Oh no! It's pouring!

No one can be sadder than me, at least in my opinion, due to the rain. My stomach gets knotted up when I hear the first sound of rain. Oh, how I wish this were not the case...rain used to lull me to sleep. Now it triggers a good deal of anxiety instead.

Earlier this a.m., waking to rain, I discovered a rivulet of water coming down the wall in the river room, which is, sadly, a big deal without being one. Thinking that the problem was resolved and discovering recently during the water test that it was NOT solved prepared me for today's leak. 

Before leaving for church I went up to check Travis and Jessica's place to see how bad it was, and only had to leave one towel in place. Their rivulet matched mine, which means the water is likely coming in through the wall. None so far in my living room which is fantastic with me. The minor leak is manageable as long as it does not affect my formal living space.

                                     Amber and Lynn were presented with a cake!

Today was Amber's confirmation day, as well as another new member, Lynn. She did not attend BIC with the rest of us on Thursday nights. Lynn informed Judy C. that she also came from a Bible-less background like Amber did, which makes me wonder if I should have ordered another Bible history book with her in mind....

The other day when Amber was here, we went over several topics and again reviewed the Lords' Supper. Last week I had told the story of Passover and how God commanded the Israelites to always remember how they were rescued from the hands of the Egyptians, and what method was used to identify them as God's people. Then I explained how Jesus used the Passover meal to institute the Lord's Supper, the new covenant which we are supposed to always remember, just like the Israelites. When I talked about the first passover, Amber remarked, "Oh, like in the movie! But I didn't know that was a real thing..." 

This past week Amber brought her dog along, a dachshund whose name I cannot recall. She is house-trained but proved to be somewhat distracting for Amber, who tried to keep an eye on the dog and off her paperwork in front of her.  

Justin got home after Amber had left and was excited to hear how it went. I told him she was nervous about standing in front of the congregation Sunday without Judy and me next to her. Fortunately, I had recently listened to a worship service from IL where an adult was confirmed and was able to replay for her what a confirmation sounds like. She said, "It sounds like I am getting married again!" and I told her she would be making a commitment like that of marriage. 

Justin suggested I write this stuff all down, seeing how excited I am for Amber. His thought was to write a blog, not for public consumption, but just to record the events. I appreciate the fact he appreciates what is going on here. Today, when she greeted me at the door after church, she hugged me and said, "You've been such a good help to me..." and Pastor said, "...and you continue to be!" I pray this is so!

Let's party!

This morning I went out to the pool earlier than usual in order to get some exercise and to not miss greeting some folks whom I had missed by not going out early enough other days. Using my binoculars, I could see GiGi and Frank seated at a table so I went out to greet them. Frank just retired from the post office and this was his first weekend of being 'off duty'! It has been more than a year since his path and mine crossed. It was so good to see him again. 

Friday I had asked Judy C. if she wanted to ride with me to the Kelley's anniversary party. It turned out Mike and she were picking up Gretchen and offered to take me along with them. Great! I accept! We allowed plenty of time for traffic, picking up, and then the trip to World Golf Village area which is where the Veteran's Home is located. And got there 20 minutes early! We were not alone though as others had arrived prior to our pulling up.

The Lessen Home is just lovely, almost looks like Cracker Barrel with the porch lined with rockers and having a resort-type of feel to it. It sparkled inside and out, and the staff was delightful to us, most accommodating. The room for the party was not far from the entrance, and was decorated beautifully. Andy and Fran were both wearing blue tops, which I thought was cute. Andy got little from the party but we got to see him, which is good. Fran loved having the folks come to express their best wishes to them on this 60th anniversary. Many folks from church came, which blew Fran away! The room was decorated with photos of them from young on, with biographical information included. A true love story, to be sure!

We stayed until the nearly the end and as we drove back toward home, Judy proposed going somewhere to have dinner. It was a bit early but I was game! Gretchen respectfully declined, saying she had enough excitement for one day and said she'd like to go home. The rest of us went to Cracker Barrel, Mike's choice. I treated them for driving me and brought home more than half of my meat loaf dinner for another time. Best meatloaf in town, almost as good as Mom's!

Justin was home when I got back here, having no plans with his friends tonight. Last night they were downtown for the Jaguar scrimmage game which was great fun. Not as sensational as the Packer scrimmage was, which had 55,000 people at it, but good enough for Jacksonville! Justin is watching the Olympics in his room via his computer as well as playing video games. He could watch in the family room but cannot move his computer around the way I can. I think this way he can pick and choose his sport to watch.

We are watching the tropics for a pending storm and already I am bracing to put down the collection pans for the drips. Shoot shoot shoot! I hope the main part of the storm, Ernesto, stays south of us so we don't feel the brunt of it. I wish that Herve had gotten the work completed on his sliding glass doors, but he is doing the best he can under the circumstances. Yikes!

Who ordered the fish?

Today while at the pool, the wind began to blow and peoples stuff was being chased around after being blown off the tables. One young man, soon to be in 9th grade, ran to grab his dad's shirt which was tumbling around the pool deck. We heard this smack sound, and thought Benji had dropped the phone he was carrying or something. His mom asked him what that noise was and he said, "I think it's a fish!" You think it's a fish?? It is definitely a fish! Evidently an osprey was carrying his dinner and lost its grip on the fish. It was a good thing no one was sitting on the edge of  the baby pool, where earlier Jessica and the two boys were playing. Getting hit with a fish this size would really hurt!!!

Against the wind

There is a popular song by Bob Seger where he talks about 'running against the wind' but I am watching birds attempt to fly against the wind. One wonders where the birds think they have to be during a storm that it can't wait for a bit...

Yesterday, after water exercise class, I had to come up here and get changed into 'going out to eat' clothes as I was meeting the two Judys for lunch. We anticipated long lines and were not disappointed. The one Judy is more headstrong than the other (I call her my little Marine!), so though I had suggested during the plan-making phase we go later in the afternoon, she won. Or rather, we compromised for 1:00 pm. 


It was well after 2:00 by the time we three ladies ate and got out, but well worth it. Plus I got to see many people I had not seen in a long time, which is cool. Justin said his father and he stopped in but could not stay as the lines were too long and time was valuable. Oh well....

                        

The rest of my afternoon was spent at home, as I awaited the arrival of a handyman who was coming at the behest of my upstairs neighbor. Chad believes he can make the repairs, in fact, he already did a couple, for less than $200. Chad was able to 'erase' the singe mark on the wood floor from last fall's leak/scorching of the electric power strip. He was also able to scoot some of the floor strips back into place so we won't have to replace any of them. HUGE savings there!

Wow, there was just some sensational lightning across the river, with some huge drops hitting my window. I hope the birds sit down for a little while until this storm moves through. I would like it to be done before Justin and I go to dinner at 7:30. He has a birthday meal coming from Miller's Ale House and none of his friends wish to go tonight, so I guess I am stuck going....poor me! If memory serves, Thursday is meat loaf day!

This a.m. I went to Bible study at Victory and what an excellent class it was. We even covered stuff from our booklets! Somehow we manage to cover many other topics in addition to our text. We did complete our study on Forgiveness and next time our subject is Definitions. That should be interesting as well. I have a book from NPH about Key Words from the Bible which might be good to share with the others.

Pastor H. gave me the name of a Bible history book to get for Amber which also comes with a workbook. Another lady heard me talking about it and wants me to get her one as well, plus the workbook. She doesn't know many of the Bible stories as well as she would like, plus she cares for her grandsons. This will likely come in handy for her!

My neighbor from downstairs just came up to 'borrow' some ibuprofen as the weather was too bad to go to the store. Last week she needed some Diet Coke, which I was also able to provide. Does no one borrow a cup of sugar any more? Not since Jessica moved out---she did actually borrow sugar once!

Glorious Sunrise

Since I am not able to capture a decent full moon due to haze over it, please accept the sunrise from this morning as its substitute. More words will come another time, but for now, the picture will speak for me!

I had a fright!

Tonight, as I drove over to Victory for Bible study, I called my mom. She was enjoying the fruits of her miniature farm on the porch---a red, ripe tomato! Her dinner consisted of her home-grown tomato sliced onto bread. She said it wasn't very large but size does not a tomato make!

As the first one arriving in the lot, with 10 minutes until the beginning of class, I was relieved to see Shane pull in. He offered to open the church door for me so I said, "Goodbye" to Mom and headed for the door. The other attendees arrived at the same time and of course, Pastor had everything set up in advance for the    class.
                                            

When I ended the call with my mom, I had to slide the red arrow across the screen of my phone in order to disconnect. I noticed the screen was sort of blank and not responding to "taps" which normally activate things on the face. I shut the phone off in order to do the reset but alas, no response. Dead as a door nail. Erica's Justin tried taking out the battery and reinserting it, but still nothing. Then, he asked me the question: "Is it possible the battery is dead?" Yes, it is entirely possible but normally I would get a couple warning blips, which I must have missed.

                        

Once back in the car, immediately the phone was plugged into the charger. Still nothing. Shoot! I had phone calls to return either tonight or tomorrow, thinking I would have to borrow Justin's phone to do so. I was already planning my day tomorrow for getting a new phone or whatever was needed. Finally, when waiting at the light from the freeway to Hwy. 17, I wiggled around on the car charger and voila!, the phone came to life! I was soooo happy!

                   

When I got upstairs, I told Justin about my near disaster and he was not happy that it came back to life. Because he is all about the "new and improved" before it is needed, he has been wishing for me to get a new phone for a while now, for no apparent reason other than I have had this phone for more than one year. 


I shamed him about this thinking, but he claims that once the phone was replaced, the old one could be refurbished and sold on eBay, by him, to cover the cost of the new phone. OR, I can just keep the one I have, now that it's working again. That was a close one!

A delicate spirit

This morning I saw a possible comment to my blog, found in the SPAM file of my e-mail. In it was advice from an 'administrator' offering ways to improve my blog. "Mike" observed that I am not getting many readers and 'noticed' I am not getting comments. Ouch! It hurts when someone else is pointing that out! Of course, Mike had something to basically 'sell' me to improve my visibility in the blogosphere but I am NOT that type of blogger. But thanks, Mike, for pointing these out to me!

I know several people have told me they cannot figure out how to make a comment. My mom writes hers to me in an e-mail and often never get posted to the blog. There are a few faithful who will write something when the topic prompts them, but I remember something my sister said when I started the blog: "You just write about what you did that day...." Um, yes! Hence, the title!

******

Today, I did not go out to the pool at all, as it was a bit cloudy. When I left to go to lunch I did see several folks around the pool, including parents with kids. The teen pool is closed due to a pump problem, so all must use the adult pool until Tuesday when the part arrives to make the repair. But, I would rather go to see my friend than get in the pool under cloud cover today!

Rita just got back to Jax after an extended time away. I had left in early May and did not see Rita at Victory's Bible study before leaving. First, she was with her mom in MI, who passed away with her family at her side.  From MI she went to Toronto where her hubby and son were waiting for her. Her husband works in Toronto so they spent the balance of June and nearly all of July there.

Sunday she sent me a message on Facebook asking if I wanted to get together for lunch. I said I certainly did and asked if Monday would work. Yay for us!!! We met at Newks' Cafe in The Avenues area and I amazed myself by driving right up to the door of the place. 

The restaurant was a bee-hive with folks coming and going, but all Rita and I did was stay! We had much to catch up on, even though we'd chatted on-line. Face-to-face is even better. She treated me to lunch which I had not expected, and we even shared a piece of chocolate cake. This place was known for their cake, and I can see why!

As we left the restaurant, we saw that it had rained. The sky looked dark and as I drove, I saw lightning. Part of the ride home was in rain but I beat the balance of the storm by a few minutes. As I got out of the car, my neighbor with her daughter and grands were just getting home and were also glad to have beaten the storm. I suggested it was good napping weather (hear that, kids???) and Cathy told me that Moli (Betty, the Rockette) actually was napping upstairs. She so loves having her great-grands around but she gets tired, too. Therefore, Cathy took everyone to get pizza in order for Moli to rest. And now, the little ones can rest, too!

Once I got upstairs, immediately I made sure my phone and little laptop were charged or charging in case the power went out---I was going to be ready! The last two times it happened, I told Justin about wanting to get the lantern mentioned on TV for lighting a room and/or the LED flashlights which beat the old-fashioned ones I have. Perhaps a trip to Lowe's or Home Depot is in order...

Justin excitedly told me his friend, Ron, has gotten an approved contract on buying a house---at long last! Justin's original intent was to live here with me until April. As we look August in the face, he has been here much longer than expected. He was going to stop at Wal*Mart Sunday for more plastic storage bins for packing his things, but due to the rain, he didn't go. His feet slide around too much in flip flops when they are wet. No cardboard boxes for us, we have learned that lesson the hard way!

Justin enjoyed his birthday weekend by watching the opening of the Olympics on Friday night, and being treated to the Jax Sharks game on Saturday night. He stayed overnight at his friends' house that night but got my car home for me to get to church on Sunday. 

Last night, he went to his friend, Jesse's,  house for dinner where Pam made him a wonderful birthday cake. His favorite flavor of confetti cake, three layers high, and decorated with gummy life savers, M&M's, and fruit rolls ups. Oh, my! It is just delicious, having brought home over half of this cake. Think I must go and have a slice as my nightcap!