C.S. Lewis

I went to an adult ed class this morning on the Chronicles of Narnia. Dad and I watched Ted’s movie Friday night and enjoyed it very much. I have never read the book “The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe”, but saw the play in Lakeland with 3 grandsons and one granddaughter, and am very familiar with the book. This was the second week of a 2 part lecture on it and I couldn’t imagine what our fabulous Bible Study teacher could talk about for two weeks in regard to this book.

It was great…. I mean, really great. I just wonder who in our family has read the The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe and the other 6 books about Narnia? I’m all inspired, now, and want to read all of them. You all would really have enjoyed the class.

The other 6 books are: Prince Capian, The Horse and His Boy, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, The Silver Chair, The Magician’s Nephew, and The Last Battle.

Louanne will continue the lectures and we will read all of the above, then discuss. Dates aren’t set, yet, but if anybody wants to come, let me know.

Saturday April 29

Today started as a pleasent day and got better. Julie was off to play tennis and I left to meet Jeb and watch Kelly play soccer. Kelly was a very determined player but her team was undergirled. They did, however, shut out the other team’s goalie by not letting her touch a single ball. We left for our house and to meet Mom and Ted for a lunch of hamburgers and hot dogs with ice cream for dessert. Ted and Jeb then proceeded to complete a list of “to do’s” I made. They cut the lawns, trimed the three sisters, the nandinas, the box woods, the hedge on the side of the house, the azelias and cleared the dirt and leaves under the deck steps. Since Jeb cut the grass I didn’t have to give up my coupon from Ted. Kelly beat me in a putting contest and received the first metal trophey she had ever received. She was able to run the “around the house” course in 20 seconds and then Jeb and Ted tied at 19 seconds. I didn’t try it. After we all agreed an a job well done we proceeded inside the house and had a drink. My thanks to Jeb, Ted, Mom and Kelly for a very nice day. Dad

D. J.

Pamela Sue S. is our neighbor who has a condo above ours in Mulberry. I called her last night to tell her that we would not be coming down because Dan will have another catherization on his heart next Tuesday. She immediately said that she would pray for him. I have many Jewish friends, but I don’t think any of them have ever said they would pray for me. I appreciated that.

Then she told me that Dennis’ son, D. J. who is 26 years old has gotten his girlfirend pregnant and he wants Dennis to pay for a wedding. Well, Dennis, said that is the bride’s family responsibility, but knowing Dennis, he will probably end up paying for the wedding. Dennis is the person in charge of the upkeep of our condos and he is a really great guy.

D. J. has never had a real job, but now that he is going to have a wife and a baby, he decided he should try to get a real job. Dennis told Pamela Sue yesterday morning that D. J. had a job interview yesterday morning and he was so thankful that he had actually gotten an interview. Pamela Sue told Dennis that he should put some money in the poor box at the Catholic Church (keep in mind that Pamela Sue is Jewish) and Dennis asked if she would do it for him. She said “well, you should really light a candle, too.” So, Dennis pulled out a $20 bill for the poor box and two $1 bills to light candles for both of his sons. Now, Pamela Sue was going to the YMCA to work out and doesn’t like to have anybody elses money she is responsible for, so she went straight to St. Josephs Church, downtown Lakeland. She looked all over for a poor box, but could not find one. She saw a little old (about 90) man who was stooped and she went to him and asked him if he could tell her where the poor box was. Turns out he was a visiting retired priest. He said he didn’t believe there was a poor box. So, PS said she would just give the money to him and that he could pray for D. J. that he would get a job. The priest said he would make sure the money got to the poor, but that he would pray for him right away. This was at 11:00 a.m.

Later on that day, Dennis told Pamela Sue that D. J. had actually gotten the job at noon.

Nicole and Beth

Nicole and her Pyshic Hearts Band played in New York City last weekend and Elizabeth (Beth) came to the performance. They got to visit about 30 minutes and both of them enjoyed seeing each other. Beth sent me this photo. I’m so glad they got together. Way to go, girls!

bethnicole.jpg

Spanish

I don’t believe it myself, but I went for my first Spanish lesson this morning from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. at Saint Joseph’s Hospital (you cannot write St. Joseph’s because St. is the abbreviation for street). This was advertised as “Beginner Spanish”. There were 9 people in the class and every one has experience with Spanish except for you know who. They actually started with Lesson #12, verbs, page 31! I don’t really think I’ll ever catch on to any of it, but I’ll go when I can and hope they start a really beginner’s class sometime. Nice instructor, though, and an interesting class.

I worked 2 shifts after that. I worked Admissions this morning and Flowers/Cards/E-Mails this afternoon. I liked both departments. In fact, I like the whole thing. In the Flowers, etc. session, we deliver those to the patient’s rooms. That’s nice and cheerful.

Saint Patrick Day

I cooked up corned beef, potatoes, carrots, cabbage, raisen bread, chocolate/pecan pie, and invited Ted, Jeb, Kathy, Kelly and Claire over for dinner. Grandaddy went out and bought some Guiness Beer, and we offered Irish Coffee. Now, how more Irish can you get? Creative Claire got out the bag of Mardi Gras beads and old jewelry and decorated her dad. We had a fun time.

Next day, (today) Jami, Grant, Fiona and Michael came up and spent the day with us and we finished off all of above. It’s fun to be with our kids and grands. Thanks for coming, everybody!

jebclaire.JPG

Saint Joseph’s Hospital Volunteer

I had an interview today to volunteer at Saint Joseph’s Hospital. I had the mistaken idea that all I had to do was call them and tell them I was interested and they would say “can you start tomorrow”. No way. My interview lasted one and one-half hours. I was informed that I have to join the Auxilliary (minimum $15.00 per year if you work 100 hours), That’s just the beginning. I have to go to an orientation meeting that will last about 6 hours on April 27th, I had to be tested for TB today and have to go back next Tuesday for them to check me, then have another test on that day. I have to buy my own uniform (navy blue jacket, white blouse, white scrub pants, tennis shoes. But, I am not to buy those until I go through orientation. Then, I have to be trained by an experienced volunteer in 13 departments, and each one is a 3 to 4 hour shift. They suggest that I get in one department a week, but I can do more if I can work it out. I will be in uniform when I do this. There are 17 different departments I can volunteer to work in.

Once I get all of those hours in (about 50), I can sign up to work as a volunteer in the areas I like the most. There are all sorts of meetings to attend during the course of the year.

Perks? I will be able to park free when I volunteer in uniform, I will get a free meal in the cafeteria when I work (after I complete 25 hours) as long as it doesn’t go over $6.50, and I will belong to a group of about 300 volunteers, I could get a free flu shot each year (but I already get that at Kaiser), and somehow or other Dad and I get discounts on hospital visits (whatever is the balance after our insurance kicks in). Also, I get to be tested annually for TB!

So there you are. I’ll be volunteering sometime this year at Saint Josephs Hospital (I can’t write St. Joseph’s because it is against the policy since St. also stands for Street), but probably not until July or August. I found out that Peggy Cashin is currently in training.

Nicole Spends the Night

Nicole emailed this week and asked if we were doing anything Saturday night. I answered her that it was wide open, so she replied that she would come to see us about 4:30 or 5:00. Grandaddy and I were very excited that our #1 grandchild was coming from Athens for a visit, so Grandaddy said “let’s get tickets to ‘Good News’. I wasn’t sure there any were available since it is a dinner/show, but I called Friday morning and they worked the 3 or us in. Nicole came about 6 and we went to the show. It was so good (as all of these Street People Shows are). We visited until 12:30 a.m. and all went to bed.

This morning, we went to 9 AM Mass. We were very proud to show Nicole off to our friends. Charlotte Keller came over to our house for a visit after Mass and we enjoyed talking with her areound the kitchen table. She left, and we just kept sitting there and Ted came over. So, the 4 of us had lunch and Grandaddy told stories about when he was on the SS Bennington in the Navy.

Nicole left about 1:30 or 2:00 and Grandaddy and UT went to Pike’s to get some weed control stuff that Ted is now putting on our yard. We have such good children to help us out!

Aren’t we lucky?

TedNick.JPG

Fiona in a Musical

We went to Athens today to see Fiona in a musical at her Episopal Church Nursery School. The children were just precious – all dressed up in their finery with paper crowns decorated by each one full of hearts and jewels. Fiona lent her good friend, Katie Grace, a pretty necklace to wear and Katie Grace, being such a good girl, came right up to Fiona as soon as the muscial was over and returned the necklace. The program lasted about 20 minutes, max. Then we were served cheese pizza and salad (both pretty good actually) and Valentines Cookies in different colors. Fiona ate a pink one. That’s her favorite color.

The pastor of the church is a lady and they call her “Mother”. I thought that was pretty funny, but actually they couldn’t call her “Father”.

Michael was quite good. He loves Fiona’s school and would like to be attending, himself. He’s trying to talk a bit, still laughs about everything.

We went by to see their house under construction. It’s going to be beautiful and huge. They got a contract on the house they are living in this morning and it’s close to the asking price. Yea!

We visited a while at the house afterwards and Grandaddy put on a puppet show for us. It was soooo funny. We should have gotten him a puppet house a long time ago. He’s really good at this!

A fun day.