Meetings of the minds

Monday was a lovely day weather-wise which allowed Gretchen to make the trip across the river to Bible study. Sunday was overcast and a bit drizzly so she did not make to church. Her back-up ride, Darwin and Ethel, were not available to give "Miss Daisy" a ride. At least she made it to Bible study. Our study in the penitential psalms continued.

Six of us went to lunch, with Gretchen and I hungry for burgers. The fries were so delicious, we both licked them up! We even commented to the server how yummy they were and he guessed it was perhaps the seasoning. We each took half of our burgers home with us, but none of the fries!

                                                 

Monday evening we had a good turnout for Ladies' Group, our first 'real' meeting since recessing for summer. Since Pastor was tied up with the Elders and Council who were also meeting, I read a devotion from a book titled, "My Hand in His". The lesson was about making good use of the wastebasket in our lives, not necessarily for our physical lives, but our personal and spiritual ones. Later, one younger lady who is dear to me thanked me for choosing that particular reading as she'd had a rough day at work and needed to hear this. Both of us were glad it worked out the way it did. 

                                           

The reason I chose this devotion was because our congregation is being served all week by a mission counselor, who is, in fact, the pastor who helped this mission grow back in the late 1970's. He is meeting with members all week long, hearing from us, mentoring the congregation. A wastebasket would be so useful before such a meeting...He calls it 'old home week' but I think there are more newer faces than old ones since he left in the early 1990s.

                                                           

At the Ladies' Group meeting we discussed a few things which have happened since last meeting, including Judy C.'s trip to the LWMS Convention in North Carolina. Judy set up a display of some of the items she  garnered from the convention, some of which Linda will love to see, and copy!

We had a nice 'laundry' list of things for our Elder to take before the Council, primarily as a result of the remodeling to the Fellowship Hall being completed. Those odds 'n ends which need to be addressed at the end of a project. I got a call last night after I got home from Bible study reporting how each item is going to be addressed. Very nice! 

                                   

One lady had found herself in tears as she explained how hard she worked to clean the men's bathroom this past weekend---apparently the bathroom had not been cleaned since January, when the construction began. Obviously, the men don't care what the bathroom looks like, it might as well be in a gas station! Carol had cleaned the ladies' restroom before the Mystery Dinner so no one besides Carol knew the condition of the men's room, or said anything about it.

To make matters worse, she could find NO cleaning supplies to use anywhere on the property, so ended up scrubbing the commode and urinal with a Brillo pad! She was totally grossed out by all this, and downright ashamed that our members and possibly guests have used this bathroom in this condition since mid-August. According to the report I got last night, the needed paper and cleaning products will be paid for by some fund which just became available to restock our depleting supplies on a one-time basis. But we do have a 55" flat screen hanging on the wall in the Fellowship Hall....

We did get much covered in the meeting, and somehow I managed to keep things reigned in. Usually it was me who was off track but as Queen, it falls to me to keep order. Betty treated us to double chocolate brownies as our reward. Oh my, so delicious! 

In January, our congregation will be hosting the circuit pastor's conference, which is quite exciting. I cannot wait to hear the wonderful singing. The ladies will be called upon to serve a continental breakfast two mornings, plus two lunches, and one dinner. Our resident chefs are planning to serve a Mystery Dinner, with the menu yet to be determined. This time, the ladies will be in on it!

Marlena came yesterday afternoon to begin the task of dusting. Justin scolded me (ahem, ahem) to not have the doors open before Linda gets here, to keep things dusted. Not dust-free, as that is hard to have happen, especially around here. She is coming back today after water exercise class to finish it up. 

My friend, Carol, called me as I was leaving my time with the mission counselor. We each had some time between appointments so she asked me if I wanted to come over. While I was there, Amber's husband called to tell me she was sick so was not going to make it to my house for our study. Shoot! I so look forward to it, too....Hopefully she will feel well enough to come today, and Marlena can work around us! We are covering two chapters so I hope she has her homework done.

Last night at Bible study, only two of us were there. We are now studying the commandments, finished the 5th and worked through the entire 6th. Gulp! This was interesting with a married man at the table, plus a single young man, and this old divorced lady. It is a comprehensive study and I am glad we went through it. Brett often has such good questions and last night was no exception. 

                                      

What a nice young man he is! I really should eat at Bojangles once in a while to help his business. After all, he treated my VBS guests and me to breakfast in July, and was that ever delicious!!!

Remembering the Al Qaeda attacks

This quilt was made for a show last year by my friend, Dawn, from Victory. She won Best of Show, for the obvious reasons. What is a bit hard to see are the nearly 3000 beads sown into the pattern, signifying the number of souls lost that day, when the Islamic terrorists attacked the United States. Along the lower edge Dawn put the cities directly affected by the attacks: New York City, Washington, DC, and Shanksville, PA.  

Famous home town

In 1962, Manitowoc, WI was made famous by having a chunk of junk fall from outer space and land in the street in front of the Rahr Mansion. Not in a farmer's field or into the lake---nope, right in one of the finest areas of town, on one of the busiest streets! Russian spaceship Sputnik IV broke apart and mostly broke up in space. Only a piece or two were identified as part of Sputnik, including the piece which landed in Manitowoc.  Russia claimed their space vessel was intended to break apart. Yeah, right! 

Are you ready for some football?

YES!! Justin and I watched the Jaguar game together after we got home from lunch at Chili's. At first the feeling was not a good one---the Vikings were having their way with the Jags. BUT, there was a turn-around and the game ended up going into overtime. So exciting! Sadly, reckless ball handling and poorly executed plays resulted in a victory for the Vikings. Mike S. is one happy Viking fan!

                                                

Because I don't have the extra football network with my cable package, the best I could do was track the Packer game on the computer. About half time, Justin came running into my room to report he was going to Jesse's mom's house because they had the NFL package there. Rascal! The Packers got skunked by the 49ers  which thrilled my friend, Randy, since he had money on San Fran.!

This a.m. we began a look at the life of the Apostle Peter, starting with his humble beginnings as a fisherman. This could be an interesting class. During worship, we had the full accompaniment of the MIDI, which was good news. We prayed for Andy K. who has been turned over to Hospice care at the nursing home. It might not be long before he opens his eyes in heaven and sees the Savior. Fran is holding up as best she can, at least she was holding up well today. All the hugs sure do help with that.

This coming week our congregation is being 'mentored' by a mission counselor, with my appointment being Tuesday morning. I will miss aqua aerobics again but hey, it's worth it to me. My notes are being made ready so I can be as concise as is possible for my session, having 'only' an hour at my disposal. 

The Ladies' Group also meets this week because last Monday was Labor Day. The agenda is being laid out, getting longer the more I think about it. Several months have passed without an official meeting so things pile up! Tuesday night is Bible Information Class at Victory. I was absent the last time due to the heavy weather and last week Pastor H. was gone. My homework is all caught up for that class plus I worked a bit ahead.

Amber is scheduled to come on Tuesday but I am asking her to come Wednesday instead as Marlena changed her dusting day from Monday to Tuesday. Or, if she can't change, Amber and I could work in the river room instead, and have Marlena begin there, being wrapped up before Amber gets here. There are ways of working these things out!

                                                       

Justin is going to ready Linda's room Monday night after work. I was not planning to tell him what time exactly Linda's flight lands on Wednesday, so he won't delay having the room set up. There is always that risk! 

                                                  

He is planning some menu items to serve when Linda is here, and I hope he has the strength at the end of the work day to follow through. We still have not made the brat burgers bought a month or so ago and I do hope he will make those for us one night. Next Friday Linda and I will go see a movie with the two Judys, "Last Ounce of Courage". And then go to Mojo's, I hope! (www.lastouncethemovie.com)

Grumpy way to start the day!

Before going to sleep on Friday night, I got a FB message from Terri T wondering if I wanted to have breakfast at Grumpy's the next morning. I did!! We had not done that much this summer as she is quite busy on weekends. This past holiday weekend Terri and her husband were in Indiana visiting his family. It was great for us to get together over eggs and toast!

The morning was lovely with hopes that it would stay that way for the 'big wedding' taking place at The Club. I have no connection with the bridal couple at all, but with the amount of fussing going on to make everything nice, I feel like I am helping by hoping for good weather.
                 

When I got home from breakfast, Justin was still sleeping. I quietly went into my room to finish watching Fox and Friends. Imagine that---home from breakfast before the news was over! Eventually he came into my room, saying he was up for a while already, just didn't come out right  away. Friday he had used my car to go to Ron's house and out to dinner with them. I am unsure what time he got home last night or this a.m.

Once he was up and about, he went outside with me to capture photos of the events going on at the pool, commandeered by the wedding folks for a pig roast. I got a few shots of people around the pool but nothing of the cabana or the pig. It was all cleared away by the time I got over there at 3:00 pm, when the pool reopened. Shoot! Julius said the staff took pictures so we might see those on the website before long.

Justin was going to be home on Saturday, since Sunday is football day. He wanted to make something delicious for dinner and I requested spaghetti. Off he went to Publix to get the ingredients, with plans for making his own sauce and letting it simmer all afternoon. My, did the house ever smell great! As he made his sauce, he kept throwing in this 'n that, including some bacon pieces. Interesting flavor and aroma...

Earlier, I mentioned going to the pool as soon as the clock chimed 3:00 pm, when the sun still out. In fact, Justin came to my room as I getting my suit on, wondering why the delay! No sooner was I in the water and the clouds moved in. Marlena was 'worried' about me not having anyone else to talk to but I assured her I would be just fine. My knees needed to ride my imaginary bicycle under the water, managing to do so for just more than 30 minutes before it began to drizzle.

My neighbor, Hugh, sneaked this photo of the ceremony from his office window, between the trees. Like paparazzi! When he sent it to me, he noted, "No, that is not her father..." The groom, footing the bill, we are told, for this extravaganza, is marrying a woman half his age. 

I got out to sit on the side for a while, in hopes it would let up, which it did. Another lady had come, informing me it generally did rain when she came to the pool so I was warned. The musicians were warming up for the ceremony, the folding chairs all had decorative covers on them, and the photographers were set up around the grounds. 

And then the heavens opened! I saw cellos and violins and music stands flying into The Club as I made my way back to The Palace. The good news was the rain shower was short-lived, and hopefully the seat covers dried in time for the 5:00 pm wedding!

God's promises reminder

This late afternoon while I was watching The Five and chatting with Linda J., my next door neighbor called me from her car. Patti told me there was a gorgeous rainbow in front of her as the drove east on Kingsley and asked me to take a photo of it for her. As it turned out, the rainbow was between her location and The Palace, but not yet on the river. 

Later, I looked up and there was a rainbow! It was so boldly beautiful---it could have made noise! Unfortunately, the 'end' of the rainbow was further north than I could actually  capture well with my camera, due to the trees in the way! Later, I thought about going upstairs to my neighbors house, vacant unit, and shoot from there, but these will do, I guess. I was able to share the photos with Patti and the rest of The Palace folks via e-mail later on tonight. God's reminder of His promises to us!

A lovely day

This is how it began today, with this glorious sunrise. I also grabbed a shot of the sunset which I will post later on. Because Pastor H. is away on vacation we had no Bible study on Tuesday night or this a.m., freeing up my time today for water exercises and lunch!

Dearly would I love the water to be warmer but eventually those of us doing the hard work in the pool (ahem, ahem) get accustomed to it. The sun on us really helps to warm the skin, so much that we have to dash from the poolside chairs to the pool to cool off again! I imagine myself making a sizzling or hissing sound when the hot skin meets the cooler water.

About a half dozen of us enjoyed lunch poolside, but it took forever for our meals to come out from the dining room. There is plenty of activity going on at The Club in preparation for the big wedding this weekend, the one which takes away access to the pools for much of Saturday. Boo! Windows being washed, light fixtures cleaned inside and outside, polishing, etc. I hope The Club got a substantial deposit from the groom for all this effort!

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Amber was able to make it for our Bible history class the other day, at long last. Her husband was recently hospitalized, diagnosed with COPD, added to all his other ailments---oh my! AND, he found out the same week that his mother had passed away and he was not notified. Another oh, my!

A couple Mondays ago we had some serious weather move through and Amber reported to me that they lost their electronics including a newer TV. Right now they are using an older model with no cable so can only watch a few channels which come in rather fuzzy. When it rains, it pours, literally and figuratively speaking.

During our discussion we talked about the 'singing church' as the Lutheran church has become known. Amber is concerned that she won't learn the hymns and other music quickly enough, not sure how to follow the notes. I showed her the melody line and how to go up and down with the notes. 

I explained to her how the hymns chosen for the given Sunday correspond with the readings appointed for the day, and retell the story of Christ and the reason that He came. I read through a few hymns to have her listen to the text, and told her how the music only serves as the backdrop to the text, the delivery system. At that point in the service, during the hymns, we are like the pastor---delivering the sermon in song! This is so much fun!

Amber was assigned two worksheets from the accompanying workbook, beginning with Creation. She is excited because she said it feels like being in school again---and it is. This will be beneficial to me as well, make no mistake about that. Much has been forgotten over the years, or details blurred, so this exercise will be a blessing for us both!

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We have had a couple interesting meal adventures in my house this past week. On Tuesday, Justin went to the grocery store after work. He needed Doritos for a recipe he was making, plus came home with some additional food items for our consumption. Besides the Doritos which were crushed to coat chicken fingers for our dinner, he picked up some pork and a pre-made meatloaf from the meat department. My mouth waters in anticipation for these delights.

The chicken tenders were quite delicious and so moist. We had baked potatoes as our side dish. The next night he made the pork, of which he accidentally got the jerk flavor (I won't say another word about that!) It ended up being far too zesty for my tastes. As soon as he put the spoon to his lips to taste it, he said, "Oh, oh...." and had me try the sauce. That's okay---I had some of his Dijon potato salad and some macaroni salad instead. The sauce on the meat even made him choke a bit!

                                               

He and I decided to rely on the playbacks the next day of the DNC speeches, reading the transcripts easier than sitting through the blather. My friend, Kathy, again sent text messages of encouragement (ha, ha!), wondering how I was holding up. Had to tell her I was watching reruns of some other programs while listening to radio podcasts instead. I am weak!

"...and the evening and the morning were the third day..."