Life is just a day at the beach

The day began early as Martie and I headed to the beach, stopping first at Publix for sandwiches and other refreshments. We'd decided to go early in the day as she needed time later for preparing to go to her son's house for the week. Mark is in Washington, D.C. participating in a police honor guard competition. She says the Jax group usually gets quite high "marks", (little play on words there) so I'm anxious to hear how they do. Martie plans to use her time away for reading, doing some water color painting, and basically, taking care of the kids when they get home from school. Like old times for her!

Here's a photo of Martie, mixing paints on her pallet in my studio
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So, anyway, there was plenty of room to park on the beach, as we arrived well before noon. Once set up, the two of us settled in to soak in the rays. The sun actually played a bit of hide 'n seek for us, which was sometimes welcome. Our sandwiches were delicious, nothing like a Publix sub! After a certain point, it became necessary for us to make our way into the ocean to.....let's see, how should I say this?...warm the water in a couple spots. One of us made it out far enough to take care of business but the other, who is not fond of water, sort of didn't get out deeply enough. I made sure she got 'flushed', you can't go around without flushing, this would be bad manners! Somehow this sounds "Seinfeld"ish.....

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Once back home, she left to take a shower and I carried my stuff upstairs. Grabbing a book and soda, I made my way back down to the pool where I could rinse the sand off. This water, too, was still cold-feeling to me, although a lady last night claimed it was "warm"....it's all relative. Lisa called while I was in the water so I called her right back. She's wanted me to listen to her message but instead called without hearing what she had to say. Seems she tried my trick of using her 'shelf' to hold her MP3 player but it kept slipping out! Funny! Somes got it, somes don't!!!

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I called Linda back, too, after she'd left a message while we were beaching. She's celebrating the graduation of Jennifer from nursing school with a special dinner tonight, going to Court House Pub. Go, Jen! She is moving to Madison, taking her husband and twin girls with her, but Linda is comforted knowing they'll have frequent visits down the road. My heart hurts for Linda--she just adores those girls, and was happy to be there to help out while Mason and Jen were in college.

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Before Martie and I headed out this a.m., my downstairs neighbor approached me in the parking lot, trying to entice me to serve on the condo board. Just like Frasier! Well, this does not interest me in the least--if the Art Guild Board was affecting my bliss, what would happen being on the condo board??????????????????? Instead, though, she offered some alternative committee (there's that word again) work to be done, suggesting social planning or newsletter writing. Cha-ching! We have a winner! I'll be more than happy to publish a newsletter for The Palace. Now, to come up with a catchy title and tag lines. What's one more newsletter?

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Judy R. in Winona wrote me how much she enjoyed watching "August Rush" so I rented it later this afternoon/evening. Wow! It was fantastic, VERY moving and full of hope. I loved it, loved it, loved it! She downloaded some of the music for her iPod already. Where they got that precious child who played August, I don't know, but the casting was absolutely brilliant. Four thumbs up on 'August Rush'!

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I'd been considering going to see "Made of Honor" but Justin warned me the reviews had been just terrible, so guess I'll wait 'til it comes to TV. Too bad, because it looked like it might be cute. According to Justin, the movie is promoted as being a "chick flick" but then ends up being something guys would lean toward. The reviews all claimed it was predictable, and more than a little bawdy. Hopefully by TV time it will be cleaned up and presentable enough to merely entertain, rather than only titillate.

I got so caught up with the Lisa thing.....

...that I forgot to mention a few things.

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This morning was 'take-down' day at Village Gallery so off I went. Dee asked if I'd get Michael's and Kris's work, too, while there. A nice lady helped me load the GIANT painting of a woman Kris did in 3-D. We had to lay my seats down flat to get her in. It was as tall (or short!) as I am, hard to carry on this windy morning!

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I took their stuff out to Hang Ups, as I was also taking Justin some money for buying sodas on the golf course. Jesse and he are taking part in a golf outing on this hot day, not thinking about the beverage cart that comes around. Justin saw my completed and framed acrylic piece, and really liked it. Frankly, I do, too!!!! This is the acrylic painting I started and then wanted to tear up into pieces, scattering it on Blanding Blvd. Between Justin and Dee's influence, it was saved from disposal and became what some consider as "art". Great Hang Ups was quite busy when I arrived so I simply carried the pieces in and bid a hasty retreat.

"A New Day" This piece is also shown at the bottom of my blogsite with "The Doors of Santorini"

Last night after the Building Committee meeting I stopped at the computer to check for e-mails before going to bed. When I click on the Profile page of my site and view the list of My Favorites, the underlined items, when clicked, direct me to other people's blogs with similar interests. Someone else liked "The Bucket List" so I started reading her blog. Very, very interesting! I left her a Comment saying we had similarities including the "problem" with being hooked on Diet Coke!

She wrote back, thanking me for Commenting. She'd also posted a Top 10 list of reasons to be "happy" so I was FORCED to write back, sharing my thoughts on happiness. Jami replied, thanking me for my assessment that joy in the Lord trumps the transient, elusive thing called "happiness". She lives in TX, is a psychologist working at a prison......I'll bet you can see how this is going to go! I think there is a chance for a long-distance friendship. How cool is this??

My brain was exhausted from the meeting, a good meeting, yet tiring. I got ready for bed and while going to the Preview channel on TV, ended up with local news. Oops! The story was a police officer relating the details of a traffic accident he came upon, how he helplessly stood by as a man burned to death in his overturned truck....oh, my goodness! In his 26 years of service, he'd never experienced anything as horrible as this, and will certainly be marked by this the rest of his life. This driver had swerved onto the median, and then ended up going the wrong way on A-1-A, hitting three vehicles coming toward him. The first truck he hit caused that driver to be ejected and then his own truck rolled onto him, crushing him to death. Bystanders struggled to push the truck off of him but it was too late....

So, as I lay in bed, trying to find a program to lull me to sleep, I had this horrible, sinking feeling inside of me, quite unsettling. The Prayer Chain had been activated earlier for a member in the hospital, but she'd called in the afternoon with an "all clear". Couldn't be that, right? I went over events of the day---had I said something I shouldn't have? Did I miss an appointment? Is there a deadline I forgot about? Had there been a close encounter in a restaurant or store? Hmmmm, what was it causing this creepy feeling?

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Then, suddenly it occurred to me: the news report about that man burning alive in his truck.....My heart aches for the driver in his suffering the way he did, for the officer/witness who tried but couldn't, for the other man killed by his own truck, the other cars involved and people injured, for anyone who had to treat people, rescue them, or remove them from the scene.....Why did it take me so long to figure out the cause of this upset? That's upsetting, too!

Poor Lisa!

Justin informed me first thing this morning that Lisa had trouble with the boys yesterday....he read Lisa's blog! Good boy! They took off on her and ran down the street, fortunately not in the road itself. She was scared, they were scared when she caught them, and a very somber mood was set for the evening. Lisa held her ground and wouldn't take them to "MacDonald's" as they'd planned. The boys knew they'd messed up and messed up good. Later both told their mama they would listen to her from now on.Does this look like that face of a child who would be so naughty when he's four????? He needs a shave........

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It's challenging being a Mom, no matter what age the kidlings are. How interesting this happened just prior to Mother's Day when moms are being reminded about how "good" we are, how "good" our kids turned out, what "good" examples we set.

I remember a sermon once when I was working in the nursery at church, and Justin was being a beast!!! The sermon went on and on about what a good mom or parent is, what God expects of us, the joy of parenthood, and so on, while I'm being pelted with cars and toys and books.......I think that's the most inadequate I've ever felt in my life!

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If memory serves, the three of us went to lunch at Ryan's Restaurant that day, my favorite at the time, where I had WI cheese soup, enjoyed the buffet, the yeast rolls, and ice cream. We went home, then, and Justin took a lovely, long nap. I read the newspaper and watched TV, peaceful and calm-like. I also remember feeling a tad guilty that I enjoyed being a mom more when my child was sleeping!

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When he got up, his father tended to him, and we decided to go out to Villages of Fireside to the model home pool and go for a dip with John, Mona, and JR (who is 3 months older than his cousin, Justin!) (turned 21 on Wednesday at West Point Academy!!). I believe our partner in business, Curt, was there, too, and we swam for awhile. All of a sudden we saw something strange in the water and got out quickly. Was it a snake? Not the right color....What is that thing??? Here it was the insides of a diaper, the gel stuff which serves as absorbent, and had freed itself from one of the diapers!!!!! What a good laugh that was!!!! No matter how you look at it--the stuff inside of diapers is plenty scary sometimes!

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After choir the other night, I chatted in the parking lot for a bit with another member. She told me something horribly frightening happened at their house that early a.m. It seems their 3-year-old son likes to roam the house when all are asleep and raid the office or kitchen, looking for nothing but mischief. His dad discovered in the morning that the child's bed was just loaded with kitchen knives!!! He'd gotten the knife block off the counter and was playing with the knives in his bed, with one jammed in an upright position where one false move...............I can't say anymore.............

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They've had to install a lock on the outside of his door so he can't go on a mission like that anymore, can't cut his hair or the dog's hair, can't mess with stuff on Mom's desk or put anything into the shredder, including his fingers.......I wouldn't trade places with them for anything! I'm too scared now, wwaayy too scared!!!

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On the bright side of memories: when Justin was a bit older, about 5, I was working nights at Sprint, his father took him shopping for Mother's Day gifts. He chose a beaded necklace, a little bag of M & M's, some Certs breath mints, and a tube of Chapstick. All these gifts carefully selected for his mama! Aw....he always gives gifts from his heart.

I was just laughing my fool head off again....

Watching "Seinfeld"---again!!! And I swear, I was roaring with laughter. I hope I didn't make any circus animals charge, roar, or otherwise bolt for cover. Let's see---where to begin??? Jerry is dating a Romanian Olympic gymnast and accompanies her to the circus where her friend or what have you works as a tightrope walker....in the meantime, Kramer has GREAT discomfort as he deals with a kidney stone......The group discovers that George sees fit to totally undress when doing his duty in the "office".

Meanwhile, Elaine's boss, a wealthy elderly man involved in a merger is hypnotized by a computer-generated 3-D painting that Kramer left with Elaine at her office. He sends Elaine to take care of business while he tries to 'see' the hidden picture-in-a-picture. Kramer ended up going to the circus with Jerry even though he's afraid of clowns. And what's at the circus besides clowns and aerialists??? Lions, elephants, tigers, horses....

All of a sudden at Madison Square Garden the most frightening, horrendous cry echoes through the halls and under the Big Top----Kramer passes his stone in the men's room!!!!! The sound he makes causes people to drop their drinks, spill their popcorn, cover their ears, and greatly disturbs all the animals! You have to see it to appreciate it!!!!!

George finally finds a suitable, lovely girlfriend but totally disgraces himself when meeting her mother by eating an eclair which was tossed into the trash---mom caught him! As far as she's concerned, George is a bum! He tries to make up to the girlfriend and is bringing flowers when he "accidentally" throws coffee onto the windshield of a guys' car. The guy makes him clean it off, holds the bouquet for George as he wipes the windshield with newspaper. Here comes Mom down the street, and spots George acting like the guys that run up to cars at stop lights and want to wash the car windows for money!!! Again, he's a bum!!

He gets back in good with the girlfriend, gets another chance, and blows it completely when they go to her mom's house for a cocktail party. He uses the bathroom and got so hypnotized by a 3-D picture in the bathroom that he forgets to put his shirt back on, struts out of the bathroom in the middle of this party---no shirt!!!! Elaine's boss has to go to an emergency board meeting wearing his horse-riding apparel and has gotten some ink on his top lip. The last thing we see is him giving this very dramatic speech, looking just like Hitler, including the hand in the air.......What do my neighbors think is going on in my house???

A blogger is born!

My niece, Lisa, has begun her own blog, crediting me with being the inspiration. Aw, shucks! She calls hers: My life....I Love It! A girl after my own heart. When Lisa was younger, she spent many days with me, eventually was able to field telephone calls for our business. Lisa gets many compliments (or at least she used to!) concerning her phone manners, as does Justin. They were trained by the best! My name tag from Sprint claimed: We Are the Best at Serving Customers!! That's a lot to live up to! And my two prodigies are up to it! Visit Lisa's site, but remember she's 'in development'.

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Yesterday I watched an episode of "Seinfeld" where Elaine dumped a perfectly good boyfriend because when taking a phone message for her, he didn't add the appropriate exclamation point.......Later, at the publishing company, Elaine's boss scolded her for keeping or adding too many exclamation points to a manuscript she was editing. I have a thing for exclamation points, perhaps I use them frivolously, too, as Elaine was accused! In case you hadn't noticed....

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Last night was Bible Bites and choir rehearsal. I barely got to church on time but still had to set up tables and chairs when I got there. Debbie was wandering around, not knowing if she should set up the tables and chairs, etc. I grabbed the chairs and got them out so once she had the tables up, we made quick work of putting our food out and got ready for class. Pastor was meeting with someone in church so wasn't there right away. We had a "short" group last night but the lesson was still quite good. "How to Interpret the Bible" is our course of study....just when you think you've got it all figured out....

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At choir, we practiced our quite simple "Jesus' Little Lamb" for Mother's Day and then were given a new piece to be sung on Confirmation Day, June 1st. Robbie asked me to sing the first verse as a solo and I agreed. Gulp! At least it's not a weeping song, or I'd have never said "yes". The song is Psalm 63, which we've sung before, so I'm familiar. THIS will be our big finish for summer!

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It's so nice out today, a little bit hazy but still the sun warms me. I think by the weekend it will be in the 90's. Saturday might just be the perfect day for a ride to the beach! I think my schedule is clear that day. Have to see what Judy is doing, as she enjoys the beach, too. My other beach partner, Joanne, is out of town so not available to vegitate on the sand. Friday night is scrapbooking and I haven't put my stuff away from yesterday's cropping yet. Maybe I'll ask if the folks would rather come up here than all the way to church...good idea!

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Time to meet my boy and Dee for lunch so perhaps you'll see more from me later on! Ta Ta!

Boy, it's noisy around here today!

My ears are being treated to a variety of stimuli today, beginning early in the morning. First thing I could hear a heron honking at something unseen by me, perhaps just trying to get attention. Since it's so nice outside and no rain forecast, I can safely sleep with the river room doors open, which allows sound to travel easily into my bedroom.

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Earlier I was text messaging with Justin and told him about all the commotion going on around me. The barge holding the scoop shovel for dredging the harbor was being moved, causing lots of racket and water spray. At the same time, a red helicopter was circling round and round straight out from my window, apparently on some sort of maneuver. Upstairs has the sounds of kitchen and bathroom cabinets being torn out and hauled off, and ceramic tile being chiseled out. The wind is blowing quite hard, causing the trees to rustle madly. Besides the exterior noises I have my radio on and the printer printing so its downright cacophonous around here!

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But, it's not a bad racket, these are the sounds of activity and living. One of my neighbors asked me last night what the noise level was in my condo (regarding the demo work going on above me) and I said, "It's just the way I like it!" She nodded and said, "That's why we like you. No complaining!" Thanks, Mo, for the kind words. Hey, who hasn't gone through renovations and updating in their homes? Of course there's noise accompanying the improvement of our homes, and the good thing is, the dust mainly stays upstairs!

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I hadn't seen all my neighbors since getting back and yesterday discovered that the man at the end of my promenade was in a wheel chair! He must be in his 70's, married to a younger woman, a delightful lady (by younger, I mean she's probably my age.....). Jack had a brain tumor, diagnosed and operated on after I left for WI. His wife and the physical therapist were helping him learn to walk again, up and back on the promenade. He has to learn to use his left hand again, too, but I saw last night he was enjoying a glass of wine with the rest. When he saw me coming he called out, "Hi, Doll!" Nothing wrong with Jack!! The love between them is truly evident, you can see it when she looks at him and he pats her knee, saying "I love you" with a touch and glance, because he has troubles with his speech yet. I'm saddened to see him like this, but with the care he's getting, I'll bet he'll back on his feet in no time!

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We had a small gathering at Ladies' Group last night but had a spirited and delightful time with those who did make it. Janet adds so much to any event (I introduced you to her back in mid-January) and we had good laughs. The topper, though, was Renee bringing Twila, Jean and me each a bottle her husband's home-made lemoncello, made with fruit from their own tree. Wow! What a treat! He also makes some using oranges instead but I've never tried that one. Oh, yummy! It was sad to hear that his mother died recently so he's up in OH tending to her funeral and settling of her affairs. I'll get a card off to him as soon as I remember.

Renee is laughing so hard, I hope she's sitting on a towel! Janet has her eyes closed, but appears to be having a good time, too!!! These were taken at the CHRISTmas party held at my home. What a hoot!

You can't hear me yawning, I hope!

All of a sudden I am bone weary! Justin and I had a great day today, worshiping together at Victory, seeing many folks I hadn't seen in a while (probably since Lent!) and singing with an exquisite pianist. It was "Favorite Hymn Sunday" where we sang hymns chosen by members. Rachel played the entire service on the grand piano this week.

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I didn't have to raise my hand, because, guess what! My favorite, from the short list of "my favorites", was already printed in the service folder....."Be Still, My Soul". Justin knew this my favorite, also knew it would make me cry....but not until the 3rd stanza. BUT, I choked my way through:

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"Be still, my soul: when dearest friends depart, And all is darkened in the vale of tears,Then shalt thou better know His love, His heart, Who comes to soothe thy sorrow and thy fears. Be still, my soul: thy Jesus can repay From His own fullness all He takes away."

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Not only the surrendering of Timmy to heaven, just, other things, other people, other situations, and the calming reminder about just who's in charge around here! This was also the theme of Phil's sermon today: Bring it On!!

Justin knows this hymn is one of 25 or 30 that I've chosen for my funeral, but is mostly likely #1 on my hit parade of hymns. You will need to set aside at least a half day for my funeral, as I've picked so many hymns and all of Philippians 4 for the readings......My downstairs neighbor plays piano and I can often hear her playing "Finlandia", the tune for this hymn. "Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast"---not a simple task in this household!!!

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Years ago when we had a regular "live" organist at our church, I'd ALWAYS request "Be Still...." as my favorite. Kathy would usually play it for me either before worship or during, and when I'd turn to look at her, she'd smile the acknowledgement, knowing she knew it was my favorite...and she often played "Amazing Grace" for Bruce, again, knowing it was his favorite. I mean, really, can you go wrong playing either of those two hymns for worship?

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So, anyway, about our day.....we rode together to Joe's Crab Shack and had to wait only a short while before a table became open on the deck. It was well into 80 degrees and I was loving it! Ah, yes....Joe's in the sun---it's a beautiful thing!

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Justin ordered from the new menu and I had, of all things at a seafood restaurant, a cheeseburger! Yesterday I was dying for a cheeseburger but couldn't go out until late in the day, so today was the day! I didn't care for the fries, but did see a young lady with an ear of corn. Our waitress very nicely provided me with an ear at no charge-----she lent me an ear!!!! Oh, brother!! I wasn't ready to leave my table in the sun yet, so we ordered a dessert...for me, a root beer float and for Justin, key lime pie. He likes it so much better than the Publix version with nuts on top.

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On the way out, I ran into someone I knew, go figure! Judy J.'s grandson and his uncle, along with some of his uncles' concrete crew, enjoying a day at the beach! I didn't recognize Louis at first with his dark glasses on, but once I did, he got the stuffings hugged out of him! It was his sister and her husband who stayed here while I was in WI. Small world? Maybe....

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Once home, Lisa called to fill me in on Manny's party for his 3rd birthday. His pirate-themed decorations and cupcakes were a hit, and he loved his gift from me. It's supposed to be used for displaying or storing stuffed animals but he'd rather play with it his way. Okay! While talking with her, Gretchen beeped in so I spoke with her for a bit. She was wondering why I wasn't at Good Shepherd today---hoping I wasn't sick or something. Sweet Gretchen, checking in on me! She also complimented me on this month's newsletter which is being sent to her sister in CA as we speak.....Her compliments are sincere and much appreciated!

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Off to bed to watch the next video in the series of "Pirates of the Caribbean"...Linda H. loaned me #1 and #2 so I can catch up and when I am, Leanne and she are coming over here to watch #3 together. I finished the first one today, had the tiniest bit of trouble keeping the ships apart, and who was who in the sword fights, but in the end, I got the gist of it. Let me ask you this: "Why is the rum gone???"