My little nieces

Here are two of my nieces, posing at Allie's graduation party. Alayna, from the Lahaie side of the family, is friends with Allie, although she graduated last year. Allie is from the in-law side of the family. Alayna just finished her summer course from UW-Eau Claire, as she prepares for her 2nd year, and Allie plays to attend UW-Manitowoc for her first couple years. Love it that they are friends!

What? Again?????

This photo was snitched from my friend, Loretta, taken from the 33rd floor of the Modis Building in downtown Jacksonville this a.m.

Smoke, smoke, everywhere---again! Around 9:00 a.m. Maggie O. sent me a message wondering if it was smoky here or not. My reply was that it was hazy but the sun was out and I could see across the river. That did not remain true. As we did our water workout, the smoke was just rolling in, and now, I cannot see beyond the trees in the basin area. Barely can I see the navigation markers in the river. It’s bright out yet, but I still feel like it is gloomy in here. My eyes are tired feeling, likely from the smoke effects.

Justin informed me that we will have four in our group tonight for Trivia and there will be five in the other group, so I am not sure how that will work as far as making one team out of so many. Justin does not like having so many people, harder to come to a consensus for the answer, and we have to sit in the back where the A/C unit roars like a wild beast. It is difficult for him to hear anyway, and add to that all the answers being whispered so no one else can hear our answers….well, it’s just hard!

At the pool this a.m., I was talking with one of the ladies who daily swims laps. Deb was telling me about the yellow algae in the pool, making the steps on the south end more slippery because they are often shaded. I did notice the yellow edging along the tiles but did not realize it was a problem until she mentioned being itchy. YES!!! I was blaming the sunscreen which I promised the doctor I would use, but the irritated skin might be from the algae. The Club needs a different pool cleaner, that is obvious. Guess I will need to write a letter to the leadership and voice my concerns.

Tomorrow a nice man is coming to repair my window next to the desk. At least, I hope he can fix it. Cob webs form there and I am sure the opening allows for spiders to make their way in as well. The other night when the smell of smoke was strong in my house and I was checking the doors, it occurs to me now that it might have been coming through the loose-fitting window. Steve told me he had two other calls in the morning, in areas quite far from OP, but asked if I would be around at 10:00 a.m. I said, “Wow, you guys start early in the day!” and I will certainly make myself available when they can come. All the stuff will need to be moved from the ledge and the guy will have to help me carry the shelf/storage thing away from the window so he can work. It’s a two-person job to move it.

Yesterday afternoon, after a couple hours poolside, I tried once more to reach my insurance man. Instead of calling my agent, I called the fellow who handled my claim last September. A message was left but it did not take long for Greg to call me back. He is so kind, both in person and over the phone, and soothed my concerns regarding the insurance request from my neighbor’s agent. Greg has already addressed it, answered their request before the 30 days were up, and will keep me posted on what is transpiring with this situation. He basically assured me they would handle it, and told me I should find something else to concern myself with. Very funny, Greg! I have every confidence in him and hope he can make this situation just go away!

Pastor sent an e-mail yesterday about upcoming Bible studies, even though the Monday morning ones are on recess for July. At the church meeting Sunday he mentioned a Bible Information Class being held on Tuesdays so I asked him about that. It seems he has a married couple enrolled but they are having problems keeping the appointments so no class today or perhaps next week either. Fortunately he is using the “People Close to God” curriculum this time rather than the DVD one we used last time. It was a bit, um, too lighthearted, for my tastes. So now I will await word of when the class resumes so I can get some Bible study in when we are ‘down’ for the summer. Tomorrow night the two Judy’s and I are attending a Bible study at church, with Judy J. and I having dinner at Panera first. She is hungry for her summer salad from there, with the raspberry poppyseed dressing she loves so much. Not sure what I will have but imagine it will be the mac ‘n cheese!

I smell garlic!

It is coming from me as I ate a piece of garlic toast with my dinner tonight at the Pasta Market . Fourteen ladies, our number doubling since this a.m., came together to eat and socialize, and yes, laugh. Judy J. picked me up so only one car had to be used, but this confused some people when they did not see my car parked there. I was lucky enough to have a driver, and I didn't even need a designated driver. If our group had not been there, this restaurant would not have had any customers. Mondays are often 'down nights' for restaurants so I would not be too alarmed. I had the Philly Cheesesteak Stromboli, half of which came home with me. One more box added to the collection. At lunch another box came home with me so I am fairly well set.

This afternoon after getting home from lunch, I did a little bit of work on the church newsletter before heading outside to the pool. It was too nice a day not to enjoy it, fairly smoke-free and plenty hot, just the way I like it. At first, it was only me and a man named John, a regular pool attendee but mostly unfriendly. He appeared to be dozing in the pool, along the side with his book propped up and held with a large clip so the page stays open. After a little while, two ladies who live in the villas directly across from the cabana came out and we had such fun talking. John left and I was not sad he was gone, because I often feel as though he is not happy when others are talking or laughing when he is dozing or trying to read. Sort of an odd duck but I am used to him. The other ladies were irritated by him, suggesting he put in a pool at his own house!

We were talking about going to Barnes and Noble on San Jose, one lady likes the World Market next door while the other lady shops for books. This opened the door for me to ask her preference regarding the electronic books vs. the books with paper pages. Julie is definitely a 'real book' person, having not tried a Nook or Kindle. She likes the idea of holding the book, turning the pages, using a book mark, and all that goes with reading.

Then, I asked the 'other' question----"do you read used books?" Immediately, both ladies answered, "NO!", because they are too dirty. Aha! No library books, used book stores, or yard sales for them either, and when they buy a magazine, or even just look at it, always choose from the back of the stack. I am so not alone with this....Neither lady will read a magazine in the doctor's office or other places with waiting areas, or if they do, wash hands with sanitizer before and after! They said they rarely travel because the thought of hotel rooms and how unsanitary they are just 'bugs' them. Julie said she cleans the room so thoroughly when she gets there, people wonder where her housekeeping cart is! This means I am not the only one who cleans the remote control, telephone, and light switches...Julie does too! We all agreed it was NOT a good idea to take a black light to the hotel....

At Patty's beauty shop, which she owns and where Julie works, they take the books purchased from B and N for 'sharing' purposes, which the regular clients enjoy since they know where the books came from and that they were gently read. Patty said she and Julie are like Howard Hughes, who was a germaphobe, which brought to mind potato chip bags. HH would never put his hand in a bag of chips, for fear his hands would touch the side. Patty said she dumps the chips onto her plate to eat them. Julie said that she will take scissors to trim the bag down, which is exactly what I do. I shared my secret with them, about opening the Cheetos from the bottom where the good stuff is, more cheese and flavor. We all agreed to never, ever eat Cheetos when reading a book though, with the caution being added to avoid getting the cheese on ones clothes. I never had a problem with that, but evidently, they did! Gotta love time at the pool!!! We somehow are able to enjoy the water that other people swim in-----ewwwww!!!!

Thinking I am in the for the night

Even though it is dinner time, I have pretty much decided to stay in tonight and have some leftovers instead. Already I am in my night gown, putting this on after taking off my swim suit, which is dripping in the shower as I write. First Judy C. and I had lunch after the church meeting, Chili’s, with Michael joining us, and then went swimming. Despite it being Father’s Day, we had a good number of folks stay for the meeting. Since church began 30 minutes sooner than usual for the summer schedule, it helped to keep folks from leaving right away. About forty-five minutes ago, we two ladies came out of the pool, with me having been out there for over three hours. Judy, not quite that long.

Our choir sang for Holy Trinity Sunday, Psalm 150, and some of the members commented about how nice we sounded. I felt like I screeched on the closing note but no one else said they heard it. How kind of them! Robbie sang CW 271, the first two stanzas, a capella, and then the congregation joined in to sing the closing stanza with accompaniment. The service was beautiful, starting with the congregation singing "Holy, Holy, Holy".

As I write, I am trying my best not to "strongly dislike" Jon Stewart but am losing the battle. Glad Chris Wallace is so worthy an opponent. Very much I enjoyed the interview, the exit interview, if you will, of Robert Gates that Chris conducted. It moved me to hear Gates say how much the soldiers and military mean to him, and how difficult it was to leave the arena when he came back to the USA last week.

Some of my Facebook friends are griping about the weather being too hot. I am wishing I had my slippers on but that is the way I am. The other night when the neighbors were here to see my home, it was quite warm in here, at least 82 degrees and closed up due to the smoke. When I am idle, there is no need for cooler temperatures and if I had known company was coming, I would have adjusted the air conditioning. They all have much higher electric bills than do I, so that is my consolation.

Justin sent me a text message this a.m. requesting prayers for his friend, Sarah’s, brother who is only 20 years old and has ulcerative colitis. Alex also has Asberger’s Syndrome on top of all this. At this point, Alex will have to take medication the rest of his life, and I pray that is all he has to do in order to remain healthy. Surgery at some point would not be unexpected, but for now, besides the medication, he has some strict dietary restrictions as well. I appreciate the fact that Justin recognizes the need for the Lord’s hand in this family and for this young man. I am glad the weather was good as Justin was going to be on a boat much of the day. His father’s fiancé was renting a boat for the day in celebration of Father’s Day.

Last night I had a steak at the cabana since they are not offering the sirloin sliders for dinner right now. Not being a fan of shrimp Louie, fish tacos, or chicken Caesar salad, I chose the steak. It was good, but I would have liked it better on a roll, as a sandwich, I think. Not in a hurry to have it again, and if Danny cannot make a hot dog for me, I will simply not have dinner there. It’s certainly their loss!

My sleep remains upset, almost a week after getting home again, with me finding myself yet awake at midnight or after. Sometimes I mess myself up with late afternoon accidental snoozes, but today I am avoiding that in hopes of ‘normal’ sleeping. Last night, as I rolled over to drop off to sleep, my right foot developed an ache out of nowhere. No matter which way I turned, it ached in a place that never touches the ground, sort of in the arch, just above it. After I took a couple ibuprofen, I waited for sleep to come, and it did, but again, after midnight. Ugh! Tonight will be a different story, I pray, thanks to my long workout in the pool today!

Some graduation shots, plus one not a graduation shot!

This photo was taken at the Ungemach graduation party that I crashed in my effort to meet in person my Facebook friend, Patty. She is a cousin to the mother of the graduate and has connections with other mutual friends throughout Facebook Land. Linda J. and I arrived just in time to find Patty and her husband as they were leaving to go home to the Chicago area. Timing was perfect and made my day! It was a fun party, too, as many of my other Facebook and real life friends were inside....

This would be the NOT a graduation shot, taken of Dolly and me at the Fork and Knife. We have been friends since 4th grade. After several years of less than regular contact, my phone rang when on the cruise ship in Alaska, with Dolly on the other end, stepping outside her box to say, "I was thinking of you after hearing "Angel of the Morning" on the radio." Ever since then, we are very regular in our contact and see each other at least once when I am in WI. Hugs, Dolly!!!

My niece, Tabitha, posed with her cake for graduation, as her other auntie, Barb, looked on. Harv, Barb, Kevin, and I had dinner with her family at their home and later enjoyed a wonderful bonfire in the yard after the young people left to enjoy other parties. Her actual graduation ceremony was the next day but I abstained from going back to Valders for it.

Even though I did not attend the ceremony, I still got to capture Tabitha in her graduation cap and gown. Her plans for next fall are to attend the UW-Manitowoc to get her pre-requisite classes taken care of before venturing on to college.

This young lady, looking quite serious at the keyboard, is the multi-talented Naomi, whose graduation party I was able to attend on Memorial Day at church. She is a classmate of my nephew, Danny, and both young people are members of FG. MLHS graduation took place on the Sunday of Memorial weekend.

Danny is walking up to receive his diploma. The guy handing them out used to be our landscape man when we did business in Manitowoc.

Here is Danny marching in to the graduation service at Manitowoc Lutheran High School, May 29th, 2011.

These next photos are of Allie's graduation, another niece, who attended Lincoln High School, and was part of the 100th class to graduate. What a landmark! All the graduates received a commemorative medallion to wear and keep. The trumpeters are one of my favorite parts of this school's graduation events, just prior to the flower girls carrying in their baskets.

Here she comes, marching in with lovely flowers in her hair! Her good friends are with her, the marching partner and directly behind her. Gorgeous procession!

Allie is about to get her diploma. She, too, will attend the local UW Center for her first couple years. In the meanwhile, she is working at two area stores in order to make some money. Allie was also an "Athlete of the Month" in May, with her sport being Track and Field, shot put division. Only the weekend before, she was competing on the State level in her sport, but did not take first in shot put. Two years in a row she made to State!

Allie's party theme was Tropical which is ironic as it was quite cold and nasty that day and evening.
Festive cupcakes and delicious homemade bars rounded out the dessert table. Some of her ribbons and awards are displayed on the wall behind her cupcakes. A couple of her coaches attended the party which I thought was just wonderful!

Great ending to the day

Sweat is running down my face and I do not mind one bit. The A/C has kicked in, much to my regret, because keeping the doors closed prevents the breeze from circulating. The air is heavy with smoke once again this evening, although the late afternoon rain storm cleared things for a bit. Now it is lightning and a bit of thunder is rolling, which means another rain shower might be coming. What would be good is some wind to blow the smoke away from here but that also fans the flames. Many folks are hoping this is not a repeat of the fires we had in 1998 where the counties south of us had to evacuate when the flames crossed the freeway. Awful!

The reason I am so warm is that I just came in and settled down after being out at the pool having dinner with my neighbors. Rose and Joe's son came up from Tampa for a visit and we were discussing the available units in the building. We went with Miss Chardonay to look at the one on 5 that has the long porch, front to back in length, and at a very discounted price. Almost a third its original value, in a 'normal' market. It is owned by the company that employed the owner and they are responsible now for selling it, and want to unload it. So tempting but no, I am not considering it. But, I just love that porch!!

After the five of us looked at that unit, we came down here so I could show Scott my place. Joe had never been here and he loved it. Scott said he did not know what to look at first, that I had so many fun things. He described my living room as being cozy and homey, and I thanked him for that. They loved the chess sets, light fixtures, art work, clock collection, and glass pieces. And the river room! Another fun thing Scott said, keeping in mind this is the first time I am meeting him, "I am not surprised about all the color..." I had warned them that my bedroom was untidy, the only room in the house I actually use (which we chuckled about!) so they only glanced in from the river room. Makes me want to clean my room, maybe tomorrow!

Before going out, I was on the phone with Justin, who called me with a sweet message. He had rented a video game, something to do with assassins. The reason for his call, though, aside from killing people, was to describe the scenery included in the game. In one 'scene', his character was standing atop a structure looking into the ruins of ancient Rome, and seeing many things illustrated that he has seen in person. Justin called to thank me for taking him to see these things in real life. My heart! "You are so welcome, my dear..." And that, my friends, was a fabulous moment!

I did not think the cabana would be open since it had been raining but Hugh and Maureen informed me that others were going over to eat dinner, having called to make sure Danny was there. Sure enough, when we got there, Danny and his helper had packed everything up to close since no one came out. They had to reset the whole thing and made about 8 dinners before closing for good. Then we went and looked at real estate after dark! Oh, and Danny gave me his cell phone number so I can call or text him to inquire about the status of cabana so they don't pack things up when we are planning to come over. Love that! There is a phone in the cabana but sometimes it does not work and he did not know the number for it. What a great plan!

Joe is going to give the number of window repair man he knows of from Green Cove Springs so I can get my bedroom window fixed. Justin sort of fixed it by shoving a rolled up towel between the window and my desk shelf, so it would not blow in if gets really, really windy. The Scotch tape I tried to use did not do the trick, somehow or another. When the sun catchers and lanterns moved in the breeze, yes, we have a problem. Joe will be busy with his son visiting this weekend so I will wait until Scott is gone and remind Joe of the number. It would be a problem if we get a huge storm!

Nice, clear skies

Even at night, the skies are clear and moon is bright. Around midnight last night, or earlier this a.m., the smell of smoke became quite strong, so much so that I thought perhaps a door had been left open or something. In checking, the doors were all closed tightly but yet the smell permeated. The moon was a funky orange color due to the filter it was passing through. At some point in the wee hours, I heard my printer cranking and grinding in my dark room, and it occurred to me we had lost power at some point. My TV was off which would absolutely wake me up but the pounding rain did the trick as well. Lightning was also visible which is not good when we already have so many fires going on. This a.m. when I woke up for good, the wind was blowing quite hard which succeeded to move the smoke away for a while. It is a breath of fresh air in many, many ways!

This afternoon I sent yet another e-mail to my insurance man regarding the certified letter I received before leaving for Manitowoc, and it seemed as though he had not even read my first communication to him. In his response to my original e-mail, he wrote that I should call him, he would be in the office all day. That day being my travel day, it was not ideal to discuss this business from the airports. The weekend was Memorial Day so I called him the next week, having to leave a message with one of the ladies in the office, and she assured me he would call back. Today, after I sent him my e-mail, he finally called me back. Russ asked me to scan the letter from the insurance company to him, and I said I had already done that. No wonder he could not figure out what they wanted---he had not opened the attachment in the first place!!!

Russ also made a remark about why the letter was sent to me and not the insurance company, and, hey, I don't know either! He said the letter would be referred to the Claims Department and I gave him the name of the guy who had been helping me. Russ said, "You made my job easier!" which is exactly what I was trying to do. NOT! He sort of ticked me off, you know? Later he sent an e-mail saying he had turned it over to Claims and I should hear something tomorrow. I can rest more confidently now that Greg will be on the case, since time is of the essence as so much has gotten away from us. As I was talking to Dee tonight at a Club function, she said, "It is never going to go away, is it?" So it seems!

Today I drove over to Victory where they are holding their VBS this week. The cheese and sausage was delivered to Ed, who was wearing one of his many hats today including photographer. He was happy to have his special treats and told me Judy stayed home today because the smoke yesterday was too much for her. Rita was there getting snacks ready for the children and we greeted each other. She said I looked like I had lost some weight, mostly around my face and neck, which was exactly what Julia had said on Tuesday. Did I??? My photos taken in WI do not attest to that, but I graciously accept the compliments. From Victory, Justin and I met Stephanie and Erica for lunch at Bahama Breeze where we enjoyed a lovely lunch. Both Stephanie and I had an adult beverage with our meals, which was had al fresco. Such a different day than yesterday, remarkably so!

Justin picked up some garbage bags for me at my request as I was totally out and needed to change a couple. My office basket which gets full quickly from soda cans, to-go boxes, and shredded paper. It was not emptied before I left for WI so really needs taking care of. I offered him my to-go box of chicken mini-sandwiches with yellow rice but he refused. They will serve me well for breakfast tomorrow. Not sure if we will go to La Nopalera or not, have not heard from my neighbors. Several of my other neighbors have welcomed me back home, one lady wondering where I was since she did not see me at the pool. It is time!!