Friday, May 30, 2008

Update on Great Strides

A couple of months ago, I posted about Great Strides, one of the fundraisers for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. You, my blogging friends, were the first to respond. I spoke with one of the workers in the Tampa office today to check on my total. Right now the total donated to Great Strides in my account is $2155. Hooray! Thank you all again for your part.

Did you know that you can give to your favorite charity by using GoodSearch? You can download their toolbar to your computer, and when you are searching the internet, GoodSearch will give a penny to your favorite charity. A penny, you say? Every 100 makes a dollar. I have their toolbar on my computer, and yes, you guessed it, the CFF is my charity of choice.

When you go to the GoodSearch website, you will find different stores that will donate part of their earnings to your charity. It is a painless way to give. It actually costs you nothing. Try it out today.

Sunday, May 25, 2008

A trip to the museum

Bradenton is the home of the South Florida Museum. It is located just across the Green Bridge by the Manatee River. Our museum houses Manatee County's resident manatee, Snooty, who will be 60 this summer. When my children were small, I bought a family membership so that we could go whenever we wanted without having to buy a ticket each time.

The museum has recently undergone major renovations. Some of the exhibits still need to be put back in place. One day, after Christmas I was there, and saw this neon sign of Bradenton. When I was a little girl, we would go to Lacoochee to visit my aunt or to Starke or Trilby to visit my grandparents. Whenever we got back to Bradenton, I knew we were home because this sign was at the end of the Green Bridge all lit up. I felt like it was my special greeting, "You're home now."
I have no idea of the date of this garage, but just take a look at the price of gasoline...also look at the car. We wouldn't be wanting to ride around in a vehicle like that today, but in its time, it was probably quite the machine.
Fifteen cents a gallon? What did you pay today? Yesterday I drove to St. Petersburg to have lunch with a friend. Fifty dollars didn't fill my tank, and it wasn't even empty. But we got a good deal on lunch! B*nnigans has a lunch deal with 10 or so entrees and beverage for $4.99. My friend and I each had one of the specials and then we split that wonderful Brownie Ice Cream dessert. The total bill was $15 and some change. Such a deal. Spending the money for gas was worth it...good food and a good time with my friend.
Posted by Picasa

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

I've Got My Eye on You!

Instead of the good, the bad, and the ugly, this is all good. My son sent photos from Mother's Day, so I knew you'd be so glad to see them. I don't know how to make them bigger.
I'll have to get David to resolve that for me, but I thought you'd like to see newer pictures of Ella.
She's got her eye on you.

Sunday, May 18, 2008

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

In my opinion, last week was not a good one in Florida. On Mother's Day a young mother and her two children, 2 and 7, were murdered and mutilated...even the family dog. a "boyfriend" is being held.

On Monday, a pastor's plane was missing in North Carolina. Rev. Pollock, of Bell Shoals Baptist Church in Brandon, was flying with his son to a meeting in Texas. They flew to North Carolina to visit his mother. After takeoff from Asheville, the plane disappeared from sight. The plane was later found, with both the pastor and his son having lost their lives.

This gentleman had just led his congregation in the building of a new facility, preached the first message in the church three or four weeks ago, and now yesterday, his memorial service was held there. I encourage you to read about him here.

And then there are the fires in Florida. A number of people lost their homes to fires that were deliberately set. As I was watching the news, one gentleman was being interviewed. As he looked at the rubble that remained, he said that the only thing important to him was to find something of his wife's. When the reporter asked him if he found anything, he said he had...some of his wife's mother's jewelry. His thoughts were only for her. He became my hero of the day.

Early in the week, I opened the paper and looked at the obituaries. One was for a 25-year-old man. One always wonders if the death has been from an accident when one is so young. As I read through the obituary, at the bottom, it read, "Contributions may be made to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, All Children's Hospital, or Shands Hospital." My heart sank. CF sucks...the breath out of the lungs.

OK, where is the good? Nate and Tricia got to take their baby girl home from the hospital. What a miracle this has all been.

And, last, and certainly least, The Tampa Bay Rays are playing decent baseball for the first time in their career. They have been the laughing stock of MLB, but now they seem to have found the sorely needed pitching. They've been playing awesome defense and have some good hitting. Go Rays!

Monday, May 12, 2008

CF Walk


This is the group I walked with at the Great Strides Walk the last Saturday in April. These ladies work at Gevity, where Sarah works. One of the ladies had a nephew or cousin who had CF, and she got a team together last year. I joined with them. The totals are not all in yet, so I don't know exactly how much was given for Ella and others with CF. There were probably 100 people there that day for the walk.

Several have been held in the greater Tampa Bay area. One will be held this Saturday in Tampa at the Lowry Park Zoo. I'm tempted to go up for that one...it depends on the heat.
Posted by Picasa

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Loneliness

I saw the face of loneliness this past weekend. I have a friend who lives in central Florida whom I have known since I was 9. She was the camp director of the camp that I went to every summer after fourth grade. I went as a camper and then worked there during the summers in high school and college.

She had come to Florida in 1948 after graduating from Bible college and working for the government during the war. She along with another lady were the backbone of the camp.

She's now 86. Her co-worker died about five years ago, and my friend has lived alone since. We reconnected four years ago, and I began going over to visit her. Being from Pennsylvania, she's a great PSU fan, and so I would go over and watch football games either at her house, or seeking them out at a sports bar if they were not on network TV here in Florida.

I didn't get over this past season because I was in Virginia with Ella, but I received an e-mail from her stating that she was going to have a hip replacement in February. After she got home from rehab, she asked me if I'd come spend a few days with her. I checked my schedule and told her that I could come for a couple of days this past week.

I had told her that I would get to her house before noon, so she began looking for me around 10 in the morning. I didn't leave my house until 10:30, and I got there about five til 12. That was before noon, wasn't it.

In the afternoon we took a ride out to the camp, where she still sits on the board of directors. She showed me all the changes that have taken place. She is so proud of this place in Florida where she gave so many years of her life.

She has people who look in on her. Her neighbors are great, but she says, "I'm just so lonely." As I think about her, I think about the many elderly who are in a similar situation. While there, I began reading the book, Water For Elephants, which is the story of a man who worked with the circus. As he tells his story, he is now in an assisted-living facility. He says, "I'm 90 or 93. I don't remember which." And then he begins to talk about aging and looking at his hands and then his face in the mirror. "Who is this person?" he wants to know.

The weekend was a good lesson for me. Do I overlook old people? Do I think they are not worth my time? I pray to God that I will never lose a sensitivity to them or fail to be a friend.

Sunday, May 04, 2008

Back from Competition

First of all, thank you for your kind comments and encouragement in the last post. It's wonderful to have such good, caring friends in the blogosphere.

I mentioned a week or so ago that our Sweet Adelines chorus was headed for regional competition this weekend. We boarded a bus Friday morning and headed to Daytona Beach. After checking into the hotel, we headed over to the auditorium where the quartet competition was being held. Several of the quartets who sang have competed many times before, and there were quite a few who were on stage for the first time. Some are very polished, some a bit tentative. I said to the person sitting next to me that anyone who got up on stage and sang like that deserves a medal. I love to sing, but I don't know how I'd do in a quartet on stage.

After the quartet competition, our chorus met in a rehearsal room at the hotel and had thirty minutes to work on our songs for the next day. By that time, it was after 10, and some of us were quite hungry, so we went to the restaurant in the hotel and had a bite to eat. Fortunately, the restaurant was open until 11. They put about 12 of us in the VIP room, where we had a rollicking good time.

The next morning we had rehearsal again at 8:00. After breakfast, we had time to get in our costumes and makeup for our chorus competition. On the competition stage, each chorus sings two songs, one ballad and one up tune. The time cannot exceed six minutes for any chorus. Our songs this year were about rain, so we had very simple costumes...pink raincoats worn over lime green T-shirts and white slacks. Our footwear was white sneakers...very comfortable. Some years one wears fancy costumes with sequins and glitter. A chorus can be as creative as they wish to be. This year props were allowed on stage as long as it was all removed before the next chorus came on stage.

Our front row and members on the end of the top row used umbrellas with the choreography. They made a good impression with the judges. Our of sixteen choruses who competed this year, we placed eighth. That score sounds so-so, but we were happy with our score. We improved over last year, and like anything, there is always room for improvement. Each year the competing choruses get better and better and are very entertaining.

I'll be getting a DVD of our performance, so hopefully I'll get one of the songs posted so you can take a look.

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Another year gone by

Today is the sixth anniversary of my husband's death. A couple of weeks ago, I wondered why I was a bit down, and then I realized exactly what was going on. Even though time passes, as certain dates come, they bring with them a bit of sadness even though you think you're more removed from the actual date.



Last year I told myself that I wouldn't write again of it, but a few of you are new readers, and I wanted to share a little with you. If you care to read, go here and here.

Thanks for your encouragement.

Monday, April 28, 2008

Don't Postpone Joy

I have from time to time posted articles by Steve Goodier of Life Support System. Today's' just came in an e-mail, and I thought it would be a good one to pass along. The title of the blog is from a bumper sticker. Those three words say a lot.

JOY ALONG THE WAY
A senator once took Will Rogers to the White House to meet President Coolidge. He warned the humorist that Coolidge never smiled.

Rogers replied, "I'll make him smile."

Inside the Oval Office, the senator introduced the two men."Will Rogers," he said, "I'd like you to meet President Coolidge."

Deadpan, Rogers quipped, "I'm sorry, but I didn't catch the name."

Coolidge smiled. A sense of humor is a marvelous gift to have. It is one of the most important means we possess to face the difficulties of life. And sometimes life can be difficult. I deal professionally with issues which are critical: relationships breaking apart, people losing jobs, people facing serious illness or agonizing with someone close who is suffering, addictions, grief and heartache. Without a sense of humor about my own life, I don't know if I could survive! I take what I do seriously, but I try not to take myself too seriously. Like the New York City cab driver who said,"It's not the work that I enjoy so much, but the people I run into!"

Here is an experiment: look for and find as much joy as possible for one full day. Try to enjoy the people you run into, the work you do,your leisure time and your relationships. Don't forget to enjoy yourself - and take enough time to enjoy God. I believe that if you try this experiment for one full day, by evening you will bask in the glow of a rekindled spirit. It just takes a day to find joy along the way.-- Steve Goodier

Thursday, April 24, 2008

There's not much going on here. The weather is wonderful, not yet too hot. Most of the snow birds have gone back home, and we don't have the terribly congested traffic as we do during the winter months.

Our Great Strides walk is this Saturday at Siesta Key beach. Having never done this before, I'm not sure what to expect. On Monday I'm going to go to Tampa to volunteer in the CFF office. I offered to work on the computer. The lady I spoke with said that they never have volunteers who want to work on computers, so she was ecstatic. On Monday they'll be counting all the funds that have come in from the walks in the greater Tampa Bay area.

I've been putting off doing some things around my house. I have tile in my downstairs, all except the dining room and living room. The Groutsm*th came today and cleaned it all. It looks like new. I told the gentleman who came to measure and give me an estimate that I had been tempted to cover it with wood flooring. His reply was that cleaning the tile and grout would be a fraction of the cost of wood. And indeed it was.

If you ever need any tile or grout cleaned, I highly recommend the Groutsm*th.

The upstairs bathroom had black and white tile in a checkerboard pattern, and I decided it was time for that to go, so I'm retiling that floor and replacing my toilets in the two upstairs bathrooms. The old ones are as old as the house, so I figured it is time. I'm also going for the higher stool. They are so much nicer, especially when you're tall or the knees are a little stiff.

After I recover from this, I'm going to replace my carpet upstairs and on the stairs. When you get started and refresh one area, the other spaces all of a sudden look like they need redoing too.

My friend Peg (the other Peg) and I have been playing tourist. A couple of weeks ago, we went to the Ringling M*seum of Art. There was an exhibit of Grandma M*ses. If you ever come to this area, the museum grounds are a must see. The Ringling's vacation home is there, as well as a circus museum.

Yesterday we went to our local historical park and reminisced about days gone by here in our county. The gentleman who offered to be our guide has only lived here for three years, and I think he found it more interesting to listen to us talking about our childhood and our growing up here.

Next weekend is our Sweet Adelines regional competition in Daytona Beach. Our chorus has been working hard to polish up our songs, but we have a way to go. I still have a few notes to correct on one of the songs, so it's practice, practice, practice.

Have a good weekend, everyone.

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Happy Birthday, Peg

Meet my best friend, Peg. Today's her birthday. When I woke up this morning, I realized that I had not sent a card (nothing new.) Peg and I became very good friends when my husband and I began going to her church. Her husband was the pastor, and Peg and I hit it off and became fast friends.

Who knew that eleven years later that it would be Peg who would come to my front door to tell me that Don had been taken in a tragic accident. You see, a deputy from our church was at the scene right after it happened. He called the church to tell them what had happened, and they discussed among them who would come and tell me. Peg chose to be the one. I have no more words.

Two and a half years ago, she and her husband left the ministry here to take a new position with the Baptist General Conference, headquartered in Arlington Heights. Peg has become involved in women's ministry and recently traveled to Japan to do some conferences with missionaries and pastor's wives.

When she was at the airport (I think that's what she told me) she came upon these Sumo wrestlers. She said that in Japan they're idolized like football players are here in the States. Everyone had their cell phones out taking pictures. She asked her interpreter to please ask them if she could have her photo taken with them. As she said, "The photo speaks for itself."

Happy birthday, Peg. I won't tell anyone how old you are.

She always reminds me that she'll never catch up to me. And, yes, it's true.

For All Cat Lovers



My friend, Peg, sent me this via e-mail. With all the cat lovers, some with multiple cats, this is a must-see.

Monday, April 14, 2008

Happy Birthday, David

April 15, 1979. Easter Sunday and tax day. What a combination! I had made Sarah's Easter dress, but she didn't make it to church that day because Mom and Dad were at the hospital awaiting David's birth.
My friend who worked in taxes said, "This year he's the Easter bunny, but from now on he'll be known as "Form 1040." Someone said that he didn't need the word "boy" on this outfit to let everyone know he was a boy.
A thoughtful and caring son, David has always brought joy to his dad's and my life.
Now a husband and a father, he continues to be the loving, gentle, kind soul he was as a child.
Happy birthday, David. You are my sonshine!
Posted by Picasa

Quotes of the Day

These quotes showed up on my homepage this morning...some thoughts to ponder.

It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can stop him from lynching me, and I think that's pretty important.
- Martin Luther King Jr.

Hanging is too good for a man who makes puns; he should be drawn and quoted.
- Fred Allen

Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally.
- Abraham Lincoln

Wednesday, April 09, 2008

Great Strides

On April 26, Sarah and I will be joining Team Gevity for the Great Strides walk on Siesta Key Beach in Sarasota. An annual event, these walks take place all over the United States, led by friends and family who are walking for a cure for Cystic Fibrosis.

When I was in Virginia, I went to a CF Education Day with my son at UVA. It is not a kind of meeting that one would want to go to, but the more one can educate himself, the more one can understand and equip himself to care for the cystic fibrosis patient.

One of the highlights of the conference was an address by a physician from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. He spoke of new drugs that in the pipeline that could be approved as early as 2010. If approved, these drugs will make GREAT STRIDES toward the improvement of the health of the CF patient. A recent article in Business Week speaks of the excitement about this drug and the role that the CFF has played in getting the research done for this drug. I encourage you to read it. It is so encouraging to all those with CF, but especially for parents with young children who will benefit most from these new developments.

I read a post this morning by a young woman who has CF. I cried as I read her post. I think that she has expressed so well the feelings of many young people who have this life-shortening disease. Please read her post and leave a comment.

Many of you dear friends read my first post about Great Strides and so quickly made a donation, and I thank you all. I'm linking to my page again in case anyone new reads this post and would want to make a contribution.

Monday, April 07, 2008

Further thoughts on chocolate

After posting the photo of the effect of chocolate on one's hair (Go down a couple of posts to see Ella's hair.) I received this thought in an e-mail from a friend:

Can't eat Beef, Mad cow....
Can't eat chicken, Bird flu
Can't eat eggs, Salmonella
Can't eat pork, fears of trichinosis...
Can't eat fish, heavy metals in the waters has poisoned their meat
Can't eat fruits and veggies, insecticides and herbicides

Hmmmmmmmmm!!!!!!!!!!!!!
M M M M M M M M M M M I believe that leaves Chocolate!!!!!!!!

So I guess we'll have to put up with horrible hair!

Friday, April 04, 2008

Surprised?

I actually do take photos of subjects other than Ella. While I was in Virginia, I took the opportunity to wander some of the country roads around my son's community. Farmland is still in abundance although some development is taking place. Hopefully, laws are in place to preserve this part of the country.

The Appalachian Trail, the Blue Ridge Parkway, and the Skyline Drive are all close to this area. There are many Mennonite churches here, almost like Baptist churches in the South. I love being here because there is still Southern hospitality to be found.

It's interesting how we become accustomed to our surroundings and don't really pay attention to the beauty around us. I found that the longer I was there, I didn't find the views breath-taking, Living here in Florida (which I've done almost all my life) has almost the same effect. I've always taken the beauty for granted. It wasn't until a trip north in January once and then coming home and driving across the Sunshine Sk*way that I realized just how beautiful it is here and why people want to be here during the winter.

Beauty is all around us. We just have to stop and take a look.

Thursday, April 03, 2008

Warning!

I know Easter has passed, but I did want you to see what happens when you indulge in too much chocolate. Inside the plastic Easter eggs were chocolate-covered pretzels.
Yum-yum, they were good!
Here's what happens to your hair when you eat too much chocolate!
Posted by Picasa

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

Lungs for Tricia

Nate has posted on his blog that lungs were found for Tricia. She is in surgery now. Pray for all those working on her and for her family as they wait. You can follow the progress here.