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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, March 4, 2012

I walk the line

It was a great Sunday! Sadly, not any football to watch, and "The Godfather" anniversary celebration had wrapped up, acknowledging 40 years since the first movie came out. I would find something to do!

On Saturday I watched much of the "Saga" version, which has I and II combined, set-up to play in chronological order rather than in flashback style. Scenes which were edited out in past releases were added back in for the "Saga" which helps with some character development. 

Sunday morning I got up and readied myself for Bible study and worship, arriving in time for the class. It was a chilly start to the day and several asked me why I was not wearing my red coat or a sweater. Because I am nicely warm in my house, I don't realize what it's like outside until I hit the door. However, I did not freeze as I took my 'dinner jacket' from the car to cover with.

We had decent attendance for worship, including some visitors from Saginaw. Several of our members hail from that area so they were well welcomed. The sister of the couple visiting lives in Green Cove Springs so I gave her a first time visitor bag in hopes she will continue coming.

Judy C.'s son, Billy, her oldest, celebrated his 50th birthday with a somewhat surprise party over the weekend. He escorted his son, David, to tour UF for graduate school, which brought them down from Fayetteville, and they slipped the birthday surprise in on him. Judy's daughter-in-law, granddaughter and grandson, then, attended worship with Mike and she, while Billy was spirited away by his school chums for a fishing trip. I know Judy would have loved having him come to church but his buddies had other ideas.

After church, Judy asked me to join them for lunch, and when I hesitated, she said, "You won't be imposing..." as she knew what I was thinking. Justin had left worship right after taking communion because he was meeting his friend, Jesse, at the movies, so I was on my own. Sure, I'll go to Chili's!!!

As I drove over there, I got a text message from Justin, telling me that Jesse overslept and they were not going to make the 'cheap'-ticket time for the movie. He asked if I was going to lunch and if he could join me. At the stop light I wrote back, "Chili's" and "Join us". He wrote back, "I am already in the parking lot!" Are we predictable or what??? 

Joi treated the entire table which I did not expect and was so thankful, though feeling awkward having added Justin to the mix. She allowed me to leave a part of the tip. Loved discussing politics with this tableful of like-minded folks. David and his sister, Jessica, are both college-aged, with him looking at law school. She graduates next spring from veterinary school, interning this coming summer. Nice kids, that's for sure.

The rest of the day was spent at home, where I worked on consolidating the Ladies' Group records. Eventually I moved to the family room where I could spread out on the table, shuffling papers from binder to binder. I put in a movie not yet seen, "Walk the Line", the story of Johnny Cash. Joaquin Phoenix plays Cash and does a bang up job of it. 
                                                 
Some of the records, the paper ones, date back to 1995 and when I began to sort through them, nearly reeled from a pungent odor. Was it urine? No, not really that kind of smell...It took me a while to realize it was a cigarette smoke smell. At first I thought I was imagining it since the movie had a good deal of smoking in it. Silly me! I don't think the ladies who were president over these 17 years were smokers, but their husbands might have been, at least two of them that I know of. Simply storing the records where someone smoked would cause this. 

When still in business, the blueprints returned after the subs had done their bids would sometimes stink up the office, which bothered Betty's asthma. Having kept the prints in their smoke-filled trucks, they'd pick up the odor in the folds. We'd sometimes lay them out to 'air' in the conference room before Betty could work with them again. Phew!

As I worked on the binders and watched the movie, I also prepared a dinner for Justin and me. I am trying to use up my freezer foods so cut up some Italian sausages into cubes (easy to do when they are partially frozen), browned them with onions, and added spaghetti sauce. I mixed in angel hair pasta and ta da!, a lovely dinner for us. We had French style green beans with our Italian sausage---International fare!

Saturday, my friend, Christie, living in Paris as an 'au pair', posted a photograph to my Facebook page of the Opera House. It was made more famous by the book, play and movie, "The Phantom of the Opera". So thoughtful of her, remembering how much I adore the movie. After dinner, when I checked my phone which was charging, I listened to a phone message from my friend, Jackie, who had called to tell me "The Phantom..." was on PBS. I did tune in to watch it about halfway through, but switched away during the fund drive portion. 

So, I spent my weekend between "The Godfather", country music, and ended with opera---vast and varied tastes, throwing in a silent movie for interest. It was funny, Saturday, when waiting for the movie to begin, as Carol, Mary, and I chatted. I mentioned how I miss watching football on Sundays and how I watched endless "Godfather..." movies this past week. Mary said, "Football, Godfather...who ARE you?" An enigma!