A birthday treat

Today our usual group plus a couple others celebrated a bit belatedly the birthday of our friend, Gretchen. Last Sunday, closer to her big day, was not workable, so today after church we gathered at Sam's St. Johns Seafood. Having fish twice in a week's time is over the top for me, but hey, for Gretchen, I can do it!

Terri T. called ahead to make sure they could accommodate our group of 10 and was assured there would be room for us. Good! The rest got there ahead of me because I had choir rehearsal after worship, but Justin knew what I was ordering. As I zoomed in the door, thinking I was far behind them, I was wrong. The waitress was just then taking the order, with our group broken up into three sets of tables in a row. Shoot! That was the best they could do for us, despite Terri's best efforts. I got to order my own food and in fact, got mine first! As Darwin said, "The last shall be first...." 

Gretchen seemed to enjoy the time with us even though we were spread out this way. No one dared to sing "Happy Birthday" to her or make any type of fuss. She is not fond of that type of attention, so it was kept low key. What a dear lady and friend she is, I just love her!

Justin and I stopped at Winn Dixie on the way home, each of us taking our own carts. We wanted to pick up a few things including special priced chicken legs and thighs plus I got a beef roast on sale. I can smell it already! The hamburger was a good buy as well so we took three pounds of that for the freezer. I think I'll have to cook some meals before I leave for WI! He got a bunch of stuff, too, for our larder and for himself as he is going to make dinner at Jesse's this week for Cinco de Mayo. Fajitas are on the menu so far, not sure what else they will have. 

A lovely evening ended our day with the full moon rising

We got our purchases hauled up in one trip, which was remarkable for us. Often I leave non-urgent stuff behind for the next trip but today this was not necessary. It helps for him to be strong like bull and able to carry so many bags at once. No dilly-dallying, though--straight to the elevator and to the door so he can put them down. Every time I use the elevator I thank the Lord for it, for allowing me to pay my share for a new one a few years ago. Sure would hate to tote those bags up the stairs---yikes!  

A wonderful open house

Today I had the privilege of hostessing for the spring Open House at Great Hang Ups Gallery.  Sonya had her little pop-up canopy set up in the parking lot. Her work table was underneath it, ready to help ladies or anyone paint silk scarves, with Mother's Day in mind. It was a good day for Open House but was a bit windy outside. Sonya's stuff kept blowing around, but it helped the finished scarves to dry faster.

Mark is regaling us with a story of some sort

After a slow start the traffic picked up with lots of people coming in for framing. No problem with that! Even my friends, Jacquie and Mark, stopped in to get a pair of paintings framed. Oh, how excited I was to see them! I think I haven't seen Jacquie since last August when we had lunch at Panera. Many of the people who came in I recognized and my job was to encourage folks to sign up to win one of Dee's paintings which was displayed. 

Besides the scarf painting being offered, Dee set up in the shop to do a demonstration painting on Yupo, a Japanese paper, where she showed how to maneuver the paint on the more glossy paper. It was fascinating to watch: 

Around the store were light snacks, cookies which Dee had made. One was a meringue cookie with bits of pecan and the other cookie Julia describes as 'crack'. Actually they are a lace cookie, her grandma's recipe, and are so good, you can't stop eating them. Because both cookies are so light, having more than one goes almost unnoticed by your system. Julia also had coffee and midget doughnuts from Dunkin. A few people enjoyed a glass of wine while they mingled and took in the art exhibits or watched Dee paint. 

At one point both Dee and Julia were tied up, so I went to talk with a lady who came in. She asked me how much the painting of the sheep cost and I had to go ask about that. This painting had won Best of Show and a couple other prizes at the County Fair. Dayan actually was looking for cow pictures so I directed her to a certain bin to see if there were any in there. 

We talked and eventually she made her way to the counter. Somehow the conversation turned to pottery and sculpture so Julia brought out a piece she had done of a nude. It had won a prize at a show last year, I believe. After some more conversation and such, all of a sudden Dayan said, "I'll take her." Wow! We took a picture of Julia signing the piece and then of the two ladies with the sculpture. This was a red letter day for Julia and for the lady who bought 'Nicki'!

The door prize drawing was scheduled for the end of the day, at 4:00 pm. First, Julia drew names gathered from the FB page as anyone who shared the announcement got their name in the drawing for a $25 gift certificate. Then, she threw those names into the bag with the others from today. Julia shook it up really good and Dee reached in to extract the winner. It was ME!!!!  If I hadn't been there to witness it myself, I would have guessed it was fixed, but it certainly was not! I won the painting!!

Talk about being blown away! I told the ladies I would come in next week to select my frame, thinking I'll use the dark red that Jacquie had looked at for one of hers. It should pick up those berries perfectly, I think. 

This is not the first time I've won and been the hostess. One time several years ago (since I lived in this house) Justin was there to do the drawing. Julia shook the bag and held it up high so he couldn't peek in, not as if he would, of course. And out came my name!! That time I won a slumped glass bowl made by Kevin Eagleton. I have several of his pieces in my home including the lovely one on my river room table. Maybe tonight I should buy a lottery ticket since I feel so lucky/blessed! It was a good day!

Sitting down with Nancy

Yesterday as I walked along the promenade by our building, I caught the eye of the lady who does the housekeeping in the restrooms at the cabana besides other responsibilities at The Club. Sondra was waiting for me at the top of the steps to the pool when I came downstairs. She asked me when I was coming over for breakfast and I told her I would come soon, so had to make good on that promise. 

Nancy W. and I met for breakfast this a.m. at The Club and got to see Sondra and the regular breakfast lady, Kathy. She brought me a separate plate with bacon on it, knowing how much I love their bacon (after I picked out every last bit from the serving pan.) The Sunrise Rotarians got there before I did!! We also had sausages plus eggs, potatoes, and grits available to us in addition to the 'continental' breakfast foods. Kathy makes the fresh cakes each morning and today's had strawberry frosting on it. My favorite! 

Nancy and I sat and talked for a while afterward, even as the table cloths were being changed all around us. I had been telling her about the drama involving one of our units for sale and she wanted to walk over to look in the windows. She has a friend in the market for a condo so we went to take a look. I was pretty sure the owner was no longer living there so Nancy could take pictures through the windows. We walked along the bulkhead, a narrow walkway along the river's edge, to see into the sunroom. 

As we headed back around, I strayed off the bulkhead and went up onto the grass. Nancy stayed on the solid surface. As I got to the edge, I stepped from the grassy area and down to the curb toward Nancy. Like a round ballerina I did a little dance as I came onto the pavement and ended up sitting down on the curb. About three feet from the river!! Nancy was right there and was waving her arms as if to stop me but there was no going back once I was headed down. Boom! Right on my butt, on the curbing. She put her hands out to pull me up and I did just that, with really little effort, dusting off my butt as I stood. Whew, that was close!

I gave my poor friend a terrible fright, that's for sure, but it was entirely no harm, no foul for me, thankfully. After assuring her I was fine, she went on home, probably to lie down after this harrowing experience. From now on I will stay on the solid ground and not try to go cross country when peeking in my neighbor's windows!

Up the creek

This morning I had a chance to watch most of a movie I had seen many years ago called "Cross Creek". The star was Mary Steenburgen, who is married to Ted Danson in real life. She plays Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, the author of "The Yearling" and other books. The story itself is based on her life and its notes, telling about life living on Cross Creek. 

This brought back memories of a trip my family took to Micanopy, FL and Cross Creek back in 1990's. We arrived too early to take the tour of Rawlings home and property so we had to hang out in Micanopy for a bit. This little town was nothing but little gift shops and antique stores. One thing I remember was finding a bin of albums in an antique store and seeing one of my collection for sale there. What? "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" by Iron Butterfly was certainly NOT an antique album. It might be now, but then, no, it was not! 

I also remember us visiting an ice cream shop and getting some fudge, if memory serves. Of course, things were expensive as they took advantage of the people passing through on their way to Cross Creek. I do not recall much about what we saw  or did once able to take the tour other than walking around the grounds and looking inside the house. We did enjoy our day trips (Ha, Day trips!) and this was one of those. 

A little piece of trivia about this sleepy town of Micanopy is the movie "Doc Hollywood" was later filmed there. I have not been back to see the place since the filming so don't know if the town was spruced up for the movie or not. Marjorie, in the movie today, was told over and over by people how difficult life on the creek can be, how some don't make it (physically or economically) and so on, but this did not deter her. She managed to have people around her to help maintain the cabin and her property so she could focus on writing. At this time she was penning Gothic novels which were not as good as her true tales from Cross Creek. And, of course, she had a love interest. 

It was fun to watch it again after decades of my first viewing and have a new appreciation for the landscape and region where she lived here in N. Central Florida. Cross Creek is outside of Gainesville, about an hour and a half southwest of here. This was the first time, also, when we saw black and white striped cows, commonly called Oreos. For a boy raised on a farm, this was quite the sight! The ends of the cow with hooves was black and the middle was wide band of white. Most unusual! I had a fun trip today without leaving the house.

A bunch of flowers!

Last night Justin asked me what my plans were for today. I explained I was going with the Over 50 group from church to Mandarin for lunch. Why? He had some deliveries coming and one of them required a signature. I told him if I was ready to leave before they came, I would ask Connie to sign for it, which is common around here. Justin told me one of the packages needed to be opened immediately so now I was curious. Sherry's Berries, perhaps?

I put a note on the door for the UPS man that Connie would be authorized to sign for the package. All the arrangements were made---Connie would put the package (a new cell phone) on the counter in the kitchen once signed for. I didn't know what to tell her about the other one. As it turned out, I was still at home when the door bell rang. It was a FedEx man with both deliveries. I took the large box from him and then signed for the smaller one. While I was standing there, I went to reach the note for the UPS man. The FedEx guy acted wounded, but I explained that the watch came via UPS last week so I simply assumed the phone would come UPS as well. But I talked fast and told him my neighbor is a pilot for FedEx to soothe his wounded feelings. All in good fun, of course. 

                                 

This lovely bouquet of flowers is what came in the larger box and needed to be opened right away. What a sweet guy he is!

Judy C. came to pick me up for lunch as Twila's and my designated driver. The group was trying a new place (for most of us) called St. Mary's Seafood, located in the plaza for Hobby Lobby. Guess it has been there a while but just wasn't noticed. We had 14 people including 3 men. The food and service for a group this size was fantastic, with me enjoying fish with the rest of them. I had the fried pollack, two giant fillets, plus two sides. I sampled them (got a third one because it was extra and the manager saw fit to give me the green beans!) and brought the rest home with me. Judy took the half of the fillet I didn't eat as I didn't want to reheat fish. As far as I know, everyone liked their meals.    

                                                                                                     

I won't name everyone in the photo but closest to the camera are Judy C., Twila, Fausto and Julaine. I was on the end next to Judy. On the far end was Gretchen, seated next to Ethel. The bad thing about eating at long tables is not being able to talk with everyone. Unfortunate but it can't be helped with so many diners. 

A matter of language

I have a few pet peeves, most of which I don't think about until they come up. This particular peeve comes up more often than I would like so here goes: the use of the expression "cussin'". 

Nit picky at bit? Yes, it might be to some but it matters to me. Cussing is a euphemism for cursing. Cursing is damning someone or something to hell, away from the face of God. Swearing is not cursing nor is it cussin'. It is actually taking an oath, asking the Lord to verify what you are saying is truth. Or just asking in general to prove that something is true. It has now come to encompass language which is offensive, which diminishes the value of taking an oath. 

Some describe movies or TV shows as having cussin' in them but more likely it is what was once considered to be filthy language, what I call 'the language of the streets'. It is heard not only in the streets but in kitchens and classrooms, at scenes of crimes or traffic accidents. The most vile words never spoken in polite company in the past are now used even by children without compunction, sometimes repeating what they've heard or have been called. There is little restraint from using these filthy words in social situations. I've had to insist guests in my home refrain from every sort of such words in my presence, and for the most part, this is respected. 

What is tragic is that people no longer recognize such profane or vulgar language as being what it is. I don't agree that it is a matter of opinion either because there are times where most people can control themselves when in the right situation. 

We are an educated and decent society for the most part, (putting on my rose-colored glasses again), and do hope that if enough people speak up about it, object, this practice will be reversed. There are enough perfectly good words to use to express dismay over something or to describe a situation. Make use of them and adjust the conversation. I have the same hope for the misuse of the Lord's name, the use of OMG in Facebook posts or text messaging, or spoken, even having this abbreviation added to the dictionary as a new 'word'. That's another post!!! 

There are TV shows which Justin enjoys, most notably the cooking or bar renovation programs, which are just loaded with bleep bleep bleep. Now, I am not a person fond of cooking per se but I can prepare a meal and get it served without resorting to the use of profanity. But it puts butts in the seats, so to speak, which makes me wonder if the producers and writers are encouraging it. Of course they are!!!  A recent movie I paid to see made use of one word which makes me flinch, when, as a word person, I could have found something else. But the word is used for punctuation, to bring the point home, supposedly. Or to jack up the rating because certainly no one would go see a PG movie...Ugh, that bugs me!

"It's just a house"

The other day my neighbor hosted a fashion party in her home. I enjoy going even though the garments are not designed for people of size. The ladies who attend are so nice to meet, and take turns modeling the attire for our critique. This time my upstairs friend, Debbie, was there which made it even more fun for me. 

When I had an opportunity, I asked the hostess about her daughters. I didn't realize that both her daughters were in graduate school, only knew about one. Her older daughter is getting an advanced degree in her field which is civil engineering and urban planning. The study she is writing her thesis on is based in 'placement'. What does that mean? 

I understand that her paper addresses communities and its people, and why they live where and how they do it. What keeps people living in the areas prone to natural disasters, or living in depressed economies when jobs are waiting for them elsewhere? Why do people endure those long, miserable winters up north instead of moving to more temperate states? Their company is closing in town with the option to relocate with the business to the new area, but they decline. Or, their home or neighborhood is crumbling but the thought of leaving is out of the question. I am sure her paper will be much more technically and academically presented but it sure is an interesting subject to consider. 

Years ago some friends of mine built a home in a neighborhood not too far from where we lived. Oh, what a nice home it was going to be for this family! Not long after getting moved in, the districts for the gov't schools were redrawn and their kids would have to attend lesser rated schools. Oh, oh....They put their new house on the market and started looking in the area where the schools were better. I asked, "How can you leave this beautiful house???" and my friend said, "It's just a house..." Yes, I get that, having moved 27 times myself, but in my case, it was our business. 

This subject is fascinating to me as I do observe people who are basically glued in place despite their circumstances because nothing can move them off of 'go'. It reminds me of the influx of staff at Sprint years back when a Voice Services center in Kansas City closed. Those willing to make the move with the company did so, and came halfway across the country to FL to continue in their employment. This was a blessing for the company as these people were already trained, all they had to do was plug in their headsets and start taking calls. How brave of them to uproot themselves and/or families in order to keep their jobs. There are some people who might think that is a ludicrous thing to do. "It's just a house..."

While I can't wrap my head around why people live in the less than ideal living situations (i.e. shoveling, scraping, salting, slipping, sliding, layering...), I also am reluctant to consider moving. No matter how many leaks I have or how often I am leaked on, 95% of the time I love it here. When people encourage me to move back to WI, (where I belong, according to my mom!) I am emphatic with my 'no!'. Some people can't imagine moving away from family, living where it is hot and humid, at risk for tropical storms or worse. And have real traffic! Barring unforeseen circumstances, I am affected by being stuck in place as well. 

Do people who live in Siberia defend it because they are stuck there, or because they really love it? Do they defend their choice at all? How about people who live in Hawaii? You never hear people say to Siberians, "Man, you live in paradise!" With all the communication and transportation available, everyone must know there is something or somewhere beyond their back door. Is it contentment, satisfaction with being okay we are that keeps us where we are? Or, is it fear? Good stuff to think about!