Burney's birthday bash

If you can call it a bash---it was only him and me in the entire dining room for the first hour and half of our meals. We had extraordinarily attentive service under these circumstances. In the other part of The Club an event was going on at the same time so staff members were walking through the dining room regularly as well. He got a chuckle out of a few things, commenting on how 'everyone' seemed to know me and that I had a 'special' glass in which my soda was served. First the special hot dogs at the pool and now this. They do this to shut me up---as much for their benefit as mine! 

This was Burney's first time eating indoors so this was extra special. Since neither he nor I liked the appetizer offered, we were treated to a wonderful substitution---beer cheese soup! I could not have been happier.He used his card for the free meal, getting the Delmonico upon my recommendation. He did not have leftovers like I did, though, eating his entire steak. For not generally being a meat eater, he did okay. Because we went early at his request, I was home before 8:00 pm, foam box in hand. Glad to help Burney celebrate his birthday this way!

Nancy W. and Burney poolside last fall. Nancy was invited to help celebrate Burney's birthday but had reserved for the other event at The Club. She's already been to Casual Grille Night once this month when Linda was here so she was excused!

Still stewing about those %@#& cats!

This afternoon when I got home from the luncheon with the Over 50 Lunch Bunch, I decided to water my plants in the pot outside my doors. In the planter are growing what will someday be, I hope, day lilies. The bulbs were a gift to me from Ed, a Victory friend. They have sprouted nicely sending up tall green fronds which are now bending over from their weight. No flowers or even blossoms in this, their first season, being planted. As I poured water over them in this particular pot, I could not help but get irritated with our cats. You are right, we have no cats in this household any longer---so why I am upset with them?

When Justin and I moved here over 9 years ago (I know, that's a long time for me to stay in one place this long!), we brought along several planters containing plants and a tree we'd had since Timmy died. The tree was grown from a seed he'd planted in pre-k at St. Johns. It had sprouted after he died. Justin and I stopped in to his classroom to pick it up, grown in a styrofoam coffee cup. I was so glad to have it. The seed grew into a plant and eventually it was transferred into this large planter presently on my porch. 

The lemon tree flourished on the patio at both The Preserve house and the lake house, living in a screen enclosure. When we moved here, my friend, Rick, moved the plants in his trailer, carefully putting a bag over the lemon tree so as not to lose any of the fruit from it. The tree was placed in my river room where it got plenty of sun and light. The other planters had peace lilies which had lived all this while, about 5 years, and were flourishing in their pots in the river room. They seemed happy there....

But, now come the cats. We had Boots and Lynx who evidently did not like moving to this new house or for whatever reason were behaving badly. Instead of using their nice litter box, one or both chose to use the soil in the planters instead. Ugh!!!  Justin and I tried to correct them of this practice but they were so sneaky. I could not tolerate this so we moved the planters into the courtyard by the doors. The lilies lived for a while but they missed the sunshine and direct light, eventually needing to be removed. 

A lemon on Timmy's tree

The lemon tree did okay at first but then started to lose its leaves. A friend from church, a Master Gardner, came over to examine it, and cleaned the leaves one by one with a cotton ball and soapy mixture. Under his microscope he could show me the 'little bastards' which were affecting the health of the tree. Pests outside on the open courtyard had a field day with my plants and eventually the tree died. I was wounded then, and still now, that the tree died. 

I had grown some seedlings in the past using lemons grown on the tree and gave one sprout to his father. But, I had none, having now only two lemons saved in my freezer for however long I choose to keep them. My friend, Cindy, thought perhaps she could save the rest of the tree after it was trimmed back, but, alas, she could not and gave it a decent burial. If only those blasted blooming cats would have left my plants alone, they could have stayed indoors and away from the 'little bastards' that destroyed them. 

I am still not over it, not yet. I DO keep a record of wrongs (I Corinthians 13) especially about this and the other havoc they wreaked around here. Those darn cats!!! I don't miss them one tiny bit!!

Go Pack Go!

The Jags won a game!!! Yay!! Whoop!! Whoop!!! Excuse me, but we Jaguar fans are entitled to  rejoice over a victory when it happens. And what a victory it was, too. Won by a field goal with less than a minute left in the game. Talk about edge of the seat wins! I know my friend, Gretchen, is going to be beside herself with joy. The Jags had lost the previous 10 games in a row so today's win was a tremendous blessing, long awaited!

This morning we had Bible study and worship, followed by lunch with our usual group plus some extras at Chili's. Judy had some of her family in town, hielping David move into his new place in Tally, so they joined us for worship and lunch. I was in my happy place with 9 at the table. I was sorry Justin missed it by being at the game but he was in his happy place AT the game! 

I did get to the pool for a little while this afternoon but as predicted, the water was cold. A group of us huddled in the deep end of the adult pool where the sun shined on us. We must have looked so silly. One by one we got out as the sun moved behind the trees and we enjoyed poolside ice cream treats at buy one/get one prices, as Marlena is trying to get rid of her supply. As ungrateful as I am, I settled for the drumstix since she was out of the usual Oreo sandwiches which Burney and I get. Patty treated us today, which was a delight no matter what type of ice cream it was. 

This evening we are watching the Packer game and I know I won't be disappointed. After a Jaguar victory today I will be thrilled to be watching the Packers play and win as well. Go Pack, Go!!!

The sun is back!

Having had so many days of cloudy weather every all or part of the day makes me rejoice to have had the sun back with us. At one point it was so bright that I couldn't see my computer monitors on the desk! What a marvelous 'problem' to have!

This afternoon I got shout-out from our pastor's wife, Lynn, who was dining for the first time at 4Rivers. They are sold! Lynn said she doubts they will ever enjoy bbq anywhere after eating at 4Rivers. They ordered their meat from the lean portion of the brisket while mine comes from the moist end. 

Lynn sent me this photo of their tray. She shared it with her husband. I do not share my brisket, ever!!

I made dinner for Justin and me this evening. We had ham, mashed potatoes, and green beans, a veritable feast!  I got the ham on sale at Winn Dixie, a nice hunk for $5 and I can easily see getting several more meals from it. My house smelled wonderful, too, like a holiday! Because of the rain during the week making for shorter days for Justin, he had to work all day long today to catch up their schedule. That guy is bushed, and I can't say I blame him. The rain makes the pool water cold and without the solar power to warm it, well, not swimming temperature for me. I hope to get one or two more days poolside with my friends, at least, before the cabana closes at the end of the month. 

I'm tired of complaining...

...but one more time I will grind about the rain!  This a.m. we woke to rain which made me feel like just going right back to sleep. Justin still went to work as they simply cannot afford to get too far behind on their schedules. Especially so for the commercial jobs they have, needing to always look their best no matter what the weather holds. Thankfully it didn't last all day, but did remain overcast and threatening which made the idea of going to the pool out of the question. 

We have enough to grumble about the rain, but add to that one of our owners needing a plumber last night. A lady on the 5th floor had a 'slight' problem which the plumber was summoned to correct, only to discover the problem was much worse and required an emergency shut-off of the water for the entire building. This was discovered by us when Justin went to the kitchen to fill the Brita pitcher and found reduced water pressure. He checked the other rooms and found the same to be true. 

I called the lady in charge of maintenance in our building and she checked her water. They had none at all and set out to see what was going on. She found the plumber in the parking lot and got the scoop on what was happening and where. She stopped at my door and asked me to send off an e-mail to everyone reporting the emergency water shut-off and gave the approx. time frame for getting it back on. That's my part of the job here---communication. Meanwhile my downstairs neighbor was out on the sundeck talking with the plumber, after having discovered the reduced/no water situation. He asked me if the plumber was working in my unit, and I assured him that no, not me this time. I would certainly let him know if I was having a problem water-wise, believe me!!

I no sooner sent off the announcement before I was informed the water was back on again, so another notice went out behind the first one, with a generic apology for the inconvenience to folks. It was right around 7:30 when we discovered it, dinner time for many so I am glad we were all set before this happened. Jeff said to me, "Good thing I wasn't making soup!" which made me laugh. He regularly makes kettles of soup which we can smell up here, wonderful aroma, for his vegetarian wife to eat when he is gone flying. No water? No soup for you!!! 

What? Rain again?

 I am so glad that I got home from Victory's Bible study before this storm got fired up. This is the view looking south along the river, right after 12:00 pm. North FL is no stranger to summer storms, usually later in the afternoon for an hour or so, but this is now getting to be ridiculous. We have even been having rain or its threat in the morning hours when normally the rains would start after the hottest part of the day. Scratching my head....One good thing is that the FL aquifer is being replenished and even some of the lake beds in Keystone Heights have water in them again. The docks built many years ago now won't look so foolish going out onto dry land. 

Another repercussion of the rains is that Justin and his crew struggle to get a full day's work in, being caught in regular downpours which makes lawn maintenance difficult if not impossible. The other day he was telling me how he needed to hook ropes to the ride-on mower to pull it from a muddy yard, feeling a muscle strain  in his neck. The next couple times he got stuck, the guys instead put ropes around their middles and then walked backward to free the mower. Smart!, but working like oxen is not what they signed on for. The lawns water logged but still need attention. It's a royal pain to tend them when so soft. Other areas in our nation are begging for this rain, and I wish for their sakes that they get their wish!

Thinking of my auntie

Back in 2002 when I was still married and our family lived in The Preserve, my mom's older sister came for a visit for Justin's confirmation. Aunt Marie was quite a character, I really got a kick out of her. This was her first visit to FL, and quite possibly the furthest away from home than she'd ever been. It was great fun having her because this trip was so special to her, all that we did with and for her being greatly appreciated.

One reason she has been on my mind lately is because I had to search through old photos to find a baby picture of myself for a Ladies' Group event. In that search I found a photo of Mom and Auntie Marie looking at a scrapbook together at a picnic we'd had. It was the first scrapbook I'd ever completed, one made for my Auntie about her visit to FL. It was special to me and I hope it was to her, as well. 

My friend posted on FB this a.m. about being lulled to sleep by the frogs croaking out in the yard. That, too, reminded me of Auntie Marie. When Auntie was here in Orange Park, she was simply blown away by the racket the frogs made. They especially enjoyed our pond which was still getting finishing touches put on it before the confirmation party. She would go onto the back patio to listen to them start their singing and then to hear them end their song as abruptly as they'd begun. Once when talking with her daughter in WI on the phone, Auntie took the phone outside so Barbie could hear the frogs, who were, of course, quiet. So my auntie tried to coax them into singing for my cousin to hear. She'd go, "Ribbit! Ribbit" and wait for them to join her. They failed to join her song but she kept it up. Talk about funny!!

Barbie with Auntie, Justin, and me in 2011

Because work was still going on outdoors to ready our property for the pending celebration for Justin's confirmation, workman would be wandering around outside the windows. Auntie and Mom would sit at the table in the dinette and watch all the activity from there. Mom knew our guys, especially Michael, who'd been with us for a while already. He was around so frequently that the ladies got used to having him there. At one point when my relatives started to arrive, my brother-in-law looked up and saw this man in our yard. He wondered who it was  and Auntie said, matter-of-factly, "Oh, that's Michael, the houseboy..."  To this day I cannot think of Michael without thinking 'the houseboy'! He got married a couple weeks ago, which brought my auntie's description of him to mind yet again. Isn't it funny how these thoughts come in groups?