It looks spooky out there….

…..with areas of the river obscured by what seem to be very low clouds. It is likely fog but since it is not evenly dispersed, the effect is somewhat eerie. A few minutes ago there was thunder and some lightning but not enough to coax me off my big ‘gas powered’ computer. In the morning hours the rain just pounded against the windows but it was brief, now much lighter showers which are preventing me from going to my car for a 12-pack of soda from the car. Fortunately I have a ‘stand-by’ 2-liter bottle of Pepsi here to hold me over. And I had some water already today—yay for me!

Much of the day I have been chuckling while also furrowing my brow in regard to this evening’s State of the Union Show, oops, I meant, Speech. Folks all over the media, not only on the networks I listen to and follow, are referring to the event as being ‘prom-like’, since it has been proposed to have the various congress-people intermingle in the House. The elected folks are hustling to find ‘dates’, yes, they are referring to each other as being dates, to sit next to during the speech. We shall see how this all plays out, making a joke out of this whole thing. Trying to put a wedge between the Conservatives and the Progressives by having them sit together. Clever! There has also been discussion as to whether or not certain of the Supreme Court will be there, it is their option, as they are not ‘allowed’ to participate other than to hear the report. PresBO sort of went after them last year following their handling of a case before them which he was not supporting.

I am quite proud of myself right now, I hope it lasts. A few months ago, when I had the water heater replaced, one of my new faucets in the back bathroom, the origin of the flooding, did not work. Well, the same plumber who installed the water heater came to check the faucet and ended up having to scrape and dig in the spout as there seemed to be an obstruction lodged there. It must have broken loose when the water off and then turned back on. Brian had to wiggle the faucets under the sink, which really freaked me out as I was concerned about the pipes breaking or something. Finally he got the water to flow through the spout and all was well. At least, I thought so….some time later I went in there to check on things and found that the hot side of the faucet did not work, no water came out. I felt that if I ignored it, eventually water would work, but it had not. I got my courage up today to go back there, turned the faucet to ON, and turned the little faucet under the sink. Ta-da, hot water flowed into the sink! This whole business has really turned me into a big, fat chicken in regard to water and its plumbing.

Rosalie gave me a call from the road today as Hal and she make their way our direction. They are heading first to Melbourne and will be here for church and Bible study Sunday, and the afternoon of visitors. I hope some people come. Charlie and LaMora are supposedly going to come which Hal will enjoy, as will I. I have made some phone calls to those no longer at GS and hope they get the message and call me back. When I let Joe Z. know they were coming, he got quite excited and hopefully someone from the family will see to it that he gets here. If not, well, he can greet them at church. I am a bit concerned there won’t be enough time at church, since there is a kid’s game function taking place right after the Fellowship Sunday event. Whew, what a full, fun day that will be!

Now more thunder, heavy rains and even a tornado watch for my part of the world, and south of Clay. If this keeps up, I might reconsider my trip across the river and across town to play Trivia tonight. Rats! That is something I truly do enjoy but it would be foolish for me to venture out when I do not necessarily need to. The lightning is back again, too, so I might want to finish this up quickly to shut off the big computer. 

Right now I cannot stand the smell of my bathroom, and not because of anything it would be rude to discuss. Instead, I sprayed some foaming cleaner in the shower stall and am letting it do its thing. At first the smell is not offensive but now has reached the point where it brings back bad memories for me, which I cannot put my finger on. I am thinking Justin and I might have used this product in cleaning his bathroom at the lake house, which truly WAS a bad memory!!!! Oh, the battle of wills that took place in those days, trying to get him to take care of his room and bathroom!!!!

Thursday is my mom’s birthday and in thinking about the lake house, I am reminded of the time one of my sisters had flowers delivered to Mom at my house, for her birthday. This was when Mom still wintered with me, and I had a cat named Boots. As she sat at the dinette table working on her cross-word puzzles, Boots would pester her. The day the flowers arrived, she placed them in the center of the table for all to enjoy. Boots absolutely claimed those flowers for himself, wrapping his very robust body around the vase, as though to keep Mom away from them. It was so comical to watch!! 

Several years ago, shall I say many years ago?, Mom made a small pillow cover for a crocheted pillow we had at our house, blue with pink elephants on the fabric. Justin was quite a fan of “epheloes”, or as we know them, elephants, so his doting grandmother fixed him up with this special pillow for his stuffed animals, I believe. Whatever happened to that pillow and its cover, I cannot recall, but a few years ago, Lynn gave me a special pillow dedicated to sisters, about the same size as the other pillow. Well, I use that pillow every single day, and think of Lynn every single day as I prop my head on it in bed. Due its repeated use and consequent launderings, the pillow is getting holy, not in a good way holy. There are lateral tears in the fabric on the non-embroidered side, in more than one area, and stitching would not prevent further tearing as the fabric is weakened there. IF I knew where that pink and blue elephant pillow cover was, I could press it into service on this pillow and thus, prevent my head from going between the iron uprights on the headboard. I am not about to go tearing into those plastic bins again so will have to tolerate a less than attractive but holy pillow!

I am so ready for summer!

What is a blog posting from me without talk of the weather? More interesting, I am sure---ha ha! Last night was a frost warning again, and one of the ladies at Bible study this a.m. reported having to scrape her windshield. On Sunday morning my friend, Gretchen, made us all laugh by telling how she used her AARP card to scrape her car windows. She had two of them, and wondered aloud why they sent her two. I piped up that when you reach a certain age, they automatically send two cards. She will be 85 this year, I think. A couple years ago at ThanksLiving, Lisa used a library card to scrape her windows much to the chagrin of her cousin, Alayna, who worked in the library. Alayna was appalled to see a library card so horribly abused! It seems that closer to the water, like where I am, the frost is not as bad since my windows were perfectly clear both yesterday and today.

Later in the week it will warm up again during the day, but also have lows in the 30's. David, my bro-in-law, reported actual temps below zero on Sunday a.m. in Holmen, WI. He said they got to church okay and when folks complained about the cold, he assured them with, "At least it kills the mosquitos....". Good attitude, David! The past two nights the moon has risen, or become apparent, about 9:30 pm and is bright orange at first. I just love that but I would like to see it sooner, before it moves halfway across the sky.

Tonight, on TV, there is a movie on that I have never seen before, although it is an oldie and supposedly a goodie. "Terms of Endearment", about a challenging relationship between a mother and daughter, played by Shirley MacClaine and Debra Winger, also Jack Nicholson. There were Oscars handed out to the stars, I believe. Hopefully it will hold my interest long enough before I change the channel. Monday nights are somewhat slow for TV viewing so I appreciate it when there is a movie on to watch.

This morning before Bible study I got busy with a needle and thread, repairing a tassel that came off of my Jaguar pompom gloves. I wanted them to be perfect when I showed them off to the gang today. They are impossible to wear when doing anything else besides showing them off, though, could not even carry my soda can when sporting the gloves! What was most remarkable was first of all locating the thread and needle, and then managing to thread the needle, with only one attempt! It must have worn me out because when I was finished with the repair, I closed my eyes and fell back to sleep until 9:11! To make it to class on time, I should leave about 9:40 a.m. and managed to beat about half the ladies in getting there---whew!

Some folks don't have much good to say about things like Facebook but I have such great things that happen for me as a result of my being on FB. Besides 'meeting' some nice folks, I have had some wonderful conversations as well. A young lady named Rachel asked me to be her "Friend" on FB, having seen me at her grandparent's 50th wedding anniversary at Victory last November at Victory. Not long after Christmas, she went shopping with her family at a warehouse store and found a $10 bill in the parking lot. There was no one around to claim it so she bought a used book inside the store with the money. The book was written by Dale Evans, and was about a daughter Roy Rogers and she adopted from Korea, who died after a few years. An inscription in the book, in pen, described the purpose of gifting this book to the receiver was 'because of her love of children'. That is what prompted Rachel to buy the book. So, the other day, Rachel asked me about Timmy in a private message so I told her the story. She wrote back that she is nearly finished with the book and feels compelled to give it to me. That is the nutshell version of this story and it moved me to know that this near stranger, who is my 'Friend' will soon become more than that. I do swear though that it is a conspiracy by book readers to gang up on me!

Speaking of friends, tomorrow evening is Trivia night with Stephanie and Erica. Erica sent me a message via FB asking me if I was cramming for Trivia and told her I was listening to some guys on the radio discuss the football games from yesterday. Hopefully that will give us the edge when the questions are about sports. We just stink when it comes to the sport category, even when we have Erica's friend, Anthony, with us. The answers are obscure sport figures or statistics, just like in Trivial Pursuit. Even last week, when Stephanie's friend was with us, I was still the oldest in the bunch! But not the wisest, because we still did not win. Rats! But the food is good, and the company fantastic...to win at least once, would be just over the top!!!

Did you hear? The Packers are going to the Super Bowl!!

Oh, my goodness! Such excitement, here in my home, and all over Facebook...My 'friends', most of them, are Green Bay Packer fans, too, and my homepage was simply lit up all through the game. Fortunately my cell phone picks up the FB notices as well, because part way through the game, my screens in this house went to green (not green and gold!), audio but no video. I called Jessica upstairs to find out if theirs went out too, and it had not so she asked me to come watch with them. It seems they have the HD stations and had no interruption but several areas around here did, even Stephanie on the Southside was out. I understand it lasted about 15 minutes, something to do with Comcast locally for those not with the upgraded packages. Jessica and Travis, and his brother, Todd, were watching, and for dinner had spicy chili and jalepeno corn bread. They offered me some, of course, but I had food cooking in my oven. I made a little something called "Bear ribs" instead of spare ribs.

At the start of the 4th quarter, I came back down here, as Stephanie let me know the picture was back on, and ate my dinner. Even cooked some little ears of corn that I had in the freezer, having wrapped them in foil with some butter pats. Definitely need some flossing after that! It has been a long time since I had an ear of corn! As I was finishing my dinner, the Packers beat the Bears, which called for the celebratory bowl of ice cream...so now, I am stuffed and ready to sleep! Do you not love those Coors Lite commercials with the coaches at the press conferences? What a stitch!! David, my bro-in-law, is absolutely thrilled about the Pack going to the Super Bowl, and says either opposing team will be a winner for WinCraft, but he personally likes the trash talking from the Jets. I guess it's 'Go Steelers'! David thinks the Packers can beat either of them!

Next weekend, when Hal and Rosalie are here, there is a Game Day event geared for preschool to junior high kids, actually all ages I guess, but we will be tied up here with the Open House. The next weekend is the Super Bowl and then Timmy's remembrance gathering here at my house. It will be busy the next few weeks and happily so.

On another note...

....it is bright outside right now. Not necessary sunshiny but at least not the heavy fog blanket over the river and no rain on my windows. Someone told me yesterday it was okay to have the rain because we needed it so badly but really, the sun would be most welcome periodically during the day as well. If it is going to be grey and cloudy, it should rain and have it over with, instead of just threatening to do so. In my humble opinion....

As I drove home from Victory last night I had hoped to be guided by the moon, or have it light my path, but, did not. In fact, the wipers had to come on along the way, but only for sprinkles. For dinner, I met Linda O. at Times Grille where I enjoyed a lovely dinner of meatloaf with mashed potatoes. What a portion! Of course, a to-go box came to the table and I will enjoy that meal once more today, or tomorrow---we shall see! Linda and I got caught up before going to Victory to see and hear Chris Driesbach. What an amazing story this man has to share, not only the destruction and rebuilding of his church and member's homes after Hurricane Katrina and the resulting flood, but his own personal 'destruction' and rebuilding when he came to faith.

A self-confessed atheist, he had made friends with his neighbor in Anchorage, AK, a pastor named Jim, who did one-on-one Bible instruction with Chris. Chris said he looked forward to having a cup of coffee and arguing about religion with his friend, Jim. On the sixth lesson, this atheist who was too smart for God, realized that he did indeed suddenly know the Lord and what He did for him. Wow! He went from having a heart of stone to a heart of faith. After the concert and presentation, I had a chance to talk to Pastor Hoyer about what that must be like for a pastor, to have this happen right across the desk from him....At our baptism, we are washed with water and the Word, as infants, and receive the promise of salvation from the Lord. While it is obvious then what is happening, it has to be so cool to have an adult come to faith right before ones eyes. I remember one baptism at Good Shepherd when the baby reached up and touched the pastor's hand as he was applying the water....and it moved him.

In the afternoon, I had gone to the groomers for my full-moon haircut, again in the gloom and mist of the day. Nothing in me wanted to keep my date with Linda but she talked me into it and I am so glad she did. She said she was looking forward to going out, talk to someone other than her students, and have a beer. She needed me! So I went, and rejoice for it! She is teaching in the nursing program at a career technical college in the area, with one subject she is teaching being ethics in medicine. Yikes! But what a good person to have for teaching such a subject. Linda told me she teaches 20 hours a week and takes 40 hours to prep! This is something I like to hear and know. My friend told me the other day how her husband is taking college classes now and is amazed and disappointed at how unprepared the 'professor' is when he comes to class. What he is supposed to be teaching the students, he cannot figure out himself. And for big money!!??!!

Yay! the sun is coming in the window now! All is well with the world. The other day I complained to Connie, the maintenance lady here at The Palace, about the lack of sunshine, telling her I was solar powered. She looked at me quizzically and said, "Don't you have power?" and then realized that I meant personally, I am solar powered. Oh, Connie, after all this time...? Every day this week she asked me about the football game this weekend, asking if I was putting my flag out again, and so on. I am so excited about the game! I told someone last night that I don't care if I am alone to watch it or with eight people, it will be a hoot---I hope!

A bit of heart-string tugging (WARNING!!)

My posting from earlier this a.m. was to compensate for none yesterday, in case anyone is confused by the multiple postings.

The format to be used is one my friend, Jami, does in her blog though I will not make it a steady style for mine---it will just present better with the stray thoughts being assembled. This format will be named, for now, as Stray Thought Gathering:

A couple recent ‘conversations’, some in person and some via the Internet, have brought some things to mind. This might not be particular to coming off of the “Timmy Week” but the situations others are facing. Thought provoking and memory-stirring, even memory-restoring things.

© One of my friends from church wrote to me about picturing Timmy sitting on my lap in church, wearing a party hat. Those are the kind of things I hang on to, and depend upon others to help me remember. Frankly, I had forgotten about that and thanked Kristi for triggering this memory for me again.

© Hand prints, whether on glass doors or dipped in finger paint, are cherished more if the maker of them is gone.

© Counting the days, the months, the years, the decades of when a loved one left for Home is not outside the realm of normal. It IS normal and IS natural and may be part of the ritual used to grieve. Not everyone will do this, but those who do it now, or did it then, are normal. And when a person loses count, it does not mean they have forgotten their loved one, only that they lost count…maybe it was just time.

© Those mourning losses are more than only the mom and father---remember the siblings, the aunts and uncles, the grandparents, the godparents, the pastors, the classmates, the teachers, the church family, the neighbors, the family friends, the doctors and nurses the loved one interacted with, and others are most certainly grieving along with you. Let them.

© Everyone handles the loss of a loved one in their own way. Make yourself available to them and accept the fact that perhaps the person or people wish to be left alone. Honor that for a while, but then remind them or those around them that you care, send a card, make a phone call to them (DO NOT WAIT to be called!), offer to help write the ‘thank you’ cards for the money gifts or flowers or food donations. You don’t have to talk, but you do have to listen! Hugs go a long way, too.

© In my own case, I was in need of information, in need of something documented. My other friend, who lost a baby, did too. Something to hold on to. The police department sent me the police report, the fire department gave me their paperwork, and the investigators of the accident returned the toys, blanket, dog toys, and whatever else they gathered from the patio that night, in an Evidence Bag.

©When someone has a miscarriage, a stillbirth, an infant, a school-aged child, a young adult, or any one else dear to them who died, the loss is great, and should be acknowledged, whether a breath was ever taken or not.

© Things a person would not ordinarily be ‘upset’ by otherwise are now upsetting. The sound of sirens, particularly rescue vehicle sirens, make my hair stand up and might have me stop in my tracks momentarily, although, oddly enough, I cannot say I remember hearing them that night. I must have, but I don’t remember. For those who have lost infants, a baby crying can stir emotions, or for those whose kids were older, hearing other parents discuss their problems regarding kids can cause heartache. There is nothing the grieving person can do about that, it just happens and that’s it. Not every single time, but at just the right time, it seems in my case.

© A person experiencing a loss in their lives will find comfort in the little things left behind, like the green plastic knife used to buy just the right colored shirt Timmy wanted for his dad, for Christmas. The nice clerk at SteinMart took Timmy around the men’s department to find the shirt as close to the green as possible, as I hung back. A few weeks later the same sales clerk helped Justin find a suit to wear for his brother’s funeral and remembered helping Timmy select his dad’s shirt. The knife is in the memory box in my foyer hallway, alongside a toothbrush with toothpaste yet on it.

My apologies if this caused you any upset but I had to write it down and get it said. Hugs to everyone, whether you need one or not!

My early morning posting, as promised!

Last night I posted on Facebook that I was simply too tired to write last night, my eyes had had it and needed to be closed. It was before 10:00 pm when pulled the covers up and rolled over to sleep. Part of the reason for being so weary was that I was awake shortly after 5:00 yesterday morning, and no rain was falling. Like this morning, the fog is dense, totally obliterating my view across the river, almost like boards over my windows. When I went to bed last night the moon was brilliant in the sky, and it made me think of my ladies with whom I have shared this sight. Two of them wrote to me about it via Facebook, how they drove to or from somewhere by the light of our shared moon!

Even though the daytime temperatures have been somewhat warmer much of this week, when I wake up, it feels cold to me. I was burrowed in bed too long yesterday morning and then had to hustle to get ready for Bible study. On the ride over, I called Mom and caught up with her a bit. I told Mom about reading some blogs on-line and found one about apologetics, and the name of the author/host was that of her nephew's son who is an LCMS pastor in CA. Immediately I dashed off a note to his personal e-mail address, introduced myself, having met him only once when he was a child. When I was telling Mom about writing to him, I had not yet heard back from him, since the time difference is 3 hours. I did hear back from Paul later, though. He vaguely remembers attending a birthday party, I am guessing it was for his great-Grandma Sickles when she was 90, which would have been in 1976. Paul, probably now in his 40's, has had a varied career prior to the ministry and I think this will be so fun to connect all the dots in our lives, separated by miles, attached via the Internet!

My mom stays in touch with her nephew, my cousin, Don, who is the dad to Paul, with both phone and e-mail connections. Before CHRISTmas I had sent him some family photos and he was appreciative to see faces to connect with the names. I believe the last time I saw him was at my aunt's funeral, his mom, many moons ago. They live in NM now but have lived in AZ most of their married life. His parents, Delbert and Louise, lived in IN and loved to travel the US. My former spouse and I had the privilege of enjoying portions of Colorado with them in summer of 1982, at Estes Park where we met up on our vacations! Great fun and fond memories!

Bible study was a bit unusual today as our new booklets had not yet arrived, so Pastor had to photocopy a few copies for us to share. Their 'big' copier was down so he had to use a desktop copier which is not all that efficient for numerous pages. Having the copier down also prevented him from running the copies for the service folder so after class, when the repairman had left, the copies were made and immediately we went to work folding and assembling. I had time to do that as Justin needed to run back home before lunch to pick up his computer and change his laundry load over to the dryer. We were going to have lunch so I waited at church until he called to let me know he was ready.

On the way out the door I received a brief message of encouragement and a warm hug from Pastor H. Only a few moments prior to that I had gotten off the phone after making plans to meet with my friend, Carol, in the afternoon. His encouragement made our hours long conversation quite different and hopeful for healing. Yay! Carol had wanted to get together anyway and we had much to talk about---mother to mother---which was especially important this funeral month, for both of us who suffered the loss of children.

But, before our meeting, I met with Justin at Chili's in Mandarin, a change from the original plan to have Chinese food. I was in the mood for Chinese ever since Hu came for a visit. The guys on my afternoon radio show are just tearing me up, it is more fun to watch them laugh than to hear them make the jokes about 'Hu's on first?'. Ad nauseum!!! One of the guys, Stu, does not find that old bit humorous but then lowered himself to their level in the 4th Hour of the show. Hysterical!!! But Justin was hungry for something from Chili's which is right next door and I really don't care. We had the most wonderful, awesome, sweet corn soup---absolutely fantastic!! I brought home half the soup and one of the two Big Mouth Burgers, while Justin finished my fries. It was a perfect portion, from the lunch menu, and I highly recommend this to folks. Justin had a pasta dish with his, described by him as being fabulous also. Wise choice to pass on the Chinese...but I thought I would help pay down the national debt by eating at Mama Fu's Restaurant!!!

While waiting at home for Carol to arrive, I began transferring my folder and paperwork from the School of Worship Enrichment to a ring binder. Punching holes and sorting papers is quite therapeutic yet cathartic, revisiting the workshops and events of that fantastic weekend. How much more perfect could it be than on Reformation weekend???!!!?? Oh, we learned so very much at this event and wish many more could have joined us. Isn't that always the way? When we do or experience something amazing, we want to tell others all about it so they can share in it. We should be this excited about our Savior and telling others about their salvation. That was part of what we talked about in Bible study, our dual natures of saint and sinner. This is going to be good!!!

Well, I made it!

Made it through the day, and nicely so, at that. Only a few moments ago I came back from The Club where I got to see many of my friends and acquaintences whom I had not seen since before ThanksLiving. Once I went back to choir, I was tied up on Wednesdays which cramped my Happy Hour time. Those who know me know it's not the drinks that draw me there, but a chance to be with my neighbors and friends, indoors now since it's winter time. Otherwise we would be around the pool or on the sundeck, enjoying the company and the evening. Penny was there tonight, whom I had not seen in ages and was so delighted to see her! There was a mini-buffet tonight and sadly, Ellen was not able to attend, even though she was the one who invited me to go. Not her fault, she had a schedule conflict with her physical therapy. The buffet was great, serving smoked pork tenderloin, mashed potatoes, two types of veggies, salad, and apples to put over the pork. Just delicious and not too heavy a meal.

Earlier today, for lunch, Justin and I met at Sweet Tomatoes for our traditional (9 years running!) birthday remembrance for Timmy. He loved that place for some odd reason, and I think that odd reason was the brownie with 'ahs cream' and sprinkles. Justin had the entire dessert, I opted to omit the brownie portion. He had to go do some work at the 'old' office after lunch and I went to Publix to buy soda. When I was there, he called me to ask if I could swing over to the office as he had another bag of clothes to donate to Quigley House. Justin was organizing stuff in the suite which is being used for storage of office equipment and supplies, plus model home furnishings as they had to move stuff out a couple weeks ago.

This evening I am particularly tired because I was awake before 6:00 a.m., in the midst of a dream where my car was sizzling and overheating, spewing water all down the road...When I awakened, what I heard, evidently, was the rain falling against the windows. Ah! The rain permeated my sleep, water yet haunting me, but at least it was not coming through the glass or dripping from the ceiling! That's twice this week I woke with bad dreams involving water and the rain. I hope we are done with rain showers for a while. The moon is reflecting beautifully on the river right now, was shining across my bed when I walked into the room. Nice! Thank you, Lord, for that!

I am thankful for another cool thing that happened to me today. As I was leaving the grocery store, I met a lady I know named Toi, who was coming in. The last time I saw her was at Publix before Christmas and she asked me to pray for her to find a job. She asked me the same favor again today. I wish she would find something. Anyway, her daughter was at Childtime when Timmy was there. Toi asked me how I was and I told her pretty good except that today was Timmy's birthday....Before I could finish, she said, "I know it is!" Toi said that all day she was trying to think whose birthday it was but couldn't think of it, until she saw me!! She said, "Do you know that I saw you last year on this day, too? You were just coming from Sweet Tomatoes..." Oh my goodness! How in the world did this happen??? I told her, excitedly, that Justin and I had just come from there. She gave me her card and ordered me to call her next year so she can go with us to Sweet Tomatoes. I cannot wait to tell Jennifer R. about this. Jen worked at Childtime then, too. Don't you just love how the Lord works in our lives???

Oh, by the way, Jesus Triumphs Over Tragedy!