her friends’ daughter’s wedding at The Club. After we met each other at church, Dick and Ellen came to my house in the afternoon for a quick visit before heading back to TX. They had decided to make Jacksonville their retirement area which I am thrilled about! We keep up with each other and she let me know that after the holidays, they will be coming to Jax to house-hunt. Joanne is on the job, and I think Christine, with whom I used attend the Writer’s Conferences years ago, is helping too. Yay! A new friend!