Hey, there are men outside my window!! Again!!!

I just came upstairs after several hours poolside and when I opened my door, I heard this roaring sound coming from my house. I thought, "Now what!?!", expecting to be greeted by water rushing across the floor or my A/C on the fritz. But, nope, nothing was amiss---it was coming from outside my patio doors! Just as I came through the dining room, the painter's platform was passing on the way down. Seems a hose popped off the pressure washer or something so they had to go all the way to the bottom to check it out. They got to the neighbor's railing, stood on it, and then jumped the rest of the way down. Yikes!

This man was a bit on the Asian-side, it appeared, because when I spoke to him, he did not seem to fully understand me but answered with broken English with an Asian accent. I asked him what was going on with the water, and he thought I meant the hoses, so explained to me, sort of, about pressure washing the building for painting. Guess I am not the first one to ask that question, but really what I meant was the green water in the river!

When I pointed to the water behind him, he then changed his message to there being too much fertilizer running into the river, making for a green edge along the banks. It was not there this morning so I do not know if this is true or not. I just checked on it, and it seems to be dissipating somewhat. I wonder if is perhaps from the pressure washing and its run-off but I guess it remains to be seen. It is sort of a pretty color of green, though, isn't it?

A good time was had by all!

Monday late afternoon and well into the evening, I entertained my sis-in-law, Nancy, plus her two kids, Tabitha and Uriah. Each had brought along a friend on the big trip from WI, Kim and Cody. They are not staying with me but rather at her older brother's house down the road from me on Fleming Island. That had to be quite interesting having the name "Kim" bandied about those walls during their stay! Much of their time in St. Augustine was interrupted with rainfall and the drive back this direction was in steady rain. They opted to not go swimming so I got out my Apples to Apples game for the kids to play, while Nancy and I visited in the river room. Supper was still baking so it gave us time for adult conversation!

At Winn-Dixie I bought the family-sized Stouffer's lasagna to serve my guests, plus Caesar salad and Italian bread. It was buy one, get one for the Italian bread but I was concerned we would not eat two of those long skinny loaves, but the offer was also for regular loaves. Great! I will have toast for at least a month to come! You cannot really see it but Cody (on the left) is wearing a Lynyrd Skynyrd T-shirt. At some point his traveling partners had told him about my famous neighbors but I don't think that is why he wore the shirt yesterday. Uriah (on the right) was quite a gifted writer, having been published in grade school after writing a poem about his cousin, Timmy, who had died. Now his interests are in architecture.

Here we are, all squished together into the frame, as I lean over toward Uriah, who is kneeling between his mom, Nancy, and me. Tabitha looks like she is going to burst, must have been some good lasagna! These people, even the children, made me feel like a dwarf, with Tabitha soaring already to six feet tall! Uriah is not far behind her and their mom can hold her own when it comes to height. They told me that until Justin showed up at their uncle's house, Tabitha was the tallest in the room! These poor, pasty Wisconsinites all were sporting sunburns, as runs in the family, not so much sun tan as burning right away. Uriah had attempted to put sunscreen on his mom, but as often occurs, he missed several spots, making for interesting tracks and shapes on her exposed back!

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After our dessert of raspberry shortcake, we quickly cleared the table of dishes and food. I removed the tablecloth to the laundry room and fetched the "Catch Phrase" game from the closet. Well, I will tell you---that was an absolute hoot! The kids really got into it and poor Uriah was so enthusiastic that he was sweating bullets! I DID have the air on!!! (Get it, Mom?) We played several rounds, not keeping score, with me having the most fun watching their faces as they struggled to come up with the suitable descriptions for the word without saying it, and then passing it like a hot potato! I call it "Password and Hot Potato" because that is how it is played! Finally, Nancy said they had to get going if they wanted to get an early start for the Zoo and Kingsley Plantation today. Tomorrow her brother is taking off from work, as will his girlfriend, and they are all going tubing on a river west of here. Joanne always threatened to take me there, but the "constant water temperature of 72 degrees" is not all that appealing to me!

An "oh my goodness" moment!!!

At one point this late morning, I went into the kitchen to get a soda from the fridge, and noticed the painters on my porch. They are such nice, friendly guys so I popped my inside door open to greet them. One man asked me where I had been because he said he "had not seen my smiling face" lately. I explained that when the sun isn't shining, I will not come out to sit by the pool, so that is why they did not see me much last week. Plus, as I noted, they did not work when it was raining!

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As I was chatting with them, the one man asked me where I was from. I asked him, "What makes you think I am not from here?" and chuckled. He said I didn't sound like it so I confessed to being from WI. Remembering I still had two bottles of water for them, I offered my "guests" a drink, which they accepted. Since they had gloves on, I loosened the caps before handing them over.

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Stepping back inside, I started a conversation with them through the screen door, regarding the news of the day. I asked, "Did you know that today is the 40th anniversary of the first moon walk?" The one man jumped into that right away with, "I know. I wish that Michael Jackson wouldn't have gone that way....." WHAT? Michael Jackson? What does he have to do with the moon------oh, wait, not 'that' moon walk, the REAL moon, Neil Armstrong on the face of the moon, kicking up dust....It never occurred to me that these men would think I was talking about dancing!!! The one guy said, "Oh, you're talking about the real moon, not the dance floor." Yes, the real moon, reflecting the sun's light to use at night, making living where I do so much more enjoyable! Oh, my goodness, no, not Michael Jackson, no....................

A day which shall live in infamy

No, not the fact that today would have been my 35th wedding anniversary, in a different life, but rather, the first time man walked on the moon! Unless you have missed it, this is the 40th anniversary of the Apollo mission that made it to the moon in 1969. A truly momentous, historic event, I would declare unparalleled in history. It usurps D-Day, the Kennedy assassination and, even the death of Michael Jackson, simply by the impossibleness of the whole idea. I do not know if that is a real word, but it seemed to express it best for me, so totally "out of this world" as far as accomplishments go. Breaking the sound barrier, momentous. Getting into orbit, momentous. Circling the earth in a space ship, momentous. Actually walking on the moon, historic!

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There is a memorable scene in the movie "Apollo 13" which was about the failed mission to the moon where the astronauts nearly died. The mission was successful, however, as the people in Houston and on the space ship worked together to save the men. The expression, "Houston, we have a problem" is from this movie. The head astronaut, played by Tom Hanks, is sort of looking in the "rear view mirror", as they had to abort and head back toward Earth, and his face said it all. So near, and yet so far. Imagine if the moon landing was taking place in 2009 instead of 1969---Geraldo Rivera would be reporting live from the face of the moon, drawing a map in the dust with his flag staff!

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I am having company for dinner tonight, as my sis-in-law, Nancy, and her four teenagers are coming over to swim and see my home. She invited me to come along to St. Augustine with them today and while that would have been nice, I fear I would have been a hindrance instead of a joy for them. My brain is rolling, trying to think of what to serve to a large group like this---teens, two of whom are boys---who eat like thrashers, I am sure! My thoughts are to buy the family-sized lasagna from the grocery store and something interesting for dessert. I heard that one of the girls can't have blueberries but I am not much of a blueberry girl anyway.

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On the northern front, today is the day that my nephew, JR, is leaving "home" after two months on leave, and going to his training center in OK. He is amazed at how quickly two months can pass when on leave and I pray that his training time passes just as quickly. Justin and I were torn about what to get him for his graduation other than money because after being in barracks or dorms in OK, he will be based out of Germany. There will be limits as to what he can take along with him, so we opted for a cash gift. Normally I like to be a bit more imaginative, personal, and original in my gift-giving but hope he had a good time spending it while he was on leave!

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Neal Boortz was going on and on about the spending bill monies that went out, after visiting the website run by the government, which supposedly tracks where the money went. We have a controversial "turtle tunnel" being funded by our tax dollars in South Florida. Are you serious? A turtle tunnel? And then he went off on a rant about other areas getting federal money which is supposed to make jobs, including monies going to "Manitowoc, MN, for canned pork"! This got my attention....there cannot be two Manitowoc's so he must have meant WI. Sure enough, he came back to it, Lakeside, but I was so excited sending a text message to Justin to see if he was listening that I missed what he was saying about it! While I was texting, Justin called me! He was wondering if I was listening to Neal. I do not think the Manitowoc area stations carry Neal's show on the radio but folks can listen on the Internet like I do. Justin gets it on his iPhone via a podcast. Would the men have been able to land on the moon without the development of these technologies? I doubt it seriously---think I will have some Tang!

What am I talking about?

How can I complain or rather, remark, about being weary and worn out when my friend in IL is expecting 1200 people over four days at their family VBS? I would take it all "back", if I could, but my back is giving me a fit right now. Not to put the blame on VBS, however. The blame goes to carrying up all the groceries yesterday afternoon. I am sure of that! Having a more tired back than painful is the better description, and it seems I really need to do some moving about in the weightlessness, or reduced weight anyway, in the pool at some point. Certainly that would have been a blessing late yesterday when my discs started to nag at me. I must also blame standing at the stove and cooking, and then cleaning up the mess, for the weariness of back I experienced! But, good spaghetti resulted, probably several day's worth of it!

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For breakfast this week I have been having a piece of string cheese or curds, my form of protein, in order to stimulate my metabolism each day. Stand back, you do not want to be too close when THAT happens. How does one know, though, when the metabolism is stimulated?? I guess losing weight vs. storing it is one good way to measure. Justin, my personal trainer, ahem, ahem, suggested I have some protein first thing in the a.m. My friend and former co-worker, Karen, was a bit taller than me, incredibly thin, and would eat frozen cookie dough as an afternoon snack. Or, entire cream pie from the middle out. And stay thin! It was amazing that we stayed friends as long as we did! It wasn't her fault, it was her metabolism that kept her thin, and what kept her hubby and me so very heavy.

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During the night I woke several times to hear rain pounding on my windows and gurgling in the drainage pipes which run from the roof to the river. I do not mind hearing that but some of the residents in my building do mind the racket. Minding it is one thing, fixing it is quite another! We are so all about not being annoyed or bothered by things in life, when, hey!, rain gutters carrying water will not do so quietly. At least not during the storm! I guess we could go back to having the water pool on the roof and then leak quietly into our homes again....

This is a picture from the Clay Today newspaper which circulates through the Florida Times-Union. Jean Nichols came up to me at church last week Sunday with this clipped out of the paper, asking me if I was writing for the paper under a different name.....How flattering, because the lady in red is much thinner than me, but nearly everyone she showed it to said it looked just like me!

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This morning The Maestro is playing the organ as we use one of our newer liturgies from the CW Supplement, Divine Service 1. When I spoke with Suzanne yesterday, I told her I wished that we could have had a run through one more time before the choir sings two portions we have not practiced in two weeks. She is quite confident that we will get it, as she will be playing the viola with us, as well. I told her to play really loudly in case we mess up! It is the exception rather than the rule that the organ is used in our worship so I am tickled to be singing with it today. Justin, when quite young yet, used to say that when he won the lottery, he was going to buy G. S. a pipe organ but the pastor told him he'd better also win someone to play it!

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Oops, time got away from me so off I go to church for Bible study and worship! I will write more later..............love to all, and enjoy your worship this morning!

The week ended!

Whew! With a closing service last night where the parents came to see what the kids learned all week, including their special song with arm and hand motions, Vacation Bible School is over for 2009! Only yesterday I mentioned that our numbers had reached nearly 40 for Thursday but last night we had fewer than that as our larger carload of kids did not come. We had two families from the community that came with vehicles packed to the rafters with kids but for some reason, did not finish up with us. But, we still did have one new child register, a cousin to children who are alumni of Precious Lambs, so that was Good News!

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One daddy who brought his little one each night sort of hung around a bit after dropping him off since "Chase" would often cry right as the door closed. He will be a part of our preschool in the fall and this was a good way to introduce the child to structure and the other kids, as well as introduce Dad to separation. He told Betty and me that this was as hard on him as it was on Chase! My heart melted, how I loved to hear that! How brave of him to admit this! Oh, for more fathers who felt this way about their children....Since they are 'newer' to our preschool family and such, it was a privilege to have them join us this week!

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My primary job is to sit at the registration table and check the children in when they arrive for VBS. One of our newer members, Betty, brought her three great-grands to VBS with the youngest of them, Krystyna, giving me a present Thursday evening. She had made a picture of a mountain with a cross on top, with flowers blooming from the cross, a butterfly and the sun in the sky. At the bottom she wrote: "Mis Kim I drew this because I thought you would like it." Talk about a special special present! She barely knows me yet so I had better live up to her expectations!

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At the closing service, Pastor thanked all the parents for sharing their children with us, and then he thanked the staff who worked so hard all week to make this happen. He said he guessed we would all go home and sleep soundly---I sure did! I did not wake up for the last time until 8:00 a.m. today, with the sun shining across me. I must have wakened earlier because I had changed the station at some point, which I can do without looking or even being conscious! My first order of business was to send the link to my blog to two folks who asked me for it last night (I am so tickled about that!) and then posted some photos of VBS.

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On Fox and Friends this a.m., besides talking about the passing of Walter Cronkite, a reporterette is in Twin Lakes, WI, at a country music festival. My aunt and family used to live in Twin Lakes and that was the first time I was ever on a boat and ever caught a fish---a blue gill! One of our members at G. S. is from Twin Lakes (not far from Lake Geneva where the Navy has a training center) and might possibly be in this area during the weekend concert. I know they are traveling so I would not be surprised that they are up in WI right now, freezing, as the reporter is! According to the weather report, they are expecting drizzle and/or rainfall, which is badly needed, today with the high temperature of 67 above zero! So, why was she wearing a sun dress?

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While at VBS last night I got a phone call from my downstairs neighbor. Since we have known to experience leaks of the liquid nature in our building, I thought I had better take the call. Tracy, mom of the pianist, reported that she was moving her bedroom from the back of their home to the front, riverside, but were being barraged by the consistent thumping of music, mostly the bass. She wanted to know if I was making big music upstairs, or if Justin was home and playing music. I assured her my home was devoid of bodies, especially the kind that play big music. My guess is that the lower level people in the end unit, home to two teenaged boys and their parents, had the surround sound music going. It is about time for them to start playing it this a.m. also, as folks come over for breakfast on Saturdays and they gather on the riverside patio to smoke and eat and listen to music. This does not bother me, but I am an early riser and do not mind the smoke and sound. Tracy is allergic to smoke so I hope they do not have to move their furniture back again!

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The shore birds are lovely this a.m., swooping and diving for their breakfast or for a bath! There appears to be a breeze going on and several boats are scooting along in the water which is glittery and flat. Speaking of flat, has anyone seen the newest thing being promoted on TV commercials, the neckline slimmers? It looks like a nebulizer on a spring which one props under the chin and then pushes up and down to slim the neck. Who is going to go first and get their chin lifted? You can do the neckline slimmer while wearing your Snuggie, right, Linda?

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My friend, Ellen, also likes to shop from the TV, ordering things from the all-shopping channel, which I cannot remember right now. I used to dread the day that Justin discovered the shop from TV stations because when he would see something on regular TV that he thought his grandma or I would like, he would write down the toll free number for us to order. At one time Justin was intent on getting his grandmother a hand-held sewing machine "so she can sew on the bus ride down here". I can just see her sewing away on the Greyhound bus, making those cute shorts and shirts outfits for the boys!

Vacation Bible Study photos

Due to overcrowding conditions, a blessing in itself, the Bible lesson portion of VBS was conducted on the patio outside the Fellowship Hall. At this time we usually lost some of our audience, as this was the second last activity before closing, and they start to wind down a bit. Mario is shown with his head down while others lean on their arms, listening to Miss Jennifer read the story.

"I have a great idea! Let's give the kids weapons!!!" Actually they did rather well although proper use of the rhythmn sticks and clacker thing the girl on the right has needed repeated instruction. But, once the singing was underway, the kids kept the beat and were very ready to participate in praising God!

The class I assisted with is sitting behind the row where Sarah is sitting. Mario, Twila's great grandson, in the white shirt is looking at Hanna who is looking at her little brother with triangle. I think that day the triangle needed to be restrung because somehow or another it came off the ribbon which supported it. If the kids had a shaker on Wednesday, they wanted a different instrument the next day. THAT they can remember!!!

Mario and the Langley boys are learning the movements for one of the songs they were singing. It worked better doing the smaller groups than the entire group, complete with distrations. From left are Mario, Brant, William, and Wesley.

Little Andrew, this being his first night at VBS, fit in perfectly and enjoyed his "eye scream" ice cream treat all the way to his ears! The object lesson was a scoop of vanilla ice cream, with strings of red liquorice for eye lashes, and then chocolate shell as the eye color. Then a nice cup of lemonade, which would have made my head spin around!