Mystery Dinner

Friday night at church, the Fellowship group put on a Mystery Dinner. No, not with a murder or other crime to solve. Instead, the diners had to try to cipher what the menu items were and order food for three courses. The Mystery portion was the vague descriptions of the menu selections and hope that eventually food would be served! If a person ordered incorrectly, they might get three types of food but nothing to eat it with, or dessert with green beans and only a knife. It was an absolute hoot and the food, well, out of this world!

Lonnie ordered from his menu, thinking he would beat the game. The good news is that got his silverware, but the bad news was he had to turn it in before the next course was served! He had to 'bribe' his server for another fork, but at least he got food from the 2nd course forward!

The kitchen gang played a trick on Jim B. as he was presented with this giant ham bone! At least he had a fork and green beans to hold him over. Eventually, he did received his "heart stopper" ham, but not until we all had a good chuckle! The Scheetz's took the bone home for their dog.

(Click on the photo to make it large enough to read the menu)

Oops! Jayne also ordered wisely and ended up with only silverware for her first course, which was removed before the 2nd course arrived. Guess she had to pony up to her server in order to get a fork or spoon to eat with. Next to her is a copy of the menu which has vague descriptions of what the foods are, such as 'golf balls' for the deep fried mac 'n cheese balls, 'hunter's tool' for a knife, and so on. Cute!

Lynn is yukking it up with John and Suzanne at the table before we began eating. Folks were still getting settled in, as you can see in the back, righthand corner, Linda is working the room, saying "Hi!" to folks.

Suzanne and John sat with us, but later, John moved to the table behind us to sit with the guys. No problem because then Carol had room to join our group of ladies. At one point, Carol misordered and ended up eating her course, including green beans (catepillers), with her knife!!!

At the next table sat Donna, Bonnie, Ellen, and Lynn K., with Twila and Jean across from them. Judy is walking in the background.

Linda is enjoying her apple dessert with her scalloped potatoes. The dessert and other foods were all mixed up on the menu so some were able to live life to the full, with dessert being served first! Such great fun and a wonderful social event. I tried to post a photo of the two Mikes who did the majority of the cooking but the photos kept coming out sideways when I posted them! Oooops!

Biding our time

We ladies are watching Fox and Friends before getting ready for Bible study. In about an hour we will be leaving for church, where we are studying "IDing Worldviews" or something similar in name. This will be our third week in this topic, but only our second in a row. Sometimes it is hard to get a rhythm going in such a study. Hopefully we will manage to do so but I believe next week is the Pastor's Conference so we will lose our rhythm again.

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Wow, lots has happened since I began this posting! We went to Bible study, stopping at Sonic for Route 44s for Lynn and me, and a water for Linda. The class was great, with a new attendee, Joseph, who used to be in the Bible information class with some of us on Tuesday nights. Apparently a job took him away from us at night, so now he is coming on Monday a.m.'s! In the class we talked about the worldviews of naturalism and tapped the surface of Darwinism. All these 'isms' are hard to keep straight.

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Joseph asked me to drop him off at Publix so we did just that on our way to Longhorn. We had 9 at the table today and all enjoyed our time together. Jackie and Gretchen got their hugs delivered and sent some back with Lynn for Mom. Lynn and Linda enjoyed the seafood chowder and salad lunch special while I had my usual chicken tenders. From Longhorn we went home to go to the pool as the temperatures were expected to be about 92 today. 

It was warm but not insufferably humid, however, the water still had too much shadow and was chilly to me. Somehow we managed to enjoy it and especially more when Maggie O. showed up! I am so glad Lynn and Linda finally got to meet her, having read so much about her. Maggie had brought lunch for Ellen and she which they shared at a table in the shade. 

We had a good visit with all the ladies at the pool and even managed to secure a few sodas and a water when Danny came down to the cabana to set up for a private party. Maggie the Younger came down from the condo (Ellen's daughter) and joined Jessica and Beckham at the pool. Such a handsome boy Beckham is! The two ladies had been at Beckham's baby shower and now got to see him in the flesh. People came and went, and eventually it ended up being L, L, E, and me around the table. And then Justin came!!!! He had to say his farewells to the two houseguests, saying he will see them in December. That seems a long way off, does it not? Not!

Where is the time going?

Saturday went by so quickly and yet, not so fast. Hmmm.....Might be because the ladies had bad night's sleep due in part to their sunburns and not being able to get comfortable . Linda's case is worse than Lynn's and had lathered themselves with aloe lotion to ease the heat. But what fun we had!

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Lynn reminded me that we were having breakfast at Grumpy's that morning so we got ready quickly to head over there. She treated us, with Lynn and Linda having apple pancakes, and me, my usual of a fried egg with rye toast and crispy bacon. I did not care for my toast somehow but the bacon and egg were good. Kathy B. and Brian came in and met her daughter and son-in-law, Kelly and Kevin. Kathy and Brian were not at the dinner on Friday night even though they signed up but I did not inquire as to why. She did remark about my interesting highlights in my hair, some put there by the sun and some by old age. It will be weird when I return to using the silver remover when summer is over to see if folks notice that!

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As we drove to church to set up for Holy Communion, I assured the ladies that the kitchen would be cleaned up from the dinner but as we walked into the Fellowship Hall, there was Judy C. doing the wet mopping! I told her we would wait and I would do the church stuff setting up first and in the meantime, she put the communion-ware into the Fellowship Hall for us. Lynn helped me get things ready and we enjoyed chatting with Judy while doing so. That Mystery Dinner was an absolute hoot and Linda is planning to take the idea home with her to use at First German for a fund raiser or just plain fun, like this one was! Jim B. sitting there with that giant ham bone on his plate was hysterical!

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Once that opportunity to serve was completed, we went to Chamblain's Book Mine near Roosevelt Mall to check it out. Mary Lew, my muse from water aerobics, had told me all about it and since my two guests are such readers, well.....WOW, what a place! If there is one book, there had to be 100,000, even display on ledges over door ways! Early on in our visit, I had found a book of the history of the Jacksonville fire which was in 1901 but once I figured out the pricing, it was not such a deal after all, still $40. It would have been great to page through and look at the photographs of what once was, and then pass it along to Brenda N., a Jax native who soaks up the history. She suggested recently that the two of us visit the 18 churches written about in the book, Saints Dunstan and John. It is a great idea, of course, but I wonder if I could pin her down for the entire day!

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Only Linda bought a book and then we went to Steinmart. We all found something there to buy, with me finding this great purple/gold/ruby Aztec print jacket, lightweight fabric for winter. Here the ladies have ruby sunburns and are looking at winter clothing! I also picked up a box of CHRISTmas cards already, half-price, and absolutely lovely. Why not? It is time to make decisions regarding our Ladies' Advent Service while the temperatures are still in the high 80's!

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When we arrived back home, Linda in quite a lot of misery from her sunburn and from walking, we changed clothes and went to the pool. When asked if they preferred staying in, Lynn declared, "I did not come to Florida to sit in the house!" so good, off we went. Linda took her book and remained in the shade while Lynn cooled her burn in the cooler waters of the pool water. More folks were out there than I expected and we had great visits with other bathers. Our lunch was enjoyable from the cabana and before 4:00 pm, we were back upstairs! We found the Badger game to watch at first and then turned on something else to entertain. For dinner I reheated our leftovers from Thursday's feast, which amused my neighbors who were at the pool. When they asked where we were going for dinner, I told them we were eating in and they laughingly asked, "Are you using your kitchen????" Leftovers, hello?

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For our evening entertainment we watched "The Lake House" which made us cry, I had forgotten the twists and turns of the movie and then I went to bed. I had had a good night's sleep but was weary nonetheless. I pray the ladies do too so we are fresh for church and Clark's afterward!

My company is here

Lynn and I are enjoying an adult beverage at the Bahama Breeze on Thursday at lunch. Lynn's was margarita take-off and mine a strawberry mojito, almost like a salad in the glass!

Linda and I posed with our adult beverages at Bahama Breeze before our meals were delivered.

Somehow or another I neglected to post on Thursday, possibly because we were so incredibly busy around here! Lynn and Linda arrived safely but later than I expected since their itinerary changed. Man, it was great to see them waiting at baggage claim!!! When we got home, we talked a little while before everyone set off for their rooms, since we were all a bit tired. Linda hoped to be up early enough to watch the sunrise but she overslept and missed it.

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Thursday morning we went to Bible study at Victory with Justin and then had lunch at Bahama Breeze. Oh, how I loved my lunch of braised beef with yellow rice. It is my new favorite meal at BB! From BB we stopped at Publix so Linda could buy what she needed for her mac 'n cheese and then headed home to start cooking. Lynn mixed up her key lime pie to put in the freezer before we went down to the pool. Linda's and my contributions could wait until later to be put together. And off we went to splash around for a bit.

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We had a scant seven people for the dinner for various reasons, not the least of which was the church dinner Friday night. Regardless of how many ladies we had, the food was amazing, Paula Deen recipes, and much much laughter. Even a few tears..but more laughter. Judy J. made us a lush dessert with cream puffs, ice cream and Saunders chocolate sauce over the top, which went nicely with Lynn's more tart pie. Talk about refreshing!

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Friday morning the ladies were up in time to see the sun rise and have some morning coffee before we headed to The Club to eat breakfast. I had French toast and the two ladies had omelets and potatoes. From there we went to the Island to get a pedicure for Lynn and me, Linda abstained. Our next stop was Great Hang Ups where Dee showed Lynn and Linda my water color vignettes, as yet unframed. While we were there, another lady came in for her photographs which Dee had reworked for the client's mom's 90th birthday. Peggy was so delighted with each board of photos, and there were tears all around. Poor Linda could not even see for awhile, until Dee went to get tissues. Each board of history was more lovely than the next and so perfectly captured the story of the client's mom. Fantastic, but we needed rehydration which we got in the form of pina coladas at the pool. Now my lady friends/sisters are red over pasty white from too much sun in the pool, and at the pool. Maggie and Ellen came out a bit later which was great fun, as Maggie discussed recipes with Lynn and Linda. She loves to cook as does Linda. We made some friends with visiting folks from Detroit (talk about pasty white!!!!) who were here for a wedding being held tonight. Who has more fun than us!!??!!

Biding my time....

.....until I leave for the airport to get my guests. Linda first text messaged me and then called to report their arrival in Chicago. At my urging they were going to get something to eat as it will be late when their plane lands in JAX with not many options on the path from the airport. Linda said she does not like to eat so soon before going to bed so I hope they get enough supper to tide them over until morning!

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My kitchen is laid out with breakfast-type foods at the ready, the coffee maker cleaned and prepared to brew some coffee in the morning, plus the mixer and equipment for Lynn to make her pies when she gets up. Her key lime pies need to be frozen so must get them ready before we leave for Bible study. I have no worries that Linda and she will be early risers regardless of being on vacation. Which is why I have everything ready to go! Linda is pretty comfortable making herself at home and I am sure Lynn will as well.

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The Palace cats are meowing something fierce downstairs and sounds really loud up here. The remodeling noise has subsided for the day, replaced by the sound of the fountain and the cats. Yesterday, I mentioned Jeff apologizing for the dust which prompted me to grab the Pledge today to wipe some of the surfaces before the ladies arrive. Justin did the chandelier for me Tuesday. Fewer ladies than usual are coming to the dinner tomorrow night, due in part to us having a dinner at church the next night. No worries, we will have a great time with whomever is here, and have more for us! Good thing I reminded Martie because she totally forgot about it.

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Today I picked up my Smithfield spiral ham which is touted by Paula Deen (my end-around to get out of cooking!). As I told Jessica earlier, I feel like a darn fool in the grocery store, this time Wal*Mart, because I don't know where anything is anymore. I had to ask a man if they had hams, which he showed me. And then I had to ask another man where the Half 'n Half and heavy cream were located, and he took me there. A lady in the produce department told me to look in the juice aisle for key lime juice but there was none. Eventually I got the right juice at Publix, which is where I should have started anyway! The reason I went to Wal*Mart first was to get some movies, managing to find one I was looking for, "Letters to Juliette" which just came out of DVD and "Amazing Grace", but struck out there. In the $5 bin I found "The Lake House" with Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves. It is such a great movie, involves a bit of time travel and a story about architecture, and a house on a lake! Go figure! Perhaps Blockbuster will have Amazing Grace for us to watch.

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One cannot watch movies without popcorn so I bought some Orville's to make, the teeny packages plus some pretzel crackers. Justin carried up some of the bags from my car this late afternoon when he was done working, and was rewarded with a jug of laundry soap. The 24-pack of Diet Coke was so heavy for me to carry up so he did that for me, plus the 24 pack of toilet paper (garbage in, garbage out!), and my laundry soap. Want to make sure that the ladies have plenty of soap if they need to do a wash, as George Castanza would say.

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Earlier this evening, I heard Travis calling my name. I had my doors open so he could just holler through the screen at me. He had brought me a glass that I had sent tea home with Jessica and I gave him back the bowl from the chicken soup. Later, I was emptying the dishwasher as my microwave was cooking my supper and Jessica came by. She was carrying the baby's bathtub to her car for the long weekend trip she is taking with her mom. I told her about Lynn making the pies tomorrow and she went upstairs to get me a zester for the lime. I don't have one for some reason.....Jessica came into my river room and saw my artwork and said, "Wow, Kim, I didn't know you did anything!" She sure didn't mean it the way it came out. She is also interested in scrapbooking so when summer is over, we are going to get busy working on her baby book and finish my Alaska pictures!