I turned on my A/C this morning!!!

I am sweating here! Sitting in the full sun in my bedroom window yet in my nightie and I am hot! Perspiration, the polite word, is running from my face onto my neck and I am not complaining one bit. In a few minutes I will be downstairs in the pool cooling off but first wanted to send out a few lines. I have already freaked out the painters as they caught me off-guard this early morning, moving up and down the building on their scaffold. I was wearing my nightie. It is a quite respectable nightie but I made myself sit as tightly against my desk as I could so nothing was obvious except my smiling face as they stopped outside my window to paint the window sill. Move along, nothing to see here, just move along....I cannot type sitting that tightly against my desk!!!

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For sure I have to go down to swim and such because I am now out of cold diet soda in my fridge. I have a bottle of regular Coke and some Mountain Dew left from the recent parties, which will do in a pinch but I have two 12-packs yet in the back of my car. I know, I know, it can explode from the heat but that has only happened once and I got over it. The roll of the dice!

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Thursday night is our themed dinner here and so far I have only two replies in the affirmative. Well, the three of us will be eating good, that is for sure. If this continues, I may have to shake things up a bit. That's what happens being gone for the June dinner, our entire system is thrown off!

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Yesterday our aerobics leader had a pet emergency (I know, I don't get it either) but the group still got together and did our own pseudo-workout-social outing. My biggest fan, Randy, brought me four CDs of Cole Porter music, one with Sinatra singing Porter's greatest love songs. The photo shows Frank singing while holding a cigarette----my, we've come a long way, baby! That is so not politically correct unless one is a superstar of some type. Oh, wait, Frank IS a superstar! The titles, as Randy assured me they would, do look familiar but I have yet to give them a listen. Randy brought a biography of the Gershwins for Maggie O. to read, just sharing the love, that Randy!

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Music, Music, Music! My whole day, or rather, much of it, was about music. The conversations with Maggie and Randy were about show tunes and the best Broadway-type productions, as Maggie was a drama teacher from many years, most recently at Ed White HS. It was when one of the ladies at the pool tried to order lunch from The Club that it occurred to us that since The Club was closed this week for renewing or something, there would be NO HAPPY HOUR this Wednesday. Randy plays the piano sometimes for HH so he is glad to know not to bring all his song books with him. Being creatures of habit, this threw a wrench into the plans made for this week.

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Since Pastor's wife came home from the hospital last night, he wants to spend their wedding anniversary with her instead of us "Outreach people". Okay, I get that and appreciate it. Thursday she begins the chemo treatments and might not feel like going out on the weekend, so celebrate tonight! I made several calls and contacts via the Internet to try to reach folks to reschedule for Thursday, freeing up my Wednesday, except they will have to do it without me due to my dinner! Hey, I could have the Outreach meeting here around my table....nah, that would be way too many more phone calls to make!

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Back to the music: I hope no one grows weary of hearing/reading about music, because it plays a major role in my heart and life. Most often it is the music of the church but recently I have been inundated with music secular in nature. Joni Mitchell has a song called "Heart and Mind" that is rattling about in mine. I played a little "game" on facebook that was sent to me by another music lover and while I normally do not participate, this one caught my fancy. There were a series of blanks to fill in, using only the songs titles by an artist of my choosing, and I picked Joni. I sent it to a newly refound high school friend and he could not complete it without using the same singer, which was against the rules of the game. Nuts! It was fun to fill in the blanks, surprisingly many of the song titles fit so perfectly.

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Steve was a classmate through high school and we shared a love of music, he actually being and becoming a performing artist in his grown-ups years. I find myself only on the receiving end of the music, and singing in the car or the privacy of my rooms. Church singing is entirely different and I will do that at the slightest provocation. The torch singing is quite another matter. I sang karaoke publicly, other than with family, on board a cruise ship in 2000 with a rather small, appreciative group. The song I chose was "Unbreak My Heart" by Toni Braxton and although I lost my place and seemed to be off-key, my "group" thought it was great....

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Here I go about the 8-tracks again---the Saturday of Justin's party here, I had to open the cupboard to have access to a lamp's on/off switch and saw the tapes in there. Later when the guests were here, I passed some around as there are people alive now who never saw an 8-track before. Sure enough, in my stack of tapes was one sent to me by Steve, the fellow from my high school days! Yesterday I received an e-mail from him which included lyrics of songs he has published, some of which are in contention with a co-writer over ownership. He has an excellent though expensive entertainment attorney going into battle with him over the rights. One of the songs was written with me in mind, all these many years after high school!!!! To say I was touched and moved is inadequate. I hope Steve wins the battle, earning back the rights to his songs!

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Just when I am getting a big head to go with the rest of me, my friend, Ed from Victory, sent me another "game" to play on facebook. I only took a look at it out of curiosity and was sorry I did so. The game was a listing of the 100 most popular books and the game was to put a check mark behind any of the books we have read. Well, much to my embarrassment, there were very few listed where I could put my X, besides the Bible, and I have not read the entire book there either....

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Many are classics, such as Wuthering Heights (I saw the movie, does that count??) while others are more contemporary fiction. In my own defense, however, I did complete a book Sunday morning before church, "I Love You, Ronnie" which were the letters Ronald Reagan wrote to Nancy when they were courting and all through their married life until he could no longer write. It was a sweet memoir, heartwarming. I know that many of my readers are fans of fiction while my reading is mostly non-fiction. Judy R. says that makes us balanced! I will run with that! Besides, how many can say they have had songs written about them?

On a lighter note....

.......Lisa is telling me about how the boys, Manny and Gabe, are enjoying their VBS program at church. Last night's story was about Daniel in the lion's den and Manny quite animatedly retold the lesson to Lisa. They made picture frames in class which are now gracing Lisa's refrigerator door! It warms my heart to know the boys enjoy VBS so much and "love to tell the story"!

Here are Gabe, Manny, and Noah (that's a different Bible story!) in a lion's den themselves, this one being at Clark's Fish Camp last August.

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I did hear some sad news last night at Ladies' Group, held here, regarding another person losing their job at Busch. Kelly T. told me about it, and took my breath away momentarily, although those employees realize it is all a matter of time until it is their turn to get the axe. Anheuser Busch is no longer American-owned, although I doubt it would make much difference in this job market, and high level folks have been let go from every "shop". This is getting quite close to home as our sister congregation at Victory has several members on the payroll at A-B, a really great place to work----at least it used to be!

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I goofed! I totally forgot to take any pictures of our Ladies' Group gathering here last night. These type of photos are valuable tools for encouraging others to participate, when the ladies are shown doing something other than working! Yes, we were conducting our meeting but immediately we flowed into our fellowship time which Twila remarked was so much more fun around a big table than scattered like it is at church. I am all for it, but that is probably not an option. Soon we will have our Fellowship Hall back for Bible study and meeting purposes. This should make a big difference in our meeting enjoyment as well as our Bible study time. Around a table makes for group tightening!

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Time to head downstairs for water aerobics and some chatter! More later, I hope!

I will miss Steinmart!

Once more the heavens have opened and rains pour on our freshly painted surfaces at The Palace. Perhaps the silicone content of the paint product prevents it from being affected after it is applied to the surface. I wish the men suspended outside my window would go back down and into safety because the lightning is freaking me out and I am inside!

At this point the men have removed the old caulk and putty from around the windows and applied new sealant into the cracks and crevices. My prayer and hope is that this will do the trick when it comes to the driving rains off the river finding their way into my house! At least around my windows and patio doors! Once the rain lets up today I must go back downstairs to get more of my grocery purchases as I only carried up the refrigerated items this trip. The man pressure washing the parking garages offered to help me carry the stuff in my arms upstairs but I respectfully, perhaps foolishly, declined.

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My eyes feel goofy after weeping so hard this morning when I read about the drowning of those two little girls. Oh, my goodness, it was as though a switch was flipped inside me, wracking sobs for this family as I identify with their grief. It was truly an accident, no one's fault, I hope they know this, but certainly those thoughts run through heads and hearts. It is a wound deep to the soul and like my mom said, she hopes they have someone in their lives like our Pastor to remind them the Lord is in control of these things. My eyes looked okay for going to the store, thanks to a little eye shadow and mascara!

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There was something so heartwarming to counter the heart ache of earlier today, at Publix. An elderly lady was checking out in front of me, a cart heaped with a mixture of purchases. She looked at me as she unloaded in a rather apologetic way for taking so long in getting the cart emptied. Of course, I just smiled at her and said I usually end up with more than I intended to buy when I go shopping. She was sort of weary looking and I heard her tell the Manager who was bagging the groceries as well as the Assistant Manager who was checking that she did not feel good. The male manager asked her if she was okay to drive and offered to drive her home. My heart was repaired!!!! The lady declined his offer but then I made the remark about the storm was about to set in, as I could see the trees moving dramatically in the wind. The lady then agreed to let him drive her home, and another assistant manager would follow them to drive him back. When it was my turn to check out, I thanked the female manager for taking such good care of this lady, and she said, "We don't want anything bad to happen to our customers" and I replied, "That is what sets Publix apart!" This was the Eagle Harbor store in case you want to take your business there from now on!

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The other day we heard that our Eagle Harbor/Fleming Island Steinmart was going out of business. Closing its doors. Imagine that!?! According to the press release, the store was just not profitable and the decision to close it, as well as other under-producing stores was made, due in part to the opening of the Kohl's, just down the road a piece. Although it has been a while since I have shopped at Steinmart, it holds a warm place in my heart....Of course, there is a story coming: warning

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In December of 2000, after moving into our new home in The Preserve, we were having a party! This surprises you??? Anyway, I believe it was the one for our employees and Timmy and I were at Publix to start buying supplies. As inevitably happened, Timmy had to go to the bathroom---stinkies, as he referred to it. Frustrated, I pulled my not yet full cart to the side and escorted him into the handicap stall in the ladies' restroom. I got him situated on the high potty and he proceeded to make regular deposits, he was not lying about having to go. BUT, (not butt), every little while, he was compelled to lean wwwaayy forward and peer into the potty to see his deposits. He would then leap off the toilet because it was an automatic flusher---as soon as he leaned over, the potty flushed! And freaked him out! After doing this more than once, I got impatient (now it's funny, but then...not too much!), and decided to check out with the groceries I had already and take him home to finish his potty.

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That day, though, we had purchased red and green plasticware, napkins, and accessories for dressing our table festively. Timmy took quite a liking to the green knives and forks, so when it was time for us to go CHRISTmas shopping for his daddy's present from him, Timmy, when asked, told me he wanted to buy a green shirt. Okay, good, at least we knew where to start our search. Timmy carried along one of the green plastic knives to Steinmart and I let him tell the saleslady what he wanted to buy. The clerk and he wandered the racks looking for a green shirt to match his green knife and they came up with one! She thought he was just the cutest thing, and I found out later how she shared this story with her family around the dinner table.

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Less than a month later, Justin and his dad were shopping at Steinmart again, using the same salesday, who helped them find a suit for Justin to wear to his brother's funeral. Either the lady remembered Justin on her own or he told her, I am not sure, but she was upset to hear it was Timmy who had drowned. The same lady, smiling about Timmy one day, weeping about him less than a month later. I still have the knife, or a piece of it, in the memory box in the hallway.....and Roger had immediately quit wearing the shirt, to put it away for posterity. Yes, I will miss Steinmart.........

My heart aches something fierce today

http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2009-08-03/story/jacksonville_family_shattered_by_daughters_drownings

Who is Cole Porter and why is he bothering me?

This morning I got a wonderful comment from my friend, Cindy, about Woodstock and what it was like in New Jersey/York when she was kid. She is a bit younger than am I by only a few months but she actually LIVED up there when it was happening. Cindy remarked that she stills listens to her mom's favorites---Mathis, Glenn Miller, the other crooners of the age. My sister, Lori, and I were really fans of the folk genre so Cindy and I shared being fans of John Denver up to a point.

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Hearing about these "old-time" singers in Cindy's past and possibly present made me think about Randy, the man from water aerobics and Happy Hour at The Club who wants me so badly to sing while he plays the piano at The Club. Well, certainly I am not about to do such a thing but Wednesday night he brought in this thick book of Cole Porter music for me to leaf through. At aerobics I had said I did not really know any of this man's music but Randy insists that I do, I just have to hear them to recognize the melodies. This is probably very true but still, I am not about to become a torch singer at The Club because Randy wants me to be one!

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As I was leaving the property for church this a.m., Randy was getting out of his car by the pool, and I stopped to say "Hi!" as I drove past him. He told me he is in the process of locating his Cole Porter CDs for me to listen to----of course, I was gracious and thanked him, but really..........Who knows? Maybe I will swing and sway with Cole Porter some day!

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When I was still in high school I had discovered the blues/jazz musicians including Billie Holiday (Lady Day, which some people have called me by mispronouncing my last name!), Bessie Smith, Leadbelly, reading the biographies and such available about these people. I think it began with researching the man who discovered Leadbetter and others, Alan Lomax, with my interest growing from there. Somehow I never acquired an interest for those other type of musicians, the crooners. Janis Joplin is credited with purchasing the grave marker for Bessie Smith and I hope that is a true story, as she was influenced by Bessie's music.

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Randy, the Porter fan, was telling me that a movie about Porter's life was released a few years back and Maggie O. owns it. She is going to bring it to me so I can watch and listen to his music. Maggie is not trying to get to sing in The Club, however, just wants me to enjoy the movie for what it's worth! Evidently this man was bisexual and all sorts of warped lifestyle habits which is not one bit unusual in that field of work. There must be something about the stage life that does this to people, whether piano players, singers, or actors.

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My friend, Jami, wrote about taking a personality test for an employee training program. Someone described "True Colors" as being "the poor man's Myers/Briggs Test". It was a fun little exercise with both Jami and I coming in as the same primary color. It is intended to help co-workers figure out the hows and whys of the people around them, and perhaps give each other a break or an advantage depending upon strengths and weaknesses. A few of the questions did not apply to my case because they were about the workplace, naturally, as well as relationships with spouses/boyfriends, but the rest were pretty much straight forward. Take it yourselves to see what color you are, and which follow next after your primary color. As I told Jami, I think I am a prism, although it is not a "color" which shows up on the chart!

It turned out to be shorter night than expected!

We got rained on at the baseball game!!!! Judy J. and I were seated with some other of Joanne's "people" in Row E, only 5 rows up from the field at first base. At previous baseball outings the seats were higher in the stands, under the cover of the roof, which would have been lovely last night! Just as we were about to stand for the national anthem, Twila called to see if the game was cancelled because Orange Park was just getting clobbered with a huge thunderstorm. At this point, no, it was still nice out but we could see the dark clouds moving in. Oh, oh.....

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We originally had a few sprinkles that did not last and I was hoping it missed us but then the lightning flashed, the heavens opened and the exodus began. The grounds crew quickly and efficiently moved to cover the field, a regular ballet taking place to protect the playing surface, which rather meant to us that the game was over. We made our way up the stands to get under roof, and I was waved down by Mike Morris from RE/MAX who had an extra seat. Judy had kept going so I wedged myself in and caught up with Mike on life and its happenings while his friend checked the weather report on his Blackberry phone. The map showed nothing but red blotches all over the area of Clay and Duval Counties and a flood watch was established. Judy came back down and we conferred about staying and waiting or leaving. We left.

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I invited her upstairs for a bowl of ice cream but she begged off, saying she just wanted to sit in her bathtub and soak her poor legs. She had done some heavy lifting Friday and Saturday so wanted to just relax the rest of the evening. By shortly after 9:00 pm, we were back in our own homes, feet up, dried off, with me enjoying my blue cotton candy which was purchased on the way out of the ball park. Gotta have my blue spun sugar!

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The good news was we got to see Ethel and Darwin, just back from a month- long vacation trip to CO, MT, SD, and WI, seeing family and friends. Man, I was so happy to see them that my eyes overflowed with joy! Sue and Frank were there, too, not to be forgotten, whose son, Ryan, is a bat boy for the Jacksonville Suns. He was on the far side of the field from our seats and only once did I hollar his name across the field to wave at him. I told him I would try, and I was true to my word!!

This photo was NOT taken at the baseball game, although it was a very formal RE/MAX event....not really! This is a photo of Darwin and Ethel on the cruise our church group plus Kim's sister, Lynn, and sis-in-law, Nancy, took to Alaska in 2007. It was so wonderful to see them last night, since I had last laid eyes on them the night of our Ascension worship May 21st!!

Boy, I really use a nap right about now...

....'cause I have a long night ahead of me! Take me out to the ball game, seventh inning stretch, the whole ball of wax in downtown Jax....Oh, I made a poem out of that! Joanne and her teammate from RE/MAX is taking a mess of their clients to the Jacksonville Suns game under the lights. Judy J. is riding with me but Twila had to beg off because she was not feeling well this afternoon and did not want to chance going to the game. From what I have heard there will be about 60 people in our group and hopefully I know many of them already.

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Justin just left a little while ago after he spent some time doing the cleaning and such, plus we chatted. Always with the chatter when we are together. As I write, I am also watching/listening to a documentary about Woodstock. It is the 40th anniversary of the huge concert in the pastures of outside of New York City. While I am far away from that at this point in my life, at the time, as a young teenager, oh yeah...So many of the singers and groups who performed there are part of my collection yet, whether on 45 rpms, albums, 8-tracks (twice in a week that I mentioned the 8-tracks!), cassettes, and now CDs and downloads on the computer. And yes, some of my faves are dead, dying only the year after this big music event.

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So, back to Justin being here---together we also cleaned the chandelier in the dining room which is a two-person job. He gets up on a chair and unscrews the bulbs and takes the dishes down, I scamper to the kitchen and wash them in hot sudsy water and come scampering back for the next batch. He wipes the arms and frame of the fixture as well so it all will look pretty for when the ladies come on Monday night for Ladies' Group. Our social this month is going to be here in conjunction with our monthly meeting. Thursday is our themed dinner which is going to be "My Favorite Dish"....Hhmmmm, wonder what I will make.....

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I am also having a gathering here on the 23rd for all the music people from church. Kathy B. wants to have a social get-together so everyone involved with music, whether playing, singing, working on the MIDI, leading the Sunday school music, any of the above, or if they would like to at some point in their lives gets to know each other!!! Let's have a party at Kim's! I love nothing better, especially if it is church family meeting under my roof. If it nice out, we could go down to the pool but I guess we most likely will enjoy the social time up here in one group.

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Well, it is nearly time to go for a car ride to the baseball field so I will sign off for now. Perhaps more is coming tonight but I would be surprised if I will feel like writing after we get home. I am teaching Sunday school in the morning so have to be at the top of my game tomorrow too! Can't wait to have my blue cotton candy tonight and a hot dog, to boot!