On her way home

This morning Linda and I were up early, even before Justin, to head out to the airport. I checked her flight first to make sure it was on time so we didn't waste a trip. We successfully got the luggage into the trunk, having gotten all the soda carried upstairs (16+ cases!), freeing up the space. Will need to restock!

We had the roads pretty much to ourselves and successfully got her delivered to the kiosk. A nice older man came over to help get her luggage out of the trunk and off she went. She texted me from the gate area, saying she was good to go. The best part of having to rebook was now she was changing planes in ATL rather than Denver, making for a shorter flight for her.

Justin, Linda, and I ventured out for dinner last night, the winds having quieted. Linda had not been to La Nopalera since she arrived so that was our destination. We left after The Five was over which proved too late for getting a parking place at La Nop. Cars and trucks were pulled up on the grass with no spots being available. Justin pulled right back onto the street and I directed him to the next driveway, which was Metro Diner. We had dined here for breakfast last Saturday but dinner is different. I had the patty melt, Justin the Vortex burger (two grilled cheese sandwiches, 1/4 pound meat patty, slaw, formed into a burger), and Linda ordered the stuffed beefsteak tomato. It had chicken salad in it. Justin and I ate half our sandwiches and took our side of soup home with us, too. Love their broccoli cheddar soup!

Linda and I had started watching "Les Miserables" but neither of us got into it. The run time was 2 1/2 hours but after about 45 minutes, we shut it off. They lost me with the teeth pulling scene---ugh! I can watch Law & Order episodes and not blink, but not teeth pulling. The DVD was a gift to me from Jackie V. for my birthday. I wonder if she's seen it. I should offer it to her for viewing at home. 

Time for me to go meet my lady friends at Grumpy's for breakfast before they head to church to clean. Good for them, for their dedication and ability to still do so. Terri had gotten some shots in her knees and seems to be doing better, for which I rejoice for her. Welcome relief! I'm feeling Grumpy today, especially after saying good-bye to my friend at the airport this a.m.

Weathering the storm

Linda's flight was cancelled so she didn't leave this a.m. as originally intended. Last night she was able to re-book for Saturday morning which was a relief. I was concerned about us venturing out in the midst of the storm to get her to the airport only to find the flight was cancelled or something. Whew! 

During the night, or quite early this a.m. I heard this shrieking sound. At first I couldn't identify it, but then thought it was a smoke detector. I got up to investigate and sure enough, it was my water alarm going off in the living room. Water was coming in behind the TV. Before Justin went to bed I asked him to get the roasters off the shelf of the pantry closet, which he did, grudgingly. He thought I was worrying needlessly but alas, I was not. 

I got him up to help me, as I'd already pulled the TV table out and turned the carpet back away from the wetness. Nuts! I was so hoping this wouldn't happen any longer. I am so thankful I opted to not replace the ceiling in this room the last time we had major leaks. Would have been a terrible shame! I am so thankful for the water alarm, which were a gift from Justin. 

The paint is bubbled on the wall, too, as you can see,  but hopefully will be okay once it dries

Fortunately, Linda never heard the alarm nor us up and about in the living room, far enough away from her room for it to bother her. I lined the enamel roasters with placemats to avoid hearing the drip, drip, drip. Justin laid dry beach towels down under the roasters after mopping up, and we went to bed. I was wakeful all night, waiting for the alarm to go off again if the leak spread to the French doorway, as its done in the past. Glad that didn't happen but I was still upset. Justin seemed to think we'd have no leaks since the storm was coming from the west, and I was also hopeful of such. But, that proved optimistic. Glad it wasn't worse than it was. We have a fan running to dry the area in hopes of saving the floor boards from additional damage. We shall see! Good thing it's behind the TV. 

A distinct honor

This morning I was greeted by this lovely and expressive sky. It reminds me of a herd of seahorses galloping toward the south. Others on Facebook said they looked like dragons. Yes, I can see that, too.

The water exercise class had to be conducted in the teens' pool as the pump had failed on the adult pool. Evidently this was discovered on Sunday late morning so I am glad I didn't venture out after getting home from lunch. The new pump was on its way, but until then, we were in the other pool. Good thing it was a smaller class today or we'd have been crowded. Kristy, the lifeguard, moved a speaker close enough to allow for music to accompany our exercises, which I am sure all The Palace got to enjoy, too. 

Some of us decided to stay after class to have lunch, moving back up to the other end so Marlena would have less 'traveling' to do with our meals, etc. As we sat around the table waiting for our meals the sky kept getting darker and darker. When we heard a clap of thunder, we grabbed our stuff and headed into the cabana. In another minute, big fat raindrops started falling, and the wind blew some of those drops into the cabana. Good thing we were in our swimwear! Kristy grabbed a patio umbrella and ran out to greet Marlena as she came from The Club with our food in boxes. She didn't even know it was raining until she came out!

I was just having fries today, ordering a double. I got enough for four people! The last time I had fries they were steak fries and a double order was enough for a meal. These were regular fries so I had a bounty! The other ladies had salads, of course, two of the meals coming with tempura shrimp. Debbie had the grilled vegetable salad, her favorite. And a double order of fries rounded our choices. 

I sent Justin a text message to ask if he was getting wet and his reply was 'no'. It's so funny the way storms happen here, with one area not getting a drop while we could not see across the river at one point. When the storm let up we ladies headed out, in full sunshine. Before we did, however, we saw the pump people go past the cabana on the street side, and soon The Club maintenance man came through. The adult's pool would be up and running for class in the morning!!! 

This afternoon my plans were to go to the Thrasher Horne Center for a check presentation from the ATT Pioneers to St. Johns State College, establishing a scholarship for PACE. Terri is the president of the Pioneers in this area. In the meanwhile, Justin actually did get rained out, rather, lightninged out, from work. Now he'll have to work on Saturday for a few hours to make up for it. His friends, Ron and Sarah, are supposed to have their baby today, with Sarah being induced so Justin wanted to use my car to drive to the hospital. Kay, my neighbor, was attending the event, too, so she drove us to the PACE event. 

                                 

Terri Thompson, President of the ATT Pioneers, and Destini Shaddrick, Executive Director of PACE Clay. 

There were about a dozen people there including some from a Pioneer luncheon where earlier they'd presented a check to another charity they'd raised money for during the golf tournament, TPC, in the spring. Terri's boss came and representatives from the college. One of Kay's friends from the Rotary club to which she belongs has been instrumental in getting our young friend, Tay, into St. Johns State College. Ann has assigned a person from St. Johns to serve PACE which will be an awesome advantage for the girls wishing to move into higher education. 

Tay looked so nice, wearing all black with a cotton jacket over her outfit which she wears for work. Another friend from Rotary got Tay a job in a flower shop, the same shop we use for our church bouquets. How about that? The main part of the event, aside from the presentation of the check, was the photo portion. Many different groups were photographed, and Destini requested a photo of only Tay and me. I was so touched. And I was honored to be included in this momentous event for the girls at PACE. 

Kay and I offered to drop Tay at home so Destini didn't have to run over there, as it's on our way. Kay offered to take Tay to the store if she needed anything so we stopped at Dollar General so she could run in for a few things before we dropped her at her sister's house. Tay is having some transportation problems for getting to work and potentially to school so we have our thinking caps on to see what can be done to help her out. Perhaps Kay's Rotarians will have a workable solution. It seems no buses run where she needs to go. 

When Kay and I got home, I saw that my car was still there. Justin was going to get a haircut before going to the hospital but he changed his mind and plans. The baby hadn't come yet and a friend knows someone in beauty school who needs people to practice on, so no haircut either. He ordered pizza for our dinner, complete with garlic knots, so we were all set! Justin and I watched 'Wheel...' and then Jeopardy! before retiring to our rooms. It was a very good day, and humbling as well. So much for which to be thankful!

Bad TV

Sometimes when I am ready for bed, I have to go to sleep without my TV show of choice, "Law & Order". One network carries it several nights a week and I can easily drift off to sleep while listening to the episodes. Other nights I must find something else to lure me, including "Blue Bloods". BB pales next to L & O as far as writing and acting goes, but does the trick for aiding my sleep, or passing my time, as the case might be. 

Once in a while there is a desert of available programs along those lines for me so I switch to a sitcom. One such show is like a guilty pleasure, though pleasure might not be the best word. It is a horrible show, "The King of Queens", featuring Leah Remini, comedian Kevin James, and Jerry Stiller. Jerry played George's dad on "Seinfeld". Once in a while his real life wife, Ann Meara, appears as the mom of a family friend, Spence. On the order of "Seinfeld", the ensemble includes misfits, relatives, and friends from work. This show also crosses over to "Everybody Loves Raymond", as Doug is a long-time friend with Ray. 

The relationship between Carrie and Doug is fractious, not dissimilar from that of Debra and Raymond. The wife is the 'smart' one and the husband is portrayed as a bumbling dolt. Sometimes the morals of each spouse are questionable, as lying comes easily, doing dishonest things, thinking only of themselves, etc. To get ahead, anything is game, even taking advantage of Carrie's father, who lives in their basement. They hire a local dog walker to take Arthur out once a day for a walk. Arthur hangs out a Senior Center and bilks his fellow members out of money, telling them he will handle their traffic tickets, etc., but, of course, pockets the money instead. 

Doug is irresponsible in his marriage and relationships, but holds down a good job delivering for IPS, wearing a brown uniform. He is a big guy who loves to eat and watch sports on TV. Carrie works in a law office and clamors to move up in the company, no matter what she has to do to make it so. Sometimes their antics make me so uneasy that sleep is most welcome! I can listen to murder cases being solved and to court room drama much more easily than this wife belittling her already 'littled' husband. They say they love each other but it's hard to imagine sometimes. 

"The Middle" with messy kitchen counters 

A couple nights ago a program came on that I don't ordinarily watch but the remote control was over on the night stand and I didn't go to get it. The TV show is "The Middle" and the mom in that show is the one who played Debra on "....Raymond". Not being familiar with the premise, the family was taking a road trip and the mom had arranged with the neighbor to take in the mail. While they were on the road, the neighbor called to report their home had been broken into and ransacked. They came right back home to find the neighbor and police in the house, sickened and horrified at the terrible wreck they found. 

The bad part was---there was no break-in, this was how they left their home! It did look ransacked, and the policeman said the bad guys were animals for doing this to someone's home. Gulp! I turned the channel before seeing how it played out, if they used their vacation time to clean up their house or what. Glad that wasn't the last thing I saw before going to sleep, even though my desk isn't much better!

House arrest begins

Ever since I moved in here at The Palace there's been discussion about the road that leads from the main street down to our building. It's been battle-scarred by years of wear 'n tear plus tree roots pushing the asphalt up, like driving on a bombing range. I attribute many of my former car's aches and pains to this very rough terrain. Some of my neighbors have wanted to resurface our parking areas but I was resistant to such since it was pristine compared to the road coming down here. 

5 guys and one jack hammer began process of breaking up the raised paver area, quite the wake-up call this a.m.

Now, we are having it all done at once and with much less cost than expected, due to The Club having paving work performed. With some arm twisting, the other two associations that use the same road as The Club and us agreed to pitch in for the repaving, and away we go!

Since our access in and out was going to be extremely limited plus our parking area under construction, we had to park elsewhere. Plans were made for us Palace residents to park at Winn Dixie, which is way too far away for most of us. My neighbor, Rosemary, said she'd go and get my car for me if I wanted to go away but I'd still have to hike up the hill to the main street. My upstairs neighbor arranged for us to park at his church which was closer and on this side of Hwy. 17, but still about 5 blocks away. My other neighbor arranged for parking at her office which is about the same distance away the other direction. I asked the Chef if I could park at the tennis courts and just leave my car there, and he said, "Absolutely!", so that's what we did. I can see my car from my front door, on the far side of the pools. 

Here's the giant scraper that removed the layers of blacktop. This was only one of several pieces of equipment used for the job. One machine pounded the area where they had begun with the jackhammer. The pounding shook the building, rattling the pretties in my kitchen window!

Yesterday Terri told Gretchen that I was going to be a shut-in due to this resurfacing and Gretchen laughed until she nearly cried. She just couldn't believe this was happening. I am so glad that Gretchen had a good belly laugh over my situation! She called in the late afternoon to talk to me about it, that sweetheart. 

Justin had made plans to stay at Jesse's so he could get to work but he was making sure I had enough food to sustain me. He really didn't have to be worried about me, I have food in the freezer and lots of neighbors! We stocked up at Winn Dixie on the basics and ordered pizza for dinner so I'd have plenty of leftovers from that. I am going to be just fine. 

Let the adventure begin!

Justin's birthday!

What a crazy celebration it's been! Not wild crazy but out of order.  I will explain that later. Justin is now 29 years old, and this year I was here to be with him for his special day. Actually, it is the mom's special day, truly, but I will not buck the system on this. Justin weighed 7 pounds, 4 ounces and was 19 1/2" tall when he was born, was the length of his father's arm from elbow to finger tip. He is not that any longer, now being a full grown man. I consider him to be my boy but to everyone else, he is man.

Justin and his long time church friend, Robbie, December 2015

Justin has chosen to dine at Carrabba's for his birthday the past couple years when I've been in town to celebrate with him. This year was no exception with those plans made for tonight. However, I also had a Board meeting to attend where important matters regarding our upcoming repaving project and its ramifications would be discussed. Oh, oh....what to do, what to do??

We talked about it and came up with an alternative plan of us having his birthday meal on Monday night instead. It worked out better this way for his friends whose work schedules allowed the actual birthdate for them to celebrate Justin. When I said something about it, he said, "I was keeping my birthday for you...." Aww! Love that guy! Anyway, I enjoyed having him to myself at Carrabba's and he will love his sushi dinner with his friends over in Mandarin tonight.

The other day he reported his work boots were breaking down and I offered to replace them for his birthday present. He was fine with that, gave me the size to get, etc. When I asked him about going to buy them, he told me he changed his mind. Oh, oh! That meant I had no presents for him other than renewing his license plates for him. So thankful for Amazon Prime membership and wish lists stored there! Two of his gifts arrived today and another is coming this week. He is happy to have the items he listed which will be a blessing for their tailgating during football season---weights for their canopy plus a fabric fold-out table with cup holders, much like my fold-out chair for the beach. Cool!

At this writing he has likely finished his meal at the sushi and mongolian buffet place, and the players are out chasing Pokemon GO creatures. Yes, they are 30 year old and 29 year old men, chasing Pokemon characters. Hey, it's his party, he can play what he wants to! 

I had my own fun today, starting with water exercise class and then immediately changing clothes to head to Mandarin for the Over 50 Lunch Bunch gathering. This time we went to the Golden Corral where I haven't eaten for perhaps 9-10 years, if memory serves. I think I ate at the OP store with the Ross's when Christopher was in grade school, a fund-raiser for his school. That is a long time ago! At first I was not going to attend but since Terri was picking up Gretchen for it, I agreed to go. Only 10 of us this time but it was still nice. Such good food and only about $8 per person. Not bad for all one can eat, plus cotton candy to go! I had my funeral meal of meatloaf (delicious!), mashed potatoes (delicious!), green beans, and a piece of fried chicken. Plus a couple cubes of Rice Krispie Treats which were intended for the chocolate fountain. I ate them plain, thank you, also on my funeral menu sans the fountain. 

The right side of the table is Linda Henry and her friends, and on the left are Julaine and Fausto, Gretchen, Terri, with me on the end.

Then, tonight was the building's Board meeting, conducted on the sundeck. It was hot but the sun was already behind trees. Rosemary brought a cake, plates, napkins, and forks to celebrate our Association president's birthday which was most gracious for her to do. She is the same lady who offered to drive me to my car during repaving. Sweet lady!  She gave me a nice big slice to take to Justin, and that was before she even knew it was his birthday, too! 

There was thunder in the distance so we needed to move things along. It was a contentious atmosphere from the attendees and the weather! The rep was there from the management company with whom many people have issues. It was a bit embarrassing but I guess I understand some of the frustration. Because no one from the building had agreed to serve on the Board as treasurer or secretary, it had to be outsourced, and apparently many are disgruntled about that. Losing our long time maintenance lady, Connie, really hurt many people, and certainly the building as a whole. But being abrupt and belligerent won't change what's happened. As the storm neared, I'd had enough and went upstairs, since the meeting was nearly over. No sooner did I get in the house and the heaven's opened! That was close! I hope Rosemary saved the cake. 

I have to keep quiet

Lately I've spent too much time talking about politics and reading articles, listening to podcasts (that will not end) and am finding myself close to arguing about politics. I have to learn to not rain on other's parades, not try to stem their glee, and point out the obvious problems with the person they are supporting. I can talk with them about the local races, less contentious a topic than on a national level. In a case like this, there is little hope of changing anyone's mind, especially if that is not my goal. Usually I am mostly defending my opinions on the recent nominee running for president, getting many of his votes simply because of what his last name is not---Clinton! And, no, I don't want her to be president, a question I've answered in the negative numerous times. I simply don't believe the alternative is the answer. 

"The devil you know versus the devil you don't know...." 

Many years ago when my sister-in-law and I were both taking classes at the technical college near our home town, Marian struggled with her composition class. I was taking bookkeeping and struggled with that. We teamed up so we could help each other---perfect! One paper she was writing was about smoking. I jokingly asked, "Pro or con?" and she answered me, "Well, pro, of course, because I smoke...." Yes, you do. Okay, so in order to justify being unable to quit or not wishing to recognize the negative affects on her health, she chose to find or look for positive things about being a smoker. 

Sadly, I cannot remember what actually was a plus, but her comments to me have remained symbolic for why we do the things we do. People can explain something away or ignore the bad stuff entirely, as if it doesn't exist. I equate that type of thinking to Marian's paper, gotta find a way to justify or affirm a decision even though there is plenty to show the negative. 

In my favorite place, watching "Law & Order", (how interesting that he wants to be the law and order candidate??? Scary some?), there is an episode, one of which I am not fond. The story features a father that lords it over his daughters and their step-mother, who, it was revealed, he married only to take care of his kids. The kids adored their father, were worshipful of him, even though he basically bullied them into submission. 

They couldn't really see it, felt as though this was the only way to live. No sleep overs with friends, not accepting anything but A's on the report card, no family visits because "my father only wants what is best for us." "Someone has to be the leader" said his wife, whom he later described as a 'stupid cow' for speaking up from the stand. Even when their biological mother, from whom they'd been kidnapped, came to claim them, these young ladies shrieked in horror at the thought of no longer being with their now sentenced father. No matter how awful their life was, they were willing to continue it. They didn't find it awful any longer, having gotten accustomed to his 'leadership'. 

Why am I writing about this? I do stop short of referring to this as a 'Barabbas situation', though some of the rationale is the same. I think people are simply blindly accepting of the candidate despite all the negatives, many of which are not known or are ignored, simply because they don't want Mrs. Clinton in the White House again. Frying pan into the fire, I say. Scratching my head, truly, because what can a voter do now, one who has a conscience and convictions? Look the other way? or is it look the other way!