helping others, gift for me from strangers

I deliberately left this weekend 'light'.

That means I didn't have myself booked solid.

After all, it is a holiday weekend and invitations may arise from thin air...

and so they did.

i thank You, God.

One of those invitations was to the second work day for the upcoming VBS at Asbury Memorial.

I spotted the call for volunteers on fb, so I made a firm plan to be there.

Yes, even though it was to begin at 10 AM on a Saturday.

I made it by 10:30 and was promptly put to work by Tim Steinhausen to cut the kraft paper that would be used to protect the stage from paint.

 

Then I helped JayJay in his quest to make a sixteen-foot paper snake out of slips of neon green construction paper.

We developed an assembly line, with him drawing a design on each slip, then me curling the slip and stapling it in place for a reticulated beast.

We finished it, too, and I even fashioned a head for it!

 

I also helped Linda Combs with the mock-up of the Tybee Lighthouse that she was creating form duck cloth, black felt, and a triangular metal stand.

 

JayJay and I also made 'algae' from long strips of dark green plastic cut from tablecloths.

Karen Townsend also made 'algae', but from a lighter green plastic.

Then Bridget Kincade hung those long strips from the ceiling in both back corners of Holliday Hall, artistically creating an underwater area - very nice!

 

Meanwhile, Tim put Karen's son, Bernard, to work painting the 'ocean' onto the paper covering the stage, setting JayJay to helping with that.

 

By the time we left today around 2:30 PM, the stage had an 'ocean', a lighthouse, a couple of palm trees, and even a dock for the boat which was to be built.

Such fun!

I'm glad I was there to volunteer my services!

 

I wasn't home an hour when Christina called. 

She was in town, with Anthony, who had driven two people from Pooler out to Greenwich Cemetery to visit family.

Oh!

I had thought of going there when I left Asbury, but hadn't.

Off I went to meet up with them... and we passed each other on Bonaventure Road, them leaving as I was going in.

She texted to say as much, then added that they were going to Carey Hilliard's on Skidaway if I wanted to join them.

That's exactly what I did, too, after cleaning up shredded flowers for Mama.

(smile!)

 

Marie and Will were the couple Anthony had chauffeured, and that had been their first visit to his brother's grave in four years.

She was my age, he was 78, and they'd been together for over a decade.

I made myself sociable, sharing stories with them from my day of being creative, from my time in the Navy, from my time at college, from my own family there at Greenwich.

We five really did have a lovely time there together!

How do I know?

We were there for two hours!

And, at the end of the meal, Marie and Will insisted on paying the tab for all of us.

How very considerate of them to include Christina and I with their generosity!

I even came home with food: half of Anthony's shrimp salad and about a third of the large order of fried onion rings.

That latter will go into a frittata in tomorrow's breakfast!

Thank you, Marie and Will, for these unexpected bday67 gifts!