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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!

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

A visit from a friend

Wow, these past few days sort of flew by, and I guess I had better get used to it. Things change when it is summer! I can at least claim to have summer-like weather while my family and friends in the north are not being treated to decent weather. In fact, my friend, Mark, who travels for business, reported having temps in the 70's and pleasant as well as rain and ice while in north central Wisconsin a couple weeks ago. Yes, that is about right! He had to go into the hotel for cups of hot water to clear his windshield in order to drive his car. No ice scraper came with the rental car. No ice scrapers needed here, unless one climbs into the pool. Not quite warm enough for this girl!
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Friday I got myself up and dressed for the day earlier than usual. Not because anyone was calling to have breakfast, but because my friend, Randy, from San Diego, was coming to town. I got busy with my duster brush, this time NOT knocking over any of my pretties in the process. Randy was bringing me replacement flowers for those I broke in a previous dusting frenzy. Me and this dust here---I tell you!!!!
The dark green and brighter orange flowers were survivors from the original arrangement. The rest are new!

He called from the airport and got here around the time he had expected to arrive. He sat and chatted for a bit (later telling me that dust is invisible to men...oh great!) after he gave me my bouquet. He told the lady he wanted one of each so I have a lovely array of colors and types of flowers. These heavy glass flowers were hand-carried from San Diego, to Houston, to Norfolk, to Jax, arriving intact!

Randy took his motorcycle battery which had been delivered here in advance of his visit. He needed to have the bike operative to drive it up the ramp into the truck. The day was expected to be more a relaxed one for him but did not prove that way. The battery was minus what it needed to charge it (I don't understand it all) but he was able to take the original battery to NAPA where they charged it for him at no cost. He was so pleased with this good customer service!

Our tentative plans were to go to dinner around 6:00 pm, at Carrabba's. Later, he called me and asked if we could go at 7:00 instead, which is better for me anyway. He was tired so I thought he would want to get to bed early. Anyway, I asked Justin if he'd like to go too so we made arrangements to meet at Carrabba's at 7:00. Justin and I are very fond of being prompt....I will leave it at that! Our meals were great, dining alfresco, and I had leftovers to bring home with me. 

I dropped Randy at his hotel after dinner with no plans to see him in the morning. However, he called me bright 'n early, asking me to meet him at the rental car lot and drive him to Home Depot to pick up the rental truck. Of course I did it, but wouldn't that have been a good thing to figure out the night before?? I just had to laugh...It was a good thing I had no plans for Saturday morning and could get him straightened away with his truck. He also hired some 'inebriates', as he referred to them, through craigslist.com to load the truck for him. Randy was using the long weekend to make the cross country drive with his earthly belongings in the truck. As of this a.m. the report is he made it safely and he thanked me for my prayers for him, as 'they were necessary....' What a guy!

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