Listening to music as the sun shines

Yes, the sun is shining, for now, anyway! The soothing hymns from the CW Supplement waft as I write in the warmth. Warmth from inside and out! Last night during our dinner, actually, just as ladies were arriving, the heavens opened once more and lightning flashed outside the windows. Martie's granddaughter was with her, Allissa's first visit here. She was impressed with the view, between rains drops, and said it would be a great place from which to take pictures. Yes, truly it is!

This is a sunrise shot taken in November of 2008

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We had a lesser numbered group last night for various and sundry reasons but just as much fun as we would with a tableful. I am most happy when the table is crowded with faces but intimate gatherings are nice as well. A couple of the ladies were not feeling well, another had been in a car accident the day before and besides everything else, had to be driven around like Miss Daisy, and I think Miss Betty is still with her son in MI. Anyway, our menu was complete nonetheless with chicken, hot dogs, baked beans, my German potato salad, watermelon, and peach pie for dessert. Picnic perfect!

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The sun is shining at present but clouds are moving in, as the weather map showed continued storms through the weekend. This forecast changed since earlier in the week because originally both Saturday and Sunday were clear. Our low temps, which are other people's high temperatures, are frighteningly chilly, around 72, right now during this stormy week. Remember, those who scoff about that being chilly--that is a long way from 95 degrees. That is why I quit picking on those of you who find 72 to be warm, because 72 above zero is a long way from -20! I am sorry!

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It is a good thing that I am not in a room on the "front" of the building because the workers are busy out there, grinding and tapping the stucco and such, to prep for painting. Joanne said she heard them out there very early this a.m., chipping away at the windows of her room. She stayed here last night because of the dinner and such but plans to stay at the beach house tonight. I told her I would not wait up for her and she laughed! The elevator is also down for maintenence until about 10:30 a.m. so we know I won't be going anywhere until then!

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Actually, I am not expected at Great Hang Ups until about 11:00 a.m. as I am going up there to help dust. Julia hates to dust and I like to do it, in the shop, at least. Justin is coming over early afternoon to spend time with me for a couple hours today so I will slip away in order to hang out with him. He is also going to church with me on Sunday as he is staying on the Island until his father gets back from WI. Oh, that reminds me, I had better send an e-mail....I will be right back!

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My sis-in-law, Nancy, with her two kids and their friends, are coming down for a visit some time next week. She is planning to drive, and being the only driver, thinks it will take a couple days to make the trip. Not something I would look forward to, that is for sure, not with 4 teens along! Hopefully we will have some time to spend together but mostly they are going to be at her brother's and doing the tourist thing. My nephew, Kevin, has written to me about coming down here in November with his two friends and wonders if I would take them in, if they decide to stay with me vs. his uncle. Of course, I will, I have a vacancy at Day's Inn, just so long as it does not interfere with Linda's visit! My feelings will not be hurt if they stay at his uncle's house though, there is so much more "young adult entertainment" to be had there than here, that is for sure! Something tells me these 30+ aged guys are not scrapbookers! "Are you a scrapper?"

Crying over spilled marsala sauce!

If I didn't have ants before, I surely will now! While I was preparing my potatoes for boiling, making them into German potato salad later, I reheated my leftovers from dinner at Carrabba's last Friday night. It appalls my friends that I use the actual container to re-heat and I guess I can understand their dismay---it melts! When I got to my desk with the foam container, I realized there was a small hole in the bottom. Wisely, I flipped the box end for end, so the food would be in the cover portion of the container. WHAT A MESS! The juice from the meat as well as the marsala sauce splashed all over my desk, on my papers and in between them. Ugh! Such a good smelling desk, though......I transferred, more carefully this time, the whole works to a glass plate which allowed me to cut the steak with a knife and not make more mess! Got floss???

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It is just pouring out there, I cannot view Mandarin from this post. This a.m. should have been water aerobics but when I looked out the door, I did not spot anyone bobbing in the pool. Whether or not it was officially cancelled or if no one showed up, I do not know, but the weather was sooo iffy, I vote "no"! If the sun is not out there first, I am not out there, and with the rain showers coming and going most of the day, I opted to get showered and dressed instead. Joanne called me to report she walked a mile on the beach, as she stayed at her new digs last night. She asked if I was jealous and I said I was not jealous about walking but would not mind sitting on the beach watching her walk! She will be here tonight for the dinner and I am going to put her beans into the oven so they are ready when people come.

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Justin and I had lunch yesterday, as I noted earlier, and he is such a character! He can do an imitation of the famous interview of Michael Jackson a few years ago, where the singer tells of sitting on the bed with little boys, eating milk and cookies in front of the fire, "it's so sweet...". Justin did his imitation before the chef came to the table and I was just laughing my head off! The others at the table wanted a sip of whatever I was drinking....only soda, I promise!

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Then, out of the blue, Justin brought up the subject of the book I am writing. He asked me if I was willing to change the book. I asked, cautiously, just how I could change it, as he has not read it. (Only one other person on this earth has done so....) His suggestion is that I write a book about myself, and when I looked questioning, he added, "because you have done so much." He went on to say I could incorporate Timmy's story into mine, which, of course, would happen anyway. Justin thought I could write about what happened before and after in our family. Really? Well, I did not totally discount what he suggested but I think I will continue with the book the way it is for now. He thinks I should be a writer like Francis Mayes, that is what he told me yesterday, anyway. Maybe HE should be a writer and tell my story from his perspective---wait, NOOOO!!!!!!!

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Tuesday after Kathy's mother's funeral service, I came home and was pondering a few things, naturally. A couple ladies I want to hear/see the video tape of Timmy's funeral service have refused, saying they could not bear it, but I so want them to hear the wonderful message delivered that day in the sermon. The music and singing were one part, the sermon the other. So, I sat down and sent a request to my friend, Pete Prange, to see if he still had the text in his computer files, and if so, would he mind sharing it with me. Within the hour, it was in my computer! As soon as I opened it, the tears began and I was an emotional mess, but a good mess. Not like the one on my desk at the moment.

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p.s. Friday now, and what smelled so good yesterday when splattered on my papers and desk does NOT smell as good the second day-----guess I will need to take care of some paperwork soon!

Now that is more like it!

Nearly my entire day was spent in the company of friends/family on Wednesday, from sunrise to almost 11:00 pm!!! Love it!

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The morning began with bacon being fried and a recipe for baked beans pressed into service, using beans which I do not recognize. I am sure it will be delicious and I probably would have been better off not seeing what Joanne was putting in her kettle! It does taste good so I can get past the funky beans she used. Now that I think about it, I wonder what kind of beans are used in the canned stuff I buy??

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All of a sudden, Joanne had to fly out of here for a conference call at her office so I assured her that I would take care of the cleaning up of the kitchen which she had already begun. After all, she was cooking bacon for my recipe as well. It did not take me long to get things polished up and I was back to my computer. Justin contacted me via IM to let me know he was stuck inside due to the pouring rain so we agreed to meet for lunch at Koko's. He got there first and I found him in by the ladies' at Great Hang Ups. Dee had been on vacation and ours did an overlap thing, if you recall, so it was wonderful to see her again.

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Justin and I enjoyed our lunch, and of course, I have a nice box with at least two more meals leftover which I brought home with me. He was going back to work, to clean out one of the offices in the lower level of the building, since he could not cut grass or pull weeds. I spent some time after lunch with the ladies and then stopped for groceries at Publix. The soda deal was still going on so I stocked up on the 12-packs as well as other things I needed, forgetting to buy butter. Nuts! At least I have soda! Publix was carrying Diet Coke, 5 12-packs for $12---a real steal! Makes for a very difficult pushing of the cart, though!

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Justin is house sitting/dog sitting at his father's house for about a week. He is going to squeeze in some time to spend with me on Friday so I will have to come up with a plan for us. I cannot compete with the Taj Mahal's bells and whistles that he is enjoying this week so will have to come up with something exciting for us to do---I know! "Seinfeld" episodes!!! Nah, we really do not need all that much to stimulate conversation between, as George Costanza would say, "We communicate with long, soulful silences....". I just saw that episode on TV the other night and that really makes me laugh!!! Trust me, there is little silence when Justin and I are in the room!

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Pastor called me as I was unloading my groceries, telling me the weather would prevent our going canvassing Wednesday night, but wondered if I would be available to come before choir rehearsal for a Companions meeting. I explained that I had already made plans with Kathy B. for dinner. I was excused, then. Kathy and I met at our Longhorn near church where the Monday Bible study ladies dine when class is in session. We enjoyed our meal and gave us a chance to just chat now that her mom's funeral is completed, the body being shipped to her hometown in MS.

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We arrived for choir a few minutes early as Pastor and Debbie were finishing up their Companions visit. We had a nice group of ladies (Brian is in NJ for the summer) present to do a run-through of one of our new liturgies and practice a hymn which we are going to sing a capella at some point down the road. We are getting sooo brave!!!

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Once choir was over, Suzanne, Kathy and I went to get an ice cream treat from the Dairy Queen on Blanding. I pursuaded the ladies into sitting at the tables outside---they were concerned it would be too hot out there. This proved to not be the case and even Suzanne admitted to being a little chilly. It was "only" 75 degrees when I finally went home, which, Linda, is NOT tank-top weather! We talked and laughed and talked some more, watching the race-track traffic on Blanding until well after 10:00 pm.

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When we walked to our cars, Suzanne wanted us to hear a song she had on a CD from a member at Keystone Heights church. The artist is Tressa Jordon and has a radio show and local TV show in Nashville. She plays bluegrass-style music and her daddy, who is a member at this same church, is encouraging Suzanne to take up the violin/fiddle so they can have a hoe-down together. Kathy came up with the big idea of having a bonfire gathering at some point and have the musicians from both congregations provide the musical entertainment. Sounds like an amazing idea to me--let's make it so!

Part of Jenny's blog challenge

I am following the lead of Suzanne, who is, in turn, following the lead of her blogging friend and neighbor, Jenny. The challenge was to go to my photo page, choosing the sixth file in, and click on the sixth photo in the file, and write something about it! Thank goodness that the sixth picture was so wonderful a source for material!!!

This is a photo taken on the last day that Lynn, Lisa, Noah, Gabe and Manny were with us in Orange Park, after spending a week enjoying the liquid sunshine Tropical Storm Fay brought with it. Noah's first visit to my home and this is what he gets! I have assured Noah that the miserable weather at CHRISTmas last year more than makes up for the storm we had during his visit here, August, 2008.

Manny is such a sweet talker and he appears to be doing just that as he holds his mom's attention while she reclines on the loveseat. The partner photographs show Justin sitting alongside of Lisa, and Gabe, on the floor right in front of them.

Okay, this is enough already!

No, I am done lamenting about the abominable adoration of a child-molester---I am lamenting there is no sunshine again today! When there is nothing else to talk about, we can always discuss the weather, right? Weather matters here in Florida, at least for me it does, but I am not a farmer, or a fisherman, or a landscaper, or a framer, or a roofer. Let me think: who would consider three days of rain and gloomy skies to be a blessing? Fire fighters perhaps, since some areas are in high fire danger? Umbrella salesmen? Boots and rainwear purveyors? Certainly not the fellows attempting to seal and paint my building!

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On the "bright" side, my house smells awesome because Joanne is busy in the kitchen, frying bacon for her special baked bean recipe. Tomorrow is our monthly dinner, postponed from last week due to many having previous commitments. Our theme is "Picnic" for which I am making German potato salad with hot bacon dressing. As long as she is cooking bacon, she is going to make enough for me, too! Only one mess to clean up that way, and ooohhh, my---does it smell good in here! When Noah was here last August, he made bacon and it was the first time, I think, that smell was in my house! I told Mona I wanted a candle that smelled like bacon frying and she said that smell all the time would make her gag. Her claim was that it smells good at first but if it lingers, it just smells like hot fat! I am familiar with THAT smell!!!

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Years ago when I attended a Writer's Conference, one of the speakers in a class was an editor for one of the houses in New York. She reported that the worst invention ever was the "tool" on a computer called "Spell Check"! For an editor, it is a nightmare because writers will rely on hitting Spell Check for catching spelling errors, which it will, but it does not catch usage errors (as an example: knot, not) that will totally change the piece. (Piece, peace). It makes writers lazy and editors crazy! The reason this came to mind was it seems that my Spell Check is on the fritz, marking as "misspelled" words which are not. On this computer, the error is highlighted in yellow, and as one moves the cursor over the error, the correct word choices drop down for the writer to pick from. Lately, when it highlights something and I go to look at it, the word is actually correct the way it is. Hmmm, what is up with that? I hate to be argued with in the first place, and mostly, when I am NOT wrong. Really, who does?

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My sister, Kerry, gave me my laugh of the morning, writing me very early from Oshkosh. It seems she had enjoyed a lovely, quiet evening at home last night and was sleeping peacefully when someone in her apartment building saw fit to pull the fire alarm! She had to stand in the parking lot while firemen and police searched the building for a problem, fortunately having the presence of mind to grab a blanket on the way out the door. It is quite a bit colder in Oshkosh than in O. P., you know, about 20 degrees cooler there than where I live, and especially at 1:30 a.m.! I would have been upset, too! Less than 30 minutes later she was allowed back inside but then it was not possible for her to find sleep again. The thing which made me laugh is when she reported being very crabby this a.m., even her feet were crabby! Must be hard to get shoes on "crabby" feet!!!!

Another day with little sun

Yet, it hardly mattered since my time was used for other things than being at the pool. For one thing, I was attending a funeral service for my friend, Kathy's, mother late morning. Another thing, our water aerobics instructor sent an e-mail cancelling our class because she has a bad back. Not like I would have been at class anyway since the sun was not shining, nor would it, today.

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There was no hard "news" to be had today so I kept the channel set on USA for the morning hours. Joanne had to leave early to meet a concrete man or other repair guy in one of her homes she has listed so I have not seen her yet. Yes, another 12 hour day for her this week! Oh wait, last night she was home earlier because she likes to watch a TV show on Monday nights, a "reality" show about bachelors. The dancing one is over, I guess. Otherwise, this is typical for her, all in a day's work. She was up after midnight last night which I discovered when going to the kitchen for a refill. I guess she was downloading baby pictures of her newest granddaughter, Lucinda.

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The fellows painting our building have been hampered by the rainy weather these past couple days so they are going to Plan B, which is to pressure wash the garages and other areas when they cannot be applying color. Last night I got an e-mail from the guy who is supervising their work, announcing the change in plans, encouraging us to remove our things from the garage so they can work in there. Joanne uses my garage parking and had a couple yard signs in there so I told her about the memo before I went to bed. I wonder how it looks in there now that the pressure washing has been completed. I also wonder if Ellen got their little car out of the garage before she left for NYC....

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I called her this a.m. to let her know there was no class and she was with Maggie O., on the road to the airport! I was so happy to hear that because last week she was feeling a bit low and toyed with not going up to NYC. She is feeling peppy enough to go and have a great time, with plans to see several shows off and on Broadway. Maggie O. is a retired drama teacher and is excited to see one particular show which is at the end of its run in NYC. Hope they do!

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The sound of "home" fireworks is echoing from below, perhaps purchased off the half-price table somewhere. End of season fireworks. Someone made the remark yesterday that Jacksonville sure does love its fireworks! There are pyrotechnic displays for every event, even the occasional wedding at The Club gets a fireworks send off! There is something about the layout of the buildings 'round here that makes the echo and it sounds pretty cool, really.

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My downstairs' neighbor, Cassidy, home from college where she is a music major, is playing the grand piano as I write. Oh, it such a glorious sound, quite in contrast to the blasting sounds from outside. Hey, if she played the "1812 Overture" while they fire off the rockets.........She also plays the cello but that music has a more difficult time finding its way into my home.

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Today I had the distinct pleasure of attending the funeral service for Kathy's mom. Judy C. and Janet met me at our church first to caravan to the funeral home, with Judy taking her own car as she had to leave for errands afterward. Carol D. and Suzanne came, too, as did our pastor and his family, a nice contingent from Good Shepherd. At the close of the service, attendees were invited to leave through the front in order to greet the family in the front row. As we sat there waiting our turn, I saw Chris N., my painting friend, going up to express her sympathies. I was so glad to see her there, glad she had been notified because I had not contacted her myself. Only two weeks ago Chris, Kathy, and I had lunch together at Cracker Barrel, and now we are together again. Only I was able to join in the luncheon, as Judy gave Janet a ride back to church for her car. Janet was watching her grands this afternoon or she would have come for the luncheon. There were only about 20 or so people there so I am glad I went. Kathy spent the rest of the afternoon with her daughter and son-in-law, plus other family and was doing just fine when I called her this evening. "It is well, it is well with my soul!"

My head is a bit foggy this a.m.

My eyes felt like pokers when I went to bed last night, after spending the late afternoon in tears at the movies. As Joanne and I sat last night, I gave her the rundown of my Sunday:

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Joanne and I were both lazy bones Sunday morning but had to hustle to get out the door for church on time. We are having our summer Sunday school at 9:30 and then worship at 10:30. I rolled in a few minutes late, or so I thought, when I saw only two cars in the parking lot, including the pastor's. Oh oh.....I forgot that we had no Sunday school or Bible study this week, due to the holiday weekend. Publix, here I come! While I was there I met up with Jackie, who also accidentally went to church too early! She was finished shopping already and I went on with my purchases. I told the nice man in the bakery that I was "exercising", and went on to explain that I was exercising restraint in not buying the chocolate long john! He laughed and said he exercises all day, every day then!

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I had to put some of my purchases into the fridge at church and made a note mentally to take it along later. Suzanne edified our pre-service time with her lovely viola playing including hymns for our nation in keeping with the holiday weekend. Judy J. was able to attend worship even though she is recovering from shingles and asked me to lunch after church. I did hesitate a moment because I was planning to meet Maggie O. and Ellen at the pool, but chose Judy instead! Twila and Jean caught me, too, but did not want to have lunch, they wanted me to go to the movies in the afternoon. I told them about the pool plans but said I would let them know, as the movie was not starting until 4:20 pm.

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Mike C. asked me if I could stop by the church office to make a shingle selection as the roof on the parsonage needs to be replaced. It was built by my former company back in 1991, when I started working at Sprint. So, if those were 20-year shingles, they lived a long time! For the life of me, I could not remember exactly what the parsonage looks like so it was hard to pick without seeing the body color. Mike showed me a sample of what was on the roof now, a similar color at least, so I gave two options in case one was better than the other. I am tempted to go out there and take a look myself before the final decision is made. Second-guessing myself here...

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Once done with that type of shingles, off Judy (with HER shingles) and I went to Grumpie's for our lunch and it was soooo good! I had a patty melt and brought half of that home with me, and Judy took half her club sandwich home with her. Once home again, I immediately changed from my church clothes into my swimsuit and got downstairs. My friends were not there yet, but other friends from last year were, and asked me to join them at their table. By the way, the other two ladies never did show up so good thing I did not turn down alternative offers for them!

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Because of having lunch with Judy, I did not get my standard hot dog from the cabana, only a soda. I had a very nice time catching up with my friends from last season, Frank and Gigi, and their friends who came as guests. The weather was lovely and pools nearly empty as I imagine that everyone was "pooled" out from the 4th of July daylong celebrations at The Club. I let Twila know that I would be coming for the movie, "My Sister's Keeper", which is what Justin had wanted to see with me, and we met at the theater. At the concession stand, I used the option of having the cheese popcorn which was sooo far from Gourmet, as it stated on the cup. Talk about tough!! I could have sat and spit the hard kernels all through the movie but I gave up even trying to eat it. Guess I could have gotten my money back but.....

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For dinner the four of us went to O'Charleys and enjoyed their steak special. Clark Howard, a well-known consumer advocate, was reporting the other night that family restaurants are struggling in this market to compete with the fast food places who are the only business NOT struggling. Meals packages are priced just right to entice families out to eat, with kids eating free at O'Charleys every day, and this steak special. We had a great meal, great conversation, and a great time for relatively cheap! And yet another to-go box added to my fridge!

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It is getting very dark in my house AND outside, as rain pours from the sky. Good thing I opted to not get into my swimsuit and put regular clothes on for indoors. It feels cold to me but that may be only my imagination because of the gloomy skies and pouring rain. Good napping weather....but I did sleep sort of late, waking and falling back to sleep a couple times early morning.

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Possibly from yesterday's movie content or whatever, I had a bothersome dream with Timmy in it. Disjointed as dreams usually are, I had an air mattress on my bed that had sort of popped as I slept. It gradually deflated and I was telling Justin all about it as he sorted through his shirts which needed ironing. I went into the laundry room to get the ironing board and there was Timmy, looking guilty, or not guilty enough. He had poured a 2-liter bottle of soda on the floor of a much larger laundry room than I actually have here, and was sitting in the middle of a mess of toys with small pieces. Waayy too small for a child to be playing with, and I was trying like crazy to sweep the pieces of plastic out of his mouth, with him popping more in as fast I frantically pulled them out.....And then he moved onto putting tiny jacks in his mouth, which would really have been impossible to play with in the real world. No matter how I tried, I could not prevent him from eating the toys, as I stood in a puddle of spilled soda----------please let me wake up, please!