Back from my "tea"...

Judy J. picked me up for the Orange Park Tea Party, which I had only just heard about this a.m. on the way back from the hospital. Originally the two of us were going downtown to the "big" Rally but with Justin being sick, I cancelled with her. As soon as I heard there was going to be one in Orange Park, I called her back and we made plans to stay closer to home. Like she said, it is good to support the local groups putting these things together, too!

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We got there a bit early and at first we had a seat at a picnic table. Then I heard the horns honking and saw the people lining both Kingsley and Hwy. 17, waving their signs and arms at the passing cars. In turn, the vehicles blew their horns in support, including one semi that sounded just like a cruise ship horn! That drew applause from the crowd, an impressive horn such as this! Most of the folks were older, mainly because it is a school day and younger people would be at work, but eventually the gathering did turn into a cross-section of ages, including babies in strollers and older people with walkers.

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The speakers, one representing Ander Crenshaw, our local representative, and the others all addressed the issue of the incredible over-spending, the social programs eroding liberties, and so on. One speaker in particular, a well-spoken man, discussed how our nation has become amoral, our schools not teaching about the American Revolution any longer or the documents, not learning about absolutes in life, and the type of things previous generations were brought up with. A very eloquent speaker, and a great, inspirational time.

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When it was time to leave, Judy took a turn at riding past the sign wavers on both the streets so we could honk and wave as we went past. She said to me, "Boy, you really get into this waving!" and I told her it reminded me of New York City! Horns are always being blown in NYC and various types of waving at all times. I like to wave whenever I hear them beeping, much to the chagrin of my son!

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Before Judy picked me up for the Tea Party, I could hear the sound of glass being swept somewhere outside. Oh, that is never good! In peering out my doors, I saw Tommy walking his dog downstairs and he was picking up pieces of metal, or aluminum. I looked to my left and saw Karen on her balcony, cleaning up glass. Their grille had tipped over on the balcony and I wondered if it hit the glass doors or something. Instead, it was the light fixture on the wall that blew off and broke. She asked me if I had seen the insulation flying past the window, in what were officially clocked at 71 mile per hour winds! I told her that I had not seen it but the insulation was getting wrapped around their railing! Tommy told us it came from the unit on the 5th floor, where the house concert was held a couple weeks ago. Their ceiling on the exposed balcony which runs from the front to the back of the building had blown out, which is where the metal and insulation came from.

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Early in the day Tuesday, when our maintenance lady came to work, she took all the chairs and the loose items, tucking them into the elevator cove on 2nd floor. The tables were flipped over to protect them from breaking, just like during tropical storms and hurricanes. Tommy said that these winds yesterday were actually hurricane-force so it is no wonder things went flying, except the sea cows!