More tears today

The day started early, reading e-mails before Dee arrived to repair some glass for me. Several people sent "Comments" to my post from yesterday, sharing their experience with "...Redeemer Lives" and I was moved to tears by them. If you don't usually read the Comments, please do so in order to find out what I am referencing. When I spoke to Martie earlier and she asked how I was, my answer was, "I am in a high emotional state." Oh yeah.........

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Linda shared her story of how she was managing to get through "Redeemer" until she spotted Pastor Hahm wiping away a tear...he said he was fine until he saw Mom and Kevin, the principal, wiping away their tears....."He lives to silence all my fears, He lives to wipe away my tears, He lives my mansion to prepare, He lives to take me safely there..." I hope that's right, I did it by memory. Oh, here is Timmy's service folder, I can check it out--oops, I got it wrong, borrowed from several different verses: "He lives to calm my troubled heart, He lives all blessings to impart". There's not one single "insignificant" verse in that hymn, which made it tough for Mom to pick the ones to use for the funeral. Good job, Mom! As Timmy would say, "You done it!" Kevin also has a little one in heaven so we share special hugs when we meet each other. I look forward to seeing him this Sunday at First German!! And Linda, too!!! And my peoples!!!

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On Saturday morning as I was leaving to go to church for communion preparation, I saw a box sitting outside my door. A baby??? Nope, better than that---a lovely circular glass art piece made by the same guy that made my other "manipulated" glass pieces. Dee had dropped it off in the dark of night (or morning) as a surprise for me. She told me last week she had a gift for me that I wouldn't want to accept but she'd make me take it, and that's how she did it! Leave it on the doorstep and run away. The bad news was it had a crack in it, sort of swiveled like a hinge about half way down.

I called to thank her for the present and then asked if she knew it was cracked. She was sad it was broken and said it had been mended once before, must have re-cracked on the climb up the steps! So, she came this a.m. with her glass glue in hand and we performed surgery on the piece. We glued some glass marbles I had on hand, flat on one side, which we used as "band-aids" on the back side, in the same colors as in the piece. I'll take a photo of it when it's done so you all can see what I'm talking about. "Dr. Roberts" makes house calls, twice climbing my stairs because of beautiful glass!

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After she left I did, too, heading for Bible study, my last one with this group for a month! Judy C. joined us today, as she quit her job last Friday, just up and quit! It was nice to have a new face for the study and for lunch. Our time together at Longhorn was lovely and the farewells tearful. Pastor had suggested putting a picture of me on the table where I usually sit to make it seem like I'm there, but, it would be quiet then!!! I said the quiet part, not him. Tonight are Visitation calls and then that's it for church activity. I will have to drop off some shingle, exterior, and soffit color selections for Cliff, but that gives me a chance to say good-bye to Carol, "auf wiedersehen ", until we meet again!

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Lisa called last night to share some Easter stories with me, putting tears in my ears--again! She told about Lori, Lynn, Alayna, and her singing with the choir, nothing less than the "Hallelujah Chorus" , accompanied by the pipe organ and orchestra. Lisa said she was trembling with excitement about singing it, and was holding Manny in her arms as she sang. He was clinging to her for dear life, probably expecting her to shake him right over the railing! She said he sang, too, throwing out a single "hallelujah" with the choir. Just prior to time for the song, Gabe leaned over and asked Lisa, "Is it time to sing Jesus now?" That's what he calls the Chorus. I love it that her little boys know and love that song! They sing that one in heaven, I just know it!!

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She also told about how they pick a song to sing before bed and Manny picks the one he calls "so". She had me guess what song it was and it took a second to come up with "...the Bible tells me so". Oh, my heart! She knew that would get me because my boys sang that also, with Timmy's being sung in bass! Gabe likes the song "Zaccheus", about the wee little man up in the tree. "Zaccheus, you come down! I'm going to your house today!" At church Easter morning, Paul was telling me how my goddaughter, Sarah, walks around singing "Oh, Christ, Lamb of God" continually. The preschool and young Sunday schoolers sang it in the service a couple weeks ago, and she'd sing it every week if they let her. I told him that was evidence of what wonderful parents she has, if that's what their daughter is singing. Gabe, Manny, and Sarah---our little missionaries!

Lucas and Sarah watching "Jeopardy" while standing in the toy box!

Time to get ready to go to the booty shop again, this time to get my silver removed and a trim, and then over to church for Visitor calls. Time is getting closer and closer for my trip to WI and I'm getting so 'cited!!!

He is risen! He is risen indeed!

Easter is a happy, crying day for me, and for many people that I know. Our Sunrise Worship featured "I Know That My Redeemer Lives", of course, a necessary component of Easter celebration. At just the right moment, I found myself behind the church door, listening to the congregation singing outside about our Savior's victory. I just wasn't ready to read through it while they sang, so stepped away. It seemed Terri was having a tough time with it as well, as she asked how I got away and left her sitting there to cry by herself. This hymn was sung at both our loved ones' funeral services, which is why it's so special to us. The reason that hymn is chosen for funerals is that the message is so perfect, spelling out our faith in the Lord and our hope for eternity. I go out on a limb to say that I'll probably never be able to sing that hymn again, but the message stays as powerful as ever--I Know That My Redeemer Lives!!!

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The Easter breakfast was wonderful and delicious, congrats to the men and ladies who did all the work! My dear friend, Cindy, who was one of Timmy's teachers at Precious Lambs Preschool, came into breakfast wearing a vibrant yellow outfit and announced to me, "I am wearing Timmy's yellow for Easter!" One time she wore a yellow and black outfit to church and he told her he liked her "lellow" dress, so now when she wears yellow, especially at Easter, well...............

We just wrapped our arms around each other, rocked and cried together. Not only sad tears, but happy ones as well, remembering the good times, good memories. That hug meant everything to me, everything.

Cindy holding her granddaughter, Shiloh. Two lovely ladies!

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Another task I did this morning was serve as Greeter on this high visitor/guest day. I handed out 4 of our goodie bags to visitors. The Festival Service was absolutely lovely, a good house. The lilies were fragrant and added much to the celebratory feeling of our service. AND, the choir, in our robes, sang "Jerusalem, the Golden", accompanied by Suzanne on her viola and Robbie on the organ. For all the weeping earlier and during, somehow I managed to get through this fabulous anthem without weeping! No blue tears on my white choir stole...

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Something special was added to our Holy Week worship, having a Resurrection Tree as an outward symbol of Jesus' Passion. One of our members ingeniously converted our CHRISTmas tree into a cross. On Palm Sunday it wore palm branches, Maundy Thursday-a purple drape, black drape on Good Friday, and today---flowers! People were encouraged to bring flowers to stick in rubber bands on the trunk and cross pieces and it looked so pretty. Several people took family pictures with the cross as the backdrop or centerpiece.

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My fabulous day continued after worship when I took two Easter lilies over to Timmy's gravesite. As I was sweeping the marker and such, I looked up and spotted Joe visiting his wife's gravesite. I didn't stick around to chat with him, he needed his time alone, and my boy was waiting for me at home! Justin was stopping by on his way from church, going to his father's house. I gave him the Easter basket for which he was most appreciative. He also picked up some stuff to take along including a chocolate cross for Maya, which, by the way, stayed the proper shape!! Justin also nicely carried my soda cases upstairs for me and the garbage bags downstairs. I should be set with soda now until it's time for me to go up north.

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After he left to have his Feast, I got busy at my desk working on the newsletter and the "Keeping the Faith" single-page letter I send to those away from the congregation. I won't have to "worry" about the newsletter now while I'm away, as I got it pretty well started. I'll just have to fill in a few blanks when I get back. As I was working, my doorbell rang. Hmmm, who could that be? Here, on my doorstep, stood Olivia with an Easter gift and card for me. Her mom, Sandy, was still working her way up the stairs. They didn't want to come in as they were leaving for TN and just stopped in to wish me a Happy Easter on their way out. Wow, it just can't get any better...

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But, it could!!! My Feast was at the home of my dear friend, Dee. She is so kind to include me in the family celebration, the second time we've been asked to come and share with them. Her husband makes a mean lamb, and we had mashed potatoes and green beans, two of my favorites! Dee served bread pudding for dessert, with rum sauce, again another favorite. Justin would have loved it, would have loved being there with another of our extended families in Orange Park! Easter joy abounding!

I hate going to the mailbox!

Here, at my condo, our mail is placed in little pigeon holes with our unit number on them, and we use a key to access it. If someone gets a large package---or they are negligent in collecting their mail--ahem, ahem,--the letter carrier can use a big, square keyed box alongside, then puts the key inside the regular mailbox. When I see that a key is missing from the big boxes, I know its probably time for me to check my mail. A plastic grocery bag gets recycled as a mail bag for me, and I carry the contents from the big and small box upstairs, this time literally, upstairs. Whew! What a load! Many, many, many catalogs including one from Pottery Barn, which makes me laugh, thinking about that "Seinfeld" episode and Kramer "rejecting" his mail because of all the Pottery Barn catalogs he received! The majority of my mail constitutes junque but some requires action on my part. Yech! Just what I need, more paper on my desk.

This afternoon I bought some binders for filing purposes and also a couple bouquets of flowers to have available tomorrow morning for dressing our Resurrection Cross, made from our CHRISTmas tree. It was "advertised"in last Sunday's bulletin but some may have forgotten about it, so now there will be extra stems available. I also tried my luck again with the chocolate crosses for Easter, hopefully not being reduced to some weird shapes down in the car. The A/C ran on high all the way home from the store, while I kept cozy using my seat warmer, in order to cool the car sufficiently so they wouldn't melt. Please, please, please let them not change shape overnight!!!

I'll be making up Justin's basket later and getting some other things ready for him to take along when he goes to his father's tomorrow for the Feast. He is looking forward to seeing Harv and Barb, and of course, little Maya, who fell in love with him a couple weeks ago. Of course, the rest of his family including Marian, Biff, and their daughter, Tina, who is Maya's mommy. I don't know if Keith, Tina's husband, is coming or not, but I believe his mother is joining the fun. Justin was meeting one of his former classmates from St. Johns this afternoon so didn't come over to take care of that mess of his. Says he'll get it tomorrow...keeps getting further and further away, doesn't it???

I was with my friend today...she had called me Friday to report that she had tumor things on her jawline, jowls, and into her clavicle area. Lymph nodes apparently. She'd had a CAT scan in the morning, and was awaiting a call from her doctor. She told the doctor's office that she wasn't feeling the tiniest bit better, having had antibiotics for two days already, and they told her to go to the ER this morning if she didn't feel better. WELL, she didn't feel better, felt terrible, her glands were getting bigger, harder and more painful. So much for not using the ER as your primary care facility!!

We went to a wonderful, new hospital where she is getting excellent care. She just called to report that she'd finally been put in a room after napping since I left her about 2:00 pm in the ER. They gave her an antibiotic drip and something for her pain, and she seems to be feeling better. Could be the pain medicine at work....She will most likely be able to go home tomorrow and is going to let me know when she can leave. I may be able to go get her but most likely I'll be having my Easter feast. My friend already has someone in mind to call for a ride if I can't make it. She understands about Easter and its feast! We were going to have brunch at The Club tomorrow but since she's sick, I've been invited elsewhere to dine.

My peoples in WI are having their Easter Feast as I write. Lori called me from the road and said how much she is looking forward to seeing all the little boys at dinner. Jill is the hostess with the mostest, particularly as she has the "mostest" room for gatherings. Jill's two grandsons, Hunter and Bryson (the one I haven't met yet) are there, as well as my two sweethearts, Lynn's grands, Gabe and Manny. Oh, they are sooooo cute! I can't remember why they had the Feast tonight instead of tomorrow, perhaps someone had to work Sunday or something. Anyway, bon appetit! Emmanuel
Lisa, Gabe, and part of Grandma K

Linda's mom went home to heaven yesterday morning, her battle over. Linda called to tell me as Joanne and I drove to the ER. She sounded good, under the circumstances. She told me the neatest thing though: Her mom was sort of fading in and out of awareness, while Linda and her sister sang hymns for their mother the night before she died. What a wonderful send off they gave Mrs. Kocian! Now, she is experiencing the "bliss beyond compare" we sing about in our "Jerusalem, the Golden" anthem for Easter....How wonderful to be singing with the heavenly realm for eternity!

First the moon, and now the sun

Last night after church as I was driving home, the moon was peeking above the trees, getting larger the closer I got to the condo. I climbed the stairs and swung my kitchen door open, and was met by moon rays as they glanced off my dining room table. It was almost as though I'd left a light on. Usually I use the hall light to get to my room but the moon lit my path and illuminated enough so I could see without turning on the overhead light. The way it reflects on the smooth water.....breathtaking!

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And now, the sun is doing the same dance as it rises above the trees. The clouds above it are greyish-pink, a good color combination, God. There is a barge sitting out in the middle of the river, I wonder if someone drove off and forgot to drag it along! A little further south of that barge is one holding a yellow crane, matching the one that sits in our basin area. I was hopeful that work would soon begin on the marina but after a couple weeks of parked cranes, no activity.

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It would be lovely to have the elevator re-installed and the marina underway when I return from my travels. At least the elevator!!! So far so good on the stairs for me, but today I'll be carrying stuff out with me, which will occupy one hand, at least. We are being encouraged to use the handrails on both sides in order to prevent falling, but that's a bit difficult to do if you're carrying something down or up. A couple people have slipped on the wet stairs and injured their back or tailbone so some non-skid pads have been added to an inside stairway--not mine.

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A good deal of time was spent with my friends at Hang Ups yesterday, where I was able to pick up my newly framed watercolor. It looks marvelous, if I do say so myself. (Jill, I just paid myself a compliment!) I was going to take it to Island Realty for display but decided to hang onto it until Harv, Barb and Justin see it, and then take it over. Art Guild had a change out at Island while I was gone but not many showed up, so I still have a chance to get mine displayed prominently. One of my other watercolors hangs in the reception area above Martie's desk, how perfect is that?? I don't have it priced, but Pam says many people comment on it---am I missing the boat here?

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Painting on consignment I liken to painting at gun point. Martie went through that a while back when my friend, Joan, was having her paint a couple pieces for her collection. Martie would sit, brush poised in the air, but couldn't put paint on the canvas. Too much pressure to perform!! She had performance anxiety! The work she did turn out for Joan was very nicely done, but not as freely as would a piece done just for the pleasure of painting. Some folks make a decent living selling their art work, but Martie, Chris, Christine, and I simply enjoy the process, the joy, of playing with paint!

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Dee shared with me the criteria for entering work in the Clay County Fair, including the photography exhibits. Mine, again, pales next to what others would be entering, but I like having the option of doing that some day as well. I'll be gone for the Fair this year, but Martie signed up to work in the Art Guild booth, perhaps with Chris. It's fun to sit in the exhibit, have people vote on their favorite pieces, and see so many people all in one place---like when we used to have a booth in the Home Show! Loved working that Home Show!

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In checking the weather forecast in WI yesterday, I saw that snow is predicted for the day I land in Milwaukee. Nuts! Can there be anything worse than driving a rental car in the snow, in the twilight? Ugh! I hope it's all cleared away and the roads dry when I head up to Manty. My flight won't land until after 6:00 p.m. so it might be 7:00 or so before I am on the road. Is it dark in WI at that time of day?

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This morning I'll be heading over to church to set up for Holy Communion as soon as I'm done here. I was going to go later and meet Carol but one of my friends is quite ill and asked me to take her to the ER this morning if she didn't feel better overnight, so am planning to start the day a bit earlier to allow for time sitting in the ER. A book will keep me company if she's too sick to chat. Justin was thinking about coming over here some time today, if he didn't make plans with a friend home for Easter, but he can do what he has to without me here. He sort of trashed my guest rooms and I'd like them straightened out before Harv and Barb come to visit. I have the boxes here from the Southern Living delivery taking up valuable room, too, so he can take them down to the dumpster for me. That should have been done before the elevator was taken out of service, but.............

They would make a lovely bonfire!

No poop!

That's the text message I received from Justin just before worship last night. He dropped me off at church on the way home from the airport and continued on to my house to get my luggage up the stairs and situated, get his own car from my garage, and then drive over to Victory in time for Maundy Thursday services. Whew!! At some point he found time to let me know that Lynx had been a good kitty and used the cat box instead of my bed this time! When I was gone for my mother-in-law's funeral and cruise to Alaska in August, one or both of the cats had difficulties dealing with the self-cleaning cat box and took to using the guest bed and my bed instead......cats!!!! Anyway, Justin took a quick look around before leaving my house and determined "No poop" on the beds or furniture. Yeah!!!!

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Justin and I left our hotel a tad earlier than we needed to yesterday morning, as I was concerned we'd run into heavy commuter traffic on the way to La Guardia. The very kind doorman was able to get us a private car vs. city cab to take us, for a set rate for the ride. We rode in a giant car, perhaps a Sequoia, which felt safer than some of the taxis did, less vulnerable.

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Our flight was scheduled to depart around noon, but we found out there were high winds affecting the taking off and landing of the planes, causing long delays. One of the Delta agents pointed out the wind sock visible from the Gate where we were waiting, and it was sometimes pointing straight up toward the sky! Okay, we'll wait......

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Finally, about three hours late, we made our way down the stairs, hopped on a shuttle bus and were dropped off at our plane. Up, up, up we go on steps into this tiny commuter flight. The pilot informed us there were long lines of planes waiting to take-off and we'd have to wait our turn. Okay, at least we're on the plane, right? Wrong!!! We got pushed back from the gate and sat on the taxiway, rocking as though we were actually in the air, being pummeled by the wind. We'd coast along a little bit, stop, coast a bit, stop....this went on for a while, and I saw the line of planes, thinking we'd be getting into the air soon.

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We coasted along, stopped, coasted, stopped.....and I could see from the window that we were right back where we started!!!! I couldn't tell how long we were driving around, but it had to be about an hour or so. The pilot came on to report that a caution light had illuminated and maintenance was checking it out. Only a few moments later and we were backing out again. The pilot told us that he was working with traffic control to see if we could sneak into line, and I think he did just that.

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Justin and I entertained ourselves during the wait and on the plane before taking off by watching "Scrubs" which was downloaded onto his iPhone (modern inventions!!). He'd purchased a splitter prior to this trip so that we could both listen/watch with separate ear buds. Wasn't that considerate of him? A couple times we'd burst out laughing, making the people around us look up, wondering what's so darn funny about sitting in the airport for hours and hours?!?!?!? I'm just glad he didn't have "Frasier" or "Seinfeld" on there or I'd have a net thrown over me and hauled off!

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Oh, oh, I just got a warning from my printer that I need a new black cartridge if wishing to continue. Nuts! I had replaced the color one this a.m. after printing off several weeks' worth of my blog for Marian, my sister-in-law who manages to live without Internet. Didn't use the black color, though. As I write today, the copier is printing recipes from a Jewish calendar that Gretchen let me borrow, to study the Jewish holidays. Ethel wanted the recipes from the calendar so I'm trying to do that before I leave for WI. Have to go get a replacement cartridge when I am out and about. Dee just called to ask me if I was coming (Great Hang Ups) so that's just my opportunity to venture down the stairs and then back up again.....It's so worth it!

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Bruce and Kristi were kind enough to drop me off after choir rehearsal last night, as Justin had taken my car home to deliver the luggage and retrieve his car. Get that? I knew someone would give me a lift! It was wonderful to sleep in my own poop-free bed again, and found myself under the covers just before 10:00 p.m. I didn't even know what time it was when I got home, just gave Lynx some ice cubes, grabbed a soda, and snuggled in. I watched an episode of Law & Order: SVU, which is not my favorite one, but it got me to sleep. Nice to wake up to the sun shining on me rather than hearing the sirens and honking horns in New York!

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I also need to pick up a couple ring binders when I'm out today, as I am attempting to get some of the papers dealt with from my desk. Binders work better for me than do simple files, guess I feel as though they are contained or more accessible. Do you remember when I said I'd nicely stacked papers on the passenger side of my bed? Well, most of them are scattered on the floor around the bed, evidently in Lynx's way as she tried to settle in. I'll have to re-do them, as they were sorted by date and by organization---organization, now THAT'S a concept!

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Today is Good Friday and will be spending the evening at church tonight. We rehearse our anthem before worship, with this particular song having two solo parts, both by yours truly. I hope my voice doesn't crack like it did during rehearsal last night. Jill will reprimand me if I criticize myself so will forgo that and just pray for the best!

A dark, dreary day in the city that never sleeps...

...and my boy is still sawing logs at 10:30 in the morning. I know he stayed up late watching Leno and Conan so while I'm rested, he's got some catching up to do. Our plans are to take the double-decker bus tour of the city, something we do every visit to NYC, and hop off in Chinatown for lunch...or perhaps Little Italy. He wants to have dinner tonight at Times Square, "under the lights" as it were. Tomorrow we leave for home so this is our only chance. When we ate at Bubba Gumps', it was daytime, so didn't count as dining under the lights. No shows either this trip--apparently we aren't the only tourists in the city right now, many school groups, etc. have bought up the seats for the "good" shows. That's okay with us, we're fine seeing the Broadway shows that come to Jacksonville. We've seen our favorites already on past visits to New York. We can share the lights of Broadway with others....

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I am so glad that I took the advice of Julia and joined AAA! We got good rates for the hotel and airfare, and found out that the tour also takes AAA so we'll get a discount for our double-decker bus ride today. Justin likes the idea that I'll have a little safety net in case something happens when I'm on the road, as I feel the same for him. It's certainly not expensive, and as Julia said, she's surprised I didn't have something like this already. I can't say why not, except that I think when I was married, the decision was made to not renew our membership for some reason and I never gave it a second thought. Hmmm.....

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Reading my book makes me long to go on a trip, a "real" trip, like to Amalfi and/or the Greek Islands. I believe I mentioned the high praise Judy R. gave, comparing my writing and Francis Mayes'. She, Francis, paints such a lovely picture with her words, describing the sights and sounds on their travels. As I was saying to Justin yesterday, I'd have a real hard time finding foods to enjoy in some of those places in southern Europe. They sure do like their seafood over there! I'd have to throw a stick of summer sausage in my luggage and some yellow mustard, to survive!

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I am so uncomplicated!

We are in the presence of greatness tonight!

When Justin and I returned to the hotel late afternoon, the walk in front of us was stacked rows deep with luggage, with a truck being unloaded by the bell men, luggage and trunks, all sort of suitcases. I thought perhaps the Queen was staying here or something, but as we walked beyond the hotel to the drug store, we discovered buses parked around the corner, and some well-dressed men standing nearby, chatting. We were waiting for the light to change so I glanced at the tag on the one guy's portfolio, Philadelphia Flyers. A lady had something with New York Rangers stuck to it. Ah, hockey players! And they don't travel light!!

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This afternoon was spent at the Museum of Modern Art, just a few blocks from where we're staying. It was a nice walking day, although it did get a bit chilly when the wind caught us between buildings. This is quite the contrast to the Met, which features the Old Masters but I did get my picture taken with Starry Night today. It may sound simple-minded of me to say this, but upon close scrutiny of some of the pieces today---I think the world is being 'sold' a bill of goods, trying to pass some of this stuff off as being "genius".....Justin does like the Warhol work and some of Jackson Pollack's work, but I have troubles accepting some of this "paint on canvas" as art. Makes me feel better about my paint playing! And I am not saying one thing, giving one message about WWI in my work either, which some of the pieces we saw today claimed to be in response to. (This is not grammatically correct).

Someone, either at Art Guild or Great Hang Ups, made the pronouncement that the Great Masters would not be such today, so good thing they made it when they did! Maybe it was my art teacher saying that---anyway, I just remembered that today as we looked at some of the pieces.

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All in all, it was a good day together, and now we spend the evening watching, of all things, "American Idol"...Sort of in keeping with the art we saw today, one flows into the next.........Justin loves it so I can amuse myself with the blog and reading my book. Turns out that Francis Mayes' husband is originally from Winona! Now, that's worth knowing!

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Good night all!