I am back already!

It was a marvelous dinner, starting first with time spent on their open air balcony where Bob grilled our steaks. I took along my laptop to show their visiting daughter and son-in-law my photos taken of the river and the pending storm from yesterday, the photo which I posted in my blog. Both Sarah and Bob are in the creative arts or are artisans so knew they would appreciate the photos, and did. They are visiting from south Florida and was their first time at the parents new home. I sure did enjoy my dinner with their family and the company! Even ate a piece of tomato pie!

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This morning Judy J. picked me up and we met Bonnie at the race track so we could all ride together for the wedding brunch. We celebrated Jayne's recent wedding with a lovely gathering hosted by her former mom-in-law with about 20 ladies from church. Did I say it was lovely? The laptop was set up with photos taken at the private wedding held last Saturday and some of them made me cry. I could not help it, they just moved me so, particularly one where Brett is posing with his new brothers and the couple, and the one brother had his arm around Brett's shoulder. Man! That just blew me away. Dave is the custodial parent of his 4 sons so that makes 5 all together...that's alot of testosterone in one house!

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We drove home from the event in the rain which rather dampened my plans to go out to the pool and the sun never really did come back out, so neither did I. Eventually I did go out to help my neighbors take the photos and we were all washes of sweat before it was over. The humidity was extremely high and the guys' shirts were all stuck to their backs from the perspiration. My face was awash of sweat, much the way I like it. Whew, it was toasty! Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to enjoy the pool or even the beach if Martie is available. Wonder if she will remember that we made plans for tomorrow....

I have only a few moments here...

....before I go upstairs to my neighbor's house for dinner. Yes!! As a favor earlier this evening, Rosemary called to ask me to take some family photos for them as their daughter was in town. Sure! I only hope the shots I took turn out okay since it was not my camera and it was one of those "Sure Shot" cameras without the eye piece for focusing. My previous experience with this type of camera was the purse one I bought at Office Max and handed off to Justin. I just didn't like it, even though it was more convenient than my big camera. So, anyway, I did the best I could and hopefully they turn out okay. Well, Rosemary called me back a bit later and said their family voted to invite me up for steaks cooked on the grille for dinner, and even though I feel like I am imposing, she insisted I come. Who can pass up a steak cooked on the grille?

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If I get home in time this evening, I will write more then, but if not, will finish this in tomorrow morning. The afternoon and evening sort of got away from me, a perfect Saturday!

So much for Cyprus

The other day when Justin was here, we were talking about the Mediterranean region and how I am so glad that I chose not to go over there to live. Not even for part of a year. I mentioned that I would not have to be glued to touristy Greek Islands, although my heart is there already, but why not consider one of the other islands we or I have visited such as Crete or Cyprus? He agreed and even other lesser known islands would be okay except they MUST have some sort of government in place for safe living. Now, Cyprus is in the news for various things including turning away the terrorist vessel heading to Gaza. Yikes! Waayy too close to the volatile middle east region and still under the European Union which might face dissolution with the falling Euro. I think that is just a pipe dream for me anyway, I had better just hunker down and hope for the best in the motherland!

Taken this afternoon as a storm was coming up the river...it never arrived here. Love the colors and dimensions of the sky and water, though, plus the white cylinder of light on the far right-hand side....

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Today Justin and I enjoyed a wonderful lunch at Koko's after he was finished working in the office, but before he was off to more busy-work. We stopped in at Great Hang Ups, me both before and after, so he got a chance to say 'hi' to my favorite glass artist, Kevin Eagleton. Kevin had brought in some lovely new pieces, and I must admit that one of his pieces has now found its way into my possession. It was a 'must have'---what can I say? I have a place in mind for it to be suspended but will need assistance from Justin in doing so. First I must have a piece of fish line. Or the 'e' string from a guitar! I might have better success obtaining a guitar or violin string than a fish line. Unless my downstairs neighbors might have some extra fish line to spare. Dee offered to help me get it affixed securely so that nothing more comes crashing down from my window displays!

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Justin and I discussed the census at lunch, and its taking which recently took place. I shared with him some information learned Monday at the pool. One of my neighbors has a son, aged 24, who worked for the Bureau of the Census for a few weeks this spring. What I heard was outrageous and have heard similar reports from other sources as well. His son was hired to follow up on those who had not yet completed their forms, hired to work primarily in their own neighborhoods, his being in Eagle Harbor. Their compensation consisted of $18 an hour, I believe, plus time and mileage paid for a half hour commute coming and going from work. Well, if they are in their own neighborhoods, basically speaking, an hour paid commute was totally unnecessary.

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The team would work a couple hours after their training-talk in the morning, take a couple hours for lunch, and then get back to work for a few more hours at the end of the day. At best, a 5 hour work day but paid for the entire day. The Team Leader would scold the workers, telling them to slow down and not work them all out of a job. But, what are you going to do when you are working in these upper-end neighborhoods where people mostly had completed their census forms? He worked himself right out of this cushy job! After Bob told us this story, those of us around the table just shook our heads collectively, and then I said, "Well, that explains alot, doesn't it?" They all agreed, even though some in our little group there do not usually think the same way I do in these type of things. Interesting.....

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This afternoon I worked on The Palace Press and have it about ready to go, except the name and info of our newest tenant on the 2nd floor. Miss Chardonnay has the tenant's pertinent information and is going to get it to me this evening so I can finish either later on or tomorrow afternoon. We might go over to the cabana to have some dinner as they begin their new feature of having light meals and cocktails available on Friday and Saturday this summer. Well, it's about time!! I will do whatever it takes to get a story, you know?, even if it means going to the cabana on a Friday night. Tomorrow morning I am attending a wedding brunch for one of our members, Jayne, who was married last Saturday. Her former mom-in-law is hosting the event and Judy J. is my driver as parking is limited where we are going. I am very excited to be invited and share in the joy with Jayne and my fellow members!

"Cruisin', on a Thursday afternoon......"

This is not something one sees every day on the St. Johns River! My guess is this cruise boat, a small one, is heading to the repair shop in Green Cove Springs for some refitting or something like that. It sure looked pretty passing by and I hope my neighbors all saw it, because no one would believe me if I told them! Guess this photo will go in The Palace Press newsletter this month!!!

One poor lonely shore bird is standing on the exposed sand in the basin, likely watching for the manatees to come back, as am I!

I just remembered something (warning...)

When I was at the pool today, for some reason or another, a picture flashed into my mind. An old memory from the days not long after Timmy died. My mom had been with us since just after Christmas, actually arriving in town the wee hours of my birthday morning. I had to drive downtown to the bus depot to pick up Lynn and Mom because I was certainly NOT going to allow them to sit there until a 'decent' hour----not in the Jacksonville bus depot! Lynn was coming along partially for a visit and partially to help Mom out with the kids while I was having my surgery on the 11th of January. Lynn left on the Friday after my surgery, with Roger having taken her to the Orange Park bus depot. Less than a week later and she was back for Timmy's funeral.

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All the while after the funeral, I should say, the first full month after the funeral, my neighbors in The Preserve made a meal for us every other day, as a show of support for us. All we had to do was set the table and wait to see what was coming for dinner, and wonder if we had room in the freezer for yet more ice cream. We could not eat some of our meals fast enough, especially the ice cream, believe it or not.

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While I cannot remember the date Mom flew back home to WI, it was some time after Timmy died. The sad reminder that flashed through my brain was of the night Mom left, when I was setting the table, I accidentally set four places. It then hit me like a ton of bricks that from now on, we would only need to set for three of us at the table. Upsetting not because Mom was gone, that had not sunk in yet, but because Timmy was gone and an empty space was at the table. Like a ton of bricks....What made me think of that today when I was at the pool? I have no idea but fortunately I was mostly by myself and could cry without drawing an audience. Maybe it was because I had an earworm of the hymn "Jesus, Thy Blood and Righteousness" rattling round in my brain and out that memory popped.

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This type of thing happened once more to my knowledge, sometime later when Harv and Barb had come down for a visit. We were enjoying a meal cooked on the grille and I gave Barb the plastic pink flamingo patio dishes to set the outdoor table. In a few moments she came in with an extra setting----seems I had once more counted Timmy in our number. He was enjoying a feast much better than what we were having, but those tons of bricks on earth are a little hard to take sometimes.....

An exciting morning

This morning as I was just about waking up, I heard my telephone make a beep at me. Oops, I had left it in Quiet Mode since Bible study last night. As I reached for it, I heard Justin yelling, "Mama, Mama, wake up! You gotta call WOKV right away because you just won a trip to St. Petersburg!" He gave me the number because I couldn't think of it and made the call. Whew!! The nice man who answered told me that I actually won a trip to Adventure Landing Water Park BUT my name is being thrown in the hat for the big prize of a resort stay in St. Pete's Beach. I am still a winner, no matter the prize. I called Justin back and told him my news and he was disappointed, saying, though, that I have a 1 in 15 chance of winning the other trip yet. While I was talking to him, my friend from church, Tina, beeped in, asking if I heard my name on the radio. She was excited for me and wanted to make sure I get my prize.

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What a way to begin my day! I had only yesterday entered the contest which was e-mailed to me as an 'Insider'. Good thing Justin and Tina were listening that early in the morning. Supposedly I should receive an e-mail from WOKV with the details of my Adventure Landing outing, wondering if I can take folks with me or what. If so, I might even save it until Kerry comes down here to visit me in early September to enjoy the wave pool and lazy river with me.

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Pheewww! I need to empty my wastebasket in my bedroom/office. It seems the foam boxes and their uneaten remainders are decaying, as one might imagine. Particularly bad since it is warm in here, and the early part of the day when the sun bakes it a bit more....Last night Judy J. picked me up for dinner and Bible study. We ate at Panera and she greatly enjoyed her salad. She even had me rub my finger in the bottom of the bowl to taste the delicious dressing left there. The salad was called a strawberry salad but it also had lettuce of some type, blueberries, mandarin orange segments, and this lovely poppyseed dressing. She was in heaven, so to speak. You can guess what I had...predictable me! I did, however, buy a loaf of bread made with nuts and twigs, as per the doctor's orders. Actually it is a dense seeded rye bread and made a great slice of toast for breakfast. Might even have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich later---that's how good it was! Last week I threw out almost an entire loaf of bread as it turned green on me, and yes, Judy, I DID have it in the fridge!

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Last night about 11:30 pm, I was sitting in bed with my laptop when I heard what sounded like a gun shot, very close gun shot. Oh my! I listened closely to see if I could hear any follow-up noise or more fireworks to follow this first one. But there was nothing more, only the one shot. Earlier in the evening, however, I had placed a can of Diet Coke in the freezer to speed the process of chilling. Well, can you guess what the gunshot was? This a.m. before getting ready for the pool, I opened the freezer to get my can holder out and discovered what appeared to be pieces of chicken, dark meat chicken pieces. Yikes! It was Diet Coke blown all over the interior of my freezer! The side was blown right open on the can and I picked up chunks of soda and put them into the ruptured can. They were still fizzling as I dropped them into the sink. I knew this was going to be a mess but not a problem unless I let them melt.....I did clean up some more of the shards of shattered soda (I cry over spilled and exploded soda like some do over milk!) and then mopped the floor where the pieces fell out of the freezer drawer. I will need assistance from Justin for cleaning up the rest because he will have to lift the basket off the floor of the freezer to get inside to wipe it out. Worse mess than when the Christmas cookie container opened up and made crumbs all over the place in there!

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At the pool there was only one lady, a former stranger, reading a book. I greeted her and determined I did not know her and then got into the pool. At first the water was cold but I got used to it quickly. A man was using a leaf blower over at The Club and it was getting quite annoying. When there was a break in the noise, I said to the lady, "I hope he is nearly done with that" and she agreed, saying it was an obnoxious noise. Aha, I was in! After introducing myself, and she to me, Katina, I told her my story of gunshots in the night and the mess I was facing. Her hubby and she were in town from Tampa, he was an architect who specializes in church rehabs and such, and she came along for the ride. They had seen the place, The Club, on a previous visit and decided to stay here for this overnight trip. So, we had a nice chat, talked about our entitlement-raised college kids and then she had to leave. It was check-out time and she had to go pack. Rats! Anyway, it was nice to meet her and have some new ears to tell my story to!

Another attempt at shooting the moon!!!!

Fewer squiggles this time as I balanced the camera carefully on the rail, with the strap securing it to my neck, taught to always secure the camera by Tommy J.! Is it my imagination, or does it look like the water is moving??? This shot better shows the breaks in the breakwater. In the daytime, you can see the sand peninsula at the furthest break where the manatees like to hangout. As I write this on Tuesday morning, the manatees are frolicking in the basin almost straight out from that break in the wall. Such wonderful things I get to see and experience----we have such a good and gracious God...