Weekend photos and then some

It is such a beautiful morning today! Some fishermen pulling in their nets, reminding me of the Bible story when Jesus appeared once more to the disciples after His resurrection...I don't think these men caught 153 fish, though...

Marky came to Easter breakfast and I got him to pose with his grandma, Twila. The Lord works in mysterious ways, as Mark is fairly regular now in attendance for worship

Before the choir rehearsed for the Festival Service, I was able to snap a few photos of the now resplendent chancel, redressed after the stark, black backdrop of Good Friday

He is risen! He is risen indeed! Christos anesti!

Maggie O. and her daughter, Marissa, joined us for sunrise worship and even had time to stay for breakfast. After eating, they were heading to their own church for Bible study and more Easter worship. We have made tentative plans to watch "Waiting for Superman" on Saturday, as both are in the teaching profession. Marissa has decided, though, to pursue the law for her career when this school year is out. Good for her!

The Easter cross, fashioned from the trunk of a Christmas tree, sporting fresh cut flowers for the celebration of the resurrection!

Ron, Sarah, and Josh at the dining room table. Sarah is looking up a word in her Spanish to English translator to come up with the correct description of a certain restaurant, themed around various meats. Apparently English has no such word...It's a restaurant at the Beaches, though, that sounds quite delicious to me! Ron and Sarah are a couple, and Josh is a classmate of Sarah's (therefore defaults as friend to all), both of them studying to be doctors!

Justin and Jesse trying to help Sarah figure out the correct word for this type of restaurant. I guess that is why so many places have foreign-sounding names---English simply does not have a word for it!

Easter Monday

What an awesome day I had yesterday! It just was such a great, great way to celebrate the Resurrection, starting with sunrise worship which was downright pleasant temperature wise. No need for wraps or anything like that during the service. Robbie played the hymns for us, I could hear the pre-service music from the parking lot. Just prior to the service, I got a tap on the shoulder and turned to see Maggie O. and Marissa, her daughter, behind me. They even stayed to have breakfast with us. One of the segments of the service was split between prayer and stanzas of "I Know That My Redeemer Lives" which Ethel coaxed me through. I sang part of it, but for the verses that touch me personally I simply have to listen. Terri T. was a few rows in front of me and she told me later that she was listening for me, and sang when I would sing, and choke up at the same point as me. Since her mom's funeral 5 years ago, she can no longer sing along either.

The breakfast was divine---egg casseroles, fruit, and muffins, plus Judy C.'s home-made sausage gravy over biscuits. Wow! Every year fewer and fewer people attend the breakfast so this plan to not make the pancakes and such is working out better time-wise and money-wise. I did get a giant hug from little Mario, Twila's great-grandson, when he came running straight toward me after breakfast. "I haven't seen you in a long time!", he gushed to me. Absolutely made my day! The choir had to practice our two anthems so I went into the church and was able to get a few photos of the chancel with the lilies and other Easter accoutrement's. Gretchen came to the church as we were going over where to stand and such, and looked so sad. She came over to tell me that her sister had died during the night, someone for whom we have been praying for several weeks. What a great day to go home to the Lord!

We sang two anthems for Easter, the first one as the service began, the last one as the recessional. Justin arrived a bit late, missed hearing the choir sing but stood with me in the back to sing "In Christ Alone", our first hymn. We found a seat and were able to worship together and take the Lord's Supper as well. Several guests worshiped with us, some from Fond du Lac on vacation, and others via friends in the congregation. One lady said she was a former member of GS, had been here with Pastor Prange but got orders away from Jax. Now they are back and will be worshiping with us from now on. How nice is that? Her daughter was able to go out for the Easter egg hunts after church was over. At one point, during Holy Communion, I looked up and saw the next table being served was three generations of one family, including the grandpa who is about 92 years old. It was heartwarming, having them all together again this day!

Right now I am listening to my radio program and laughing my head off, as two of the guys are discussing the devalued dollar, escalating food prices, inflation, price per barrel of oil, and so on. In the meanwhile, the other guy is supposedly broadcasting 'live' from Westminster Abbey, raving on and on about the royal wedding. It is hilarious, the contrast between the reality of the world markets in jeopardy while folks are focusing on this goofy wedding week events. Last night, after all my company was gone, I sat outside with my neighbors for a bit. Some of the ladies are making plans to get up very very early on Friday to watch the wedding. I find this so incredible, because there is little else about which I could care less. I mean, really??? The radio show's point is well taken, noting the fiddling while Rome burns, the world watching this wedding....

Back to yesterday now---after church was done, Justin had to leave for his brunch at The Hilltop, and I took my bouquet of flowers to the cemetery to leave them at Timmy's site. It was quite busy there, many folks visiting the sites of their loved ones. "Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, He is risen!"

Once home, my shoes could not come off quickly enough as my toes were complaining greatly against my shoes. Since we were not dining until about 4:00 pm, there was plenty of time for me to rest my tired bones before the festivities began. Justin came over when he was done with lunch, eating lightly, and did the vacuuming in my room. He put away the scrapbooking paper and such that cluttered the river room and tidied up a bit. That was all I had him do since the rest can wait until he has time. The two grandma's who were coming cancelled but Justin's friend, Josh, came with Ron and Sarah, which was great! He was so thankful to have a home-cooked meal again, and told me, "This was not what I expected to be doing today!" Love it, love it, love it!

Justin took home some leftovers, including most of the sweet potatoes since no one else wanted them. He cleaned the ham from the bone and we divided that up as well, with me planning to make a kettle of soup from the bone sometime later. I gave him some rolls to eat the ham on, but kept some rolls for me to have sandwiches this week. The family he stays with will certainly enjoy him having leftovers to share at the dinner table. The Jellos and such stayed here, as they were mostly enjoyed by me, it's a Lutheran thing! Well, I guess I cannot truly say that as the young people did like the raspberry Jello made with sherbet. They questioned eating it with the main course, thinking it was dessert! Cottage cheese salad was not popular but that's a couple meals for me this week. And what's the difference if I have to throw some out, it does not cost much to make.

Justin served the pumpkin pie (his favorite!) for dessert and all left the table well fed. The kids helped us clear the table and then retired to the 'drawing room' to relax after the sumptuous feast. They stayed a couple hours and we had wonderful conversations, with me getting to know them all a bit better. Jesse has been in my life for many years but the other three not as long. As I mentioned, when they were gone, I went outside to spend the rest of the daylight hours with my neighbors before I retired for the night. Exhausted, full, and quite quite pleased with the day. "Welcome happy morning, age to age shall say...."!

Kicking back a bit

Most everything that can be prepared ahead of time has been, and I am now resting my poor, tired bones. The dishwasher is hard at it taking care of the dishes used to cook with the balance of the pots ‘n pans ‘n spoons waiting in the sink for their turn in the machine. My kitchen looks none the worse for the wear! Since then I have also dealt with a basket of laundry plus washed another load which is safely tucked away in the dryer. Later I will grab my choir pants out of the dryer for tomorrow but since they are a stretchy fabric, wrinkles are not a problem. Some recently hatched ducklings are swimming in the still water below my window, not quite ready to venture further without their parents. They are not yellow like when Cassidy first saw them, and they are not goslings, either, which we originally thought.

Earlier there was a good deal of boat traffic but right at this moment only a few are going up and down the river, with one stationery vessel apparently fishing off the breakwater. Soon it will be the cigarette boats tearing it up and there is no mistaking the noise they make! Sounds like a jet airplane engine as they race past. When I see those boats I often think of the time Tommy and Linda were here and we found ourselves almost in the middle of a poker run on Doctors Lake, when Twila’s grandson had us out on her boat. First Linda was crying going down the dock because she was apprehensive without handrails, and then the actual getting into the boat freaked her out. I believe she liked it once we got going, and then we had to get back to avoid the racing boats coming our direction. One of the entries always has a tiny helicopter escort, matching the boat, which is fascinating to see and hear. Twila’s dock is just before the entrance to Swimming Pen Creek where the boats pull in to get their playing card so we have cat bird seats for that annual show. (Ooooh, there go two bright yellow jet skis shooting out from a nearby dock!!!) I miss that!

It seems I did not say much about the worship on Maundy Thursday. Pastor was the officiant that evening, and we had a nice number in attendance. The tone of the service was appropriately somber, and when the choir members had all partaken of the Lord’s Supper, we were encouraged to sit together toward the back of the church, as it was after the distribution and prior to the altar being stripped that our anthem was sung. Robbie had us work and work until we didn’t know what we were singing anymore, but it certainly paid off when it came time to offer it. Many came up to me (and I am sure the others) to let me know how beautiful it was, thought-provoking and such. Even Robbie’s dad reportedly got misty-eyed and afterward gave me a hug outside of the church in thanks. Of course, we thank Robbie for his efforts with us, and the glory goes to the Lord!

The stripping of the altar in the dimly lit chancel area was beautifully dramatic with Robbie on piano and Sterling on bassoon playing “What Wondrous Love is This?”…The congregation joined in to sing the stanzas and then left in silence. Quite moving and edifying an experience. Later Robbie met me outside and gave me a hug too, saying, “Y’all sounded awesome!” This was not my favorite choral piece when we first began working on it, feeling uncomfortable singing a capella through parts of it. Based on Psalm 130, in fact, almost word for word, with a haunting melody, it turned out just lovely. Fortunately Lynne called Brian to remind him about church as he had forgotten and was just then paying his tab at Ted’s Restaurant on Blanding. Yikes! He is the Head Elder besides our head tenor and was badly needed. Glad Lynne got a hold of him!

Judy J. and I went out for dinner after church, each of us ordering the small stromboli at Aron’s. Man, that was delicious! Perhaps I will eat those leftovers for my dinner tonight…mmmm! We actually dined indoors because we were so warm from church, even me! The A/C was on the fritz and with the day’s temperatures over 90 degrees, well, it was toasty in there. The little boys all came dressed to cute in matching vests but Laurie had to peel them off, as the kids were sweating in their sweaters…So, back to Aron’s---we very much enjoyed our quiet dinner after the service, and were the last two out of the restaurant, even though they close at 10:00 pm.

Friday’s service also lovely and meditative, with Mike C. as the officiant this time. He had handled the service at Keystone Heights on Thursday so they traded for Good Friday. The chancel was dressed in black paraments and banners, the wooden cross draped in black and the crown of thorns over the top of it. On a table before the altar was a tray with seven candles, plus the Christ candle off to the side near the lectern. (I just got gooseflesh when I typed that!). The acolyte lit all the candles but as the service progressed, one by one the candles were extinguished. Very significant and moving. After the last candle on the stand was put out, the lights were turned off and a loud sound was made to indicate the rolling of the stone across Jesus’ grave. (More gooseflesh…) Then, the acolyte carried the Christ candle, still lit, down the aisle and back up again. At that point Robbie, The Maestro, sang a stanza from a hymn, a cappela, and when he was finished, we sat in silence, leaving when we were ready. When Robbie sang, my eyes overflowed, the significance of it all, the lone candle lighting the sanctuary….very very nice!

This a.m. I spoke with Judy C. who was at church getting things set up for Easter breakfast tomorrow. I had gotten an e-mail last night from one of the preschool ladies informing me that the playground would be off limits on Sunday due to new sod being laid on Thursday. Oh oh! Alternative plans would need to be made for the egg hunt which takes place after the Festival service. There is a grassy area between the Fellowship Hall and classroom building where the little ones can look for eggs, although there is little area there for hiding them, and the older kids can go in front of the church for theirs. I am glad that is someone else’s job, to hide the eggs---fortunately.

So, now the meals preparations for tomorrow have me quite weary so I will rest. “House” marathon tonight! Whoo hoo!

Moving the dust around

Patty is busily dusting the surfaces and my collectibles around the house in preparation for Easter. At long last! If she gets done in time, I will be able to meet my neighbors for lunch at La Nop, but if not, no big deal, I would rather have the house dusted than a margarita. Did I really say that? Besides enjoying the social opportunity with Tracy, Cassidy, and MamMa, I also enjoy the beef quesadilla and strawberry frozen drink. I should probably avoid eating the nacho chips with salt because afterward, I swell!

This afternoon sometime Justin will be stopping by to vacuum, a change in plans from the original, as often happens. He has to come to OP to have lunch with his father and his lady friend so instead of having to vacuum on Sunday, he will do it today. He is now going to have brunch with his friend Jesse’s family at an area restaurant after the Festival service on Sunday, and then will come over here to help me get things ready. The original plan was for him to vacuum Sunday since we’d have time before everyone arrived. Today is better yet! Even though I have been invited to an event at UNF with some of my neighbors, I believe I will make use of Saturday for my festival meal preparations. Must pace myself, you know.

Back again---Patty ‘swept’ through the house like her pants were on fire- I do not know how she does it!? I won’t look too closely because certainly some dust will be visible. As I used to tell Martie when I had regular housekeepers coming, “If I wanted it to be perfect, I would do it myself…” After Patty left here, I settled in at my desk once more, only to get a phone call from her. She was still in the parking lot, her car empty of gas! I was going to take her to the gas station to get gas, but neither of us had a can to carry it in, thinking we’d have to buy one. Along came Connie who went to the work shed and came back with a can of gas which she dispensed into Patty’s car. Connie told Patty to pump the gas pedal three times and crank it, and sure enough--it started! I then lead Patty to the Gate Station just over Doctors Lake Bridge so she could fill up. Connie would not take any money for the gas, it was the condo’s anyway, but I will make it up to her somehow.

Since I was out anyway, I went on down the road to Publix to get the fixings for our Easter feast. As I headed into the store I was greeted by some little Boy Scouts hawking some discount cards to be used at area stores, including Publix. At first I declined but then recognized the daddy sitting there with the boys. Of course, I had to buy a discount card from Kyle and Kasey, how could I not? For $5, I got this card of coupons, including the $5 coupon for Publix. I could not go wrong with this and made points with my friends’ kids! As little Kasey told me, “You can go to Chili’s to get the free chips and salsa for lunch!” But not today…I’m busy.

A poor lady was frantically searching for a certain type of ham in the bin, a full-boned ham without any brown sugar coating or something like that. The man came out with boxes of more hams and she was asking him about it. She claimed her father would kill her (yikes!) if she came home with the wrong type of ham. That would not be so far off---a few years ago a man killed his son on Thanksgiving Day when battling over the cable bill! Not sure I would kill over a ham bone or partial ham bone situation. You gotta roll with the punches, so to speak. The meat man then found for me a smaller spiral-cut ham and told me that I could serve it room temperature or bake it for a short while to use the brown sugar packet which comes with the ham.

Also, I got several other items for my menu plus stuff not on the menu, including these little cups of instant mashed potatoes not unlike the mac ‘n cheese cups that I like so well. (From the Buy One/Get One bins). A man was looking at them with me and neither of us had heard of them, although they are Idahoan Brand, so I told him I would be the guinea pig and try it. Hopefully they taste decent because that would be such a blessing for a single person---single-serving meals. Plus, I got some frozen veggies to prepare for our feast and pre-made sweet potatoes over which I will place marshmallow Peeps, as I did last year. Justin’s friend, Ron, loves Peeps so I do this for him!

Back again again! Just got home from lunch with my neighbors, joined this time by their other daughter, Courtney, in from GA for the holiday. She is going to help her mom write a grant for a homework assignment as Tracy works toward her doctorate degree. She took a technology class which included starting up a blog, also kicking her butt. Hopefully Courtney can lend her a hand with this.

When I got back home, Justin was just leaving, even though he did not do the vacuuming. He had to get back to the house at the beach to check the final inspection information and await the delivery of pavers. Justin offered to forgo his brunch with his friends on Sunday to take care of the short list of chores but I assured him there was time between when he gets done there and coming over here. He can fly around just like Patty did and get things presentable before our guests arrive. So, now, I must take my rest before getting ready for church tonight. I hope all are nourished and edified by their Good Friday worship!

"Ah so firsty for somefing brown..."

This is a "Timmy expression", used he wanted to stop at the convenience store for a chocolate milk on the way to school. In my 'stack of stuff' somewhere is a note from a speech pathologist at St. Johns who had done an evaluation on Timmy before Christmas of 2000. She had some recommendations for how to 'train his tongue' so he could correctly pronounce or shape the letters he messed up on. He would call his aunt "Wynn" instead of Lynn, yet would call yogurt "logurt". So, it was not that he could not form the L sound but rather used it in different places than other people did. Just like his piano practices: "I play it the way I want it!" In hindsight, it was not a big deal how he held his mouth when forming his words...Isn't it interesting when all things are put into perspective?

The reason I am "firsty for somefing brown" is that I am fasting until my appointment at Life Line Screening today. At first I was not going to make the appointment for today because it would have interfered with Bible study, but when Pastor told us we were not having class today due to Maundy Thursday services tonight, I was able to make the time. Unfortunately, in delaying the arrangements it was hard for me to get a morning appointment.

Thus, I now fast with drinking only 'moderate' amounts of water until my 2:00 time comes around. Apparently I need to be empty for the abdominal aorta ultrasound, besides the blood work they will do. I pay extra to have the blood work done; it is cheaper doing this with Life Line than at a lab. The doctor always wants more besides what LL does, in regard to the blood work, but it is my choice to do the screenings. The techs use Doppler devices to listen to the blood flow in the extremities, the carotid arteries and so on. Last year I was on north Blanding at the same facility where Kathy B. was waiting, on the same day! I held up the whole show with my 'check-up' because the technician was new and they had to do several of my procedures twice!

For dinner last night, I ate late in hopes to stave off hunger as best I can for today. Wednesdays are the cheap day at McDonald’s, where I can get two cheeseburgers for $1.29 or something like that. I normally stop for those on the way home from choir rehearsal. Justin wonders why I don’t just take the McDouble from the $1 menu, but my theory is that two cheeseburgers, the smaller ones, work better for me than one regular-sized burger, gone in one sitting. Likely I would not be so hungry if I was able to eat but did not, but because I must not, it stirs my growling tummy! No soda either which I would rather have than food.

Yesterday I got busy with the Pledge multi-surface cleaner in my room and took care of cleaning off my night stand. The first book I took off the stand I could literally blow the dust off the top, that’s how bad it is. So unbelievable!!! The same thing happened when I picked up my crossword book from the back of my toilet one day---blew across the pages and disappeared in a poof of dust!! Like a haunted house here!! I use my laptop until I go to sleep, usually, closing the top and placing it on my dresser. Every morning I have to sweep my hand across it to remove the dust settled over night. The same is true for my cell phone, which normally is tucked away in the daytime. Overnight, as it is on the charger, it becomes coated with dust. Unfortunately I cannot blame any pets for this, so must blame myself for having fabrics, paper, skin shedding, and hair gel going on in the same room, plus my doors opened when it’s nice out.

My mouse pad alongside the keyboard on the gas-powered computer was sort of sticky so I used the Pledge there as well. And the mouse, too…ooops! Bad idea! I killed it with kindness, it seems. Off to Office Max I went to get a replacement, plus I picked up a padded envelope for mailing a DVD to Manny for his birthday. The guy wanted to sell me extra coverage in case anything happens to this mouse, but without knowing the cost of the coverage, I refused. For heaven’s sake, it was only $30 for the new one, and then I would buy extra insurance in case something happens to it? I won’t use Pledge on it again, I can safely say. If I had gone to Wal*Mart, it would have cost less for the mouse but I would have likely spent more just by walking in the store!

I think winter is over....

I heard a guy on the radio yesterday report that he has a 'soda cellar' in house the same way other folks would have wine cellars built into their homes. He has an assortment of flavors, not necessarily the fruity ones, but the varieties within the brands, like Coke One, Pepsi Max, and so on. While his friend has a fridge in the garage just for beer, he would like one just for soda. A man after my own heart!

We had choir rehearsal tonight to prepare for our offerings to be sung this evening for Maundy Thursday as well as two for Easter. Justin informed me that he will be coming to Good Shepherd after all on Easter. I had excused him from attending since he is going to sunrise worship, then breakfast at Victory. It was too long between breakfast ("I am not crazy about all that fellowship time....") before the next service starts there so changed his mind about coming to GS. First Sunrise Service at Victory, breakfast, and then over to GS for more breakfast and worship again. He will spend the day with me, then, as our dinner will take place here around 4:00 pm. Ron, Sarah, Grandma Shirley, and Sarah's friend, Meryl, will be joining us around the table. I might ask Judy J. to join us since I have one empty seat remaining, if she has not already made plans.

For church Thursday night, we are not wearing the choir robes but instead, Robbie, The Maestro, suggested we wear dark-colored clothes. Kristi said, "Kim, we have to wear something dark...I don't know if I have anything dark..." but I do, in fact, have a brand-new, never worn black top that I had gotten last year. Whatever possessed me to get a black top when I already had a number of them? I know why, though....My sister, Lori, had one in a different color and it looked so nice on her, that I got one, too! So it will debut for Maundy Thursday.

Tuesday night was Trivia and we took 2nd place this time. The ending question, always a stickler, was to put in chronological order four different events, unrelated. We simply put a smiling face on our slip and bet zero so we would at least place in the running. One group, according to John, the MC for Trivia, actually got them all correct, but whether they actually knew it or just guessed, I do not know. Who pays attention to when the women's soccer team won the World Cup on penalty kicks?? But we pulled some answers out of nowhere and got them right for the rest of the game. I think I blew one answer but I cannot remember right now which one it was. When we play as a team, each of us throws something into the mix, and we rely upon the guys to know sports, mostly Jesse. The questions are often too obscure for even a sports follower to know though, but I did know the answer to first golfer to earn a million dollar prize, by guessing: Arnold Palmer!

Highs of 90 here tomorrow and high humidity for our area. When we got to church for rehearsal, half the parking lot was under water, which means it rained more over there than it did at my house. We did have some rain at the condo, but left little standing water. We have major drainage problems at church from our already wretched-looking parking lot which was dug up to run the plumbing and electrical for the new building. Never filling the areas dug out back in has caused serious problems and frightful appearance, and added a muddy pond when it rains. There were reports of hail in the Argyle area as well during the storm. We had thunder here but I did not see lightning nor did I hear the rain pouring.

My room is sporting a vacuum cleaner with its hose sprawled across the floor, cord extended. The other night before leaving for Trivia, I decided that I was going to clean up the floor around the bed before I put the fresh sheets on, because I drag the cruddlies from the floor into my bed. First I used the dust mop, which is parked now next to the vacuum cleaner and pulled out wads of dust bunnies from under the bed. Darn sweaters! That does not happen when I wear swimsuits, as Justin pointed out!

Angelo, the sweetest baby ever!

By snitching this from Lisa's Facebook page, I somehow cannot get it much larger without distorting it. Might be because she used her cell phone to take the picture but anyway, you get the picture---ha!