For Laura

See the red hat, down in front of the cabana? That is Laura the Life Guard, busily pressure washing the stone benches and other fixtures around the pool area. This photo was taken the same day I photographed the deeply darkened skies right above her. She was so intent in her work that she did not at first notice the storm literally rolling in, until it got really dark!

It's gone!

Sorry ladies and gentlemen, but somehow or another, my original posting from Thursday vanished! I went into the posting to edit a word which was misused and poof!, it's gone! I did not hit DELETE, I only pushed the EDIT button and away it went into the blogosphere.....If you see it, send it back to me, please.

In a brief recap, I mentioned the afternoon storms which occasionally bring high winds. Today's winds broke loose a cobweb from the corner of my window and made it flap in the breeze. INSIDE! Yikes! Guess there is nothing much I can do about that, and am thankful the glass did not break. If the worst of it is having a cobweb attached now to my sun catcher (web catcher!), I am good with that! The wind also opened one of my screens on the slider about half way. Glad it was short-lived!

Justin came in from work late and thoroughly exhausted. He had pretty much decided not to attend the football game and stay home to watch the convention, but his boss sort of made that decision for him. Having two new properties added to the end of the route certainly obliterated any plans to attend the 6:30 game.

We ordered pizza for dinner and settled in to watch TV in the family room. Both of us had our laptops in front of us, and at one point, even my phone was being used to text with Linda. The battery finally quit on that so we switched over to Facebook. 

Justin and I were anxiously awaiting the appearance of the "mystery speaker" for the night. I think expectations were quite high but he did okay anyway. Some of the references I did not care for at all, but Eastwood spoke off the cuff, and was not edited by anyone. His point was well taken, and he even made us laugh, providing some needed levity on an otherwise intense night at the convention. The highlight after the acceptance speech was watching the kids play with the balloons. I hope they all went home with the same kids they brought in!

Part of the speech really stirred me, us, when Mitt mentioned how his sons would re-enact a different world war every night, and then expressed his wife's and his desire to once more have those battles in their living room, or wake up to a pile of kids in their bedroom....That stirred in me what I have mentioned in the past, how I miss getting pegged in the back of the head with toys when driving the car! Or, just once more seeing my little guy standing alongside my bed, in his undies,  a blanket wrapped around him, sporting a ranger hat. Gulp!

                                                    

Because I still have Justin, I don't get as emotional remembering his "Justinisms" but a couple came to mind this week, hearing the stories of what it's like to start and run small businesses. I recalled for him the time I opened my eyes from a nap, to see him standing on the dining room table and swinging the light fixture back and forth. Yikes! He was supposed to nap while I did because I had to go to work in the evening at Sprint. Worked in the office during the day and then went to Sprint to rest! 

Justin as a toddler

Another time, what seems to be prophetic now, Justin woke me up to tell me he wanted to be a crash dummy when he grew up. I remember telling him I was not going to spend a lot of money on college for such a short career! Another morning he woke us up to inquire as to whether or not our minivan had air bags in it. At that time, vehicles did not come with them, and he was a bit upset about this. What goes on in that little boy's head?  Was this a reference to my driving skills or what???

These are the type of memories stirred when listening to speeches made during the convention. Justin is like me in that regard, which is why it's best he watches with me and not elsewhere. Some hit closer to home for him than for me, and visa versa. Hopefully everyone who watched and listened came away with confirmation or assurance that our country can yet head in the right direction and pull us back from the edge.

Stormy skies

Justin called me from the road, on the way to his father's house, to suggest I go up to the 5th floor to check out the sky. I am so glad he did! Wow! This particular view is from my river room, looking south down the river.

Looking south from the 5th floor courtyard

This shot is over the top of the trees and cabana 

South view from the 5th floor deck

Almost straight west from the 5th floor courtyard, seeing the edge of the storm

Was just thinkin'....

I had to laugh at myself on Sunday. After church, we had a brief meeting of the Fellowship committee to go over the plans upcoming for the congregation. One of the ladies, Renee, mentioned that her husband and she were hosting an Oktoberfest event in October (September was too busy already). This excited me as I am fan of both German food and fellowship events. 

As we sat and waited for our fearless leader to arrive, I asked Renee what I could do to help with the event, thinking along the lines of publicity or other type of organizing. She told me I should just come, that they were serving all German-style foods. I offered to make German potato salad, as I am quite proud of it. Sure!, she thought that would be great. So, that is all set, I will make the hot potato salad....

And then she said to me, "We are doing this as a fund raiser for the audio/visual stuff for the Fellowship Hall." Oops! I am not a proponent of this project and now, I am going to aid and abet, just because I like to eat and fellowship! Sometimes I raise my hand too quickly...Brats, anyone?

                                             

That night I did a load of wash using the very last of the laundry soap. Because the water going into the machine was so noisy, I did not hear Justin in the hallway. As I headed toward the kitchen with the empty jug from the soap, he leaped out of the hall bathroom, yelling, "Boo!" I shrieked like a mad woman, thrashing  him with the jug. That rascal!!!! After I recovered, he got busy with a towel, wiping up the floor. No, it was laundry soap---NOT what you were thinking!!!

On Towel Duty

Back in the Monday morning Bible study routine again! There were 13 in our class this a.m. Sunday, at church, the announced subject was "Angels and Demons" but when we sat down, it turned out Pastor realized this morning we'd covered this on Sundays a few years ago. So, on the fly, he came up with a study on selected Psalms.

                                                

After class he took a poll of those who wish to remain in Psalms or cover again the angels/demons topic. Some of those on Mondays are not there on Sundays so they would not be repeating the study. It was decided to do the Psalms study for a few weeks and then start a topical study. 

The rains had begun and were fairly steady when we got out of Bible study this forenoon. Judy C. tried to share her tiny umbrella with me but usually I don't do umbrellas. She was gracious to try, though. Our group resumed our routine of going to Longhorn for lunch, with six of us around the table. Twila was back in our midst, having completed her cardio-compression therapy. 

The service was remarkably slow, making me wonder if perhaps we ladies should rethink our lunchtime destination. We were seated before noon but our food had not yet arrived at 12:45 pm. Two of us had ordered sweet potatoes and it seemed the shipment of potatoes had only just come in, and the delay was the baking of the potatoes. What? I think the waiter, Jason, the guy who asked us for extra tips to help with his rent, should have told us and we could have ordered differently. Not that I personally had a tight schedule but some of the ladies did have appointments and such. 

Judy had a few minutes before she had to leave to be in Lake Asbury when her grands got home from school, so we had time to catch up. She had been gone to Charleston over the weekend,  attending church with her daughter's family. She told about how their church has a blank wall in the altar area where, before worship, a count-down clock appeared, showing how many minutes and seconds there were before the service began. Blast-off!!!

The rain was light for the ride home, with no wind or lightning. The good news was the rain was not wind driven but the bad news was, it came into my house. ***Sigh*** This prompted me to go upstairs to 404 to check the towel situation there. One was thoroughly soaked, and the other damp. I switched them out with dry ones and took theirs down with me to rinse/dry for next time. No water was coming down their wall, but the floor was soaked along the sliding door. 

       

The cute toes and shoes are mine, the yukky water is coming up from under the tiles.

An hour later, I went back up with the dry towels and found the ones on the floor were again soaked through. Hmmmm....How can that be with no water coming down the walls? Aha, it's coming from under the door! And under the tile. And then down my wall! I let both Travis and Jessica know about this amazing discovery, and they arranged to have Butch come over tomorrow to look at it with me. Yay! I feel a deep sense of relief as this is potentially a solution to some of my leaks!

Later, Justin and I ate dinner, with me reheating steaks leftover from Longhorn, one from today and one frozen from a couple weeks ago. We shared the sweet potato which was now thoroughly cooked. As we walked through the dining room and hall area, we both noticed a strong urine smell. What in the world??? He noticed it in the laundry room, too, and then suddenly realized it was from the towels brought down from upstairs, spun out and then dried in our dryer. They had cats!!!! 

                                                     

Justin freaked because he is already concerned about how his clothes smell so he made a clean towel wet in his bath tub and then put it in the dryer with two softener sheets to freshen it up. Plus we ran the A/C to move the air around and get the dampness out of the rooms. He plugged in the dehumidifier again and got it busy sucking moisture from the air and floors. From now on, I will actually wash with soap instead of simply spinning out the towels in case more cat smell comes down. And I had carried them against myself to get down here so I stripped my clothes off and will wash them when Justin's load is done!

A non-pool day

Sundays, it seems, are often non-pool days this summer, and this was one of those. At one point, from my desk, I did see an area of blue sky, but the rest of the day was a yukky greyness. The wind was blowing most of the day, more than the usual breezy weather we are accustomed to on the river. At one point I suggested opening the doors and letting the wind in but Justin felt it was too warm out for that. Once he is gone, those doors go open, but I am in no real hurry to see him leave.

We had about six or seven people in Bible study this a.m. which had a different set-up. We were in the Fellowship Hall for the first time since early January, for the class. Pastor started it out and then switched teachers to Michael for the second half. It was Sunday school kick-off day so they had refreshments and such set up back in the classroom building for the parents and kids.

A new member was there for class, too. His name is Corey, who I believe is from MN. He serves in the Navy, stationed at the base in GA, and knows our member, Sterling. They were stationed together in Honolulu. His wife and two daughters are living in MN during his stint at Kings' Bay because he will be on deployment for long periods of time. A month or so ago we met the family, and one of the young ladies thanked Joe Z. for his service during 'the War'. I hugged her!

Since it was the kick-off for Sunday school, the service was themed on Christian education. The staff was installed for the coming school year and there was a full front pew for the 'children's sermon'. Two of the kids are from a family who visits us sporadically. I hope they come to Sunday school when it begins in two weeks.

Justin and I went to lunch with Terri T., with Judy being gone for the weekend. I switched up my order and got the sliders with onion strings, and tried the new appetizer of pretzel sticks. Oh my goodness, are they ever delicious!!! Like freshly baked bread delicious...A new favorite! 3 of my sliders came home with me because of enjoying the pretzel sticks.

                                                         

Last week Sunday my little laptop began acting up, did an emergency hard reset or something like that, entirely out of the blue. In fact, the screen went blue with strange-fonted text telling about this happening. My ever-patient in-house IT guy told me I must have done something (I HATE when he does that!) because, as I explained to him, I was in the midst of writing an e-mail when it happened. I touched nothing! Justin further explained that there might have been a virus hiding in the machine and it came out of hibernation to attack. Rats!

Ever since then, though, we (Justin and I) have not been able to make use of Google Chrome on this machine, my program of choice. I am using Internet Explorer now, which is less flexible and more exposed than Chrome. When I type, the words take a long time to catch up with me, and other sorts of similar 'problems' are happening.

My friend, Linda J., recently got herself an iPad primarily for downloading books but has more purposes than only reading. Knowing this machine is not long for this world, it seems, I began looking for a replacement.

iPads are twice as much as this netbook but I do not download books on this machine. Justin is always about the newest and best, but wondered if I would like the different style of keyboard. He reminded me of what Tatiana would tell Timmy, in her eastern European accent, 'curve fingers, curve fingers', during his piano lessons. To type on the iPad, one needs to have the tips only on the 'keys', like playing the piano. I couldn't resist telling Justin, "I type it the way I want it!", like his brother would tell his piano teacher. He told me I would have to resist making on-the-spot corrections in my typing, knowing full well that would make me even wackier. In the morning, when I wake up, I thank God for allowing men to create word processors so we don't have to use the old upright typewriters any more!

 That point is moot, though, because I got a wonderful offer via GroupOn today. While not immanently in need of a new computer, I bought one! This is SOOO not like me at all, but the price was fantastic! It was 53% off the price, larger monitor than the one I have, long-life on the battery, and the best thing of all, I would have Internet connectivity built into it. By some amazing fashion, I would be able to write e-mails and my blog when visiting my mother, from this new laptop! For less than half the price of an iPad, with tax and shipping, and less than this sized laptop in front of me, I have a new little laptop coming. Another plus---it will work on my lap desk, which the iPad may not have. Nice!

That was not all I bought today though, as Justin and I stopped at Winn Dixie on the way home from church/lunch. We were out of laundry soap so got that on a buy one/get one deal. We got two different scents because Justin thinks if one uses the same scent all the time, the nose gets used to it. I love shopping with him---he's a stitch! We also got some Drano as I had two drains needing some cleaning out, plus a few other things.

Justin had seen a recipe for raspberry pie so we bought the ingredients for making it. One of the items listed was orange liqueur which he felt I could get simply by posting on Facebook my need to borrow a tablespoonful of orange liqueur. Oh my!

Surely someone in my building would have this liqueur, or over at The Club. I reminded him that I had a strange bottle in my fridge (from Randy!) and we should look at that first. Sure enough, we had orange liqueur on hand! The pie, made in a graham cracker crust, was sort of like a cheese cake consistency, topped with a raspberry sauce he had to cook on the stove. Have I mentioned recently how much I will miss him when he moves out????

One for the books

The day began horrendously early because I, of course, heard something. But what? After I determined nothing was leaking, I listened more intently, and realized it was coming from outside. Because it was dark outside, my flashlight was required but did little to expose what was making the noise. It could have been something like a cooler banging against the rocks, or against the bulkhead below my window, or simply a different wave pattern caused by the storm at work to the south of us. I know not because when light came, I could not see a thing which would make noise. But it was enough to wake me up!

 

Justin had to go to work for a couple hours before we went to the movie. It was expected to be a four hour job but in fact it was about an hour. He was frustrated that he had to get up so early for a short job, after having gotten home after 2:00 a.m. He had taken his Xbox to his friends' house to watch The Avengers and a second movie which I cannot recall right now. Extra sleep would have a blessing to him this morning.

 

We left early for the movie, with me thinking there would be a line for the showing and because Justin wanted to buy some jeans at Old Navy. He dropped me at the door and then went back to park the car. I bought our tickets, went in and stood in line at the concession stand and was barely getting settled in my seat when Justin found me in the theater. (I am picturing a couple Seinfeld episodes right now...)

 

The movie was good but I did myself a disservice by not taking the Dramamine beforehand, because there was hand-held or extra camera movement. Justin didn't think I would need it because of it being a documentary but there were scenes of riding trains or open vehicles through Kenya, Indonesia, and India. I only got a bit urpy, not enough to cause a problem.

 

Following the show, Justin and I walked down a bit on the exterior of the Mall to Five Guys to have lunch. Justin had the small burger (which is still generously sized) while I had the grilled hot dog. Yum! We shared a small fry and ended up throwing the rest of them away. The charm of 5 Guys fries!

 

Not being sure of what the weather is going to change to, as soon as we got home again, I got 'suited up' and went to to the pool. Justin was getting himself ready for a nap! When I got up the stairs to the pool, I saw my friend's son at the teen pool. He told me his mom was at the other end so immediately I sent Justin a message, asking him to bring me a book and movie from the kitchen counter. I knew he wasn't asleep yet. What a nice boy he is for doing that!

 

He got to meet a few of my friends (Lee, Maureen, Gigi, Susie, and her hubby) plus some obnoxious females who have been known in the past to be escorted from the premises, not always under their own power. I am so glad they had not appeared when Mom and Lynn were here! Later he told me those girls (females) sort of weirded him out. He has heard my stories of their behavior so sort of knew what the scoop was there. Maureen's daughter took the book and movie along home for her.

                                            

We ladies and gentleman had a very nice visit in today's slightly warmer water, and I did not get upstairs again until after 5:00 pm. Justin was still snoozing or was at least quiet in his room. Later he did tell me that he did not sleep that entire time. We finished the rest of the taco salad for dinner and decided to watch "Julie and Julia" on DVD since it was showing on commercial TV. That was so nice!

 

I remember seeing it with him at the theater where he elbowed me every now and again when something reminded him of me! Not necessarily the cooking but the blogging part and some of the more outrageous traits of Julia. Especially the scene where she meets her sister at the train station---such screaming and carrying on. My family and friends can be so glad they no longer have to travel by train and have to be greeted by me!!!!