Pie, anyone?

Justin made us a pie for our dessert tonight. He had me pick up frozen crusts when at Wal*Mart and away he went! The apples were a thank you gift from my neighbor, Nancy, for Justin's help with her computer last week Wednesday. They were apples from the mountains of NC, brought back by Nancy who spent the summer up there. Not ones to eat fruit in its original form, a pie is born!

My poor boy!

I am feeling badly for Justin, who went to the dentist today. At first he was excited because she (Peggy, our dentist) has DISH TV in her office, shown on the ceiling, so he could watch the radio show of which we are fans while getting his work done. He is not happy now....

Since I had not heard from him, I finally sent him a text message asking if he was okay. His brief answer was "lots of pain". He is with his father today and probably is limited on the ability to communicate with me so was not too wordy in his answers. What he did say was "No" to my question if he is okay, and "No" to my question of "Should I call the dentist?" I wish I knew more of what he was feeling and why. I hope he is not putting on a brave face for his father. 

He did have to drive to Ponte Vedra to meet his father after getting done at the dentist which likely adds to his misery. Justin hates to use his car any more than necessary and that is quite a trip to PV from here. I had so wished he would not inherit my goofy teeth!

****

I made up for the lost sleep of the night before, finally waking up for good around 8:00 a.m. I had awakened once, before 6:00, and heard some of the 'before' news prior to "Fox and Friends", and then was gone again to la la land for a couple more hours. Wow! I did nap a couple times yesterday afternoon which seemingly did not affect my night's rest. The bad news is that I did not get to chat with Linda before she left her home for the day. 

Justin left for the dentist as I was waking up but he did get a chance to say 'good-bye' before going out the door. He was surprised to find me yet asleep. The next hour or so was used to catch up on the missed computer time, getting my daily Bible passage posted, and checking on what happened overnight. All caught up!

*****

Over at The Club, machinery has been at work, as men remove the huge A/C units and air cleaners from the roof, in order to access the roofing material. A replacement roof is being installed, about 5 years after it was originally built (the garden room). Patching and temporary fixes were insufficient so the whole works had to come off and started over. I walked over there to take some pictures, and, of course, offer my assistance to the project. Thankfully, my offer was declined!

Mitch, the maintenance man, was busily mixing up concrete to fill in the hole where the water main was ruptured (in two places, I am told). I assumed wrongly that the big crane did something to the main as the rupture occurred in the courtyard entrance to The Club, far from the crane. Mitch was just dripping in sweat as he worked, so I did not offer him any help, fearing he might take it!

Speaking of The Club, during one of my relaxation moments yesterday, I got a phone call from Chef Sheldon. He wanted to ask if I had any suggestions to improve the Happy Hour night prix fixe menu. They are thinking of adjusting the fare as some are growing weary of it or something. These meals are offered once or twice a month at a reasonable charge.

The manatees enjoying the weather September 25

Normally I am not there for HH on Wednesdays during the year because of choir, but now, with no choir, I can attend! I asked for sirloin sliders like we used to get at the cabana, being a meat 'n potatoes girl. Also, I told Chef that I am not a fish lover but many people with whom I associate are fish lovers. Hopefully I was helpful and supportive of the effort to please the masses! I told him I was about the people and the food mattered little, unless I really like it!

Eight years ago at this time, my part of the world here in North Florida was bracing for Hurricane Jeanne. Without it being a direct hit, the First Coast was slammed pretty good, wreaking all sorts of damage. It was also during this storm that our pastor and his wife (Pete and Tarren) were having their first baby, Lucas. It is hard to believe he is 8 years old already, and harder yet to think it was that long ago I bought the house on the lake!

My nephew, Gabe, and Lucas playing on the floor at The Palace, June 2006, after Justin's graduation. They are eating donut holes. Not sure where Manny was for all this....

My church family

Saturday at church, for Andy's funeral, I was quite impressed with the morticians who were handling the care and such for the family. Afterward, when everyone else had moved into the Fellowship Hall, I spoke to the man who seemed to be in charge and thanked him for taking such good care of "my family". The lady with him and he thanked me for the compliment and reminded me it was their job, but it seemed like so much more than only a job to them. 

Later on, when talking with Fran and her son, Dennis, about the art work, I mentioned to them how wonderful the funeral director seemed to be. They were impressed with the care they provided, and told them what I said to the guy. 

Monday the available members joined the family at the National Cemetery for the committal service. What a nice crowd there was! We gathered first at welcome center where we could visit until the caravan left for the site. I had a chance to  chat some more with Dennis and his wife. He was wondering how the service was going to be, as he was already weeping a bit. I told him it would be extremely significant as well as emotional, and important for us all. Then, he hugged me and said, "Thank you for calling us your family...." Of course, I meant it, but it was nice to have that acknowledgement.

Six men served again as pall bearers, and the funeral director presented them all with a boutonniere. Very nice touch, I thought. Brad came and stepped in as pall bearer in Frank's place. Frank was able to attend, as he works next door at the prison as an electrician, but was in work clothes. 

The military Honor Guard were already in place, immediately playing Taps and doing the flag folding ceremony. Mikey was quite moved starting with the taps, taking the whole thing quite hard. Saturday he had held up nicely but the committal was harder. Might have been the playing of Taps, the flag folding, or Kristi singing "America, the Beautiful" which put him away. And me, as well!

                     

It was a glorious day weather-wise. I had ridden out with Judy and Michael C., at their invitation. Love that! I stood with Terri, who was also extremely moved since her dad's committal service was held here as well. The tears were flowing all around, hearing others sniffling or seeing them blow their noses. It might have been in sympathy for Mikey, too, since he was struggling so with the passing of his grandpa.

Pastor had a couple readings and then we were dismissed. The hostess for the cemetery urged us to move along as another committal was coming right behind ours, but we did linger a bit, saying good-bye to the family as they headed back to their homes. Andy's cousin hugged me and said, "You just make it all so nice, with that smile of yours..." He was a sweetheart. His wife had taken our picture earlier at the Center. 

As I said good-bye to Dennis and his family, he hugged me and thanked me for being so welcoming to them when they come down to visit. As we parted he said, "Take care of her..." and I promised I would take good care of Fran. I love my family!

                      

Judy, Michael, and I joined Terri in visiting her dad's grave-site. We had to walk a distance as the road was busy with trucks taking care of another burial. Pastor joined us for this. Terri had a bouquet of artificial flowers to place at his marker and I had a small flag along in my purse. I stuck it in the vase with the flowers and Terri took a picture of it. 

How remarkable this place has grown in the two years since Gordy's committal. I said we should have asked Kristi to come with us to sing something there and Pastor said, "You could sing something, you're a soprano...". I said, "No, I don't think I could do it." Terri said I could sing something cheerful and we all decided that even Happy Birthday would put me away that day! 

Up from my nap

Yawn and stretch! Took a bit of a nap, the real kind of nap with eyes closed and probably my mouth hanging open. I was dog-tired! For a number of reasons, my sleep last night was disturbed and I hate it!

First of all, Monday morning I noticed that when I exhaled, I could hear and perhaps feel a wheeze. No congestion or other cold type symptoms, but a whistling/wheezing sound which seemed to worsen as the day went on. Where did that come from? Well, I did get quite excited watching the Jaguar game (the 2nd half) in the cabana Sunday and some screaming ensued. Did that do it?

In an attempt to be rid of the whistle sound, I would make myself cough, hoping to break loose whatever was caught. Later in the afternoon, I went to Publix at Loch Rane and asked the pharmacist what to take for it. She suggested Mucinex or Robitussin, which comes in liquid form. I knew Justin has Mucinex on hand so bought a nice bottle of the Robit. stuff. When I got home, I realized it was the kid's formula. Ugh! Time for me to go the HOME!

I took a swig of the liquid stuff and was resting when Justin came home. The whistle was still there so Justin gave me two of his tablets, of which I took one. I don't know when it stopped, but the noise did stop and thus far today---I am whistleless!

And so is my toilet! When I got home yesterday, I was cleaning my bathroom sink, having sprayed it with Lime Away before leaving in the a.m. As I rinsed the cloth, the water slowed to a dribble and then stopped. Now what? 

Connie was called and knew nothing about it so was getting busy making calls, and I got on the computer. You can count on me! Once logged in, I read my e-mails and sure enough, there was a note from Kerrie at The Club, announcing a broken water main. The water was shut off to the entire property. I let Connie know of this development and waited for it to come back on. Later Connie asked me to send a memo to our Owners letting them know it might be off until 5 or 6 pm. Wow! Good thing I have four potties!

When the water came on around 4:30 pm, I started the washer again to finish my load before Justin got home. The washer spit and sputtered as always happens when water has been shut off. I ran water in the sink to finish the cleaning job, and then flushed my toilet. It began to fill and then made a clunking sound, jiggling the ceramic top. My heart went to my throat!

                                        

I flushed it again, after removing the top of the toilet, and I could hear a whistling sound. (What is this with the whistling today???????) I jiggled the handle, lifted the float, and monkeyed carefully with the equipment, but it persisted. Now what? I put the cover back on and tried to NOT hear it. You know how that worked, I bet!

All night long I was listening, twice throwing off my blankets thinking I could hear water. It was not running, no water was moving in the bowl, but I was vigilant anyway. 

This morning I was messaging with Linda before she left for work, telling her about the toilet whistling. I had already told her  my chest whistling had gone away. At the same time we both wrote that I should put a Mucinex in the toilet tank!!!! 

My downstairs neighbor, Jeff, came up a few minutes ago, could hear the whistling/hissing sound, bent around on the rod supporting the float, and the sound stopped. 

                                                

Yay for Jeff!!! It's in his best interest to have my plumbing in good working order, as we just passed the two year anniversary of The Great Flood. He is my hero, and tonight I will welcome sleep. Not only was sleep bothered by water concerns but I think the medicine might have helped with my restlessness. Add to that the NFL refs blowing the call on the last play of the Packer game and I was shot for the night!!!

A sunrise blitz

      

Can two sunrise photos be considered a blitz? I say "yes"!  The above photo was taken September 20th. 

This sunrise was captured on September 23, a glorious start to the day. Sadly, this date marks the 2nd anniversary of a life-changing event in my life, and that of my neighbors, known as "The Great Flood". Only two years ago? Why does it seem longer ago? Or like yesterday?

Filled up!

Yesterday was the lovely funeral service and the reception following. Today I added to that with Morning Praise at Victory with my 'other' congregation. It was wonderful to be in worship with them again, with Robbie added to the mix. Justin and I sat with Robbie, who sits with another young man, Daniel, also a student at UNF. On the other side of me was Erica and Stephanie.

Since I am there on Thursday mornings, I have occasion to help assemble the multi-paged service folder. I got a sneak peek and decided this would be a good week for worshiping at Victory. 

The Order of Service was Morning Praise, which so reminds me (us!) of our former pastor, Pete. Robbie said he accidentally started to sing one section the leader was to sing, because at GS, HE was the leader! Love it! It felt so good to sing out on these familiar hymns of the liturgy played magnificently by Rachel, on the piano. 

In the sermon, Pastor H. discussed how our nation is turning its back on the Lord, just as God's chosen people did in Jeremiah's day. We are His chosen people now and must be careful not to reject what God wants us to be or do. Timely in Jeremiah's day, and in our own.

It was a delight to see so many of my other friends there, including Linda O., on a break from New Beginnings Home, CO. Her daughter is getting married next month so she came home to take care of a few things. Her daughter serves with her at New Beginnings, and met a young man at one of the local congregations. So wonderful!

I also got to meet the new baby of Kristen and Brian, #4 for them. And, is her practice, has reduced back to her pre-pregnancy shape, rail thin, only 3 weeks after giving birth. That rascal! I believe this is their 4th child in 6 years. This couple is special to me as we went through Bible Information Class together at GS. Kristen remembers Mom coming with me a couple times, which is cool. 

Following worship, Stephanie, Erica, and I were planning to go to lunch at Bahama Breeze. Justin's plans changed so he could join us, and I enticed Robbie to come along, my treat, before going to work. Yay! Robbie is the "yard dude" for Stephanie now---love this!  Later, Jesse and his friend, Chelsey, joined us so there were 7 of us, grown from 3 originally planned. We watched part of the game from our table and enjoyed a lovely meal on the veranda. 

Life is good!

There is nothing like it

I've said it before and will say it again---there is nothing like a Lutheran funeral service. When Gordy died, one of the ushers took his service folder, tucked in his suit coat pocket and declared, "I am putting this inside my Bible for my family to use when I die. Just the way it is, except, change the names." Many hymns and wonderful Bible readings. The same is true for Andy's service today!

I left for church about an hour ahead of the service in order to stop at Publix for my fruit tray. The store in Argyle is not as familiar to me, so I did wander a bit, not able to locate the fruit trays. Finally I asked the lady who was cutting up the fruit where the trays were, and she told me they made them in the deli. Evidently, none were done up ahead, like I get at the Fleming Island store. Bowls of fruit will do, then. 

The church parking lot was already filling when I got there. I was so glad to know we would have a good representation for the family. The ladies had things set up in the Fellowship Hall and tables were being laden with food stuffs. I put out my two bowls of fruit and Ethel stuck forks into them.

When I walked into the church, I was met by Mikey (Michael) wearing his acolyte attire. And the tears flowed. He was going to serve not only as acolyte for his grandpa but also as a pall bearer. I met LuAnn in the back of the church, and when she saw me dabbing, said, "Here we go..." 

Andy's coffin was draped in part with the flag, which was later folded, and replaced with the funeral pall. So glad to see the pall used again---the last time was for Gordy's service.

Before I left this a.m. I had gotten a message on FB from Suzanne C. She was going to be playing for the service, as was Sterling. This delighted me! Her husband insisted she play and he took the kids to their sports appointments by himself. She played her viola, Sterling played the bassoon and the piano.

The pre-service music was just perfect, and Suzanne was true to her word, playing "Abide with Me" with me in mind. Fran and LuAnn had spent the day together on Wednesday, after Andy had died, planning the service. What a fine job they did! The sermon text was chosen from a devotion Fran had read recently and struck a chord for her: "I have fought the good fight...finished the race..." II Timothy 4.

I loved looking up at the hymn boards and seeing them crowded with numbers!!! We sang "Just As I Am"; "Amazing Grace" with Kristi singing portions as a solo; "Rock of Ages" (Andy was considered to be a rock in his family, where Jesus was the Rock in his life); "How Great Thou Art"; "The Old Rugged Cross"; and finally, with Kristi again, "God Bless Our Native Land", which we stood to sing. That hymns needs a couple more stanzas!

Sterling played the piano for "Amazing Grace" and did so quite well. I had thanked the musicians prior to the service and again afterward. Sterling was quite pleased to be thanked, as he was a bit apprehensive about it. He is a professional musician, but not necessarily a professional pianist---yet!

As the service was getting underway, I was seated where I normally sit for funerals, center behind the mourners. Many of the guests are not familiar with our Order of Service or the hymns, so it helps to have someone who is familiar nearby. Terri T. came in and sat on the far side of the church. She was having a tough time during the service, but I couldn't get out of my seat with people of either side of me. Later I said to her that it was probably good we sat apart or it would have been worse yet!

After the service, I went to join Fran at their table and we hugged and hugged. She is so kind and sweet. Fran said her family would like to buy some artwork to donate in Andy's name and asked me for advice on what and where to get it.  She likes the pieces others donated in Timmy's memory. 

                                                         

I went into the classroom building and brought back the piece Rosalie bought for us. Greg Olsen is the artist and he captures the sentiment so well. I told Fran's son, Dennis, that I would send information and such to Mike so they could make a decision. Love being included in this project.

Of course, after crying like that, my head was pounding. Terri and I each took some ibuprofen, washed down with the Diet Cokes she bought us. We sat with Paul and Emily, who are beginning the process of adoption. This is exciting for them! Terri was going to head to the wedding shower I chose to miss, leaving her green bean casserole behind. I snapped it up, after the other leftovers were put into containers for the Kelleys to take home. I am nuts for that casserole!

Later, Terri sent me a text photo of Anne H. holding the wedding bouquet of ribbons and bows from the shower, telling me I was missed. Nice! I do not regret missing it, as I will see many of the folks at worship Sunday. Saw lots of Friday night and some more will be seen Sunday. 

Justin had a lazy day off with his only assigned task being to empty the dishwasher and refill it. Paul and Emily teased me, saying I should go easy on him....Later, I did have him sweep the kitchen and use the Swiffer vacuum in the kitchen and my room. He accuses me of purposely soiling my floor but I aver, I do not!

                    

As evening fell, I heard my neighbors on the sundeck so went out to join them. It was a lovely time, with a gorgeous cerulean sky, dotted with pinkish hued clouds. Miss Chardonnay had enjoyed the day more than the rest of us but Kathy was there to see her those few steps to her door. 

                                                        

There is talk of getting a yoga group started for The Club, since one of our Palace Owners is an instructor. Miss C. was not going to rest until I told her why yoga was not for me but she was not in the right frame of mind for my reason. No wonder she is such a good salesperson---won't take NO for an answer!