June 2007

This has been one of those days when you have time to  think and remember the important happenings in your life.

June 14 was my Father's birthday.  He died in 1979 but his memory is and always will be in our hearts.  He was a good Father.  I know Becky and Joann will back me on this - he was a good Grandfather.  He worked in the Steel Mill in West Virginia as a Foreman. 

He loved sports especially baseball.  He was a Yankee fan but I know if he were alive today I could convert him to be a Rays fan. 

He was so happy when we moved to Florida.  He attended all the spring training games at Al Lang Field.  He made friends at the Ball Park and had them out to dinner often. 

Joann remembers the big time we would have in our back yard for my Dad's birthday.  All the neighbors and friends would stop in for cake and ice cream.

Joann just reminded me of the time up north we were having cake out on our patio for my Dad's birthday and a wind came up and caught under the umbrella and the cake became an upside down cake.   Good thing we had a pan of brownies in case we ran out of cake.

And, Becky just moved her business in Seattle and she was absolutely shocked to see a bit of her Grandfather in her new building, which is really an old building.  The steel cladding encasing fire doors off the stairwells in the 80 year old industrial warehouse conversion are embossed with the words "Weirton Steel," which is where my Dad worked for over 30 years.  Every day as she walks in and out through those doors, she runs her hands over the embossing and says a prayer for her Grandfather.  He taught her to play baseball, soccer and how to throw a triple punch combination, which she used with alarming success on Paul Steadman and Al Lino, among other neighborhood boys.  I don't think she's used it recently, but then again with Becky, I can never be certain.

Love and prayers from here to there.

You did not hear from me yesterday because the storm we had knocked the computer out. 

We had warnings all day on the TV but still Joann went into town.  Bill was upstairs, he'd just come home from his Volunteer job. 

In addition to the thunder and the flash of lightning I could see around my apartment, there was a popping noise which sounded like a giant popcorn popper. 

My phone rang and even though I don't like to answer it when there is an electrical storm such as we were having, I did and it was Bill.  He wanted to know if I had looked out to see the hail that was coming down. 

Well, I don't go near the doors when there is a storm but he said "you gotta see this, the hail is as big as a quarter!" 

When I opened the door, the hail was beating against the storm doors but it no longer sounded like popcorn popping, with me standing in the doorway it sounded like a gun shot. 

As soon as I saw that the hail was in fact as big as a quarter, I closed the doors and got away from it pronto.

Then the phone rang again.  It was Bill again.  But this time he told me Joann was OK and that she would wait out the storm in the shopping center parking lot.  She finally got home about an hour later. 

After I got off the phone with Bill for the second time, the TV went blank and the power went off.  But the good news is the power came back and the TV was working in time for the game last night which my Rays won.

It has rained all day today until about an hour ago.  It is now 3:40 PM and the sun is shining brightly.  They say on TV the storm is moving south so look out my Florida friends, it's a whopper. 

Bill scooped up some of the hail and put it in the freezer to show James when he gets up here for Father's Day. 

Veronica can't make it, she has to work.  

There will be no patio sitting today - maybe tomorrow.

 Love and prayers from here to there  

This was one of the ho-hum days when you wish you had stayed in bed.  It has rained most of the day.   We need the rain so I must not complain.

No sitting on the patio today. 

So what to do - how about calling some of my friends.  I tried calling Wilma but got the answering machine so left a message. 

Let me try Adith.  She should be back from lunch by now.

She was!  We talked and talked some more.  It was like old times.  We used to talk everyday on the phone before I moved. 

Adith told me about her ailments and then I told her about mine.  Just talking to an old friend made me feel better.  It was about here that we forgot all our aches and pains and enjoyed just talking.  It was like a Therapy Session for me.   

After we hung up I opened the door to look out and the rain was still coming down but the sunshine was in my heart because I had just visited with my dear friend. 

Love and prayers from here to there.