Can you take another posting?

Last evening a group of us from The Palace attended the weekly Happy Hour event at The Club. The new room was being used for the Spanish fiesta dinner so the HH was held in the "old" barroom and part of the dining room. They offer free appetizers and supposedly half priced drinks but no one ever check to see if that is true or not. The man who attends our water aerobics was there and fell head over heels in love with Ashley Rose. She is in her 20's, and he is near 70 and a married man, so....oh well, he can dream!

*

The lady I had met a month ago, Sharon, was at HH, and I was delighted to speak with her again. She is a professional photographer, does weddings, graduations, and the like, and is also music director at OP Methodist. A truly delightful lady! She told me about being on a mission trip to SC with the youth group, where they worked to build a wheelchair ramp for a child who had been injured in a car accident. Sharon was so enthusiastic about their work, even about sleeping on the floor in an old Baptist church and using porto-let showers! She is older but not old, if you know what I mean. Such fun!

*

After the appetizer function, none of us had opted to partake of the overly high-priced fiesta, most of us went to sit on the "shelf" at The Palace. Ashley Rose very nicely offered to go to my car and carry my soda cases upstairs for me. I was only going to get one at a time, a "prn basis", but she hauled the whole works up for me. Such service! She then ran upstairs to Ellen's and came down with a blue glass, which I love, and ice cubes for my soda, and Ellen's. It is a cobalt glue stemmed water glass which is often admired by me, so Ellen forced me to take it home. Mo wanted to know where they came from and Ellen confessed that came on room service trays at the Ritz. When asked which Ritz, she shyly, slyly said, "All of them...." So, now I am a receiver of stolen goods and lovin' every minute of it!

*

One of our members is a concrete man, no really, flesh and bones, but works in concrete. Rick took care of pouring the approach and porch for the drop-off area for the preschool, this on the west facing side of the building. This photo was taken during VBS last week.

*

Late afternoon yesterday I had gotten a phone message from Mike K. to report that our new classroom building at church has passed all its final inspections and is good to go! We are done! It is finished! Bravo! Since I could not reach Mike, I called Cliff, our contractor and fellow member, to rejoice with him as well, and offer congratulations. He, too, was pleased and told me that he had a call in to my former spouse to let him know, since the permit was taken out years ago on his license. This has been a long process and now, Mike wants to get people together chop chop to move the church office and the storage building. Once the temporary trailers are emptied, they can be moved off the property and we no longer have to pay for their rent!!!! A huge cost on a monthly basis eliminated. Mike is wondering if the phones are also ready to be moved, because it won't pay to move everything over if the phones and such are not working. Word on that is pending but he asked me to be ready to make calls and contacts to get people there to help with the move. Might be kinda tight to arrange on short notice.......BUT, we are done!!!! Rejoice!

I so prefer waking under my own power

Tuesday morning I was awakened abruptly by something not explained, but I will guess the painters or other workman made a big noise that disturbed my early morning sleep. All day I was out of whack, yawning during water aerobics even though I had tried going to back to bed to try to rest my eyes before going down. Today I was awake before 7:00 a.m., under my own power and my own idea to get up. That feels much much better than waking up with a jerk............

Here is a continuation of Wednesday's pressure washing team outside my patio doors on the third floor of my building, as taken from my river room. You can see how the apparatus is right against the tree. That reminds me, Judy R., remember when that raccoon was in the tree, the night we watched the space shuttle go up, with Chrissy and the scrapbooking ladies????

*

Sunday afternoon and evening was spent poolside with Miss Chardonay who very excitedly reported showing property that afternoon to a friend of mine from church. I had spoken with this lady friend before she left and had not told me she was going to see a townhouse, but she was caught up in dismay about the new liturgy (didn't like it!) and the organ being too loud (no, it wasn't!). I had said, "Oh, I think you are having a bad day", so which she agreed and then left. So when Pat told me they looked at a condo, I was so surprised. The two ladies got into a spat about which of them was my best friend, and I am happy they did not ask me to settle it!

*

As Pat and I wiled away the time poolside, Ellen and her daughter, Ashley Rose, came along with the dogs and sat with us. All three pets were on leashes and are smaller dogs so it was not an egregious violation of the rules. We sat and talked for a while when Ellen reported the advice from our downstairs neighbor that perhaps to help Ellen move on, she should move...WHAT? That is out of the question! Well, what Mo meant was to another unit in the building and I said, "Okay!" Pat, as a Realtor, was able to show the available units to give an idea of the other sizes and shapes, since they are all different. What fun! I saw one upstairs that was totally gutted and rebuilt with all sort of upgrades and such, and barely used after the renovation. It was someone's second home and they seldom came to use it. It was gorgeous!!!! We saw some lovely homes, floor plans, and great ideas. Even saw my upstairs' neighbors furnished and occupied home, which is equally gorgeous. The key thing is that all those other units were empty, making them all the more appealing than one crowded full of collections and "whimsy", as Ashley Rose describes her mom's home!

*

We went to Pat's and enjoyed some time on her patio, with the nice summer breeze moving through her porch. Hers goes the length of the unit which is terrific. I can look down into patio/porch from my river room. After enjoying some refreshments there, we all moved up here to my house, since Ashley Rose had never been here. Ellen wanted her to see my colored glass and my whimsy pieces, which are nothing compared to hers. Normally I do not add my room to the tour because of the condition of my desk, but made an exception for these two ladies.

*Warning!

As I was showing Ellen the needlework piece Lisa made for me, Ashley Rose was sniffling.....she caught sight of the long piece above my door to the river room with Timmy's hug in it. He had laid down and the teacher traced his arms outstretched. On it the teacher wrote: "Here's a hug from me to you. Wrap it around you when you feel blue. Love, Timmy", with the 'Timmy' being in his own penmanship. She just lost it. I told her that I loved that she loved it, and she came back with "I love that you have that!". I then showed them the photocopied version of the original hug which ReddiArts did, laminated, so I can actually wear it as a wrap whenever I want. Pass the Kleenex, please.

*

By the way, Ashley Rose approved of my whimsy because it was organized whimsy, so I got a pass!

Hey, there are men outside my window!! Again!!!

I just came upstairs after several hours poolside and when I opened my door, I heard this roaring sound coming from my house. I thought, "Now what!?!", expecting to be greeted by water rushing across the floor or my A/C on the fritz. But, nope, nothing was amiss---it was coming from outside my patio doors! Just as I came through the dining room, the painter's platform was passing on the way down. Seems a hose popped off the pressure washer or something so they had to go all the way to the bottom to check it out. They got to the neighbor's railing, stood on it, and then jumped the rest of the way down. Yikes!

This man was a bit on the Asian-side, it appeared, because when I spoke to him, he did not seem to fully understand me but answered with broken English with an Asian accent. I asked him what was going on with the water, and he thought I meant the hoses, so explained to me, sort of, about pressure washing the building for painting. Guess I am not the first one to ask that question, but really what I meant was the green water in the river!

When I pointed to the water behind him, he then changed his message to there being too much fertilizer running into the river, making for a green edge along the banks. It was not there this morning so I do not know if this is true or not. I just checked on it, and it seems to be dissipating somewhat. I wonder if is perhaps from the pressure washing and its run-off but I guess it remains to be seen. It is sort of a pretty color of green, though, isn't it?

A good time was had by all!

Monday late afternoon and well into the evening, I entertained my sis-in-law, Nancy, plus her two kids, Tabitha and Uriah. Each had brought along a friend on the big trip from WI, Kim and Cody. They are not staying with me but rather at her older brother's house down the road from me on Fleming Island. That had to be quite interesting having the name "Kim" bandied about those walls during their stay! Much of their time in St. Augustine was interrupted with rainfall and the drive back this direction was in steady rain. They opted to not go swimming so I got out my Apples to Apples game for the kids to play, while Nancy and I visited in the river room. Supper was still baking so it gave us time for adult conversation!

At Winn-Dixie I bought the family-sized Stouffer's lasagna to serve my guests, plus Caesar salad and Italian bread. It was buy one, get one for the Italian bread but I was concerned we would not eat two of those long skinny loaves, but the offer was also for regular loaves. Great! I will have toast for at least a month to come! You cannot really see it but Cody (on the left) is wearing a Lynyrd Skynyrd T-shirt. At some point his traveling partners had told him about my famous neighbors but I don't think that is why he wore the shirt yesterday. Uriah (on the right) was quite a gifted writer, having been published in grade school after writing a poem about his cousin, Timmy, who had died. Now his interests are in architecture.

Here we are, all squished together into the frame, as I lean over toward Uriah, who is kneeling between his mom, Nancy, and me. Tabitha looks like she is going to burst, must have been some good lasagna! These people, even the children, made me feel like a dwarf, with Tabitha soaring already to six feet tall! Uriah is not far behind her and their mom can hold her own when it comes to height. They told me that until Justin showed up at their uncle's house, Tabitha was the tallest in the room! These poor, pasty Wisconsinites all were sporting sunburns, as runs in the family, not so much sun tan as burning right away. Uriah had attempted to put sunscreen on his mom, but as often occurs, he missed several spots, making for interesting tracks and shapes on her exposed back!

*

After our dessert of raspberry shortcake, we quickly cleared the table of dishes and food. I removed the tablecloth to the laundry room and fetched the "Catch Phrase" game from the closet. Well, I will tell you---that was an absolute hoot! The kids really got into it and poor Uriah was so enthusiastic that he was sweating bullets! I DID have the air on!!! (Get it, Mom?) We played several rounds, not keeping score, with me having the most fun watching their faces as they struggled to come up with the suitable descriptions for the word without saying it, and then passing it like a hot potato! I call it "Password and Hot Potato" because that is how it is played! Finally, Nancy said they had to get going if they wanted to get an early start for the Zoo and Kingsley Plantation today. Tomorrow her brother is taking off from work, as will his girlfriend, and they are all going tubing on a river west of here. Joanne always threatened to take me there, but the "constant water temperature of 72 degrees" is not all that appealing to me!

An "oh my goodness" moment!!!

At one point this late morning, I went into the kitchen to get a soda from the fridge, and noticed the painters on my porch. They are such nice, friendly guys so I popped my inside door open to greet them. One man asked me where I had been because he said he "had not seen my smiling face" lately. I explained that when the sun isn't shining, I will not come out to sit by the pool, so that is why they did not see me much last week. Plus, as I noted, they did not work when it was raining!

*

As I was chatting with them, the one man asked me where I was from. I asked him, "What makes you think I am not from here?" and chuckled. He said I didn't sound like it so I confessed to being from WI. Remembering I still had two bottles of water for them, I offered my "guests" a drink, which they accepted. Since they had gloves on, I loosened the caps before handing them over.

*

Stepping back inside, I started a conversation with them through the screen door, regarding the news of the day. I asked, "Did you know that today is the 40th anniversary of the first moon walk?" The one man jumped into that right away with, "I know. I wish that Michael Jackson wouldn't have gone that way....." WHAT? Michael Jackson? What does he have to do with the moon------oh, wait, not 'that' moon walk, the REAL moon, Neil Armstrong on the face of the moon, kicking up dust....It never occurred to me that these men would think I was talking about dancing!!! The one guy said, "Oh, you're talking about the real moon, not the dance floor." Yes, the real moon, reflecting the sun's light to use at night, making living where I do so much more enjoyable! Oh, my goodness, no, not Michael Jackson, no....................

A day which shall live in infamy

No, not the fact that today would have been my 35th wedding anniversary, in a different life, but rather, the first time man walked on the moon! Unless you have missed it, this is the 40th anniversary of the Apollo mission that made it to the moon in 1969. A truly momentous, historic event, I would declare unparalleled in history. It usurps D-Day, the Kennedy assassination and, even the death of Michael Jackson, simply by the impossibleness of the whole idea. I do not know if that is a real word, but it seemed to express it best for me, so totally "out of this world" as far as accomplishments go. Breaking the sound barrier, momentous. Getting into orbit, momentous. Circling the earth in a space ship, momentous. Actually walking on the moon, historic!

*

There is a memorable scene in the movie "Apollo 13" which was about the failed mission to the moon where the astronauts nearly died. The mission was successful, however, as the people in Houston and on the space ship worked together to save the men. The expression, "Houston, we have a problem" is from this movie. The head astronaut, played by Tom Hanks, is sort of looking in the "rear view mirror", as they had to abort and head back toward Earth, and his face said it all. So near, and yet so far. Imagine if the moon landing was taking place in 2009 instead of 1969---Geraldo Rivera would be reporting live from the face of the moon, drawing a map in the dust with his flag staff!

*

I am having company for dinner tonight, as my sis-in-law, Nancy, and her four teenagers are coming over to swim and see my home. She invited me to come along to St. Augustine with them today and while that would have been nice, I fear I would have been a hindrance instead of a joy for them. My brain is rolling, trying to think of what to serve to a large group like this---teens, two of whom are boys---who eat like thrashers, I am sure! My thoughts are to buy the family-sized lasagna from the grocery store and something interesting for dessert. I heard that one of the girls can't have blueberries but I am not much of a blueberry girl anyway.

*

On the northern front, today is the day that my nephew, JR, is leaving "home" after two months on leave, and going to his training center in OK. He is amazed at how quickly two months can pass when on leave and I pray that his training time passes just as quickly. Justin and I were torn about what to get him for his graduation other than money because after being in barracks or dorms in OK, he will be based out of Germany. There will be limits as to what he can take along with him, so we opted for a cash gift. Normally I like to be a bit more imaginative, personal, and original in my gift-giving but hope he had a good time spending it while he was on leave!

*

Neal Boortz was going on and on about the spending bill monies that went out, after visiting the website run by the government, which supposedly tracks where the money went. We have a controversial "turtle tunnel" being funded by our tax dollars in South Florida. Are you serious? A turtle tunnel? And then he went off on a rant about other areas getting federal money which is supposed to make jobs, including monies going to "Manitowoc, MN, for canned pork"! This got my attention....there cannot be two Manitowoc's so he must have meant WI. Sure enough, he came back to it, Lakeside, but I was so excited sending a text message to Justin to see if he was listening that I missed what he was saying about it! While I was texting, Justin called me! He was wondering if I was listening to Neal. I do not think the Manitowoc area stations carry Neal's show on the radio but folks can listen on the Internet like I do. Justin gets it on his iPhone via a podcast. Would the men have been able to land on the moon without the development of these technologies? I doubt it seriously---think I will have some Tang!

What am I talking about?

How can I complain or rather, remark, about being weary and worn out when my friend in IL is expecting 1200 people over four days at their family VBS? I would take it all "back", if I could, but my back is giving me a fit right now. Not to put the blame on VBS, however. The blame goes to carrying up all the groceries yesterday afternoon. I am sure of that! Having a more tired back than painful is the better description, and it seems I really need to do some moving about in the weightlessness, or reduced weight anyway, in the pool at some point. Certainly that would have been a blessing late yesterday when my discs started to nag at me. I must also blame standing at the stove and cooking, and then cleaning up the mess, for the weariness of back I experienced! But, good spaghetti resulted, probably several day's worth of it!

*

For breakfast this week I have been having a piece of string cheese or curds, my form of protein, in order to stimulate my metabolism each day. Stand back, you do not want to be too close when THAT happens. How does one know, though, when the metabolism is stimulated?? I guess losing weight vs. storing it is one good way to measure. Justin, my personal trainer, ahem, ahem, suggested I have some protein first thing in the a.m. My friend and former co-worker, Karen, was a bit taller than me, incredibly thin, and would eat frozen cookie dough as an afternoon snack. Or, entire cream pie from the middle out. And stay thin! It was amazing that we stayed friends as long as we did! It wasn't her fault, it was her metabolism that kept her thin, and what kept her hubby and me so very heavy.

*

During the night I woke several times to hear rain pounding on my windows and gurgling in the drainage pipes which run from the roof to the river. I do not mind hearing that but some of the residents in my building do mind the racket. Minding it is one thing, fixing it is quite another! We are so all about not being annoyed or bothered by things in life, when, hey!, rain gutters carrying water will not do so quietly. At least not during the storm! I guess we could go back to having the water pool on the roof and then leak quietly into our homes again....

This is a picture from the Clay Today newspaper which circulates through the Florida Times-Union. Jean Nichols came up to me at church last week Sunday with this clipped out of the paper, asking me if I was writing for the paper under a different name.....How flattering, because the lady in red is much thinner than me, but nearly everyone she showed it to said it looked just like me!

*

This morning The Maestro is playing the organ as we use one of our newer liturgies from the CW Supplement, Divine Service 1. When I spoke with Suzanne yesterday, I told her I wished that we could have had a run through one more time before the choir sings two portions we have not practiced in two weeks. She is quite confident that we will get it, as she will be playing the viola with us, as well. I told her to play really loudly in case we mess up! It is the exception rather than the rule that the organ is used in our worship so I am tickled to be singing with it today. Justin, when quite young yet, used to say that when he won the lottery, he was going to buy G. S. a pipe organ but the pastor told him he'd better also win someone to play it!

*

Oops, time got away from me so off I go to church for Bible study and worship! I will write more later..............love to all, and enjoy your worship this morning!