The roar of the jet engines

As I sit in my window, waiting for Justin to arrive, I am being entertained once more by the Blue Angels going through their paces at the Navy base. Today is a glorious one complete with cloudless blue skies, perfect for watching planes zoom around. The river is alive with boats of all types as people get an excellent view of the show and avoid the street traffic complications when the show is over. Can get hairy trying to dump all those cars onto Hwy. 17 at one time. Of course, the Jaguar game is going to be taking place at 4:00 so traffic might be quite different due to that.

*

After worship today we had a quick congregational/voters' meeting where it was discussed and decided to go ahead with the 2nd option regarding the financing of our building projects. Some were hesitant to stick our necks out for the amount of money needed, reasonable thinking at these questionable times. Others, the prevailing sentiment, was the rates are low now, favorably so, costs are down now, the need remains for the roof repairs, etc., etc. The vote passed but not without a few 'nays', again, due to the uncertainties we are facing.

*

Immediately following our meeting, we recessed to the patio area for our Oktoberfest celebration, hosted by the Fellowship Committee. I brought nothing to share, what kind of Lutheran am I? Terri assured she brought plenty of food for both of us so I went ahead and ate. Our congregation president went from frying the brats to conducting the meeting and then got to enjoy the fruits of his grille.

*

We had a good turnout for this event, complete with polka music, German singing CDs, and brew. Prior to my departure, I was coaxed into doing the "Dance Little Bird" a. k. a. The Chicken Dance. Whew, I got warm then! A group of folks joined me at sitting at a full-sun table but eventually had to ease their ways into the shade. I wasn't warm there but was quite hot when the dancing was over! Even skinny Pastor got worn out dancing the Chicken Dance!

Here is Pastor doing a dosey-do in the Dance Little Bird routine. No wonder we got hot! Nick Conroy is dancing with Pastor Kuske, with Kim Tyler and her nephew, Christopher behind them. On the edge of the dance floor is Terri Thompson with Nathan Kuske. A good time was had by all!

*

Justin was coming over here to work on a project for me this afternoon while watching the football game, but there was a development......Emily called to ask us to dinner. Okay, I would love to come and my CD/DVD project isn't all that important, not more than going to Paul and Emily's for dinner! My next door neighbors are busily unpacking their moving boxes which I've rescued from the dumpster area and loaded into my car. I ran into Ed (the guy with the grille!) and told him I took some of their boxes and he offered more boxes and even packing paper! When Justin comes, we're going to go get more boxes from them as well as the packing paper for his move in about two weeks.

*

In going through the documents for the lease at Melrose, it appears there is no loophole for us to use in order to get him out of the obligation. It will be the right thing for him to stay there, this I know, as I have pretty much taken over the room that used to be his, having to start the HD cable service again, and so on. It will save money to have him here, but it would be a huge pain in the neck and not a little nusance. On both our parts! He'd want to go out and have fun with his buddies, and I'd have to look the other way, or he'd want to mess up the family room and I would object to that as well. Sounds like I am unreasonable, which I am not, and neither is he. Justin understands and appreciates the situation, probably having a better picture since he works in the business and see the affects of the downturn. He is fairly sure he'll be able to adjust his lifestyle, saying he is "scared enough" by what's going to on to live more modestly.

*

Back from dinner at the Lawcock's and already in my nightie. We had a wonderful meal, topped off my Dutch apple pie and ice cream Justin and I picked up at Publix. Before heading over there we stopped at the neighbors and got a load of cardboard boxes and wrapping paper for Justin's big move. That reminds me--I'd better get him on the schedule with my Turkish friends for moving day. After November 1st we'll know who his roomies are and whether or not to take the game table with him. I think if he moves in first, he gets dibs on the "kitchen" table/game table. But that will be for them to work out, I guess. There is no room here for those pieces of furniture so he'd better get there first!

*

One thing is for sure, he'll have plenty of boxes and wrapping paper to protect his belongs!

Some fun photos

My niece, Tina, who lives in Palm Coast, just an hour south of here, sent me these photos taken of her daughter, Maya, on her second birthday. Tina is expecting her next daughter right after Christmas, and says the new baby will have mighty big shoes to fill! Maya is just a dream, is easily entertained but also loves having mommy and daddy's attention.

Tina's hubby didn't send the photos taken of Maya playing with the presents that Justin and I gave her this year, but this shot is of Maya continuing to enjoy playing the ones we gave her last year, when she turned one. We found a plastic tea set and knowing every little girl loves to have to have parties, thought Maya needed this tea set. I asked Keith if she still plays with it and both parents replied, "Oh, yes! We have pictures!" She sets the table and entertains her stuffed animals and dollies in her play room, usually used as the dining room. I am so glad she continues to enjoy such a simple gift, and hope she gets lots of use from the "princess" blanket we gave her this year---one corner is shaped into a crown with a jewel that lights up. She is a princess! And a wonderful hostess!

A full day on Saturday

At the end of the day, I am back at the computer. At the beginning of the day, I was able to say "good morning" to Christopher who carried a lovely table centerpiece up to my door. Jen was passing through the area and had it in her trunk ever since her sister's wedding. She had him run it up to me before it got wrecked. They were planning to attend the air show later today but had to run back home in between their errands. The centerpieces were so pretty on the tables and since Kristin didn't really need 8 of them and I'd complimented her on the lovely table decorations, she offered one to me! I accept!

*

The bad part was I was still not dressed when he came, because I was being a lazy bones and watching some "Behind the Scenes" portions of the "Seinfeld" DVDs I bought. I really am enjoying finding out how the show was born, how many false starts they had, how the characters were chosen and the actors who auditioned, and so on. My company wasn't expected until later on so I was in no rush to get dressed. After I did get myself ready for the day, I got busy on my computer with my numerous projects. Two newsletters are due by the end of the month plus I've also agreed to re-type the by-laws of the Condo Association, as needed.

*

Two of my lady friends came over to have a pow wow, to discuss the current state of their affairs. Betty just lost her job, laid off, as it were, and is going to live on unemployment benefits until she can find another position. She's not sure she'll find a job with enough salary to pay her bills and is concerned about losing her house. Brenda N. works for a different builder and has been cut back, too, but still has her job. We were putting our heads together, trying to think of options for each of them, one to sustain herself and the other to fill in the blank days. Brenda does cleaning for folks, is still fairly able-bodied although older than Betty.

*

We came up with a plan for Brenda to move into an RV and park it on Betty's lot, bathe in her swimming pool, and pump the septic products into Betty's tank! Of course, this was in gest, but we get the idea about how things can possibly play out if the business doesn't turn around. Brenda's bosses, a family, would stand to lose everything since it's a Mom and Pop and Son organization, and having them all "employed" in the same place is bad when and if the bottom falls out for their company. Really gives us pause.....

*

They were not impressed with my momentarily considering moving back to WI, didn't want to even hear about that. Some in my family agree that it wouldn't be the best idea either but it would be great for my mom to move out of that apartment building. This is all just speculation right now, and as Justin says, "You'd have to learn how to drive on ice again!!" As cold as I was in the restaurant tonight, it is quite difficult to imagine living in the cold and dark all the time. But, on the bright side, I'd have a newer condo and be closer to my family, and the, dare I say it?, boys!

*

Anyway, Brenda had to leave in order to get cleaned up after doing some office cleaning, she came to my house all smelly (NOT!). She was attending a retirement event at her bosses' house tonight as one the superintendents was leaving the company. Not laid off or anything like that, but he has an illness that doesn't allow for him to work any longer. He's sort of a young man to be retiring but the illness just won't allow. I understand he has a balance disorder of some sort, which can be just miserable. Jimmie, my dear friend, will have to pick up the work the other fellow did but is just glad they have the work to keep him going.

*

Just prior to the ladies coming, my upstairs neighbor called to report computer trouble and would be unable to type up and send off the Minutes from the Board meeting....Sure!, I can type them up and send them off for her! Justin, again, scolds me for not saying "No" to people but I feel like this is the least I can do since I am not out supervising the roofers or replacing the elevator. We are all volunteers here in running our building and I already refused the "opportunity" to serve on the personnel committee because I love our "door man" so much! I can't do it to him, which was often my problem in the business, always connecting with folks and then not being able to let go!

*

No sooner had the ladies left when Justin called to ask me to go to church with him tonight. Since I had no other plans I said I would, and then we could use his Carrabba's gift card, a birthday present from Travis and Jessica. I got myself ready for church and drove over, arriving about 10 minutes before worship. Only 8 of us in church, about usual for Saturday evenings, but the service was wonderful. One of the hymns we sang was "In Christ Alone", Linda, just what I needed to hear/sing/read! The version was from the Supplement which has less fanfare than the choral version, but is still absolutely gorgeous to sing in a church with such accoustics as Victory's. The hymn made up for the 'strange' one we sang from the Worship and Praise hymnal they use, from CPH.

*

Next Sunday afternoon our church and Victory are having a joint Reformation Service and German-style meal. Our choirs will unite to sing two anthems, including "In Christ Alone". Bonnie, the pianist tonight as well as the church secretary, asked me if I wanted to rehearse together next Thursday when we come for Bible study. She and I are two of the three sopranos singing our part, as this anthem has a second soprano part for those without the range to squeek like mice! I can sign up to bring a German dish but Pastor Hoyer told me I didn't have to bring anything as I will be a guest next week. We'll see, I might be so moved to make something anyway, but we'll have to be there so early for practice....

*

Justin and I enjoyed our meal, although his favorite pasta fell short of expectations. He told the waitress it was missing an ingredient, and told me it tasted like they used Ragu! He loved his chicken trio, introduced to us by then Kelly Vance, who used to work at Carrabba's. It is his meal of choice there, and I had the sirloin marsala. Of course, I brought most of it home with me and perhaps I'll have it for supper tomorrow.

*

Justin is coming over here to watch the football game tomorrow, his suggestion, and is going to tackle a project for me while we watch. I have stacks of CD's, DVDs, and VHS tapes scattered around, some of them not in the proper containers, and just messy. We are considering either getting rid of or packing away the Disney and kid videos since Prange's won't be coming any time soon, Lucas was the only one who has watched one in ages. We can't even sell those type tapes at the Yard Sale because no one uses the VHS players any longer. I am glad I have one that works in my bedroom TV because all our home movies are VHS yet. Guess I need to get them converted or buy the machine myself to get them onto DVDs for posterity. Paul told me that it's not even possible to buy a VHS player in the store anymore so I'd better get a move on. Not like I sit and watch the movies regularly, but I'd like to know I can watch them when I want to.

*

Earlier I mentioned the Rosses' going to the air show.....Thursday I had a sneak preview of the Blue Angels practicing along the river, flying in low and close over my building and above the water. Very impressive, as any of you who been to the air show can attest. NASJAX is the home of the Blue Angels so it's a special time when they are in town. The ladies and I could see and hear the jets as they performed today but the sky was so overcast that the show lost something in translation, rather, visibility. It's too bad that it was cloudy because it's really quite spectacular to see these machines being maneuvered in the sky---inspirational!

My, how the mighty have fallen......and that includes me!

I can hardly hold my eyes open this morning, not because the sun is shining into them. In fact, it's rained almost all night, and I know this because I barely slept a wink. God and I were up most of the night talking things over, trying to come up with an additional plan, other than Plan A which is to trust in the Lord with all your heart.

*

Tuesday night Justin had called me all upset about something----more lay offs at work, and this time, my very dear friend, Betty. She's been with my former company nearly 12 years but the boss had to let a mess of people go, including Mike, the superintendent, now called "builder", who has also been with the company for many years. He's young, hopefully he can find another job, but not so for Betty. In fact, today is her birthday and I believe she's in her late 50's, and it's also her last day. Gulp! Of course, this news threw me for a loop as only a skeleton crew remains, few contracts in the future........yes, it's hitting real close to home now!

*

Yesterday my greatest (nearly) fears were realized when my phone rang and the ID showed my former spouses' name. Oh no, this can't be good! And I was correct, it wasn't good. To make a sad story short and not reveal huge amounts of information, I am being asked to take a pay cut, or at least begin the bargaining process. "You can't get blood from a turnip" is one of the reasons given. This news is not a terrible surprise but it is wretched nonetheless. All this keeping in mind that the Lord has the world and its machinations in His hand.....but, I just wish I understood more.

*

In an unusual turn of events, and I'll discuss this more another time, I found myself sympathetic during this uneasy conversation, harkening back to the times we struggled together to get our bearings after our partner left. That was when I went to work at Sprint, to earn us insurance and float money until the economy turned around again, and we were accepted as preferred builders into Eagle Harbor. I've said before that if I hadn't already lost a child, losing my business or my part of it, was like losing a child---we'd raised it up from nothing. I always tried to keep in mind from whence cometh our help. And yesterday, my former spouse told me he'd said to several people already that this was the second worst week of his life. We all know the what the worst week was...........there is really no comparison.

Oh, that Linda tore me up today!

I just came back from breakfast and Bible study with Justin at Victory, and I've immediately put my fuzzy slippers on. Yes, Linda, the sea is angry today, even here in Florida! There was no breathtaking sunrise waking me this a.m. so I'm glad you got to see a "light show" put on by God. He put on a grey sky and a bit of rain for us here in North Florida. I hope it didn't rain in Ormond Beach because there was a campaign visit there by John McCain today.

*

The alarm on my cell phone was set to prompt me to get up at a decent time this week and not miss my time with Justin. The roads weren't bad for the commute and I arrived about 15 minutes early, and by early, I mean, our arrangement is to meet between 8:30-8:45. This give me a few minutes to read some more in The Shack, which I'll bet is driving you more voracious readers bonkers! You'd have read five or six books before I get through this one---but, reading is not the only thing I do. Talking about it with Judy J. last week I told her it's taking me so long because I don't read in lieu of doing something else, and she said, "I do!".

*

Our breakfast conversation this a.m. was about the current state of affairs and how it affects the people in our lives, some of whom we care deeply for. (What kinda sentence is that--besides cryptic???) The good news was that the stock market seemed to be picking up so far since it opened....I'd hate to be Alan Greenspan this a.m.! Talk about a fall from grace....

*

Our class was held in the narthex portion of the church rather than in a smaller office area where we were quite crowded in recent weeks. It was much brighter, airy, and offered a lovely view of the grey skies and pouring rain. It was a splash and dash shower but enough to ruin one of the men's plans to cut the church property's grass. The subject matter for our "hero" in the Bible was the story of Moses and how, by faith, his parents set him afloat in the Nile River in hopes that the daughter of pharaoh would see him, love him, and want to save him. Moses, as an adult, murdered an Egyptian who was seen beating a Hebrew slave, committing a sin and a crime. Moses fled for his life in order to avoid punishment for his crime. Not the kind of behavior the Lord favors! Pastor pointed out the irony of the Egyptian leadership ordering the first-born sons of the slaves to be killed and yet murder was still considered a crime. Not unlike our own country, permitting and sometimes paying for abortions, and yet abolishing the death penalty for those who commit murder. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

*

After dropping Justin off at UNF, I gave my sister-in-law a call to see how Arno was doing. She'd just gotten home for visiting him and seeing the doctor, and could report he was doing much much better today, getting his strength back and his wits. Some of the medications they gave him post-surgery made him a bit dopey, and then no one seems ready to go home. Depending upon the re-evaluation by the therapist, he may be able to return home rather than going into rehab first, the way he's making his comeback. This is such good news and I do hope, for Arno's sake, the therapist lets him go home instead into rehab, even though the facility is right across the road from his house!

*

Martie and I are just having a dilly of a time getting together these days---Tuesday we did meet to have lunch but with her young escort along---Little Mark (a.k.a. ManMan). After she got his hair cut they were planning to come up here so we could have our dessert but it took so long for them at the beauty shop that time ran out. They did come up here but only for a moment before she had to take him back to his dad's police substation on the Westside for his ride home. We had made new plans for Saturday after work but now she called to say ManMan is probably coming again for the weekend so it would be difficult for us to have grown-up conversation (like that's gonna happen!) and keep him occupied at the same time. Our original plan was to ride down to the beach Saturday but the weather is yet predicted to be nasty so Plan B is to meet here. I hope she can come Saturday but we have tentative plans for Tuesday.

*

I am having quite a good time here watching and hearing a little air show of F-14s circling around right over the condo and swooping along the river. It was hard to hear on the phone earlier because the jet noise was quite loud. This is not a complaint, believe me, I love it! Between the planes and helicopters and boat traffic, my view provides much entertainment. Tonight are plans for Ladies' Night Out with the Great Hang Ups ladies, with our meal destination yet to be determined. My vote was for Bonefish Grille where I've never eaten but Dee is concerned I won't find anything to eat there. The menu on-line says I will and told her I care more about their company than the food anyway! And it's true!!!

A couple more photos

This is a photo taken of me sitting on the ancient rocks in Ephesus, contemplating whether or not I'll make it the rest of the tour. It was 115 degrees above zero, and yes, I was HOT! Notice I am holding a water bottle in my hand, probably one of the only pictures ever showing this. As it turned out, we were at the end of the line for the tour and about to head to the shops area and bus. I bought another bottle of water at the top of the hill, drank some of it, and poured the rest over my head. I was already wet from perspiration so what's a little more? We all kept checking with each other to make sure we were okay and we made it!

Quite by contrast and only six weeks later, Lynn and I are "on the rocks" at the Mendenhall Glacier in Alaska. Twila took our picture with the glacier showing in the background. I bought the fleece jacket on the ship and it served me well on the trip, but look at Lynn in her cropped pants. As Linda would say, "It was probably in the 60's!!!" Layers, layers, layers.....

Here is my friend, Judy, standing against the wall at the Palace of Knossos, once more hot, hot, hot. She is making do in her outfit of borrowed and purchased pieces of clothing, since the entire trip Jerry and she were without their luggage. I didn't have much to share clothing-wise but had a shawl to contribute for formal night and some sun screen given to me by the dermatologist. Our group pitched in as best we could for the two couples who didn't get their luggage and Judy has told me that brown is her least favorite color, but what are you going to do???

I just met a low-talker!

Since the pile of laundry on the floor in my closet was growing higher and higher, I decided it was time to get to the store for laundry soap. Not that I've not been at the store in recent weeks, but somehow I neglected to get that necessary item. Today I made a bee-line for the soap aisle to ensure getting what I came for. Usually I'll take a quick inventory of the basket contents before getting into the check-out line to make sure I actually did have what I came to get. Obviously I didn't have a specific mission on the other trips when it came to laundry detergent!

*

Twila is supposed to be coming for cropping today but our other friend, Caroline, once again has other things on her schedule. She felt badly to always decline but from now on will plan around cropping so she gets to come. Caroline and her husband are prospective members, currently going through the 'instruction' class privately with Pastor. Not only do I like Caroline and like scrapbooking, it is also part of job to incorporate and keep in contact with prospects/new members. One of my favorite things to do!

*

For our lunch today, I bought white mountain bread, sandwich meat and cheese to make our own sandwiches instead of having Twila pick up subs for us. I bought the Hillshire Farms sandwich meat which comes with its own Gladware container, because they were less expensive than the store brand---imagine! The store brand soda was also quite cheap so that's what I took for my refrigerator. Justin picked some up for me the other day and it wasn't bad, so I can do it!

*

Not wishing to waste a moment, I made my way to the check out, and found only one open. I don't like the self-checking aisles, I like the personal touch of having some one do it for me. The checkout young lady was seemingly new to the job, had the most delightful accent, perhaps from the Islands. In attempting to process my purchase I needed to scan my debit card twice before she got it figured out. But, the young lady doing the bagging, was the low-talker. She must have asked me three times where I got my shirt (one of my postcard looking tops) before I could hear or understand the question. She had dramatic black eye make-up on, jet black hair in pigtails and wore glasses, rather the character, but I never took her for a low-talker! Good thing I wasn't wearing a puffy shirt!