Plenty of time to write

Oh, my goodness! I have joined another club in which I did not desire membership---the “I am so stupid!” Club. Some may believe that I was already part of that group but I did not really think so until today. Ugh!!! Linda so nicely picked Mom and me up this a.m. for the trip home, stopping at Perkin’s in MKE for a bite before hitting the airport. Right on schedule, as far as I was concerned. They deposited me at the curb, we exchanged our hugs and kisses, and I went to the check-in desk outside to take care of business.

The guy was really nice, and kept checking my name in the computer, and finally said, “It’s too late to check in your luggage…” and he went inside. I finally pulled out my paperwork from my purse to discover, oh, heavenly days, my flight was actually two hours prior to when I thought it was!!!!! By mistake, I looked at the arrival time in Atlanta instead of my departure time. He had gone inside with my license and credit card so I went inside as well, dragging my bag behind me to see what type of mess I’d made.

He had approached the desk and the lady was busily trying to rebook me on a different flight, all the while I am apologizing and God-blessing them for taking care of me, care of this, for me. She did it, too! Got me on a flight at 5:10 pm, getting me to JAX just after 10:00 pm. An hour later than I was expected but leaving nearly 4 hours after my scheduled departure. No long wait in ATL this time, I might need to hustle a bit!

I gave the fella $5 for helping me with this, and they never even weighed my bag! When I had walked up to the counter initially, I asked if I should put my bag on the scale. He said not to but asked if it was overweight…I told him I was and he laughed. What I did say was that I tried to pack very carefully and he left it at that. No lies were told, I did pack carefully and if he did not wish to weigh it, that’s okay with me. After I got done inside at the desk, he took the bag to security for me and went back outside. I saw him at his post again so I knocked on the window to wave good-bye to him. He waved back and I blew him a kiss, as I walked off. Next thing I heard him knocking, and looked to see him pointing me in the other direction! He was my rescuer today! I would have found my concourse easily but this saved some extra steps for me, going the way he directed me.

Once through the security upstairs, I stopped at the shops to buy some cheese curds, and a stick of sausage for Ed and Judy A. at Victory. Justin does not care for this brand of curds but I hope no one else minds the “Jim’s” style of curds. Last time I bought fresh ones from Copp’s but on this trip, did the gift shop curds. Mom packed up my leftover sugar cookies from Johston’s bakery in Sheboygan, purchased Saturday on our way to Lori’s. I have half of them with me, leaving one at home for Mom to enjoy. She wondered what the security people would make of my smiling face sugar cookies and I told her they were my I.D.! Some are a bit crumby but most survived the trip from Manty intact.

Now, I wait for my flight, watch people as well as listening to “Seinfeld” on the laptop. I noticed this morning that the subtitles on the Season Four episodes are either German or Swedish. Justin must have done that by accident and so far, I cannot figure out how to either delete the text or change it to English. No worries, I don’t mind being multi-cultural! Oh, never mind, Justin sent me the clue to change it from Danish to English. I am good now! Just have to chuckle at myself about the countless details I had to take care of for this trip but did not account for my misreading the departure time. Glad it was me and not one of my other folks I relied upon!

All packed up!

When Mom and I got back to her house this late afternoon, it was toasty hot. Whew! She immediately turned on her room air conditioner in the living room and we fired up, so to speak, the fans in the bedrooms to move the air around. Yikes! Instead of cooking or heating up any food for dinner, we opted for a cold supper out where I ate a very simple Subway sandwich of roast beef with provolone, mayo and mustard, no vegetables. A Plain Jane 6”sub sandwich! Mom and Lynn each got the foot long ones, more jazzy than mine, taking half home for their respective lunches.

It is cooling down nicely in here but my room can use a bit more before sleeping tonight. My luggage is packed and nearly ready to go---once more I am in fear of having too much weight in the bag. Since I arrived, some books and my packet of Conference materials have been added to what I brought along with me. If it’s too heavy, I will either pay the overage fees or try stuffing more stuff into my computer bag!

My sleep was plentiful last night at the motel, with Mom sharing my room with me since Alayna went home that day with Lisa and family. Even though I slept, right now I find myself quite weary and ready to just go to bed. This is probably because of the long car ride back to Manty from LaCrosse today, after enjoying a lovely breakfast with Lori before heading back. She was still feeling the affects of her birthday celebration, unwinding after the big event and all its’ planning was out of the way. Whew! She needs the day off from preparing and entertaining to simply gather herself together. More about the weekend and party and Shakespeare play will come another time. If I forget, remind me, okay? Tomorrow, I fly home!!!

My weekend is ending…

Right at this moment we are watching “The Proposal” in Lori and David’s new media room as the laundry is being done. David whipped together a wonderful conglomeration of fingerling potatoes from the farmer’s market, tomatoes from the garden, chicken and cheese from the fridge. Oh yum! He flew around madly making and serving Lori and I as we first watched “Sweet November” on NetFlix.

The morning began with us setting up shop in the parking lot of Festival Foods in Onalaska, selling jewelry made by Lori. David entertained passersby and us with his guitar and dulcimer. We had a few sales and said “hi!” to many folks. We were surrounded by booths selling produce and flowers. Lori wants to get a sign made up that says “Woman does not live by vegetables alone”, in hopes that ladies will stop by the one way through the other stands.

I managed to buy a pack of note cards drawn by a local artist featured on the front, getting her last packet. Also bought a lovely bouquet of flowers from a stand. I asked the seller what happens to the flowers they do not sell and he said they donate some to the food shelter and compost the rest. What a beautiful compost pile they must have, but it still made me sad to hear that.

After we packed up, around noon, we met Dusty at Famous Dave’s BBQ where we had lunch. Oh, how I loved the beef brisket, corn on the cob, and topped off with ice cream for dessert. Lori and I left the menfolk and went over to the Mall to CJ Banks, entering the store through Barnes and Noble. Oh, oh….more books! I got two books that are soon to be movies, at the recommendation of Lori and other of my friends. When I go back to Florida, I will have a small library in my suitcase as I have books at Mom’s to take back with me besides my new purchases. Got a birthday book for Justin as well, but won’t put the title in this posting on the outside chance he reads it. We eventually did get to CJ Banks where I found two pretty tops to buy. Lori got a few pieces as well, including one to replace the shirt she was wearing at lunch which wore part of her lunch. I am not the only one who has this problem, it runs in the family!

We came back from the Mall and stayed in the rest of the day. Lori took a nap and I caught up on Facebook and talked on the phone. It got busy all of a sudden. I had a phone message from Carol saying she was thinking of me all week and wanted to hear my voice. When I had called her back, I got the machine but did finally reach her today. Joanne called when I was talking with Judy C. so I called her back. She was not aware I was gone out of town so we made plans to get together when I am home again. Carol is going to take the altar flowers to the cemetery for me tomorrow, since I could not get hold of Cindy S. to do it for me. Judy would have taken care of it but did not know where the gravesite is, since she had never been there.

With the help of Dusty, we managed to get connected to NetFlix to watch our movie, since we couldn’t hook up my computer to the TV in order to watch “Frasier”. I don’t know what we would have done without him to figure out the intracies of the wires, cables and remote controls. And it’s their media room! Lori liked it so much better without all the wires and game equipment that came home with Dusty from college.

And now, we are tired and ready for bed, so good night and perhaps more will come tomorrow, once I am settled at Mom’s.

Some photos from the Conference, etc.

In reverse order from my trip, this photo was taken today through the window at Metropolitan Salon and Day Spa where Lori and I enjoyed a day of beauty (I know, nice try, right???). A storm was approaching and the sky looked quite haunting. I desperately needed a massage after all the walking and stair-climbing I did at the Conference...whew! It felt quite wonderful but its effects are not always immediate like the walking is!

This is another view of the same storm but I also found the shops and stores to be quite interesting as well. Such a charming city Holmen is! Lori took us for a ride around various parts of the town to show me where the bike trails are, where she enjoys climbing hills and coasting down, some paths through the woods, and so on. We had a nice lunch alfresco at Features Restaurant before coming home to find David busily cleaning the garage for next week's party. He is such a busy man!

The ladies on the left and center of Judy R. are my drivers from the WELS Worship Conference who deposited me on the deck at Judy’s house. They attend a small group Bible study together, and Judy is often the host house for this. Tami, on the left, is the “Queen of Music” at St. Matthews and Barb plays the organ as well. They were quite excited about the music pieces they purchased at the Conference and look forward to introducing them at church via the organ and the choir. Judy is on the right, sporting her new eyewear!

This arrangement affixed over the cross at Gustavus Adolphus College (GAC) were pictures painted by the Youth Chorus of various cross styles, displayed on the closing day of the event, Good Shepherd Sunday celebration. On either side of the cross were banners showing Jesus as our shepherd, the theme of the morning’s service sermon.

At long last I was able to meet my Facebook friend, Tammy, who is married to a pastor, a son of Good Shepherd. Her mom was attending the Conference with her son-in-law, whom we remember as “Johnny” but Tammy and her kids were able to drive over for the service and dinner from their home to New Ulm. Because we missed finding each other at that service, she came back to GAC with her mom, and managed to find Judy and me in our dorm room. What a true delight she is, as I knew she would be, and her mom is equally as nice. My life is richer having met all these people, those shown as well as those of whom I have no photos. Must rely on the fond memories of them! Excuse please, the partially closed eyes as I was smiling big and bone weary after our long but enjoyable day!

A fond farewell...

....at least for a while. I am not sure what my circumstances will be when I am traveling but will have the laptop with me in case I do have connectivity wherever I am staying. If you are Facebook users, look for me there as I have access to FB from the cell phone, as well as e-mail receiving and sending. Sigh...I am ready to go, want to get this show on the road, and in hopes that all the plans have been made and finalized.

Judy R. got me a ride from the Worship Conference to her house, or at least to Winona, from whence Lori or David can bring me home. I know not what time it will be when the Conference wraps up on Friday but do know that once we are in the car, Barb and Tami with me in tow, we face a three hour approx. ride to Winona. I might have them leave me at a restaurant in town rather than up at Judy's so it is easier for Lori or David to find me as dusk falls. It might time right with David's getting out of work. Oh oh, not all the details are finalized!!!! Thank heaven for cell phones!

It is time for me to haul my suitcase outside to wait for Mike and Judy to get here. Good thing I bought more mints yesterday at Publix because I feel as though I still have funky breath this a.m. after twice brushing me teeth. My neighbor, Pat, invited me to have dinner with her, homemade spaghetti sauce over pasta and salad. She made her own salad which included chopped onions and then sqeezed half a lime over the salad. Very interesting but oniony!!! And garlic toast! Love doing that before flying and breathing on folks!

Talk with you soon!

What a delightful breeze!

My doors are open, front and back, as the warm air blows through. Earlier today I heard the A/C kick in so I had to adjust it up to keep from cooling the outdoors. When I was in the pool this afternoon, I was plenty cool, as the sun kept going behind the clouds instead of warming the water, and me, like it’s supposed to do.

At five minutes to 4:00 pm I took delivery of my hamburger from the cabana, not realizing she was going to open for dinner tonight. Rats! At first I was going to simply carry the burger upstairs with me for my dinner but the smell of it drove me wild and I dived right into it. My plans were to go back out for a bit with the neighbors but none of us ate anything except for leftover wedding cake from the wedding that afternoon in The Club. The head of the dining room brought out three flavors of cake to share, which is weird for a wedding cake---I think! The nice young lady who runs the cabana now instead of Danny Cabany made me one of the drinks served on Independence Day, which I am still sipping at in my room.

Justin came over yesterday afternoon for a little while, getting a chance to be met by my house guests and taking care of a few things with the two computers. He began running the Windows updates on my new laptop, beginning about 3:00 and it ended this morning around 8:30. Wow! I was concerned about it taking this long, assuming something was wrong. Justin said if I had to reboot the computer, I might lose all my data. NO! I got in touch with the two Steves who worked on it and the Sr. Steve assured me I would not lose everything, and to be patient. Apparently my computer can to dealt with from another location (i.e. their office!) and I am not sure if that’s what happened this a.m. or not. I am just glad it restarted and we are good to go.

Justin also picked up a photograph I had here for him to give his father for his birthday. In going through a few things here recently, I came upon a sepia shot of his dad wearing his bus driver’s uniform, for which Justin could simply get a frame. Makes a nice gift, especially when that poor guy had no idea what to get for his father.

Justin also installed my USB hub on the new computer, a sort of extension cord deal for the laptop, since I ran out of places to plug things in. Have two of everything makes for an outlet shortage. Justin did disconnect my DVD player which I don’t need any longer since the new machine has a built-in player. One or two less items on or around the desk is nice, only he didn’t put them away…they are lying about my room now! For now…

It was most difficult for me to say good-bye to my young friends and their teacher yesterday, but I managed without blubbering terribly. The same could not be said when Justin left me, as I won’t be seeing him again for two weeks. I hate that! But, after all, he is a big boy now and I cannot expect him to travel with me all the time. The last time he was ‘home’ was for Alayna’s graduation party, June of 2010. Justin left here with several bags of goodies harvested from my fridge, some leftovers from the kids’ stay and other stuff I just had no use for before leaving town. Lovely parting gifts for him!

My sleep was good last night and I am sure it will be tonight, especially when I finish this adult beverage. Before going to bed last night, though, I worked on the countless travel arrangements needing to be taken care of before departing Tuesday. I ended up renting a car from LaCrosse to drive across the state to Mom’s, and keeping it for several days, for the ride back over to Lori’s. It was more cost effective than trying to do a one-way rental, which got me only as far as Green Bay! I would have still needed a ride from there to Manty, for heaven’s sake!

So, I will have my own wheels for part of my time away, taking me to Manty and then back to LaCrosse for Lori’s birthday party the next weekend. That’s a lot of trips forth and back across WI, plus part of MN from the Worship Conference. Judy R. firmed up a ride for me from St. Peter, MN to Winona, for which I rejoice! Lori or David will come fetch me from Judy’s house on Friday night, and then I will see Judy again the next weekend, either at Lori’s party or only at the Shakespeare play where she works. Yay!!! So, now, I can sleep!

Speaking of sleeping, Justin also loaded my mini-laptop with every single episode of Seinfeld, and showed me how to play it back on a continuous loop for my sleeping purposes in the dormitory. Judy C. says she is fine with that, so if I want to sleep, that is what I need to do! Plus Nyquil capsules will be helpful for dropping off.

We are not sure what the bathroom situation will be either, we might have to wander the halls to find one instead of right in our rooms. Yikes! Must limit my fluid intake the latter part of the day, and definitely NO water! The church in Palm Coast has 6 people going including my friend, Bonnie, formerly of Victory. I gave her a call today, reporting I saw her name listed on the seminar e-mail we got. She said she saw Judy’s name but not mine but then realized she was looking under the D’s instead of the L’s. She has a rental car because they are being housed at Bethany College instead of at Gustavus. We will have a ball, all of us, and Judy R. told me to brace for ‘late night talks’….I can do that!

"Can we please call you Auntie Kim?"

Here is the entire crew from Rocky Mountain High School, plus Mike Chappell. From left is teacher Kari Muente, Nicole, Mike, Sydney, and Denver

The closing night wrap up of VBS took place at my house, with the teens settling in to watch a movie. Anna, our pastor's daughter, joined the fun, as did three young men who helped out this year. Nice kids all!

After loading the kids' belongings in the van, we posed for photos at The Club entrance

Saying 'good-bye' was hard to do, but I smiled through it....first with Sydney, who is my twin (she is quite particular about neatness and order!)

....and then Nicole. I could not have asked for better, nicer, sweeter kids to be my guests!

Posing with my newly found 'family' in front of the well at The Club