Heart tender moments

Last night before Ladies' Group, I ventured to Wal*Mart to pick up a prescription and to restock my low-dose aspirins. No time to dilly-dally, time was short, as I scurried across the parking lot toward the doors. Before I had crossed the driveway, a young voice, or perhaps two, were offering to sell me candy bars. Wow, aggressive sales pitchmen! These two young boys had a table set-up off to the side of the main doors, and sitting on a stack of mulch was their daddy, all dressed in his suit and such from work. I nicely told them no thank you and went on into the store.

My transaction was swiftly handled and out I went. Again the pleas to buy their candy bars. The one little guy was having a ball, swinging on the handle of the shopping cart they were using as their display. He would swing and holler to passersby about his candy bars, while his brother was less enthusiastic. Not unenthusiastic, just lesser so. Seeing the little guy having so much fun with the cart, acting very much the way I imagine someone else I know would have behaved, I was lured over. The older of the two boys, probably 8 or so, explained the different types of bars, and the little guy told me about the coupons on the back. "Save your wrapper" was his suggestion to me. I chose the dark chocolate almond, although I am not that 'nuts' about almonds! I asked what I was supporting by buying their $2 candy bar, and the older boy stuck out his chest to show the name of their school, the area Berean Baptist school, just down the street. We used to buy our Christmas trees from them in the old days, sold by the teens to fund a trip to New York. It was hard to picture these rather demure looking young people gobbling up NYC but I may be way off on this....

I walked back to my car, a bit misty-eyed from my encounter with a little rascal-looking boy. In as few words as possible, I admonished the daddy of those boys to cherish his sons, that I used to have a little one like his, but that he was in heaven now....."Yes, ma'am, I sure will"...I hope he will!

The Ladies' Group meeting was poorly attended and even pastor was absent. Apparently his car broke down so he was going to miss the Sunday school teacher's meeting as well as ours. Since Twila was in the hospital, her sis-in-law, Jean, was running the meeting for which I had made up the agenda. We were not sure Carol would be there but she was, and gave her reports. We had four ladies and Cliff, our Elder. Those few people and a brief agenda still led to an hour and a half long meeting, especially when it came to discussing the renovations planned to the Fellowship Hall and the loss of storage areas!

The national LWMS rally is being held in Milwaukee this year and Judy C. is planning to attend. I would go also but I will already be up north at the end of May/beginning of June for graduations in the families. I am yet considering the national Worship Conference in July, plus Lori's 60th birthday, but much depends upon airfares and such. Plus, I am not sure what the living conditions and such are at the conference, if I must rent a car or what. No one I am 'friends' with lives near enough to the venue for me to stay with them, but Judy R. said she was going to attend the closing service of the conference. Guess I had better get some answers and make a decision sooner rather than later on this! Hate to be away from FL during the summer months---the pool, you know?

Carol is having knee surgery today, which is why we were not sure if she would come to the meeting or not. She is quite private and did not tell folks about this surgery. Joe, her dad, blabbed to me when Rosalie was here. Why she did not want folks to know I am not sure---she would never let me get away with that! She did tell some of the ladies on Altar Guild because she will be unable to do the paraments and such during her recovery period.

Yesterday, Cliff and she were at church when we arrived for Bible study, intending to put up the cross on the front of the property, where the black cloth will be draped on Ash Wednesday. Only, they could not find the cross! It was not where they put it, or where they were told it was placed, nor in the garage...nowhere to be found. They called Lonnie, our maintenance chairman, and by the time we left after Bible study, the new cross was planted in the front yard! He had gotten a 10' 4 x4 that morning, fashioned the cross (told his nosy neighbor he was building an ark!) and drove from Villages of Fireside to church to erect it. Just a bit more than two hours from phone call to being done! That's what I like!

Today Justin is supposedly coming to do some work for me, claiming I can have him all day. Good! I went to Home Depot on the way to church Monday a.m. to buy paint brushes as he is going to paint the trim in my kitchen, among other things. I am taking our taxes in today before it's too late for them to work on. He gave me his W-2 on Thursday and I forgot about taking the packet to the CPA's office. Even yesterday, I just forgot! This might be a mental block when it comes to paying taxes. Today it is---'render unto Caesar that which is Caersar's...."

This afternoon, much later, I am going to visit Twila at the hospital before I go to Trivia on the Southside. Hopefully it will still be daylight when I leave Shands since I will be in unfamiliar territory over there. Good thing I have the GPS on my phone to help me find the way. We were going to have a larger group tonight but Rita wrote me a note this a.m. saying they have Victory Kids tonight instead of on Wednesday, because of Lent. Her son attends that, and they are building rockets tonight. Good choice, Rita! Her older son is home from college so we'd have a fresh brain to help us take first place again. Now, we are on our own!

Yesterday I mentioned watching "The Way We Were" for the umpteenth time. In the story, the spouse, played by Redford, finds himself facing being blacklisted because a classmate friend of Katie's (Streisand) exposed her involvement with communist groups in college. (Again, that being careful who you stand with thing...). If he wants to continue working in Hollywood, where he is enjoying the dream, she was going to have to divorce him, or vice versa. She was already a fish out of water living in Hollywood, trying her darnedest not to get into the politics there. She wanted to be with him more than she wanted to stand her ground, or take a stand, I guess, would be the right words. But, eventually, that changed as he got a bit caught up in the life out there and she got involved in the politics of the time. As they sat eating dinner in their beach bungalow, she being 8 months pregnant, and still in love with each other, she dramatically leaned back against the sofa and said, sadly, "Funny how these decisions are forced on us willy-nilly..." She then asked Hubbell to stay with her until the baby is born. Decisions are forced on us sometimes willy-nilly, not always our doing. In my situation, it worked out great---I pray the same for all others who find themselves in this position.

Thinking about some things

Ugh, had a crazy dream again this early a.m. which involved someone taking shots at my upstairs neighbor, Travis. Strangely, it took place at my family homestead in Manty, where he has never been. I remember being upset about it because the person doing the pot shots was not located, and it concerned me that my mom was at home all day with her doors unlocked. I ran around the house, locking the doors, both the screen doors and wood ones, but someone would go behind me and leave them unlocked. Hmmmm.....what does THAT mean?

Another part of the dream, in the living room, my niece had set up the old stereo on a coffee table in the middle of the room, and was trying to figure out how it worked. I remember looking at my desk, in the former family home where I had no desk in real life, and realized the calendar was out of date. Instead of taking it down, I was looking for scissors to cut the bottom off of it....then I woke up. Unfinished project in my dream!

It is not sunshiny here yet but it is also not windy like it was yesterday. In fact, the fronds on the trees are scarcely moving. When I went to the kitchen for a soda, I spotted the delicious looking chocolate cupcake in the fridge, topped with whipped cream and a raspberry. Travis had brought it down to me after Beckham's birthday party yesterday. I saw the grand- and great-grandparents leaving when I got home from church, and the young folk must have stayed. They were making the scrapbook pages I mentioned last week and I am excited to see what they have so far. Jessica wants to do more cropping and I am right there to do it with her!

Judy C., Mike, and I went to Sam's St. Johns Seafood for lunch after church yesterday. Believe it or not, I really like their fried pollack. My portion was so large, I could not eat it all. Judy ordered the same thing, only hers was broiled, but the same number of fillets. My side dishes were green beans, of which I ate about half, plus the fries, which I barely touched. I was full until about 6:00 or so when I had some cottage cheese with pears. Just not hungry hungry these days.

We are having a Listening Sunday coming up soon and after church Jim B. and Mike K. were discussing it. I heard my name mentioned, and said, "Oh, oh...." I can't help it---I listen every Sunday!! Later Mike came and asked me about the attendance sheets that I use each week I am there, wondering how he could get a copy of the one from yesterday. The leaders want to mail the notice about the Listening Sunday to those members not there Sunday to get the official hand-out about the upcoming event. I made a copy of the attendance sheets for Mike but he left before I got back up front with it. Instead, I took the copies home and scanned them for e-mailing. He got the sheets, almost instantly. E-mail is faster than me walking from the church office to the parking lot!

One of the things I have been thinking about lately is how important it is to know with whom you are standing on an issue. The mess overseas, the local and national upsets, how does one sort it all out? Many years ago, when my sister-in-law and I were both taking classes at the technical college, I was able to help her with her English composition class. She, being more capable, was able to help me with my bookkeeping class. Somehow, that did not work out! Helping cannot make me learn it, you know?? Whether my helping Marian taught her English comp. or not, I cannot say either. Anyway, she had to write paper on a certain topic, and she chose smoking. At this time, she yet smoked, as she did not have her first heart attack until years later. I asked her what exactly she was going to say in her paper. She told me it would be a pro-smoking piece, and when I was surprised, she said, "Well, I have to! I smoke!"

So, there you go! Because she was directly involved in the action of smoking, she had to defend it, in order to justify her behavior. Like the way I defend my lifestyle, because I like it so well. Of course, I could still enjoy the social aspect of dining out and simply order differently.....Or I could acquire a 'taste' for my own cooking, learn to tolerate standing at the stove and making myself food to eat. If I made enough portion-wise, it can feed me for several days! Perhaps gruel!

Another remembrance I have came to mind in looking through Timmy's scrapbook a week or so ago with Betty and Robin. There is a photo of him attempting to open the pantry door, which he dearly loved to get into and ransack. The lever-style handles allowed him ready access. When he figured out how to climb up the shelves like a ladder and pull stuff down, something had to be done. He was invited to help with a project. His father took him along upstairs to find a door with a locking door handle, using the electric drill to remove the hardware. Timmy was right there, enjoying being a helper.

Then they came downstairs and repeated the process on the pantry door, taking off the handle and replacing it with the locking one. This duo put the pantry handle on the door upstairs, working side by side, on this project. Oh, Timmy was so happy to be helping his daddy with the project. That is, until, he tried to open the pantry door which now had the locking handle on it! The project he helped with turned out to be his undoing! He didn't foresee the ramifications of his 'work', until later when the dust had settled. Sadly, sometimes we don't see the ramifications if we are too close to it, or are even participating in it. Sometimes there are none.....

My kind of day!

It appears I have used this title before, because as I began to type it, the computer automatically filled in the blanks for me. It still works though!

If I don't type, I know for sure I will simply gouge the skin from my legs, the normal result of having shaved them. I know, TMI, right? In fact, I even scraped enough skin off the other night when shaving that it drew blood. Wisely, I took out a fresh razor when I had already used the dull one. All these years, it seems that I cannot quite get the hang of this. On the bright side, Lisa W. told me the skin on my legs is nice and smooth, after I told her about hacking away at my tender flesh in preparation for my pedicure. It will soon be summer so I need to be in the habit of carefully grooming my legs for swimsuit weather! Lisa remarked that she has seemingly less hair on her legs than she used to and I assured her it will pop out elsewhere---like on her chin. She was horrified, of course, as a yet young woman, and then confessed to having a chin whisker now and again. I knew she was just too perfect!

My grandfather clock is messed up on the chiming, and I wonder if I need to call the repairman back again. Justin thinks I should just wait, let it run down, and then rewind next weekend with the time change. That might be good advice, let it rest for a bit and then try again. It was not terribly long ago that the clock was repaired so it might be under warranty, actual or implied. There can be nothing worse than a clock that cannot tell time...

Last night I had a wonderful, early dinner with Joanne at Carrabba's. I had not seen her much since New Year, it is quite different than sharing a house with her, you know?? She used to be part of a networking group from where she would procure greeting cards. I hoped she had some extras that she could spare. She did, so brought me a small bag of cards when we met at the restaurant. Joanne had floor duty at the office until 5:00 pm so we figured at 5:30, we'd be able to just walk in and get a table immediately. Not so much! The restaurant was already full when I got there at 5:15 and was assigned a pager thing. Can you believe it? 'Round these parts we do not normally eat dinner this early but I might be mistaken about that. Many of the groups did have kids which might explain it, but I had to laugh that we were leaving the restaurant when the sun had not yet fully set, done with dinner before I normally begin dinner!

Before Joanne got there, Judy J. called me from Detroit, where she is visiting her brother, who is near death. She has been there a week already and I am glad she is getting time with him before he goes home. The reason for her call was to get some funeral hymns from me. Oh, do I love that! She asked me about the hymn we sang once, and when we were done, she turned to me and said, "I want that sung at my funeral!" I knew it was "In Christ Alone" and promised her I would scan it from the Supplement and e-mail it to her at her niece's house. Also sent along "Jerusalem, the Golden", my top two hymns for my funeral, which will be followed closely by "Be Still, My Soul". Her brother is suffering so, and death will be welcome. Eternal glory, 'bliss beyond compare...' soon to be his.

Sadly, when it came time to eat, I was not terribly hungry, as I was still sort of full from my lunch (I should have eaten that earlier, as well!) but I do have some wonderful leftovers to enjoy another time. It was great for Joanne and me to catch up on all our news, her big story being recently completing her certification for dealing with international transactions. She told me I would be surprised at the number of buyers from other countries in our area. Richard, her spouse, is working nearly full-time right now doing security work at local venues. Finally, a niche perfect for him.

The other night I watched The Bucket List on TV, and yesterday afternoon, Linda J. watched it on DVD at her house. This was after we did a little Facebook chatting, then switched over to the phone for over an hour. "We had words leftover"---a Justinism. Her leg is giving her a fit, nursing a terribly sore heal with doing physical therapy for her knee rehab...She is having trouble sleeping in bed so tries to get a night's sleep in her recliner chair, which, as she said, is not really good sleeping. I hope she did get a good night's rest last night.

After we hung up, I watched a movie I had borrowed from my upstairs neighbor a couple weeks ago, figuring I should get them back to her. The name was "A Walk In The Clouds" and turned out to be a very nice movie. The first of the movies Michelle loaned me was not that great, in fact, I did not watch the entire thing. Instead, I popped in an oldie but a goodie, "The Way We Were". Before "Bucket..." came out, this movie and "The Phantom of the Opera" were the two most watched videos in my house hold! Today I watched the "Making of....TWWW" where the directors, writers, composers, and yes, Barbra Streisand, told about the deleted scenes, and so on. Very interesting, still is after all these years. It came out in 1973 and I loved it. Still do, even though I have no use, absolutely no use for 'her' politics!!!

Today, I dragged myself to church, reluctantly because of the crazy winds and gloomy skies. I was thinking about the campers at Hannah Park, a group from Victory, wondering if they endured the storm, or the sense of a storm. It seems it did not really rain, only felt like it. Man, that crazy wind again, though. It kept Gretchen from Bible study but did ease enough for her to venture across the Buckman for church. We had a few more folks in church today, including about nine visitors/guests. I hope we have a good turn-out for Ash Wednesday.

We have a busy couple weeks coming up including the Branches Band coming to play a week from Monday night. We are having a soup and salad supper beforehand. Tomorrow night is Ladies' Group with our fearless leader in the hospital awaiting her heart surgery. She is now scheduled for Thursday but was not allowed to leave the hospital. Not too urgent to operate now but too precarious to go home. We had the distinct pleasure of Mark coming to church today, being dropped off by his friend from St. Johns. It had been over a year since he was there and I was just delighted to see him again. This business with Twila, his grandma, must have scared him a bit. Ash Wednesday and Lenten services, followed by choir rehearsals midweek, plus other church meetings and Bible study. The days or evenings being just full enough!

A convention of sorts

Click on the photo to enlarge, if you wish!There seemed to be an ibis convention going on outside my windows. This shot shows more than a dozen birds but more were in the vicinity. The eating must have been good because they hung around a quite length of time before heading off for the next seminar site!

A good Bucket List night

Edward Cole: "The simplest thing is... I loved him. And I miss him. Carter and I saw the world together. Which is amazing... When you think that only three months ago, we were complete strangers!"

"I hope that it doesn't sound selfish of me but... the last months of his life were the best months of mine. He saved my life... And he knew it before I did." (One of the top items on the Bucket List was "help a perfect stranger for the good"....)

Man, I like that movie so much! I wonder sometimes how much my memory of the first viewing affects my continued appreciation for this movie. It was through the liking of The Bucket List that I connected with my blogging friend, Jami, in Amarillo, who has brought so much to my life through the written word. No matter where you go since the movie came out, folks are talking about their personal bucket lists, things to do or experience before they 'kick the bucket'.

Just last week when my neighbor's adult son and his friend were here from Chicago, they reported wanting to see the shuttle launch so badly. It was on their bucket list to witness up close and personal, and time is running short. Not only for the space shuttle program but also possibly for Denny, who has multiple health problems. As the gang sat on the sundeck that evening, my neighbor, Rose, mentioned something from her list. She is about 10 years my senior, a recent newlywed (around two years), and does lots of traveling and such since then. She asked me about my bucket list and I told her I really didn't have one, which surprised her. I have had, and continue to have, the time of my life, richly blessed, and cannot think of another thing I absolutely must do before I ‘kick the bucket’.

If anything at all, it does not require travel or jumping out of a plane or marking up my body. It would require me to sit at my computer with a big box of nose napkins as I would finish the book I have begun about Timmy. If 'we' learn anything at all from the movie it is that life is more than 'stuff' and 'adventures', it is about faith in the Lord, and it is about the people in our lives. "Edward, find the joy in your life. Close your eyes, and let the waters take you home..." quote from a deathbed letter written by Carter to Edward.

I am always like this after I see the movie...it feels good to me!

I really like this time of year....

...for a number of reasons, not the least of which is hot cross buns being available at Publix! And in my kitchen at this moment. Another wonderful thing found in the drug stores are the Russell Stover dark chocolate coconut eggs...oh, yeah....

As I write, I am watching "The Bucket List" on TV. I thought to myself, I should write the script before they say the words, and see how close I get to being right. Originally I had planned to have some friends over for Dinner and a Movie but Justin said he was coming after work to vacuum, so I made no such arrangements. And Justin 'forgot' to come. Even though we had talked on the phone only an hour or so before his scheduled quit time. As I said to him, "Hmmmm......" Perhaps I will see him tomorrow.

Earlier today I was so darn cold, my hands were like icicles even though I was sporting my fuzzy slippers, covered with the Snuggie Lisa gave me for Christmas, and the heat pad behind me. Now that I have taken a hot shower and am under the covers, I am warmer. It might have been the wicked wind blowing out there that made is seem colder, when the temperature was 68 above zero.

My dear friend, Twila, is in the hospital at this writing, waiting to hear when her bypass surgery will be performed. She went in on Thursday for a cardiac cath and the doctor found more wrong than he expected, planning to do the bypass. At first it was to be the next day (Friday) but then decided to run more tests before the operation. She might be able to go home over the weekend and then go back, they are waiting for final word on that. Twila called me this afternoon, "to check in", telling me she was bored, staring at the ceiling. Poor thing! There is nothing sick about her, this all started because she flunked her stress test!

Well, I had some excitement here again yesterday morning...after I woke from my crazy dream. Thinking back, it's interesting that Twila and her son, Kenneth, were in the dream, too. But, anyway, as I was lying here watching the news, I heard something strange. Leaping to my feet, I went toward the hallway and sure enough, there was water dripping through the ceiling vent in the half bath! AGAIN!!!! Quickly, I grabbed my phone and located Jessica's phone number as I also went to the laundry room for a pail to catch the water. Also got beach towels to throw down on the floor, while telling Jessica, "I got water coming through the ceiling again!!!!" I am getting wwaayy too good at this!! I told her the shut off valves are under the bathroom sinks...and hung up. I called Jeff, my downstairs neighbor who is Maintenance Supervisor but he was at the airport, waiting to fly for work. I next called Connie to let her know what was going on and she said she would check it all out when she got to work. Jessica had found the valve behind her toilet, shut it off and the water stopped. Meanwhile, I discovered the water was also dripping into the kitchen, like the last time so I got a hand towel to sop that up as it continued to drip after the faucet was shut off.

Connie came in to check out the situation. She offered to repaint my ceiling with Kilz if I wanted her to, but we shall see about that. It's hard to see the discoloration from the previous leak but it is definitely there. Owen H. suggested lightly spraying the edges with bleach, so no painting would be required, and I am willing to have Justin try that some day. Owen is the one who came to the rescue the last time we had a leak from above us. I told him about it today when we met for lunch. His response, "Again?!"

Today I went to Middleburg to get my toes done at Lisa W.'s new salon. Very nice digs! She is alone in the space, not sharing with the beauty shop like she did in the other building. I really liked it, and got my royal treatment of having my feet pampered. It is so good to have my nails trimmed (she complimented me on their condition!) especially since the last pedi. I had was with Linda in Manitowoc. No rough edges remain on my heels or anywhere...just plain nice, and pretty! From her shop I drove up to Bee's Restaurant to meet my friends, the Hilchey's, for lunch. Olivia is home on spring break so we took advantage, as long as I was already out in the 'burg!

A disturbing yet important dream

I have to write it down before I forget it---yes, another dream! My hands were both asleep when I woke up, which is odd...

In the dream, my family was yet intact, with Timmy sort of coming and going. We were living in a building, like my condo or it could have been a hotel. Outside we were watching lots of aircraft as they came and went, when all of a sudden, a weird looking plane sort of swooped low, and dropped something which turned out to be a timed-bombed, which sunk into the ground. Everyone started moving away, and my family, including Mom, found our way down a hill which turned out to be toward the little creek which was across from our house when I was growing up. Cool!

The explosion did not occur immediately. As we made our way toward the creek, Mom, Justin, and I were telling people about Jesus. I met people that I knew for years, stopped them to ask if they knew Jesus was their Savior, made them look into my face. (Right now my tears are flowing here.) On the bright side, all that we talked to said they did know their Savior.

Only a little bit prior to this chapter in the dream, I was choosing from vinyl samples for my new kitchen floor, and said I wanted wood instead! That seemed, in the dream, to be a radical choice...There was construction going on in my home, and I was careful where I put stuff down in the house, as though that mushroom cloud coming would not make a huge mess, or that I could return to this home! Funny, even in the urgency, I was concerned with leaving things somewhat tidy.

We decided to make a run for it, before the mushroom cloud developed. Somehow we were able to pack up our luggage, or was it already packed?, and as I left the house, rode alone in a small elevator to the ground floor. I noticed tons of ants and some other bugs on the walls in the elevator car, and thought momentarily that they could be food in case I was stuck in there. I got downstairs to load my stuff in the car, and it seems to me that there were people in the third row of seating, perhaps Twila and her son, Kenneth. Mom and Justin were in the middle row, and my former spouse and me up front. We had to find room to put in Timmy's portrait in the back of the car, (silly me for thinking I would ever have a place to hang it again!), and the boys' scrapbooks, which would tell me now that Timmy must have already died. I also remember my then-spouse muttering about the insurance on the rental car, saying that by the time we finally left, the insurance would be expired. Really?

As we drove away, we were praying, trying to make our way out between the buildings, as we seemed to be in the loading zone for this structure. When I woke up this a.m., my hands were clenched together in prayer, under my pillows, and fast asleep!