In from the pool

Here is a photo taken at sunset, from the far end of the adult pool, looking toward The Palace. Behind the building is the river, or in front of the building, depending upon your perspective. Between this adult pool is the baby pool, and then down toward the building is the 18 and younger pool. And then the parking lot for my building is below that!

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As I sit at my desk, I can hear sea gulls making a racket outside the patio doors, which are opened at the moment. The breeze is a delight, at least up here it is. Earlier, at the pool, the breeze was more of a gust, and managed to flip over a glass-topped table down by the teen pool when the wind grabbed the umbrella. Shattering glass made a huge noise, and fortunately, no one was sitting there or in close proximity to be injured by it. Poor Marlena had to hustle with cleaning that up, with the help of Danny from the cabana. I thought the life guard should have involved herself, too, being younger and all that, but she stood guard over the cabana while Danny went down there to clean up with Marlena. She had to leave to go to her next job, and I hope she was not late because of this.

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This morning, we had a shortened version of Bible study with only a small gathering of ladies, so we all fit around one table in the church office. Tina was conducting the modified Sunday school class in the Fellowship Hall, and fortunately, one of the girls brought two friends or she would have had only one student! Wait, two, because the Pastor's son came later. It stinks to go through the work of preparing for a class and then have only a couple show up. So today they had four in their class, and we had six in ours!

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We had a better showing for worship, though, with nearly 70 people in attendance, including 11 visitors/guests. The two ladies sitting next to me were from a Prebs. church that is closing its doors, I believe in Riverside, and they came to check us out. I gave each of them one of our 'goodie bags' to take home, as well as a bag to another couple sitting on the other side of the church. I understand that the gentleman was a former MO Synod guy but did not get to chat with them after church, only gave them their lovely parting gifts.

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Late afternoon yesterday, Mom and I were talking on the phone, and she shared a little story of a conversation she had with her two lady friends the other day. They were talking about the new hymnal, no, not the Supplement, but the CW Hymnal which came out in the early 1990's. The ladies were comparing notes on their favorites and Anita commented that there is no better hymn than "What a Friend We Have in Jesus", with some conviction, and "I'm But A Stranger Here"....Upon hearing that, Mom said she was compelled to tell the story of how Pete sang that hymn, all the stanzas, at Timmy's graveside the day of the funeral. She indicated that tears flowed, and as she told me, mine were flowing too. Mom said that while some of the details of that day are somewhat blurry, as you might imagine, that 'picture' sticks in her mind and she remembers it often. Well, today, as I sat waiting for Bible study to commence, I reviewed the hymns chosen for today's worship and there it was, on the hymn board. Obviously, as the congregation sang, I sat with the book in my lap and just listened, and remembered why this hymn is so special. What a great comfort it is to us, knowing this life on earth is just a mist that appears for awhile and then disappears. Some people's mist disappears sooner than others, it seems.

Good news vs. less-than-good news

As I walked back to my bed from a bathroom trip just now, (I know, TMI!!), I felt something poking my foot. Sitting on my bed, I looked at my foot and discovered a tiny black 'stone' inbedded in my sole. Ugh! Now, where did that come from? Well, it is likely from the freshly-filled potholes in the parking lot which are still soft and pliable due to the incredible heat we have had lately. Connie filled them in earlier in the week, and I was so thankful because it was hard on my tires, especially if the holes are filled with rainwater, hitting the holes. She said she had to fill them in because Rose, one of our neighbors, was back from vacation and, according to Connie, comes flying into the parking lot. What a reputation to have! But, if that is what it takes to fill the holes, good for Rose! And for Connie! So, the good news is that the holes are filled but the less-than-good news is that the little stones stick to the shoes and find their way into my closet, and then my feet!

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Thursday on my way to the seminar and luncheon, I called Brenda's cell phone, which went immediately to voice mail. I figured she had it shut off while at work so I left her a message. After leaving my message about having dinner that night, my phone rang right back to me, and there was Brenda! I assumed she saw I had called her, but, no! She was calling me as I was calling her, to see about getting together that night. Don't you love it when that happens? She wanted to return some borrowed movies and so we decided to have dinner. Brenda does not like driving at night so I picked her up at home and we went to the newly redecorated Longhorn on Fleming Island. It has a nice clean look but still in keeping with the western theme.

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It was great to see her again, after her vacation to the Bahamas and such. In between dog sitting for her daughter, she squeezed in a trip to the Freeport area with her friend, Edda and her daughter, staying at a home belonging to a family member there. They have friends, both native and foreign, that they hang out with and Brenda once more was able to ride horseback on a deserted beach. Cannot wait to see her photos...where they stay and hang out is not on the tourist path at all, since their family member lived there year 'round, like a resident. The home they stay in has all the niceties of home but that is rare for the natives. Brenda said it really makes a person appreciate what they have when they get back to Orange Park! Other than just being thankful to have windows and doors, running water and electricity are blessings we take for granted as well.

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Yesterday I was invited to join Tracy, Cassidy, and MamMa for lunch at La Nop, my third week in a row sharing Friday lunch with them. While I felt like I was a crasher at their party, Cassidy assured me that they have plenty of alone time with MamMa during the week, that I would be the icing on the cake for them. To prove that, Cassidy brought me lovely home-baked orange cupcakes, with chocolate 'icing'! She gave me two in case Justin came over but I have my doubts that I will see him this weekend, so I ate mine with hopes of eating the second one today. It has pieces of orange in it, amazingly good! We saw Judy C. there with her two Moosehaven ladies that she lunches with on Fridays. That was fun, too, as I called out loud across the dining room but she did not hear me. Cassidy went up to pay the bill and told Judy I was hollaring at her, so she came to our table to say hi. They won't ask me to go to lunch with them next week after that sad display of poor manners!

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When I got back home I immediately dressed for the pool to get out there before the clouds rolled in. There was only a few folks using it which was fine with me, the cabana was open and music playing. I was singing along to whatever was playing on the CD and one gentleman joined in. We remarked at how great the music was and he said it was rockin' since they got there. He told me that earlier there was Bob Dylan music and how much he enjoyed that. I said I was a fan too except I don't care for the politics. The guy said he does not pay attention to the message, just likes to sing along, which is sort of fine.

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On the radio show I 'watch' on the Internet, the two guys were talking about just this thing, how popular music often has a message, subliminal or not, that folks find themselves singing along to with out even realizing it. They went through old songs of the Eagles (after a lengthy dispute over whether or not Eagles was the BEST American band of all time...). One of the hosts on yesterday's show pointed out how many songs undercut the government, even one of 'our' favorites, "American Woman", which is strongly an anti-war sentiment from back in the 70's. When my dentist, Peggy, and I went to the Tax Rally at The Landing, there was a musical group singing a variety of "patriotic songs" before the event got underway, including one written by Woody Guthrie, a well-known Communist. I think people really believe this is a patriotic song but what it is really talks about is communal ownership or anti-capitalist thinking. I mentioned that to Peggy when they started singing, being so surprised to hear that being sung at a patriotic event!

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The other host on the radio show, Stu, mentioned how as a teen he bought a CD because it had a certain cover of a song he really liked and played over and over again. Like teens do. Years later now, he pulled the CD out again and looked it over, realizing that it came out in 1973, and was titled, "Year of Choice". Oh no!! He figured out this CD was issued in recognition of the Roe V Wade decision and his buying the CD sort of indicated he was in support of abortion. He was just a kid who loved this song, and he is now adamantly a pro-life guy who would never have given money to this cause. It was a great great segment to listen to, as the older host was a top 40 guy in his early years and played all this music he now decries. Pat told the story of how much his wife and he loved the movie "Grease" and they wanted to share it with their kids. Upon sitting down to watch it with them, Mom and Dad were horrified to realize exactly what they were exposing their kids to----"It was all about sex!!!!!" When you are a parent, you see things through different eyes. The entire point of their program!!!

A couple photos to share

This photo was shared with me by the class reunion(s) committee for years 1974-75. This is the number of kids (ha, ha!) who showed up from my class, unfortunately. I could have swelled this group if I had decided to make yet another trip to Manty this year but opted to miss it. Lord willing, I will be up in Manty for the Christmas holidays and can perhaps enjoy a mini-reunion at that time! From the looks of it, my classmates have aged nicely...

The other day I mentioned spending time in the pool with Maggie and Jessica (and Beckham!) where the ladies were discussing the pros and cons of certain foods. Jessica called me yesterday to see if I was at home, as she making a pot of green tea and offered to bring me a glass to try. She sweetened it with agava juice which one of my friends from Victory reported is used to make tequila! I might take a liking to green tea, if that is the case! Jessica also brought me a sweet treat: Nutella spread on a cracker, with a dollop of marshmallow fluff, singed with her little torch thingy. Talk about delicious.....She is attempting to help me wean from my addiction, and thought that green iced tea might be just the thing. We shall see....

On Sunday we had a horrendous storm roll through here, the one I mentioned scared me with the tremendously gusty winds. Here is a photo taken of the palms right outside my river room and even they were scared! In the river you can see white caps, which means the surf was up!

These palm trees are also being beaten about by the wind, and across the river, you can see the line of rain showers as it spread along the horizon. Again, notice the roughness of the water. "The sea was angry that day, my friends....like an old man trying to send back soup in a deli...."

What does that look like to you? Yes, me, too! No touch downs were reported nor did the weather station send out any cautions other than about the flash flood warnings. Some one had fallen down on the job, in my opinion!

Different types of exercise

Yesterday I spent a great deal of time talking with someone in the near east in a United Airlines call center, who amazingly enough, did not have a Western name. His was Shabhaz and we valiantly attempted to have a conversation. I held up my end but had a dilly of time understanding his contributions. More than one time did I have to ask him to repeat the question to me, as my brain shuffled his words around into an understandable sentence. An exercise I do not care to repeat very soon!

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Last Christmas my sister, Kerry, was coming down to visit me, us, but then found out that she had to work after all. So, since the ticket was not used, and was non-refundable, charges against the ticket value would be made, and only a portion would be available for application to the new ticket. The trip had to be booked before September 12th, the travel completed, I believe, as that was the date of the original purchase. The ticket would have to be issued from United Airlines and only issued in her name. 

In order to comply, I used the information from the original tickets, ID numbers, verified with credit card numbers, first and last names, travel dates.... NOTHING! When Shabhaz gave up trying to find the information, he put me on hold and contacted the 'back office' for help in locating the original reservation. Great! I am trying to picture exactly what a back office in Dehli or Punjab looks like...

Anyway, after nearly an hour of working with him and researching this, Shabhaz came back on the line and said, "The value of the unused ticket is zero." Just like that. He asked if there was anything else he could help me with (really????) and I said I would take it from here. Ugh! At long last, after my ear was dripping with sweat from holding my phone so tightly to my head for that period of time, I announced to Shabhaz I would make my travels arrangements via the Internet instead!

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By my calculations, I might have had just over $100 credit on the unused ticket but by this time, I am so weary dealing with this, as the actual process began last December when I had to cancel her ticket. There is a price to pay for buying the non-refundable tickets, and that price might be just over $100! Travelocity showed me the available flights for the period when Kerry wants to come, has secured her vacation time, and her travel arranged NOT on United Airlines. Instead, she will fly on Delta and I will earn frequent flyer miles for her trip. So there! Okay, now Kerry is all set to travel here starting Labor Day weekend and forward.

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So now I must find someone to borrow fishing equipment from as Kerry loves to go fishing. My neighbor, Miss Chardonnay, reports that there are no fish to catch off the bulkhead or the breakwater, but I see guys out there attempting to do so. Suzanne has offered to lend Kerry her equipment and even take her fishing, plus we can fish off of Twila's dock on Doctors Lake. It would be nice for her to be able to fish in the wee hours without the assistance of me, if you know what I mean, as 4:00 a.m. is a bit early for me and fishing a bit boring. Now, floating around in the pool is not boring for me but might be over the top dull for Kerry....we shall see!

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Today there is no Bible study at Victory as the Hoyer's are in MN, taking Elizabeth to her new domicile in St. Cloud. She just turned 28 years old and has been struggling without a job or direction for some time. Betz is going to make a fresh start in MN, she hopes, and has a friend or two in place to help her with that. Hoyer's served a congregation in Litchfield years ago so this is like going home for Betz. We wish her well but I cannot wait for Bible study to resume! I could have attended water aerobics this a.m. but I am invited to a luncheon and seminar with my buddy Frank regarding investments and such. Frank, like my friend, Diane, does these periodic reviews and it is in my best interest to attend since they often involve dining as well!

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Since summer began I have met the most interesting and fun people, mainly through The Club and cabana. Penny is one of those folks and she has introduced me to her neighbors from the Winterbourne area of the compound. Her friend, Susie, whom I met last night, was a Neenah girl, and I will tell you this, she could give Shabhaz a run for his money! Man, could she talk and rapid-fire. Wow! I had to listen closely as her words tumbled out, not loudly, but quickly, as she told about her work and her home. She is involved in fund raising, as is Penny, only Susie is working for the Equestrian events in Clay County. She reports that it is simply amazing the amount of money that pours into the County when the horse events take place in Green Cove Springs. Folks even stay here at The Club when they are in town and spend plenty of dough in support of their riders and kids. Horses seem to be big big money!

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Miss Chardonnay has been having lots of troubles with a bad hip, pain in her leg, and two days ago she finally got relief. She had a cortisone shot like Kerry did and already has been able to resume normal activities. In fact, she declined a ride home after dinner last night, wanting to walk instead, because she could! That really seems to be going around and I pray that I do not get that, my bout a couple years ago was enough for me! Thank God the injections do the trick and hopefully the results will be long-lasting. Perhaps now she can come back to water aerobics, once the doctor gives her the go-ahead. The more, the merrier!!

Such a great day today!

My day is ending on a high note, following a lovely dinner at Penny's house. She lives on the property just north of the Club house in a patio home. There is a fenced patio area where Penny keeps her grille, and the burgers were done to perfection. She served a side dish of tabouli of which I partook, and even had a tomato slice on my burger!

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Regarding the tomatoes: all my neighbors shop at the veggie stand across from the Dairy Queen run by the 'tomato Nazi'. The place used to be a free-standing photo developing place years ago, and now serves as a mini-farmers' market. His stand is next door to a submarine sandwich place which used to sell soup by the official 'Soup Nazi' but now privately owned. So funny to hear the stories of the shoppers, arriving either a few minutes too early to suit him, or too late to be waited on. Tracy was waited on one day just as he was closing up (12:30 on the dot!!) and he agreed to wait on her 'because you have your grandmother with you...', he snarled. Well! Good thing I do not have to deal with him but holy cow, I never saw redder tomatoes in all my life! Penny tells the story of her first visit there, after hearing about the wonderful tomatoes, attempting to enter the booth in order to pay which was totally NOT the right place to stand! Just like the "Seinfeld" Soup Nazi, where the customers had to put their money down just so and move immediately to the left....Good times tonight, good times, and good food! GREAT company!

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I just looked up and spotted lights coming my way over the river...another helicopter. It sure looked like something heading straight for my windows as though I was on the landing strip! A small boat is also cruising up the river which is quite still tonight. No storms for a couple days now, not since the rains on Sunday night and the high winds. Whew, that was a doozy! Friday at the pool I met a neighbor of Penny's named Marcia and the three of us had a great chat together. Monday Penny saw Marcia in the neighborhood and Marcia said, "I was thinking of your friend, Kim, on Saturday when it rained. I know she was looking forward to having dinner at the cabana...." She just met me and already was worried about me having to eat dry bread and water for dinner that night.

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We had a couple more ladies for aerobics this morning as Tracy had patients cancel, freeing her morning, and Judee took time from her gift shoppe to exercise. We had 7 people stirring up the water and the young lady life guard took photos of our class to put in Marlena's scrapbook. She let me look at them later when I was dried off and they were quite nice. Hopefully she will let me have copies to use to blackmail myself! Since the 'summer cleaning' is continuing at The Club, all the staff is busily cleaning, including pressure washing the pool area. One of the busboys came down to the cabana to get sodas for the workers and he asked me, "Do you ever get out of the pool?" Yes, I do, when I get all pruny! Jessica brought Beckham out to the pool, too, which was fun, and Maggie came downstairs to splash around for a bit. Jessica and she were sharing recipes and restaurant specialties, making us all hungry. That is, until Jessica reported what she eats for breakfast: a poached egg served over spring greens (lettuce?) with homemade lemon salad dressing. For breakfast?????? My face said it all..............

I'd better get a move on here...

....before everyone has gone to bed. I let the time get away from me as I was catching up on missed radio programs and watching TV at the same time. Earlier this evening I had taken a quick snooze before leaving for Bible study and then when I got home, ate some dinner before settling in here. I got involved in an episode of "Everybody Loves Raymond" where Ray attends a pseudo girl scout meeting with his daughter and faces off with a VERY aggressive leader. She is downright militant about their cookie sales and how the little girls are to handle their customers, etc. I am so glad I never had to get involved with any of that stuff. When I was a little kid, we could sell greeting cards door-to-door to earn a Bible, but not part of a club, I think through school. And who doesn't want nice greeting cards??

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Speaking of which, I received a lovely greeting card with a handwritten message from Gretchen, thanking me for mailing her a color copy of the Flock Talk newsletter. In her envelope she also included the hand-copied biography of the new pastor at her sister's church in CA. He was a former Roman Catholic who worked for the Dept. of Defense as a translator, working in the Ukraine. There he met his wife, and the Holy Spirit worked on his unbelief, moving him to seek a church that taught 'by faith alone', finding that in the WELS. It is a very moving, though matter-of-fact report of his coming back to the Lord, graduating from college and entering the seminary. And now, he is serving the Lord in a parish in CA! I must return these pieces of paper so Gretchen can keep them in her papers. She is very good about that!

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This a.m. began with water aerobics with a decent number of participants---4 ladies and Randy. Next week Randy will get another male to help him out, as the tennis pro has reported he plans to take the classes after tennis camp is over. The government schools start back on the 16th of this month already so he ends camp a week before that. Ellen and I sat out by the pool long after the others had left, and enjoyed the sunshine, perhaps too much. Even I moved under the umbrella after awhile---whew! Eventually, however, I did need to come inside because I had not yet completed the condo newsletter (Ellen: "Is there news???") and wanted to get that out before the end of the day, before my nap! And I did!

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Our Bible study tonight was only three of us, already members, and the subject matter was the Ministry of the Keys. We rather breezed through it and did have some interesting discussion regarding excommunication and its uses, etc. Not terribly long ago, our congregation was faced with just such a situation and we talked about how it was handled from start to conclusion. It helps to have an actual case for reference and was a tiny bit glad that our young man who is taking the class in order to become a member was not there. He will have a bit of making up to do when he does return, though. Next week is a discussion of the role of men and women which will be interesting, too, and Mike is turning that class over to Pastor. We will not be giving him any trouble as two of the four of us are already well aware of the Biblical definition and spelling out of roles. Perhaps Pastor will send out an e-mail to the congregation inviting others for this important study ..... or, we could just have the four of us, as usual.

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A few moments ago I got an e-mail from my neighbor, Hugh, asking if I wanted to join them poolside tomorrow night for a Plan B event. The Club is closed for food and drink this week, until Friday, for cleaning and repairs, so no Happy Hour. Hence, Plan B is to meet poolside and order pizzas from Papa Johns, BYOB, and make our own Happy Hour. That would be absolutely marvelous, however, I have already accepted an offer from Penny to join her for dinner at her house tomorrow night where she is making dinner and strawberry margaritas for us. Hugh said they were asking Penny, too, so I will await word from her regarding any plan changes but as of right now, I am going to Penny's! It stinks having to make these decisions like this.....nah!

"May your walls know joy..."

Only a few moments ago I got home from having dinner with the Ladies' Group gang at "Up The Creek" in Oakleaf Plantation. Oh, yum! We ended up having ten ladies as our number grew from the original six or so who signed up. At first I was going to order the prime rib but I also wanted to have some fried dill pickles so instead I ordered the appetizer sampler. This way I got some of each of the appetizers which included fried shrimp, fried green tomatoes, and hush puppies. I sent those along with Suzanne in a to-go box along with the other stuff I couldn't finish such as chicken fingers, the balance of the pickles and some onion rings. I don't know what I was thinking and I did not know how large it was going to be. Yikes!! We had a great time and Suzanne will eat for two days on my leftovers. It was a pretty heavy load she carried out of there.

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Terri and her step-daughter, Lindsey, came along tonight, my second meal of the day with Terri. This a.m. she had to come to my neighborhood for an MRI and since she saw I was on Facebook already, sent a text asking me to meet for breakfast afterward. Sure!!! I got up and dressed, waiting for her summons when she was done. We met at Grumpy's, our usual Saturday place, and enjoyed a lovely breakfast and chat. She still had to go to work, but has some flexibility in her schedule. We knew we would see each other later in the day, which is so funny to us! Twice in one day does not happen very often and I am tickled that she thought of me.

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Wow, last night we had another window rattler of a storm roll through here. Areas of Jacksonville had street flooding where cars had to be towed away after they stalled in deep water. We had over 2" of rain in a short period of time, and here along the river, we had VERY high winds. It was so windy, I was afraid the screens were going to blow off----or have something blow through my windows!!! The weather station did not indicate high winds but only mentioned the flooding potential so I do not know what the speeds were, but I am guessing the gusts were more than 30 mph.

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Ellen, Maggie, and I came upstairs when the thunder became insistent, leaving our inebriated friends at the table poolside, to fend for themselves. Yikes! These two women frequent the pool area weekly with the same results, and this time they picked us to hang out with. One of the women is a very attractive person who simply cannot hold her liquor, and fortunately lives only steps away from the cabana, not in our building. She introduced herself to me yet again yesterday, as she forgets, I guess. It is more sad than funny, more tragic than anything else. As the three of us stood in the lobby waiting for the elevator to come, we exchanged looks and Maggie, age 27, spoke for us, "....and that is why I do not drink too much...." My single strawberry margarita and Ellen's pineapple juice with rum was so insignificant compared to the tequila shots with beer the young ladies were consuming. They were 20 years older than Maggie and not that much younger than Ellen or me....As Ellen said, "Too bad it didn't start storming about 30 minutes earlier" so we could have avoided their company!

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When I got to my door, I noticed something hanging on the knob. Ellen had come by earlier on her way out to the pool to pick up her pool noodles which were on my stove. It seems she had brought me a little gift, which she had personalized for me. The front of the ornament reads: "May your walls know joy, may every room hold laughter, and every window open to great possibilities." That alone was a tremendous gift to receive, but on the back she had written this message: "Thank you for the sunshine that you bring into our lives! With love, Ellen" I got this as we were seeking shelter from the storm so I felt like I should give it back to her, as I dropped the ball on the sunshine thing, it seemed....