Missing my friend

This was the sky that greeted me this morning and more than ever, I wished that Linda was still here to see it with me. Normally I will crop the photos before posting them but this one required no such treatment---everything in this photo needed to stay!

Today I was later in getting out to the pool, taking care of a few things in the house, not the least of which is doing physical labor. Yes, 'tis true, I grabbed the vacuum cleaner which is parked outside of Justin's door and took care of the floors in the hallways, kitchen, and my room. Justin had made yet another batch of slush (it's not just for Christmas anymore!) and the floor in the kitchen was a bit sticky. To allow me to use the Swiffer I had to put the empty soda can cases outside the door to take down later. As I opened the door, there was my neighbor, Dick, heading downstairs. I told him I was earning my keep by mopping the floors and he nicely grabbed the soda cases to take them down for me. What a guy! I feel badly for my neighbors having to see me in various stages of dress all the time---either in my nightie, caftan, or swimwear!

Bob, Nancy M. and Bill O. at The Club on Memorial Day

After all my chores were done and I'd had lunch, I headed out to the pool. Bob was sitting out there by himself so I joined him. We talked for a nice while before it began to thunder. Of course! Why, oh why did I wait so long to go out there?? Oh, yes, so that I could go running back to my condo with my tail between my legs, figuratively speaking, and missing the earlier fun at the pool. Later, after the storm passed, folks did gather again but by that time I was already in my nightie and settled for the evening. Hopefully this weekend I can get some decent time around the pool and spend time with my friends. I miss them! Haven't see Rick and Fran yet this season yet either...Time's a wastin'!

Ascension Day

Tonight was worship for the festival of Ascension, when we remember our Savior leaving earth and returning to His Father's right hand. I sent out a reminder about the service earlier in the day but alas, it apparently went out too late. My heart is a bit heavy about the low attendance but it is also filled because the service was so very nicely done. I feel badly for those who missed this opportunity to worship.

We had another ferocious storm roll through this afternoon and I hoped it wouldn't keep our members from making it to church. I guess it must have been a pocket storm because some folks I talked to after church had nothing but drizzle. We had thunder, lightning, and wind with the rain, not for long, but with a fervor! A mile west of here and just some drizzle. I fear for Justin's safety when these storms come but he assures me that he will take shelter if need be. It's the mom in me that is concerned and sometimes I am embarrassed for being worried for his safety. Should I be?

My friend, Nancy W., sent me a text message saying she was having lunch at Koko's but I was still at Bible study, or on the way back. She went ahead without me which is fine, since she had been at her booth in the resale shop in the same plaza. But, when she was done eating, she came to pick me up so we could go and get our badly needed pedicures. My previous pedicure, a treat from Mom last March, had held up famously, and only began to show wear 'n tear when pool season began. I had wrestled my feet up and clipped the nails a bit so I could get my shoes on, but they were badly in need of care and management. Nancy had a place here in OP that she likes, where she took her daddy every two weeks.

The nice lady who runs the place said she could do us both, but not at once. When we got there, Nancy said she can never pronounce the lady's name and wasn't sure how to introduce me, so I did it. I said, "Hello, I'm Kim..." and stuck out my hand. She said it was nice to meet me and asked if I was Nancy's sister. I said that I was her friend, and then asked, "...and what is your name?"  She said, "Lisa." Ha, how we laughed! Nancy explained that she thought the name was harder to pronounce than that...Lisa did a nice job on our feet, filing and shaping, massaging and applying lotion, and polishing. I chose a pearly color which won't look as bad when it begins to chip off from the pool.  When we got outside and were going to the car Nancy said, "I SWEAR that is not the name she has told me before!!!" and we laughed some more.

Before the nail shop visit, though, Nancy, a great white hunter, wanted to step into Goodwill (Willy's, as she refers to it) to snoop around. She often finds a treasure or two there which she can turn around and sell in her booth. Today, though, I had the treasures---a set of Mirro Teflon fry pans. When Linda was here she was looking for a smaller pan than ones I had and the next time she comes, it will be here waiting for her! The larger pan will replace the one we had been using with a most beat up bottom. So glad to find Mirro fry pans yet, now that the factory is being demolished...Cost me $3 a pan!

Bible study this morning was as wonderful as usual. Had a full house but then again, the tables were arranged differently. We can use the kitchen area for our classes in the summer due to no VPK going on, very nice for us. Dawn brought an article to show me about a Bob Dylan book she thought my brother-in-law would be interested in and Pastor teased us about being groupies! She is a huge fan but avers she is not a groupie.  

A cool thing happened while I was talking on the phone with Mom as I drove to Bible study. I'd already pulled into the lot and was telling her about the recent memorial service held at Victory. She began to exclaim, "I've got a hummingbird!"  At last---a hummingbird, or two, found their way to visit Mom's feeder. My sister, Kerry, had just planted flowers on the porch and placed some planters on Tuesday, and now the birds showed up. Mom was absolutely thrilled, so while I went in to Bible study, she was bird watching! I just love that for her.

"Be now?"

I am not sure exactly what prompted me to think about this but it was a fun trip down memory lane. Perhaps I was thinking of when 'we' took all of Timmy's baby bottles, nipples, accoutrement's related to bottles and had them disappear one night. All that was left for Timmy to drink from were sippy cups---imagine that! We just had to remember to NOT open the cabinet over the ovens when he was around...shh!  That was how we went from bottles to sippy cups cold turkey, and it worked!

What I was thinking of, though, was when my little nephew, Jamie, stayed with 'us'. When he was born, I was my sister's coach, with her hubby cooling his heels in the waiting area. Then, when he was only 12 days old, Jamie came to spend the night, sleeping alongside our bed in a little fold-out bed. I can't remember if he slept all night, pretty sure he didn't, but we were attentive to his every whim. Like having a real live doll to play with! 

Since his mom worked and was in the Reserves, and his dad also worked, 'we' were more than willing to help out. I worked from home when I wasn't working at Shady Lane and we had a room all fixed up for Jamie. We'd built a 'big' house in this subdivision and had our office in our home. With the intercom system we could keep tabs on him during his naps, and he was in the office when he was awake. 

As he got older, we moved him from the little fold out bed to a wooden pack 'n play from my mother-in-law. It was probably not deemed child safe any longer but what did we know? It sure beat sleeping on the floor in the fold-out bed. As Jamie grew bigger and bigger, the rickety 'old' wooden crib was just not going to do it for him. We had a twin-sized bed in the same room where the crib was located. Well, one day, when Jamie came over, that little wooden crib was gone! We pretended to look all over the place for it, with him helping us. Opening the closets, under the bed, going room to room, with him asking his little question, "Be now?", whenever he was looking for someone or something. "Be now?"  

Not finding the crib, he had to sleep in the twin bed. My spouse put him to bed, tucked Jamie snugly into the bed, where he stayed all night long. That plan worked! Well, it worked until it was me who put him to bed one night, tucking him in snugly, I thought. But then, during the night, we heard a big thud! and a crying boy. We both flew from our room next door and into his, finding him on the floor. I could not tuck the blankets in tightly enough to keep him from rolling onto the floor, it seemed. 

Well, one day we were having the family over and everyone was going between the house and deck on the side of the house. Some of the folks were playing 'ball ball' with Jamie outside, him sporting his jaunty hat with the snap under the chin to protect his ears which had tubes in them. I can still picture his face when he came through the garage toward the back yard and he spotted the missing crib----hidden behind a door! Oh, my, was he ever excited to have found the lost crib! and we were so busted!!!  Too late now, he was going to be using the bed but he was excited over having found the lost crib. "Be now!!!"

A memorable Memorial Day

I did feel better this a.m. having dropped off to sleep early and not waking up in entirety until I was good and ready. Guess I simply had to sleep off those chills or something. Weird!  When I woke up I watched Fox and Friends all morning, as is my custom and then moved to my desk for a bit. Justin was keeping me posted on activity at the pool, watching for my friends to show up, though Patty had sent me a message saying she'd secured seats for us. Glad she was on top of things, since the official opening of the pool today is a big draw, with seats going fast. 

Today I was meeting my friends, Jacquie and Mark, plus their daughter and her gentleman friend for the buffet and pool fun. I have been looking forward to meeting their daughter in person, having only heard about her up to today. She is a beautiful young lady and her friend is quite handsome, making a lovely couple. We all enjoyed the sumptuous buffet which offered several meat choices, side dishes, ice cream treats for dessert, and the best thing of all---cotton candy!  Jacquie actually went back up to The Club patio to secure the cotton candy for me. The young woman trying to make it was struggling with it and Jacquie told her that she better get it figured it out because she didn't want to disappoint Miss Kim! That we DO NOT want!  Ha ha!

About 2:00 or so the rumbling began and the wind was picking up. Nuts!  The lifeguard whistled everyone out of the pool, not allowing any of the children's games to take place, activities normally done on Memorial Day. Mark and Jacquie decided to head for home, having a long trip back to the 'Burg, and I packed my stuff up to come upstairs. The wind was whipping dirt around, got some in my eyes as I approached the gate, meeting some of my neighbors just coming out. They, and some other brave souls, had decided to wait it out but that was not to be. It was absolutely ferocious---thunder, lightning, sideways rain, and yes, even a tornado warning!!  That is what I call a storm!  It was so wild that Justin even took a video of it, feeling the glass on the river room doors moving in and out as he recorded. Yikes!  

This is not the video but a picture from it. The palm trees are inside out as you can see.  In a couple of hours, it was clear and folks were back at the pool...not me, though, I was done!

Chilly bones!

This morning I went to church for Bible study and worship, with Justin joining me for the service. Our pastor was gone to WI for his daughter's graduation from Luther Prep so Michael led the Bible study and did a fine job of it. Cliff was our worship leader and he also did an excellent job, the service running smooth as glass. Robbie was playing one hymn, our first time singing it, so we practiced it a capella in Bible study. He sang two of the five stanzas and we aced the new hymn. For lunch our group went to Chili's, being served by a new waitress. She said she'd been told when we came in that we were nice guests but needed our sodas kept full. And she did just that! We ARE nice!

From my bedroom window

I went out to the pool to sit with my friends after getting home from church. Several groups came and went until the skies changed colors and got noisy. Boy, I get tired of that!  For some reason I simply could not get warmed up once I came in, even took to lying on my bed and covering up with my baby afghan. Brrrr....Justin and I ate dinner, leftovers, of course, and he suggested that I take a nice, hot shower when we were through. What a good idea! I had no poof, so I did just that---took that nice shower and am now snuggled under my covers, warming up. Hopefully a good night's rest will 'cure' whatever is ailing me, if that's what it is, and will be good as new for the holiay recognition tomorrow!

All cried out

Today was a gorgeous day weather wise but I made the decision early on to not go out to the pool. I could have spent some time with my friends and have a bite to eat but I was going to Victory for a memorial service. It began at 3:00 pm but I was leaving around 2:00 pm to allow sufficient time for travel and for the visitation with the mourners. On my ride over there I called Mom to see how she was doing, despite having spoken with her the night before. Lynn and she had gone for coffee that morning and then the rest of the day was a quiet one for her.

Few people were there when I pulled in though some young men were walking around in the parking lot, possibly friends of Joshua's. As I opened the back of my car to get out a couple cans of soda to have during the luncheon, one of the young men came over to ask if I needed help carrying anything. Nope, I was good! Just then Nancy pulled in and did need some help so I sent him her direction. I carried in a box of chicken from Publix which smelled so awesome!

The ladies were getting things ready in the kitchen, several of them still there after having a baby shower earlier in the day. These people are so busy all the time! They converted the kitchen over from baby shower to funeral reception in a quick fashion. It was great to see the folks there at Victory again, but wish the circumstances had been different. Shane and Toni were greeting attendees as they came in, holding up nicely, it seemed. They'd had a week or so to come to grips with this all before the service which really helped. 

I sat with my young friend, Erica, and another mom, Beth, who'd lost her daughter to brain cancer a few years ago, aged 12. We were a good crying group, that's for sure. We sang such lovely hymns including the closing hymn of "In Christ Alone". I was able to sing all four stanzas because the mourners needed to hear the message, especially those not in the Word.  The meal afterward was excellent, bountiful, and I was even given containers of pasta salads and dessert to go home with me. I was worn out when I got home but watched "Jeopardy!" with my boy before retiring to my room. A crying headache needs me to go sleep early tonight. 

A couple more firsts

Today is the day that Linda is going home, even though she just got here. It seems that way, anyhow. At least we had the daytime to do stuff before she had to complete her packing for the trip to the airport. We made good use of that time, too!

For breakfast, we were going to go to Park Avenue Bistro after seeing a posting about pancakes on Facebook. Let's go! But, they are not open for breakfast so we went to Panera Bread, where Linda has never dined (if you can call pastries 'dining'). She got a couple of scones, one to take on the plane with her, and treated me to a cherry turnover. She was also able to get an embellished coffee there, and I got soda. We had a nice little breakfast.

There is a new bookstore which opened in the Target Plaza, just to the north of the Panera. Sweetwood Books opened about a month or 6 weeks ago, and I had planned all along to take Linda there, being the book lover that she is. I ended up being the one to buy a book, though, a memoir of the Astor family members who had lived in poverty. Sounds so interesting, along the lines of "Grey Gardens".  Not only were there books but gifts and greeting cards, and very humorous cocktail napkins. A fun store, and I wish them well!

After our little outing, we came back home and got changed into our pool clothes. The weather was perfectly gorgeous today, and the pool water getting warmer right along. We bravely got in and bobbed around a bit. Linda's delicate skin can only take so much so she wore my white picture hat from Jacquie to help protect her face and shoulders. I sprayed her with the sunscreen, too. For a snack we had a bag of those yummy sea salt potato chips before we ate lunch. We ate later so that it might hold Linda over during her travel time (besides the tasty scone in her carry-on!). 

While we were out there, Marlena offered me a free sample of a drink she was making, saying I'm her official drink taster. When I have a drink, it seems that many do, too, so I am good for sales. At first I refused because of driving to the airport but then got a text message from Justin reporting he'd be home before Linda left, and then offered to do the driving. Linda said, "You can have an adult beverage now!", so we shared it! Twas delicious, too, most refreshing and fruity.

Linda and I came upstairs and she finished with her packing. We passed the rest of the time in the family room listening to our radio show and waiting for the time for 'apparture', as Timmy would say. Justin got home and had time to shower before we headed out. Linda asked him to lift her suitcase to see if it was overweight, and he thought it was. She then set about shifting things between her two carry-on bags to make her luggage lighter. She never did find out at the airport how much it weighed---I always like to know because I fear it being overweight every time I fly. Fortunately she gets a wheel chair ride from the check-in to the gate so didn't have to carry the bags very much.

The traffic was light for a Friday evening and we got to the airport in good time. After our good-byes (sniffle sniffle) and as Justin drove, traffic a bit heavier and the road not the best, I called Mom to fill her in our happenings. I'd missed her the last couple of times I called so this time I got her. She's a busy gal! Linda is like another daughter to her and she likes to hear what we are up to. Anyway, Justin told me he was glad I was distracted by the phone conversation because otherwise I'd be like a cat in the car, meowing loudly about the traffic and the rough road! He tears me up!

Justin took me to 4Rivers BBQ, a new place his boss had introduced him to. This was a first for me! Long line as we waited to order our wonderful brisket and side dishes, well worth the wait. The place is a gold mine, and we look forward to having one open at some point in the future in OP. The former Shoney's is being reworked to accomodate this restaurant, which also features a dessert bar of unusually flavored cupcakes. We were too full to even try one, but maybe someday I will, though my tastes are more simple than that. I ate most of my sandwich and brought home my two side dishes for later consumption. 

Both of us were done for the night once we got home. and settled into our own rooms. I am faced with missing my friend's company, which usually happens when my guests leave. It was good to have this nice evening with Justin after saying 'good-bye' to Linda, who will hopefully be home in her own bed by 1:00 a.m. tomorrow morning, if the Lord wills. So glad she could be here with me for the special event at St. Johns and for the enjoyment pool side, and elsewhere. Many memories made, good movies watched, and time spent in the same room. Gotta love that!