More words than photos

Things have not been whirlwind but more laid back since Mom and Lynn arrived. We have watched two night football games together, with Lynn and I getting more from that than Mom did. At least Mom has been staying up later than she does at her house. Not sure she can sleep as well as she does at home, though, but 'differently'.

Saturday was the luncheon for the ladies and all went nicely. Justin went to Chick-Fil-A to pick up the sandwiches while I put fruit chunks on skewers. There were potato chips to go with the sandwiches and fruit, with sour cream cake topped with cherry almond sauce for dessert. My favorite Pampered Chef product is the sauce!

The ladies enjoyed the punch of cranberry juice mixed with 7-Up, drinking every last drop of it! Mom had a good time catching up with her friends, as did Lynn. We had taken a cruise with some of these folks in 2007 so Lynn became better acquainted with them at that time. I know this was easier for Mom than trying to catch everyone at church Sunday. 

Once the hubbub was over, Lynn and I went to the pool. Of course, we were barely wet when the heavens opened and pelted us with huge, cold drops. The two of us hustled back into the house just in time for a storm to roll through, leaving sunshine in its wake. Too late now---we were in our nighties!

Mom had a good time resting Saturday afternoon watching a Perry Mason Marathon on a network I didn't know I had. Every time Lynn comes, she finds new stations! According to our cable plan at The Palace, I am to have Basic in some form provided with my monthly fees. Somehow, I get more than I am actually entitled to or should, as far as I can tell. I am not complaining or anything, but it surprises me what is available. Maybe I am mistaken about this, but the Preview Channel on my TV only shows 99 stations....and I get more! Hence, Perry Mason Marathons!

The rest of the day and into the evening was spent at home, with me making dinner for us that night. I had thrown together, Kim-style, a chicken parmesan dish using some of the 'free' chicken patties from Winn Dixie. I cooked some pasta, which took the longest of all the prep, and layered the chicken patties over the top of the pasta. The jar of sauce was just right and the flavor of the entire dish was great. I made a nice meal for us!

Sunday was Bible study and church for us. The study was interesting even with break-out sessions to compare the Bible translations. We, our little group, skips the discussion aspect for the most part and I simply write what needs writing. It was fun to read the various interpretations of a paragraph, from one language into the next and back again. Things get all mixed up and misused phrases, and so on. Each culture has its idioms and expressions, some which do not translate well into other tongues. I often think of something Joe Z. told me once, when trying to explain something: "My mother (Hungarian) used to say, 'English doesn't have a word for it...'" I think that happens alot!

Robbie came to church today and was warmly greeted. He sang the psalm tones during the liturgy with the congregation singing the refrain, and sang a capella a hymn during the offering. Mom was pleased to hear him sing and had a chance to tell him so after church. 

The Fellowship committee had a quick meeting following the service as Bruce has a meeting Monday night and needed to know what to report. Funny! Our hopes are yet to have the Mystery Dinner on Saturday night but the chefs say if the Fellowship Hall is not done, no dinner. It is simply not doable to prepare the food in the kitchen and transport it, plate by plate to the classroom building. It would be logistically a problem. I do hope all is ready because Mom and Lynn scheduled their trip around the dinner and the dinner was scheduled with their visit in mind! The work was to have been completed in time for VBS in early July but alas....

The Luncheon

 Here is Carol and Mom, posing in the living room

Carol, Jackie, Mom, and Lynn 

A shot of the table, with a look at the back of Lynn's and my heads! From left is Lynn, Judy J., Jackie, Gretchen, Ethel, Terri T., Twila, Carol, Mom, and then me!

Gretchen, Lynn, Mom and Ethel. These ladies are long time buddies of Mom's. They keep in touch with notes and phones, but now, in the flesh!

 Lynn, Kim, and Mom

 Terri T. posed with Lynn and Mom

Twila is yukking it up with her old pal, Kathy. Lynn is smiling so beautifully for the camera

Fun at the pool

Mom is attempting to remove her sandals to climb in to the pool. She sported a jaunty pink baseball cap to help keep the sun from her eyes. She also enjoyed the 'freedom' of being able to move around somewhat freely when in the water---felt good on her bones and her back!

Marlena is greeting Lynn as she descends the stairs into the water. Lynn was here the last time in summer of 2011, in August. A fan of hot weather, she very much enjoyed the pool, sunning herself, and even mopping her brow a few times. Lunch pool side was out of this world and will hold us over until dinner later on!

They're here!

Everyone is tucked into bed, or at least, are in some form of repose for the night, but I cannot sleep! Ugh! Maybe it is because Lynn and I had an adult beverage while watching the Packer game or something, but as tired as I am, sleep eludes me. Perhaps typing will lull me to sleep...snore....

Lynn is presently dozing on the sofa in the family room and Mom retired earlier, though I cannot say for sure she is asleep. She had better be, since she told us the last time she slept was Tuesday! Wednesday night Mom found herself too keyed up about the trip to sleep but now that she is here, I hope she is getting a good 'big nap'!

Their flight was delayed an hour so Lynn called to inform me of the change to the schedule. I could have turned around to go back home, but instead I went to the Panera Bread in the plaza not far from the airport. I bought some bakery for breakfast, and had a soda as I waited. I could track their flight info via my phone, so knew what the status was. At exactly the right time, I pulled into the courtesy waiting lot, got the call, and drove to the terminal for my peeps. Could not have timed it any better!

Before leaving to pick them up, I decided against better judgement to make up my taco salad for dinner. The ideal way to do this is just before serving for mixing it up, but I grew impatient. Justin was concerned, and a bit critical of my methods but all, including him, declared the salad edible and delicious. Whew!

This a.m. I went to Bible study at Victory and had time to sit around visiting and folding bulletins before class got underway. Pastor was busy with some workmen on site, fellows coming to clean the tile and shampoo the carpets. They are having a major cleaning day Saturday and these guys would jump start the project. It seems our group is rarely at a loss for words!

Suzanne and Wayne reported they are going to downsize once more (from Green Bay, to a Jax rental home, to an 800 square foot condo in a year's time!) and have extra furniture for sale. I know of some young men setting up housekeeping this weekend so I got info from them to share with Robbie. 

After Bible study, I stopped at Winn Dixie for a couple items. Sure enough, it began to pour like mad while I was in there. The rain forced me to roam the aisles so I came home with more than intended, which does save me a trip for this weekend. Of course, on the day when I could use the help of Connie, she was no where to be seen so I toted as much as I could upstairs without her extra hands. The rest could wait until another time.

When I left for the airport, Connie told me she cleaned around my doors and the elevator lobby on the 3rd floor so all was nice for my guests. That is so thoughtful! Connie also marked down on paper which parking spaces are available to those coming to the luncheon on Saturday. 

Justin had the idea to mark the available stalls with red plastic cups filled with sand or water so folks will know which ones they may use. Clever! I was going to ask him to direct the ladies to their spaces but he has plans to go to the movies that morning. Shoot! Next best thing? Red cups!

                                                     

Justin will have time to run to Chick-Fil-A for the chicken salad sandwiches on Saturday morning before he leaves for the movies. I will have to spear the fruit that morning and ready other things for the guests. Mom and Lynn like to go have coffee on Saturday mornings so I might send them off alone or simply have something delightful here for them...I like to make the egg/cheese/bread casserole, and have some bacon bits to add to it. Might consider that as an option, if Mom is okay with an alternative plan.

Friday I have no other plans for us than to enjoy the pool, have lunch out there, and then watch more football in the evening. I do hope the Jags do better than the Packers did. Yes, I know it's only the first game of the preseason, but, as always, my expectations are high!

I am done!

Did I wake up too early this morning or what? I have been dog-tired all day long, or at least it seems that way. Justin and I both said we were going to bed early tonight and I hope I do. Perhaps I am just overly excited about my company coming!

This morning I skipped water exercise class to meet the other ladies at church to work some more on the archives. Even Carol was able to make it and stayed longer than any of us. She had stuff to organize, more papers than photos which worked well for her. Many years ago some items had been gone through to create the history of GS, when we celebrated 25 years, and she wanted to make sure stuff was put back where it came from. 

We found two ring binders of archives already in relatively "safe" storage, so we won't have to handle any of that. Whew! There are newsletters and news clippings, the survey of the land when it was purchased, all that cool stuff. I wouldn't mind going over there to just peruse that instead of striving to get the photos safely preserved. Great strides have been made in this project!

Here is a picture of a picture: Hope Meyer, Kelly and Tarren Vance, at one of the July 4th picnics our church used to have

Judy C. brought sandwich meat and rolls for our lunch, expecting we would stay many hours but some had to leave around noon or right after. She was disappointed, thinking we would work most of the day on this. I could have stayed longer but when the others packed up, we did, too. Carol stayed, devoted to her task. She was telling Pastor today when he wandered in, about working on something once when I would keep talking and working, but she could not. Yes, that is Carol! And, that is me!

I helped Judy carry her stuff to the car, and just as we opened the doors to go out, the heavens opened. We scurried, as best I can scurry, and did not get horribly wet. I am sure the rain and the threat thereof aided in my weariness. 

Judy's two grand kids are coming either today or tomorrow so she will be tied up with them. David will be attending UF law school beginning this semester, which is pretty cool, and Jessica is coming along for the ride. I was a new member at GS when David was baptized...for some reason I just remember this tidbit.

Marlena came over to do some last minute polishing up around here, as she 'owed' me some time. It took her a long time with the guest bathroom as it seems hair was everywhere! Justin told me the vacuum brush had hair all over it, and it's been weeks since the girls left. All three had long hair. Marlena figured out to use a Swiffer duster to collect it, because it was hard to pick up. She said every time she turned around, there was some more! The hall bath went much more quickly as far as cleaning was concerned.

Once she was gone, I thought a nap was in order, but then my door bell rang. I had to sign for a delivery, which I haven't done in ages. The Bible history books arrived from CPH so tomorrow I will take Marilyn's books to her. This is so exciting! Amber was not able to make it Tuesday after being at the ER all night with her hubby. He is okay, but has pneumonia. We will try again next week, if Mom and Lynn don't mind.

At last I was able to rest until Justin got home from work. He was going to the grocery store so I gave him my list as well as my debit card to finish up the shopping. He needed Gatorade for work, on his 'real' job, and Publix had a sale going on. Justin picked up pizza for our dinner which we ate while watching Jeopardy!

Friday I will get the fresh fruit to put on skewers to serve at the luncheon Saturday. I have ordered Chick-Fil-A chicken salad sandwiches to serve and will do the fruit-on-a-stick myself. What should be have for dessert???

Hopefully I am not coming down with a malady because I feel inordinately weary and achy. Guess there is a bug going around but I don't want it. A good night's sleep is in order and will fix me right up. It's not as though I had a bad night or anything, but just feel a need to sleep, and rest my bones. Guess my body missed the pool, yes?

On a wild ride

Last night we ladies at church traveled back in time....like about 20 years backward. Wow! The Ladies' Group has tackled the project of transferring the existing photo archives from the sticky-paged albums into archival-safe scrapbooks. With one 'mother-daughter' team, we had 8 ladies pitch in. It took a bit to figure out how we wanted to proceed in an orderly fashion, and soon got a rhythm going. 

 From the left is Terri T., and then Twila, Betty, Donna, Michelle, and Meghan

From left is Jean, Terri, Judy, and Twila

We began first with numbered albums from the boxes, pulling the photos free from the sticky pages, having come loose much more easily than we expected. One of the albums was nothing but photos taken of the construction of the 'garage' which has since been replaced by our current classroom building. Some discretion needed to be used in deciding what to keep and what to toss. We only need so many photos of trusses, you know? I think our member, George S., was the photographer on that project and took hundreds of them, all showing up in the photo book!

Carol D. came in after we had begun with Cliff behind her, thinking we were having a formal meeting. In the announcement I gave Pastor to read Sunday, it said we would be doing this instead of a meeting, but I guess some missed that mention. I told Cliff I would drop Carol off at home if he wanted to leave but it was not long and they were gone. Carol had sat down with one of the 'old' albums and it was nothing but pictures with her mother in them. She is not yet ready to face that, it seems, and she had to leave. 

Cliff took her home where she sorted some photos and other items she has there to work on. As I drove home later, I called to see if she was okay and she said the pictures took her by surprise---her reaction took her by surprise. Many of the albums have Miss Shirley's notes in them, funny ones, in fact, and that was more than Carol could take at the moment.

Jean pointed out one of me where I am sitting on the fireplace hearth at Judy C.'s house, for a Christmas party. I am looking straight ahead, expression-less, while Jennifer T. was seated next to me. Shirley wrote a note: "Kim does not want to talk to the lady sitting next to her. How rude! I must speak to her about that later!" Shirley, I consider myself spoken to!

Here is Rosalie, Mom, Jamie, with Mike and Kim Tyler in the background. I am not sure what is going on but some seem to be enjoying it!

Many of the photos had my family in them, as we were actively involved in the building of the garage, fellowship events, and VBS all those many years ago. Justin was such a little cutie pie in those days, too. Some of the ladies never knew me with 'long hair' or with Coke-bottle glasses so that was fun. Even Mom and my nephew, Jamie, showed up in some of the pictures. 

Twila and I made a good team cropping together, just like in the days when we did this in my dining room. I miss that! This was a tough night for Terri T. as her parents, now enjoying heavenly bliss, show up in many of the photos. She wisely took pictures with her phone of the photographs to share with her siblings, and some with me! Terri worked side by side with Judy so she was in good hands. 

Terri and I had dinner before going up to church, dining at Longhorn, not far from our destination. As we were leaving, I noticed a group hugging and such at the door, saying good-bye and happy birthday. The young lady's car was parked next to mine and I commented on her license plate frame---the same Packer frame as mine!

As I chatted her up, the man behind me yelled, "Quit pestering my daughter!" and there was Al T., the very first person I ever met in Orange Park!!! This young lady's older sister, Stacy, used to babysit for Justin when we first moved here. The day I had my car work done, I had spoken with Al at Aron's Pizza but I would never made the connection with this young lady, Amy, outside of her Packer plates. 

She also has a stock share in the Packers, has a green and gold room in her home, and is all about the Packers! For her college graduation gift, her dad gave her tickets to see the Packers defeat the Saints at Lambeau Field next month. Cool! Al is from WI and had gone to college with our then-partner, Curt. In 2005, my sister, Lynn, and I went on a cruise where Amy's mom, Sharon, also a part of our networking group, was on this trip and shared our table at meals. Small small world!

Back to the archives----I was kept quite busy being asked who is who in the photos. Only once or twice was I stumped by a person's name, having folks come and go rather quickly in those days when the military was more active. Fortunately, I have several of the old church directories for reference, which I will take along on Wednesday when we reconvene. At one point, I was struggling to recall a man's name, and then, when in the bathroom, his name came to me. I rushed back in to announce, "His name is Roy!", like Zachariah announcing John the Baptist's name! His wife and he lived in Bradford County but came 'up' to Orange Park for church. I think their pastor served our vacancy at the time and that's why they came....not sure anymore. After all, it was over 20 years ago!

"Hold thou thy cross...."

The other day Justin had the Olympic opening ceremony playing back on his computer, having gotten some sort of password from his father which allowed him to view the sports via computer. I don't have to understand it, only report it. Anyway, he told me how the British paid respects to those lost in the subway bombings in 2005. NBC and who knows how many other networks represented in London cut away to other Olympic related programs instead of showing the tribute to those lost. 

Justin was able to view the tribute and its accompanying anthem sung by a beautifully-voiced woman singing "Abide with Me". As the hymn wafted down the hall from Justin's room to mine, I quieted what I was listening to in order to hear the hymn being sung. He told me it was coming and I am so glad he did. I don't know if she sang my favorite stanza or not, but I can sing it myself in my head, and often do. "Hold thou thy cross before my closing eyes; shine through the gloom and point me to the skies. Heavens morning breaks and earth's vain shadows flee; in life, in death, O Lord, abide with me..."

This made me think of the time when Justin, Martie, and I went to NYC to attend the Freedom Concert. The day we arrived we had planned to take the subway to China Town for, of all things, Chinese food. However, the news broke about the subway bombings that day and then the police rendezvoused outside our hotel, on Vesey Street, not far from the World Trade Center area. We sat outside the hotel in an open air restaurant and watched the activity of the police. More than once I walked up to someone with a clipboard and inquired as to what was going on. I was told it was a drill. 

At one point, we saw four identical capped pick-up trucks with matching trailers pull up, right in front of us. The guys got out and were wearing matching outfits, same color as their trucks. Pretty cool, but very strictly business. When they opened one truck we could see a 'machine' in the back of it and realized it was robot. Oh my goodness---the robots they use for finding and disarming bombs!

We had pretty much decided NOT to take the subway anywhere, and eat on the premises. We did not wish to miss anything and besides that, we were more than a little apprehensive about the whole situation. 

Twice that day the entire block was occupied by double rows of squad cars and other police vehicles. We would look out the window onto the street and see a wall of blue flashing lights from end to end. And that's how I remember the subway bombings in London----the reaction of NYC to their bombings. That was also a "Hold thou thy cross...." type of day.