I am so glad I did not move to Greece

This could have been my home!

While watching a program this a.m. about the mess in the European Union and the pressure building financially, once again I heave a great sigh of relief for my not moving to Greece or Italy. If I lived in Greece, the union rioters would surely disrupt my ability to move freely or have Internet service, as they set their own nation ablaze in order to have demands met. Never mind the nation has no money, the demands keep coming! And no Lutheran churches in Greece. Italy would have been more 'user-friendly' for me, the food more along the lines I am accustomed to, but also socialist in their governance. They are facing crisis with refugees leaving northern Africa to escape the lovely Arab Spring everyone is cheering about. Tell that to the refugees!

Therefore, I am good right here, simply waiting for the next pipe to break! This week I got a letter from my insurance guy, a copy of the letter he sent to the other insurance company, reiterating that it was not my fault that the pipe broke. Butch, the little guy who did the work for me that day and before, was working at someone’s home in the building the other day, and I greeted him as my ‘partner in crime’ since we are both listed on the law suit. But other than my life of crime, I am good.

Within the last week I have been part of a few EXTREMELY interesting conversations---some face to face, some over the phone, and some over the miles. Yesterday I got a call from someone with whom I recently spoke and was thanked for the insight and ideas and explanations (not excuses!) regarding what is going on around us. Some are things over which we have a bit of control (I prefer the word ‘manage’ to control, which can sometimes have a negative connotation), and can be corrected, or reversed, or at least neutralized.Other things are beyond our control or ability to manage. But we must keep in the forefront that the Lord is actually in charge of what is going on, and has done so from eternity. What a difficult concept that is to consider!!! And to keep in our minds and in our hearts....

In keeping my ears tuned to the current events around the world and closer to home, not all of it about finances, it seems so obvious to me what needs to be done. Because it is so simple, it is extremely complicated! And nearly impossible to achieve. Cost cutting, spending less, as one would do in their household, seems like a ‘foreign’ (ha, ha) concept to the governments, and to the governed, in some cases, as was evidenced in Madison earlier this year.

Folks often don’t realize the cause/effect of actions until it begins to affect them, and then the only answer is to react. Of course, one must spring to their feet, and some will, to help, and others to fight against the help. Now another stimulus bill is on the table while the legislative branch of our national government is struggling to cut spending (to reduce the amount of increases in spending---what????) and more ‘bills’ continue to be added to the stack.

Years ago, in our business, we had a slow period between houses, and some of the staff got a bit comfortable in their less-stressful mindset. Then, when new starts were coming in, the guy responsible for the purchasing of materials fell quickly behind and was being scolded regularly. He exasperatingly asked the boss, “Can’t we just stop everything and get caught up????” and the boss yelled back, “We were stopped!” What the purchasing agent should have been doing was preparing for the rush that was to come, get your affairs in order, the ducks in a row, and so on. But he failed to plan, which lead to failure. This young man was nice to work with for the most part, but my type of leadership, my encouragement, didn’t work with Jim nor did the other type of leadership he received. Stopping seemed to be the comfort zone in which he did his best work!

Where was I going with this? Oh, yes, stopping everything before disaster comes. It’s too late to stop moving forward but it is possible to stop the drain of funds, or the drain of spirit, as the case might be, from folks. Make the appropriate changes or cease the practices which are causing the problems. But, sometimes the problems are not shared by all, and then there is resistance from those not experiencing the discomfort to stop what is not seen as a problem. In Jim’s case, he left his position with our company and went to work elsewhere. Perhaps his work ethic would fly for another employer…For others, options are few or non-existent so staying the course or staying in the fight is the way to go, or complete surrender and resignation. Somehow, those last two options are not entirely appealing!

Moon rise on the river

We have experienced some amazing full moons this month, this one being ordinary by compare. A couple nights ago the moon was a burnt orange color which was magnificent looking but provided no reflection. Justin informed me that it was because of the smoke filter from the fires in south GA that caused the moon to appear that 'burnt' color. Makes sense to me!

Changed my mind

Yes, I changed my mind and deleted what I wrote to begin with today because I found I could not be vague enough with the subject matter. Sometimes I think I do not have an objective bone in my body regarding some topics and just want to let ‘er fly on occasion. It is best I do not, and then instead let it fester inside of my head until I need duct tape to hold my head together…

Today the smoke has cleared for the most part and my doors are open front and back. You would think by now I would institute a system where I would block the interior doors first before opening the patio doors as the suddenness of the breeze wants to slam them shut before I can get there to prop the doors open. This should be filmed by someone as I scamper from room to room, grabbing doors and stoppers. Would get a lot of hits on youtube, I bet!

It seems as though the ant problem might have subsided since they reappeared last week. Two ant poison thingies are placed in the kitchen in the areas where the ants were spotted, and they have the nerve to walk over the top of them as though nothing stops them. My thumb gets a workout when I see them, squishing and sweeping the beasts into oblivion. I know some people who would prefer to relocate pests, but not me---I make them unrecognizable. On the way home from Ladies’ Group the other night, I saw three possums on the side of the road on Kingsley Ave., and I hoped they would wait to cross until I was passed them. Or it would be thump, thump—unrecognizable. Only if they were skunks would I have a problem with them being in the road, you know?

A delicious lunch was had at a bbq place in Lake Asbury area this afternoon as I met a friend from church, Mike K., there. The special was a quarter pound hot dog, fries, and cole slaw for the sweet price of $4.99. My entire bill was just over $6.00 with the drink and tax added, plus my gas to get out there. Some public works people were in there eating lunch, joined by family members of one of the workers. It seems one of the kids (not sure if they were hers or not...) squirted ketchup on one of the workers and she made a terrible fuss. I was tempted to tell her the work vest would cover it up, but decided to stay out of it...Wise move, Kim! My Elder would not have been happy with me, I bet!

Following lunch I went to Winn-Dixie, next door, to get soda, surprised that so many young teens were walking about on the property. It was early dismissal for them and WD must be the cool place to hang out. One of the kids was wanting to rent a movie from Red Box but none of them had a credit card to use for renting. That was a relief to hear, as a mom, since I know what kind of trouble a young person can get into with funds at their disposal, and friends to help with the decision-making. As I am getting older, I have a tougher time judging the ages of young people, it seems they are older looking than they actually are. The case in point were the young people here to help with VBS this summer---they appeared much older than their ages, now entering their Junior year in high school. I would have thought they were more like Seniors, just by their appearance and conduct.

I have an issue with the USPS who has supposedly delivered some books to me, but I do not have them. The letter carrier yesterday does not specifically remember putting them in the parcel box, but I did tell him how my neighbor's delivery was in mine. He asked me to go upstairs to see if Ron had my package so I did that. Ron said he did not have mine but wished me well in finding my books. The mail man said to let Amazon know what had happened so I wrote to them when I came back upstairs. He thought they would refund my money, but I as I told the mail man, I want my books. Why would Amazon refund me when I have a piece of paper saying the books were delivered to my mailbox? That would not be fair to Amazon, who would then have sent me two shipments...I will keep you 'posted' as to how this mystery plays out!

Just deleted my last paragraph, too, so must not discuss ‘shovel ready jobs’ either!!! It’s one of those days where I am frayed a bit. Perhaps a nap will restore me…

Not all heroes were human!

James Crane worked on the 101st floor of Tower 1 of the World Trade Center. He is blind so he has a golden retriever named Daisy. After the plane hit 20 stories below, James knew that he was doomed, so he let Daisy go, out of an act of love. She darted away into the darkened hallway. Choking on the fumes of the jet fuel and the smoke James was just waiting to die. About 30 minutes later, Daisy comes back along with James' boss, who Daisy just happened to pick up on floor 112. On her first run of the building, she leads James, James' boss, and about 300 more people out of the doomed building.But she wasn't through yet, she knew there were others who were trapped. So, highly against James' wishes she ran back in the building. On her second run, she saved 392 lives. Again she went back in. During this run, the building collapses. James hears about this and falls on his knees into tears. Against all known odds, Daisy makes it out alive, but this time she is carried by a firefighter. "She led us right to the people, before she got injured" the fireman explained. Her final run saved another 273 lives. She suffered acute smoke inhalation, severe burns on all four paws, and a broken leg, but she saved 967 lives. Daisy is the first civilian Canine to win the Medal of Honor of New York City. How cool is this? I never heard about it, but my friend, Dolly, sent it to me and I was compelled to share it with you!

Almost half a month gone

At Ladies’ Group tonight, we were looking at the calendar to do some short range plans for the rest of the year. Even the rest of the month, as Twila said, “Well, September is just getting started…” and then realizing that it’s nearly halfway over. Wait a minute---how did that happen? The calendar tends to get filled up rather quickly, as we have an LWMS Rally in October at Victory and then GS is the host congregation for Reformation this year. These are ‘big’ dates to keep in mind when planning other things so we don’t swamp ourselves. One good thing is I get to host the CHRISTmas party this year, and will encourage people to car pool so that parking is not such an issue. We did it last year for going to Arlington, so they can do it again even close to home. Justin will have to get the tree out for me…(the gears are already turning….)

As I write I am also watching the debates out of Tampa and they are asking tough questions of the candidates, mainly submitted by Tea Party participants from around the country. Because of the meeting, I tuned in late so missed the first 45 minutes. It might be re-aired on-line in order for me to get caught up. Several years ago, I remember taping the debates, and my former boss at Sprint was astounded that anyone would do such a thing.

Today I had a cool experience as Robbie, The Maestro, asked if he could interview me for a school project. Sure! He came over when I got home from Bible study and lunch, set up his laptop and a recorder, and asked me questions. The class is musicology, and in fact, that word was the last question he asked me, to define musicology. Later I came up with a quicker answer, the anatomy of music, but during the interview, it became a circuitous answer, less succinct than I would like. In fact, he said, “I made you think….” but I did not wish to answer incorrectly. Not like there is a right/wrong answer but if it was being put on paper, I didn’t want to appear stupid, you know? Which likely did happen, despite my tap dancing. Actually, I think I got pretty close to what this class is supposed to be about, and I expressed that I wished in knew more about it, but not enough to take a class! I guess my answer of turning music inside out and examining it is probably fairly close.

This afternoon, I got an e-mail from a friend who lives across the river from me. She had successfully battled against breast cancer last year and up until recently, had been cancer free. That changed, as she now has cancer in her remaining breast. My heart aches for her as she prepares to once more begin the cycle of curing/removing the cancer. She is going to have some sort of test done that will help the doctors determine whether other organs can be affected down the road, and if she should have the vulnerable ones removed as well, as a preventative measure. If I feel like I was punched upon getting this news, one can only imagine how she feels. she has asked for prayers, and you can offer some, if you wish, for my friend across the river. The Lord knows who it is…

Pray also for my friend, Carol, who will have her other knee replaced tomorrow morning. We are confident this surgery will go much better than the first knee did. Actually it was the aftermath that was so rough on her, getting the medications coordinated and tolerated was a major hurdle. (Don’t say hurdle to a person who just had knee surgery!!!!)

Watching the moon come up

As the sun is setting, the moon is coming into view

Now that I have regained my composure, I can write. This is no surprise as Sundays are often emotional ones, sometimes tearful and sometimes filled with excitement, and today’s was both! I struggled with getting myself out the door for church, as I was so attached to the TV and its presentations for 9/11’s commemoration. It was not until I was on the road that I realized my ears were bare---in my haste, I forgot jewelry!

When I pulled into the parking lot at church, I waited in the car to hear President Bush reading a letter that had been written during the Civil War by President Lincoln to a mother who had lost five sons in the war. It was quite poignant to hear, all these many years later, the same horrors but different battlefields.

As evening settles on the river, I have my doors open again, and the breeze is blowing papers off of the table in the river room. The sky was pink to the south as the moon was rising. Hopefully my camera captured the colors and the shape of the moon, I will check later to see if they measure up to the actual sight.

Yesterday in checking my mail, besides letters, there was a key to a parcel box alongside the regular ones. Whenever I get books delivered, they go in those boxes and since I was expecting some, I excitedly pulled a box out. Travis was standing there, too, getting his mail, and saw me pull the box out. Only, it was not for me, it was for my upstairs neighbor, Ron. Travis offered to take it up for me since he was going home, but that left me without my books. According to the tracking from Amazon, the books were delivered on the 9^th. Since I had received someone else’s mail in the parcel box, I wondered if anyone had gotten mine. I sent out an e-mail asking if anyone got a box that was not their own by mistake. The letter carrier will get a note from me tomorrow asking him to check his truck for my books….not sure what else could be done to locate them. It’s not like I am short of books, but I just have looking forward to the new ones! Maybe tomorrow when I wake up, some books will be at my door….

Tonight I had a ‘chat’ with Anne from Victory, and we have made tentative plans to get together for a huge headache and crying party---watching Timmy’s funeral video. She had just started her new job and was not able to get off work to attend, so did not hear the sermon I was talking to her about. The plans were made, then, to watch it together. And perhaps some other ladies as well, or even men, if they wish to watch it. The sermon mentions “be quiet! I have this under control…” which is the theme of the day’s sermons, readings, and hymns.

At Good Shepherd, we sang “A Mighty Fortress” from Psalm 46, as is “Be Still My Soul”, one of my all-time favorite hymns, now #3 on the list for my funeral. (We sang that hymn today, and Robbie said something like, 'if your life was a movie, that would be your theme song'. He told me he could not think of that when he was playing though, or he would mess up.) Anne, if I leave first, will sing for my funeral, and I will sing for hers if she leaves first. We sort of shook hands on it. I will have to tell Anne that Suzanne gets my red cake stand!!

The other emotion today was the Jaguar game, the excitement of seeing the pregame events, stretching an American flag across the stadium, the flyover, the singing of patriotic songs, the tears on the faces of the players, and on mine. Wow! I rushed through lunch with the ladies at St. Johns Seafood so I could get home to watch the ceremonies and to let Justin know when the jets were coming, as is my custom. Terri T. sent me a message later saying that Gretchen and she saw the jets as they drove back over to church for Gretchen’s car, so they got a peek at the excitement, too. G. is a huge fan of the Jaguars, always wears her Jaguar earrings on Sunday and Monday, if they win! It was a close game toward the end, within two points when the Jags intercepted a pass, ending the game in victory! As my friend, Robin, said, “The Cardiac Cats are back!”, and that’s a fact.

On another note, watching the replays of the events of that tragic day in 2001, the terror attacks on our nation, it saddens me how seemingly godless our nation has again become. That day, almost to a person, as they ran from the buildings or reacted to the terror, they are saying, “Oh, my God, Oh, my God!” Yes, it was God who spared them, and God who escorted the dead believers home. The horror is for those who are left behind, to carry on. Daily call upon the Lord for His mercy and His grace, not only on the days when the world is falling down around you. “Call upon me in the day of trouble, I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me”.

I am getting bug eyed….

...from watching TV and/or looking at my computer screen today, but I cannot look away. For a couple hours or so this late afternoon, I had some company, the first one being Patty from the pool, who works for The Club. She was coming over to take photos of her boss’s condo for advertising purposes as it is readied for rent but popped in to see my house on her way down the hall. While Patty was here, Judy C. arrived for our meeting. I had printed off our report, actually my report, for her to review, which she did while I was talking with Patty. I had us set up in the river room where a breeze kept us cool. After Patty left, Judy and I got busy going over the report, which she had already previewed in part on-line when I e-mailed it to her. Quickly we got through it and moved on to other topics, including her recent trip to Charleston.

Judy is friends with a mutual acquaintance of mine, Amber, whose spouse used to work for us years ago. Frank used to ask Timmy, “Dress yourself today, Timmy?” when he would come out in one in his goofy outfits. Amber was one of the first ones to show up at our house the morning after Timmy died, supervising the kitchen and keeping Justin company, doing whatever she could for us. Except attend the funeral. Now she has suffered both a heart attack and stroke within the past month, but is coming along nicely in her recovery. I had seen her last at La Nopalera having lunch with Judy, several months ago. I hated to hear she was having such a tough time of it lately.

Judy had already eaten a late lunch so dinner was not even suggested, so when she left, I got out some bread and sandwich meat from the drawer. I was hungry for a roast beef sandwich but when I opened the package, phew!, did it stink! And it felt very very slimy. I grabbed a large Ziploc bag to put the meat package into, sealed it up, and deposited it in the trash. I wonder how long it will last in there before the smell escapes into the room….AND I discovered the tiny ants were back again. After Thursday night, I thought they had moved on, but bought ant poison anyway for just in case. Good thing I did because they were back, even inside the dishwasher. Tomorrow I am going to check the back of my car to see if the ants are coming in with my soda cases or something. What a coincidence that both times I had ants was when I carried in soda cases. Jessica, my neighbor, had a plague of ants in her car one day so that makes me wonder if that’s what I have going on as well.

After I finished my report today, I decided to clean out my purse. I pulled out all my receipts and pieces of paper that have accumulated in the pockets, and now are on my desk. Last Tuesday I wrote down the questions and our answers from Trivia for whatever reason, if not to see how many I personally had right. They were still shoved in my purse, too. One we missed because Cary thought his was correct but it turned out my suggestion would have been right. But that is what happens with team play, a chance we take. Oh well, the food is always good, no matter if we win or not!

This a.m. I got busy with my silver remover, which truly confirms for me that pool season is over. No one told those out there today, though, as the temps soared back up to 88 above zero. Last night I sat out with my neighbors on the sundeck, and Maureen commented about my smooth skin. I thanked her and then she mentioned highlights and yes, the silver, poking through in my hair. I explained the highlights were not put there by me, something folks simply cannot get over, but now, they are gone. We were introduced to a couple who are now renting on the 5^th floor, owners of Bubba Burger franchises in our area, including one on Fleming Island. They told us that when they are ready for a trial run, The Palace will be invited to be ‘customers’! Nice!

In watching this program tonight about the terror attacks, I am seeing repeated evidence of the ‘normalcy bias’. These are excellent examples of people continuing to do what is normal despite the world crashing down around them. One segment, a reenactment featuring actual survivors, shows them continuing to answer phones, introducing the name of the business and such, while their coworkers are battling to get the emergency doors open and the room is filling with smoke. I have heard of other examples of the normalcy bias in the attacks, such as those who went back up the stairs to their office to shut off their computer or to turn off the lights----but never come back. It is a defense mechanism people fall back to when stressed, struggling to do something that is familiar or customary, regardless of what is going on. Like grabbing your purse before sliding down the chute when a plane does an emergency landing.

Tomorrow will bring Bible study, worship, lunch (I hope!), and then home for football. I cannot wait to watch the pregame stuff, the flyover, and see the special events planned to commemorate the anniversary of the terror attacks. I cannot wait, either, to receive the text messages I expect to get from Justin, who will likely be choking back tears. I won’t be…I will let them flow!