Now, this is more like it!

A short while ago I came in from the pool for no other reason than I was tired and wanted to rest. When I looked in the basin area, I spotted this eagle, also wishing to rest, on a stake outside my windows. Using the telephoto lens I was able to zoom in but was a bit unsteady when I snapped. Should have gotten out my gorilla to steady the camera but might have missed the shot!

Right now two smaller boats have pulled up outside the basin and people are walking around in the water, about waste deep where they are standing. Not really swimming but just wading, it seems. Maybe they simply needed to go potty. Tonight is a function at The Club, an event postponed from spring called the Island Bash, like a luau complete with a pig roast. I can hardly wait to dive into that feast waiting for us over there!

Last night Martie and I had dinner at the cabana, battling the miniature flies for our sirloin sliders. Oh, they were so pesty, like the gnats were in Holmen last weekend. And it was hot, hot, hot outside, which is why this evening’s event was moved indoors. Postponed from spring because of the unseasonably cold weather, we now have to move indoors because of the heat! I don’t care where I eat my roasted pork. Other meat offerings are chicken and fish (not really meat, I understand) plus salads and side dishes in tropical themes. And free rum punch. Many from my building are going as well as others who frequent the pool so it should be a blast. I need to rest for now so will post this and perhaps add more later.

Ahola!

Who is 60 years old???

If you look closely in the doorway at the top of the slide, you will see Lori's head poking through as she prepares to take the dive

Here she is....making her way down the slide!!!

She made it to the bottom, feet first, as is spelled out on the sign posted near the bouncy house.

David took a turn later on, and as soon as he began jumping around, a zipper on the house broke, collapsing the whole works. Two seconds later, David popped up on his feet, announcing, "I'm up! I'm up!" So funny!!!

This young man took care of the bounce house in Lori's driveway. He had no shade but I took him a chair and a soda. Later, David carried a patio umbrella up to him to provide some relief.

Love that smell and taste of garlic!

Justin, his friend, Jesse, and I had a lovely birthday dinner at Carrabba's tonight, more than a week after his big day. Justin did not seem to mind having the waitresses sing Happy Birthday to him in Italian, especially after I coaxed them all to smile, as though they enjoyed having to do this! Some old friends of the three of us were there, and joined us for a bit before our meals arrived. My jet skis had been purchased from Will, and Hailey, his wife, is the daughter of our friend, Joan, who has hosted us for Christmas and shared many meals with us. Justin recollected the time I was at Wal-Mart and ran into so many people I knew, just inside the doors. As I stood and talked with them, Will came through as well and asked, "What are you doing? Running for mayor??" It was so funny! Hailey complimented me, saying I had not aged a bit, since it's been a few years since we did stuff together, saying she missed my smile. The last time she and I did something was to go to the movies to see "Mamma Mia" when it came out. A long time ago! Warmed my heart to see them again!

Anyway, back to my trip recap: Judy and I attended several workshops conducted including one about the liturgical church year and another concerning outreach via worship. Not too sure about some of the ideas taken from the last one mentioned, but it was interesting. On the day when we went to Martin Luther College, following the worship, we attended a workshop we 'thought' was about the history of Lutheran hymns, and, in fact, it was. Finding ourselves way over our heads, Judy and I very much enjoyed this study of Praetorius' Christmas Mass, complete with live and recorded music, and analysis. Mom has this Mass on CD, I believe gotten years ago when suggested by Pete Prange, so it was not foreign to me. Seeing and hearing music from the inside, as it were, was really quite interesting.

The special services for our time at the Conference began with Palm Sunday complete with a procession, similar to what we experienced at the School of Worship Enrichment last fall in Palm Coast. Next was a Maundy Thursday service where we partook of the Lord's Supper in what is called continuous distribution, which Judy said she has done at the national LWMS rallies in the past. My first experience with it, but necessary to do given the number of attendees being served. Over 1000 were there, and I am assuming, most took communion. The 'sunrise' service for Easter was somewhat more "unconventional" (I stop short of calling it contemporary) but the Easter Festival was quite formally conducted. In this procession, a participating pastor carried a Bible covered with a very ornate gold holder, and later, when the Gospel was read, the Bible was carried part way down the aisle and read from the center of the chapel. It reminded me of Episcopal services I have attended.

The pastor from FG had a son attending the Conference and he was asked to serve in the procession. His aunt, a Facebook friend, told me he was apprehensive about it, but he did it anyway. On Easter, he carried the "Alleluia" banner in with the procession. I managed to sneak a photo of him carrying it as the procession stopped in the aisle for the photographer, but his mom did NOT wish to see the picture. She is NOT a friend of processions at all. Another friend, also at FG, reported that when she watched the service being streamed LIVE, she nearly threw her computer across the room. Her hubby, a semi-retired pastor, cautioned her about watching it, and he was right. Since we have a simpler version of a procession at my church, I was not as off-put by it. Those who feel differently, feel quite strongly about it, much as I do about the 'happy-clappy' style of worship!

I must say, there is nothing like singing, and listening to the singing, as this event presented. Wow! If I could have posted from my cell phone, after that first concert, it would have stated only "WOW!". The choirs were amazing, they rehearsed for hours and hours, different choirs for different services. Mary Prange directed the choir and some of the orchestra for one of the services. When Judy and I went into the chapel for the closing concert, we walked into the lobby just in time to hear the choir singing "Jerusalem, the Golden". It stopped me in my tracks, and immediately the tears began. I told Judy to go on in to save our seats, as I had to collect myself. It would not be good to have me sniffling while the choir was trying to rehearse right in front of us.

As I stood off to the side, dabbing my eyes, just short of sobbing, Mary came through and gave me a big hug. Another man was with her, and she told him that I was from her nephew's congregation in Florida. He hugged me, too, as she explained that I already had someone in "Jerusalem" whom I long to see again. Both of them assured me that by the final stanza of the hymn, hardly anyone was able to sing, due to the weeping! After the concert wrapped up, I saw this man again and he asked me if I got through it. And I had, through the tears, sung this anthem with the choir and orchestra! Not only that, we sang the "Hallelujah Chorus", something I thought I never get to sing again. It was 'bliss beyond compare..."!!!!

Photos from the visit north

Entirely unplanned, Lori and I both wore the same type of top for her party. People kept giving me gifts and wishing me a Happy Birthday. Man, I cleaned up trying to pass myself off as Lori!!!

Mom and Lynn sitting in the shade in Lori's backyard at her birthday party. Boy, it was hot out there!

Alayna is carrying that silly Angelo around, spending some time in the house in the coolness. The older folks stayed outside while the younger ones and those with electronic needs were inside...hmmmm.....

Even Danny came outside to participate in the kids' games where they tossed water balloons at David and finished him off with Silly String. Lori is holding that tree upright as she watches the fun.

David finally got to rest and enjoy some of the fine food prepared for the great feast. Ribs, burgers, and brat patties were served, and assorted salads and side dishes. Wonderful, all of it!

Lori posed with her cake before carving into it. The message reads: "60 is the new 40", the cake itself was just fantastic tasting. Even Angelo had some of his mama's icing, more like whipped cream than frosting.

Let’s see if I remember everything….

….and I hope I don’t report something twice. I should start at the beginning which would be the Worship Conference. Judy and I made the trip successfully July 19th, although we had to circle the airport in Minneapolis due to severe weather in the area, which allowed us to miss our first shuttle to St. Peter. After walking for miles through the airport, we located our pick up point from which a nice lady directed us to a restaurant where we could have dinner. She wanted us to have a glass of wine for her, but neither of us did.

When we eventually were connected with a shuttle, we met a very nice young man going also to the Conference, a soon-to-be freshman at Martin Luther College as well as a classmate to be of my young friend, Naomi. We saw Naomi frequently in passing at the Conference but she was kept extremely busy with rehearsals for the final concert.

Immediately upon dismounting the shuttle bus, Judy and I pulled our luggage up the sidewalk toward the registration building. As we walked along, I heard a screeching sound and someone screaming my name, running toward me with arms extended in front of her. It was Kari Hahm, a former member of FG and now residing in MKE where her hubby teaches at WISCO. How wonderful to see my Facebook friend live and in the flesh, and get squeezed by her! Right behind her came a tall, blond lady, carrying a baby in a seat with a handle. I realized that this lady was Trisha, a long-time friend of Kari’s and, as I already knew, is Judy R.’s daughter! They stood up for each other’s weddings and served as Godmothers to each other’s babies. The one Trisha was carrying belonged to Kari, named Titus, and I was so glad to see him. He’d had a rough beginning, too, like Angelo, and is now flourishing. Kari would not be staying for the Conference as her family was enroute from a long vacation in WA back to MKE and had to keep moving. She has a number of other children besides the baby and it would be hard for her to entertain them while she sang and such for four days. But it sure was great to see and hug her again, and meet Trisha after hearing so much about her these years, from Judy.

Judy C. and I got checked in, had our room assignments and received our Conference materials. Once outside again, a nice man with a golf cart took us to our dorm, our apartment actually, and we rejoiced in the ride. It was plenty hot there during the Conference and lots of walking involved from point to point, so loved the golf cart man!

The first event, after our lovely cafeteria dinner (Judy loved to say, “I had better never hear a complaint about college food again!), we went to the chapel for the concert. It was just that, a chorus and orchestra plus the pipe organ, complete with applause at the conclusion. Hmmm….When I first heard the pipe organ and the singing, it brought tears to the eyes, reminding me of First German. The chapel was sort of more modern a design and furnishing, not quite a worshipful atmosphere but certainly ideal for this type of event---especially acoustically.

When we got to our dorm room afterward, skipping the fellowship gathering each night, we hoped to meet our suite-mates, but nope, we were alone. Judy and I each took our showers and readied ourselves for bed. My laptop was all set up with the playback of “Seinfeld” ready to lull me to sleep. Judy assured me it was fine and she, in fact, read a bit before going to sleep. Later I did hear our suite mates come in but was closer to snoozing than being awake enough to go out to greet them. This was late on Tuesday and we did not meet either of them until Thursday morning, and then we ended up sharing a ride with Marylin and two other ladies to MLC! How about that??? It was a good night’s sleep, much needed after a long day of traveling, walking, and being edified, by the choirs, music, and lastly, “Seinfeld”!!

Plenty of time to write

Oh, my goodness! I have joined another club in which I did not desire membership---the “I am so stupid!” Club. Some may believe that I was already part of that group but I did not really think so until today. Ugh!!! Linda so nicely picked Mom and me up this a.m. for the trip home, stopping at Perkin’s in MKE for a bite before hitting the airport. Right on schedule, as far as I was concerned. They deposited me at the curb, we exchanged our hugs and kisses, and I went to the check-in desk outside to take care of business.

The guy was really nice, and kept checking my name in the computer, and finally said, “It’s too late to check in your luggage…” and he went inside. I finally pulled out my paperwork from my purse to discover, oh, heavenly days, my flight was actually two hours prior to when I thought it was!!!!! By mistake, I looked at the arrival time in Atlanta instead of my departure time. He had gone inside with my license and credit card so I went inside as well, dragging my bag behind me to see what type of mess I’d made.

He had approached the desk and the lady was busily trying to rebook me on a different flight, all the while I am apologizing and God-blessing them for taking care of me, care of this, for me. She did it, too! Got me on a flight at 5:10 pm, getting me to JAX just after 10:00 pm. An hour later than I was expected but leaving nearly 4 hours after my scheduled departure. No long wait in ATL this time, I might need to hustle a bit!

I gave the fella $5 for helping me with this, and they never even weighed my bag! When I had walked up to the counter initially, I asked if I should put my bag on the scale. He said not to but asked if it was overweight…I told him I was and he laughed. What I did say was that I tried to pack very carefully and he left it at that. No lies were told, I did pack carefully and if he did not wish to weigh it, that’s okay with me. After I got done inside at the desk, he took the bag to security for me and went back outside. I saw him at his post again so I knocked on the window to wave good-bye to him. He waved back and I blew him a kiss, as I walked off. Next thing I heard him knocking, and looked to see him pointing me in the other direction! He was my rescuer today! I would have found my concourse easily but this saved some extra steps for me, going the way he directed me.

Once through the security upstairs, I stopped at the shops to buy some cheese curds, and a stick of sausage for Ed and Judy A. at Victory. Justin does not care for this brand of curds but I hope no one else minds the “Jim’s” style of curds. Last time I bought fresh ones from Copp’s but on this trip, did the gift shop curds. Mom packed up my leftover sugar cookies from Johston’s bakery in Sheboygan, purchased Saturday on our way to Lori’s. I have half of them with me, leaving one at home for Mom to enjoy. She wondered what the security people would make of my smiling face sugar cookies and I told her they were my I.D.! Some are a bit crumby but most survived the trip from Manty intact.

Now, I wait for my flight, watch people as well as listening to “Seinfeld” on the laptop. I noticed this morning that the subtitles on the Season Four episodes are either German or Swedish. Justin must have done that by accident and so far, I cannot figure out how to either delete the text or change it to English. No worries, I don’t mind being multi-cultural! Oh, never mind, Justin sent me the clue to change it from Danish to English. I am good now! Just have to chuckle at myself about the countless details I had to take care of for this trip but did not account for my misreading the departure time. Glad it was me and not one of my other folks I relied upon!

All packed up!

When Mom and I got back to her house this late afternoon, it was toasty hot. Whew! She immediately turned on her room air conditioner in the living room and we fired up, so to speak, the fans in the bedrooms to move the air around. Yikes! Instead of cooking or heating up any food for dinner, we opted for a cold supper out where I ate a very simple Subway sandwich of roast beef with provolone, mayo and mustard, no vegetables. A Plain Jane 6”sub sandwich! Mom and Lynn each got the foot long ones, more jazzy than mine, taking half home for their respective lunches.

It is cooling down nicely in here but my room can use a bit more before sleeping tonight. My luggage is packed and nearly ready to go---once more I am in fear of having too much weight in the bag. Since I arrived, some books and my packet of Conference materials have been added to what I brought along with me. If it’s too heavy, I will either pay the overage fees or try stuffing more stuff into my computer bag!

My sleep was plentiful last night at the motel, with Mom sharing my room with me since Alayna went home that day with Lisa and family. Even though I slept, right now I find myself quite weary and ready to just go to bed. This is probably because of the long car ride back to Manty from LaCrosse today, after enjoying a lovely breakfast with Lori before heading back. She was still feeling the affects of her birthday celebration, unwinding after the big event and all its’ planning was out of the way. Whew! She needs the day off from preparing and entertaining to simply gather herself together. More about the weekend and party and Shakespeare play will come another time. If I forget, remind me, okay? Tomorrow, I fly home!!!