The purest form

Yesterday I got the most wonderful message from my friend, Kim, who is the sister of Terri T. We used to go to church together here in Jax but she now lives in NC. She is a gifted artist and demonstrated such with this painting. The top picture is a photograph I took on August 10th and the one below is Kim's painting of the same sunrise. She did a magnificent job reproducing the photograph. I am quite pleased!

Below is a sunrise photograph taken by me in July, and a painting done by my downstairs neighbor, Judee. She has a flair for color, being a student of Hercel Stollard, from whom I took a workshop many years ago. Judee is a prolific artist and has had her work shown in The Club's Garden Room in the past among other places. (I had a piece hanging in The Club once but never my own show). Again, it is flattering to have my photos converted to such lovely pieces of art!

This is a photo of Judee and me painting en plen air at Spring Park, Green Cove Springs, a few years ago

Meet and Greet for Glo

After much planning and multiple e-mails and text messages, the event finally came together. My house was clean, food was prepared (Justin was a busy boy in the kitchen on Sunday!) and tables readied for consumption! Sadly, I got no pictures of the foods other than the cherry pies. Nancy M. came over to help Justin serve and keep things supplied so I could tend to the guests with Kay. Her husband was set up outside at a table to help folks get name tags and to make their donations, if they cared to. 

 Glo is introducing herself as Nancy W. and I look on

 This is Glo posting with Nancy's neighbors, Jeanie, Gail, me, Marsha, and my dear friend, Kathy H.

 Kay and I stood with Glo in my living room. Kay was the co-hostess for the event, using my house since I have more room. It was my pleasure! Those invited were people from our property and we estimated about 35 came, which was manageable for my rooms.

Justin was really the man of the hour with folks just loving the foods he made. Besides the little cherry pies he made pepperoni pizza puffs and his wonderful ham and Swiss sandwiches. Glo loved the food so much that she asked if he could make something for the victory celebration next week. He said he would be glad to make the pizza puffs again. This is Justin and me with Glo, and Jimmie, who is a neighbor and is also the man from whom I bought my condo! His wife said she might not mind having it back. Let's talk!

Before too many people got away, the photographer got a group of us together for this shot. Right behind me is my friend/dentist, Peggy, and her hubby is barely visible back by Justin. The others are my neighbors, some from my building and others from buildings on the property. 

Justin's miniature cherry pies. So very glad there were some leftover!

Nothing but color today

The day started out with this lovely color-streaked sky but ended up pouring down rain before we even got out of church. Nuts! I miss my pool friends and the time spent there. I'd much prefer the rain fell during the week or when we're sleeping but I have nothing to say about it. I am so grateful for this view and this morning sky, however. 

For some time I had lamented not having gotten a picture of my bedroom at the lake house. Last night, I came upon a pack of photos and found this one. My painter, Jeff, had managed to match the colors of my dust ruffle and valances for the wall paint, each of the four walls a different one. That poor guy!  The room was quite long, had been a rec room for the previous owners, so I had a partial wall built to break up the room and add a sitting area which also served as bathroom access from the pool. When I asked Jeff to paint this side of the partition wall in stripes, he thought I was crackers, but he did a marvelous job of making it so.

The blessing of the Internet

It's a love/hate relationship sometimes between humans and the electronics in our lives. The non-millennials struggle often with cell phones, computers, TVs, electronic reading devices, office equipment, and even kitchen appliances. It is quite frustrating to be outdone, and undone, by things which are supposed to make lives simpler or better. Or more efficient. 

I am extremely thankful for all the things like this in my life and am especially thankful that I have a son who lives with me, running interference between me and my machinery. This skill and ability also makes Justin a highly popular fellow here on our property as he provides his skills to other non-millennials. 

Tonight he hooked up his computer to our living room TV to show the preseason Packer game while we enjoyed a lovely meal of subs from Publix. Life is good on the river, and a Packer victory would be nice, as well. 

Making things ready

Earlier this week I had my friend, Marlena, here to help with some cleaning for the upcoming event. Actually, what she did for me would not figure into the Meet 'n Greet but was something which I could no longer tolerate---dust in my room! This area would not be open to visitors at all but it's where I spend most of my time, which is likely why it gets so dusty. Because I was tied up with getting other things ready, I got her here as my designated duster. She doesn't mind climbing around on the ladder and reaching the high stuff which I cannot.

Tomorrow my friend, Owene, is going to bring her lady here to do the rest of the cleaning in the formal rooms. Marys is an Haitian refugee befriended by Owene who has been desperately seeking employment for Jean and Marys. They have 8 children, not all of them here, with one being in high school. Earlier this summer I was able to donate some castoff clothing to this family and now am able to employee Marys for a couple of hours. She does not speak much English so I had sent a list of what I'd like done to Owene who then sent it to the daughter who can translate for her mom. This should be interesting, and far, far different than when Marlena is here. Wow, she talks more than I do!

Justin and I decided to not go shopping last night because of the storm, and not wishing to miss the Jaguar game. Football is football, we don't care if it's preseason or not. Sadly, the Bears beat the Jags by one point, one point!! It so easily could have gone the other way but alas, twas not to be. Oh well....

So, anyway, I agreed to do the shopping alone today in order for him to have all the ingredients he needs for his recipes. Justin wrote me a list, but not your ordinary list---his was written so that it takes me directly to the location in the store where the items is located. An example is, when entering the store you bear right past the BO/GO items. I can throw them in the cart even if not on the list, right? Anyway, next he lead me to the deli for the Swiss cheese and ham, and down the aisle to the Hawaiian rolls, and so on. He knows his Publix layout that well!

Connie helped me carry stuff upstairs, at least the refrigerated and necessary items. After a rest, I went down to get some more. She is such a good helper, especially at times like this. Today she washed off my doors from the outside and hosed the area around my door, at her own suggestion, so it's nice for the gathering on Monday. That saves me a job, and I appreciate her help. 

A crazy summer storm!

Justin and I are waiting for this wild storm to wrap up before we head to Publix. It has been thundering like nuts and lightning right on top of the thunder, rattling the windows and my nerves. My friend, Cindy, reported that another storm has just left her area so we are getting another wave right now. We lost our power a couple of times which nicely takes the Internet with it. During The Five, mind you! Interrupted Linda's and my conversation mid-sentence!

This was the sky which greeted us this morning, as captured by my neighbor, Sharon. I had taken a photo before she took this one and it was lame by compare. She is a pro and it shows!

Tonight we are shopping to get our supplies to make for a political function being hosted here on Monday night. My next door neighbor, Kay, asked me to help her since her house is smaller than mine. Justin is quite excited because he is interested in politics, plus he's been planning items to make for appetizers. Kay is making stuff, too, and took care of distribution of the invitations which I made up. We are quite the team! Glo Smith is running against Corrine Brown and has my full support!

Cleaning has been going on here, badly needed, including me breaking the rules and climbing on the ladder to polish up my kitchen cabinets. Whew, what a job that was! Yesterday I did my curio cabinet which was badly in need of dusting. I have a burned out light on my chandelier and I think it needs the attention of an electrician because the socket might be bad. Will have to get along with one bulb out. Hope no one notices...

We have plans to watch the Jaguar game tonight so I hope the storms let up soon enough to allow for shopping and getting home in time to watch the game. Justin can't stay up long enough to see the end and I am not sure I will either, but we'll see. It starts at 8:00 pm so we'll watch Jeopardy! first while we eat dinner and then start watching the game. Go Jaguars!

Such goofy weather

This morning we had something quite unusual occur during our water exercise class---we got 'thundered out' of the pool!!  It's not unusual to have this happen in the later afternoon but it is extremely rare for 10:15 in the morning. The lifeguard, Tiana, summoned us out of the water as soon as she heard the second roll, being in compliance with the pool rules. 

We grudgingly sat on the side at first...and then someone had the terrible idea of exercising out of the water. What???  The ladies grabbed their foam barbells and away we went. After a certain point we realized it was harder to do our routines out of the water! We thought they were strenuous enough in the water and they were worse yet on dry land. Nancy L. said doing them hurt her shoulder and I didn't want her to feel bad about sitting out, so I joined her. I am the best friend (and not interested in dry land jumping jacks!).

This morning's sunrise

When I got back up to my house, the weather was changing rapidly. I was not happy about that because I was meeting a friend for lunch at Ruby Tuesday on Fleming Island. I'd made this date with her in July before going to WI and had looked forward to seeing Lisa. She is a consultant for Creative Memories products which is now operating under a different name since being sold. She showed me their new line of products, gave me a brochure so I can show it to Judy C. who used to deal Creative Memories years ago under Lisa's team. I was glad the rain let up before I had to drive home again. Crazy weather!

My sister, Kerry, works ridiculous hours at her job, first working day shift, then several days of 2nd shift, and then a couple more of 3rd shift. She already has troubles with her sleep habits and this is exacerbating the problem for her. She reached out to me via my Facebook page asking my friends and me for advice on sleep helps. Many of them did come through with ideas including many she'd already tried and some she's not. One person suggested some sort of essential oils to aid her sleep. Sleep is essential too! I feel so badly for her because I know how I am when not getting sufficient sleep. She needs to be at the top of her game for her work and not nodding off when she's on duty at the State Hospital switch board. I will pray she finds the help she needs for getting decent sleep and a more regular work schedule soon.