Inspiring artists!

Last night my neighbor, Judee, posted this photo of her most recent painting which was inspired by one of my sunrise photographs. She did a great job, didn't she?

Judee is a student of well-known artist/teacher named Hercel, who is presently in a rehab center after suffering a stroke. The class continues to meet even though he is not there. They have been so well taught by him that they can carry on in his absence. He can likely critique their work on-line or if they take it to him at Brooks! 

The death of me!

Earlier this year it was the delivery of my new dryer which nearly finished me off. The delivery guys had to remove the washer in order to get the old dryer out and the new one in. I was a nervous wreck over that! Now, it's my new washer. Ordered last week from Home Depot, I had to wait until my guests are here to have it installed. The fine print on the purchase receipt said the faucets must be operational before the guys will install the new equipment. NUTS!! My hot water faucet is/was inoperable but we could shut off the water to the unit to accomplish the install. Nope, not good enough. The plumber had to come. Two days in a row my mouth was so dry I could barely swallow, but the plumber got the faucets replaced without incident but not without some effort. Then, today, the washer was coming.

Yesterday, because we were having the water shut off, I had to let my houseguests know that there would be no water for a while and told the young men that the plumber would have to access the bathroom in their room to shut off the supply. They barely moved a muscle despite people going in and out of the room. I was busy wringing my hands, ready to wring out water if called upon. Such a Nervous Nelly I am when it comes to water, and rightly so!  The plumber who came, Pat, brought his son to be the helper. He told his son to turn the supply back on very slowly once he had the faucets in place. Just as the son started turning the water on, the doorbell started ringing frantically. Oh, my heart! It was just Connie, coming to check on the progress. Both Pat and I jumped a foot when she did that, and ended up laughing, since the faucets did not leak. Whew!! I was so relieved to have it over. They moved my old washer into the foyer, where they observed my young lady guest sleeping on the air bed. 

When the plumber was leaving, after I paid him, I told him I needed the proper spelling of his name so I could put him in my Will. He said, "Just don't leave me this place!" Plumbers just don't like us here for some reason, and I know what the reason is!

Slaving away in the kitchen

Justin and I signed up to make supper for the VBS volunteers, not realizing what we were getting ourselves into. Yikes!  At first we were told it might be about 15 people, which is indeed a managable number. But then I was told it was closer to double that, depending upon the teachers bringing their kids along. Justin and I quickly had to revamp our strategy, since he would be working all day and not have sufficient prep time before I had to have it at church. And, it never occurred to me that we'd also need salad and dessert, too. Thanks to Betty, there was a half pan of brownies leftover from her meal served the night before so she let me use them. Whew!  

I had the job of registration for the first night, getting walk-ins signed up and making out name tags for them, etc. I also had tags already made up to give to those pre-registered and checked them in for their classroom. I counted how many students were in each group which helped the ladies making up the story-telling snacks for the kids. Judy and Tamara were doing that and seemed to be a good team together.

After I was done with registration, I stopped once again at Publix (many times this week already due to the soda sale going on!) and got the extra things I needed for the supper. I decided to make PBJ in addition to the wonderful ham and cheese sandwiches Justin was making, just to make sure I had enough food, especially since kids might balk at the poppyseeds on the hot sandwiches. 

When I got home, Justin had already begun the process of putting the sandwiches together, being careful to keep the 'wet' ingredients between the cheese and ham so the rolls wouldn't get soggy. Brilliant plan! My job for preparing them was to brush the sauce over the top and bake them once I get to church. They turned out great, were most popular especially with the adults. Most of the PBJs came home with me which will not go to waste, especially with a houseful of young people!

Young blood

Last week my neighbors, Betty and Kathy, were being entertained by their great-grand and grand children, respectively, visiting from Atlanta. Amy brought the three little ones, a pair of boy/girl twins and their younger brother, Beau, to spend some time with the family. Oh, what fun to have them around, especially at the pool. They are a hoot and bring their great grandma and grandma much delight.  

Beau playing mini-golf

On my floor, my neighbors have their daughter and granddaughter staying with them for a while, plus the infant daughter of another of their children. So besides the younger kids, we can add two baby girls to our building for the time being. And, this morning, I saw my upstairs neighbor, Debbie, carrying her infant granddaughter against her, sound asleep. Debbie put her finger up to her lips to motion to Connie and me that we should not greet her loudly or disturb that baby. We shushed....Debbie must have had her out in the car to get her to sleep or something.

In my unit, I have four teenagers plus Justin, who will soon be 27. He is the old man of the group. They don't get to spend much time with him as he is gone to work when they get up and they keep themselves fairly busy when they are back here again. A couple times they have gone out before dark to swim but got thundered out of the pool one night and it got dark quickly another night. But at least they get out there. Like today, they got done with set up at church early so came home mid afternoon and off to the pool we went. Their escort, Kelly, came, too, which was great. She is a very nice lady and relates well with the kids. I like having a bunch of young blood in the building these days!

Getting ready for VBS

Tonight I enjoyed dinner at home while the young folks were at church getting things set up for VBS. Michael C. is cooking for them, and asking Jacob to help him with the preparations. He is doing a shrimp boil! Not my favorite thing to eat, though Michael is swift to remind me that I like the potatoes and mini-corn cobs. I do, yes, but not enough to drive over there. I feel sorry for him, though, as he is suffering with a terrible head cold. Yesterday he laid down on a pew and slept for a couple of hours while the kids prepped for VBS. 

Last night I ate with them, however, as Mike S. served a smoked pork butt for dinner. There was barely a scrap left so I am glad I didn't stand by at home waiting for leftovers! Judy made a pasta salad to have with it, plus we had Italian bread. Oh, yum! 

Today after church, as is our tradition, I treated the kids plus others to lunch at La Napolera. We had to divide the kids between our vehicles, with Justin taking one or two with him, since we had their chaperon, too. I nearly drove past the place and had to do a rather reckless turn into the lot. I regret that, should have gone with my first inclination to go past and turn around. I could have caused bodily harm or an accident doing such a thing. I hate that I did this!!  

Anyway, some of us had a good laugh over our lunch plans. Judy had already made arrangements with Gretchen to dine elsewhere, and I heard her talking with Terri on the phone at dinner last night. When we gathered inside church before leaving, I said to Terri, "We are going to La Nap, and you guys are going to Sam's St. Johns..." assuming she had been asked about it. She had not! How we laughed, because it was as though I ordered her to go. Normally she is the one who gets Gretchen to go along. She didn't mind going to either place, but it just came about so funny. There were far too many in our group for us to try Sam's anyway, and we had plenty at our table with the 8 of us in our group. Terri is a good girl and goes where she is told!

Yesterday after church, I got the group together for a quick picture before the chancel would be switched over for Vacation Bible School. 

A good Sunday

This morning I had the privilege of worshiping and partaking of the Lord's Supper with this fine group of young folks, and their young teacher! 

When I came in from the pool this afternoon, I discovered our basin was overtaken by a number of vessels, including jet skis. Mom just asked me the other day if people swam in this water and I said it wasn't really that kind of water----well, today it was! 

Happy birthday, America!

My young house guests spent the day in Orlando at Universal Studios, celebrating Independence Day on rides and adventures. I will be excited to hear about their fun in the morning. They will be getting home late tonight after I'm asleep. So, because they were gone, I spent time around the pool with my pals and then the evening with some other pals. My neighbor, Nancy L., had a patio party from where we could watch the fireworks on the river. It was a great, great day! 

Jerry, one of the guys in our water exercise class, is enjoying a libation from the cabana complete with sparkler! 

 The men were competing in pool races

Bill striking a pose!

The cabana was slammed with food and drink orders so the big guns were brought in to help---Chef Sheldon himself came down to help cook and get the crew over the hump. He told me he never saw that many people at the pool and cabana before. Might help to have him come down every now and again to see for himself. Loved my hot dog on America's birthday!

The river is starting to fill up with boats to watch the fireworks display later

The rocket's red glare, or white glare, as the case might be, as taken from The Palace by my neighbor. Nancy W., Justin, and I enjoyed wonderful food and the company of others on the terrace at Nancy L.'s unit which overlooks the launch of the fireworks from the barge parked in the river off our shore. Awesome!