third place! twice!

Ah, yes!!!

Just after 1 AM today, I was in the top ten for "Family Feud"!

That was with AARP Games, not the TV show.

I caught my score by chance.

Perhaps I could get on the leader board for a different game?

Holy cow, I did it, too!

At 2 AM, I made the top ten for "Right Again! Trivia"!!!

Content with those bragging rights, off I toddled to dream.

After breakfast, I checked in to AARP.

Did I still have third place for the trivia game?

Not only did I not have third place, I was not even in the top ten.

In fact, none of the folks who had been on that early morning list were still there at 10:40 AM.

Might the same be true for "Family Feud"?

Almost so.

None of the early morning leaders were still on board, save one.

That was MichelleP3257, who had slipped from first place to 4th, but was still there.

Did I try to win my way back on either list?

I did not, as I had an appointment at Savannah VA.

I'll be seeing my PCP, Susan Barker, on Friday and she had ordered blood and urine tests from the lab.

That worked out fine for me to catch the new movie, "Jurassic Park: Rebirth", timing my arrival perfectly for as it began.

Very good summer-fare flick with lots of jump scares!

I had just enough time when I got home to watch "The Princess Bride", which I'd taped from ABC last night.

As I told everyone at Music Bingo tonight, it was wonderful to be able to zip right past all the 'mercials!!!

I was able to watch it in very nearly its 98-minute running time!

As for the Music Bingo at Midtown Sports, Sandy was the only one of six of us to win any of the five games.

She took both the first game ('Songs that start with A', requiring a single Bingo line) as well as the third game ('TV Themes', requiring two lines of Bingo).

She gave the first win to a guy named Mark, who had tied with her.

Elyssa usually wins one, as does Marcia, but they didn't this time.

Marcia's daughter, Amanda, was there, as was Sandy's longtime friend Kelly.

My favorite game was the second one: 'BEERS'. 

That acronym stood for 'Beatles, Eagles, Elvis, Rolling Stones' - very nice and quite location appropriate!

I was treated to hearing six by Elvis Presley!!!

Heartbreak hotel, don't be cruel! Suspicious minds, return to sender! Jailhouse rock, hound dog! 

Oh, yeah, right place, right time!

My odometer confirmed that when I got home.

The mileage read: 242020.

I had to read it three times to make sure that was correct!

Very nice!

Just in time for "The Quiz With Balls"!

(smile!)

happy bday63 to my middle brother

"Happy birthday to you,

happy birthday to you,

happy birthday, dear Ronnie,

happy birthday to you!"

I admit, I was a little lost when I came to sing to you.

A young man was sitting on your pier and I hadn't wanted to disturb him.

He was obviously enjoying the sunny day and the sweet breeze as he fished there.

I hope you steered a fish to his line!

Such a lovely day this has been...

I was so busy looking at the water that I almost missed the heart-shaped cloud.

By the time I snapped the photo, the heart was missing part of the right side.

Mine, too.

I miss you.

flowers for two brothers

I have two brothers with birthdays in July, though one has stopped aging.

Ronnie is forever 58 years old.

At the beginning of this year, when Asbury Memorial posted the Flower Calendar, I checked the dates to see if any might be important for me...

and there it was...

July 6th.

The exact day of Ronnie's birth.

I immediately wrote my name as the donor for that Sunday's sanctuary flowers.

The first thing I did with my tax refund check was pay that $70 fee.

By that time, I had decided that act would be a gift for Smitty, too, as his birthday would be on the 9th, the following Wednesday.

Perfect.

The wording on the program today was as I wanted it.

Reverend Billy Hester, there for his last sermon before his summer break, was the one who read those words during the 'Announcements', looking at me as he did so.

Very nice.

 

"The flowers for today's worship service are given by Faustina Smith

in memory of her brother, Ronald Allen Smith,

and in honor of her brother Harvey Goodwin Smith's birthday." 

 

Thanks, Randy, for making that happen.

 

After the sermon, we had communion, as this is the first Sunday of July.

That's me, in my purple "Cancer shirt" that I wore specifically for today.

Ronnie's name is on that ribbon, as are those of Daddy, Grandpa Lee, Great-Uncle Sam, stepbrother George, and mother-in-law Pat.  

That represents five decades of loss to lung and intestinal cancers.

 

Candace sent an email to me early this week to ask what was to become of the flowers after the service.

Did I want to have them?

I told her I would rather they be part of the Flower Ministry and given to people whose day needed brightening.

Here are some of them, waiting to be delivered to folks recovering from surgery or illness, to folks going through loss adjustment after the death of a loved one, or people with special birthdays.

I am so grateful to be part of that blessing to others.

i thank You, God.

razzin' a phone 'mercial!

 

"Can ya see me now?
New eyeglasses!!!
Cream and brown, like buckeye caramels!
Happy birthday to me from the VA!!!
They actually arrived on time, but I just started wearing them.
Literally eye candy!!!"

 

That's what I posted on fb this afternoon, all caught up in making a change there!

Yes, it's out of focus, but it's supposed to be.

That's part of the joke!

 

Here's another joke: I cannot recall what phone company had that series of 'mercials.

All I remember is the catch phrase.

Guess that really wasn't what they were selling!

 

As for my glasses, it's just the frames that are new.

My sight hasn't changed for the last four or five years, so Dr. Urban just used the same prescription once more.

How about that?

When I checked out all the frames the Savannah VA would give me for free, I wanted to make sure I got something that looked very different from what I've had since the pandemic.

I almost ordered tortoise-shell frames, but then I saw these...

ah, yeah!

I think Cameo can speak for me about these!

 

"It's like candy (Candy), oh
You sure are sweet, sweet (Sweet)
You're so dandy (Dandy)
You're taking my appetite, but it's all right"

 

Back in the mid-80's, I danced every time "Candy" hit the turntable!

The music video always had me out of my seat, too!

That song was all over the radio, as it was a Top Ten hit.

Good times!

 

And now I have these lovely glasses to go with that memory...

and that song...

happy birthday to me!

bacon park fireworks party!!!

 

Live music!!!

I never did catch their names, but these two guys kept up a constant stream of tunes for three hours!

Sometimes one of them sang, sometimes the other, but those guitars were in action all the time!

I even got up and danced some!!!

Game tournament!!!

There were four pairs of corn hole boards set up for the tournament, which required an entry fee.

There were also three pairs of corn hole boards in the field beside the giant bounce-house slide!

None of us did any of that.

My youngest brother and his bride of absolutely 7 years were enjoying their spiked drinks, knowing they had me as their designated driver.

Hey, I was happy to be invited to this shindig!

That meant grilled burgers at their house before we came out -

very tasty! 

Peyton went over to the playground and hung out with her summer friend, Claire, that she met at the pool.

Nice that another 11-year-old was there!

In fact, there were lots of kids of lots of ages!

This was a real family event!

I even ran into one of my outlaw Melinda's youngest sister!

Rather, Robin saw me when I walked up to the singing duo!

She and I talked for a while, and she came over to greet Tony and meet Laura -

very nice!!! 

Turned out she and Dino were sitting just fifteen feet from us!

We were all awaiting the sky show, 

watching for the blue sky above 

to darken enough for stars to shine,

waiting as we ate boiled peanuts

and drank iced Fresca.

Oh, wait, that last part was just me.

(smile!)

Then, just before 9 PM, the show started!!!

We were set up to the side of a huge tree and the fireworks seemed to be shooting out of every branch, all the way up, bursting towards us!!!

It was as if we were in warp drive and flying through the Milky Way Galaxy at maximum velocity!!!

Wow!!!

I decided to venture across the field,

going over by the slide on the playground,

wanting to see the flashing lights above me...

success!!!

This was closer than I've ever been to the fireworks!!!

Not even at the Savannah Sand Gnat games or the Savannah Bananas games had I ever seen anything that compared to this!!!

I was close enough to see the four men working steadily behind the barricades to keep the show going!

When I turned to try to see my brother and his family, I saw only darkness until a bursting blast above brought this view of others, like me, in awe of the brilliant lights and sounds!

Such a magnificent celebration of the independence of the USA from England's rule!!!

No kings for us ever again!!!

We chose government 

by the people,

for the people,

of the people!!!

Hallelujah!!!

How blessed we are to have been born in this country where we have such freedoms and so many choices!!!

I am still so excited from this show tonight!!!

Thanks, Tony and Laura!!!

Ah-Earth, bEarthday, E-arth!

 

I do so love my A*List to have a side of science with it - so much more filling!

Yes, that's true, even when the science is actually science fiction.

Hence, the gobbledy goop as the post title!

All four of my movies this week were scifi, including the one at NCG.

I know, I know, my dance card up there only shows three suitors, but that's because I haven't yet gone to see "Elio".

That's not until 4 PM, but see it I shall.

It's important to my three-part theme this week, starring our third rock from the sun.

(smile!)

Those three movies are "Lilo & Stitch", "Sonic 3", and "Elio", none of which are first-timers in these dances with me.

It was my love of Elvis music that started off the theme.

I ventured out for "Lilo & Stitch" specifically to hear The King of Rock'n'Roll's voice.

Then I heard the science-minded geek in the cowboy outfit refer to this planet in the backwaters of the Milky Way Galaxy as "E-arth"...

and that was all it took to have me off and running!

(smile!)

I already knew which other two movies were needed for a trio, and all three were playing in cinemas this week!

I couldn't have done it like I wanted to without "Sonic 3" today, but this is the very week that NCG had it in their Summer Camp schedule.

Right time, right place!

I'm so glad that Laura's elder granddaughter was able to go with me.

She likes Jim Carrey, too, and had never seen this movie!

She has now!!! 

So Peyton saw the Donut Lord and Pretzel Lady celebrating Sonic's "bEarthday" with a banner, cake, and even a race to see if Knuckles or Tailz could beat him.

Hahahaha!

(smile!) 

Then, there's little Elio - that's pronounced "El eee oh", not "Eee lee oh" - an orphan who is now being raised by his paternal aunt. 

I really liked that she was in the military.

Still, the boy missed his parents and was sure they were out there in the stars somewhere, in a world that would welcome him, a world like CommUniverse!

They received his ham radio signal and fetched him there, too!

He was to be the Ambassador of ... then he stumbled with the name... "Ah-Earth"!

Priceless!

I'm looking forward to see this one more time at 4 PM.

(smile!) 

As for the other two movies, which are one and the same, it's the android's name that's been altered in spelling.

"M3GAN 2.0" is a much better movie than the first one was.

It's one of those science fiction flicks that's erroneously marketed as "horror".

That's a shame, because that error may steer away folks who would delight in this campy film with the clever puns and sentient robots.

I liked it so much that I was talking about it with Peyton and she wanted to see it!

I'm glad I was able to share that with her.

(smile!) 

six weeks to the day

"What's been six weeks? Oh, I bet I know! Today is Wednesday, isn't it? So you're gonna jibber jabber about laundry, aren't you?"

Yeppers! I've been meaning to go for two weeks, but something always came up.

"I know what it was last week: movies with someone else's grandkids!"

Correction: that's 'movie', singular, with Ivan and Peyton. They both went to the Bacon Park pool afterward. I went to another movie that night, but with Carolyn. 

"La di dah. I stand corrected. No movie with them today?"

Yesterday, Laura took him to Tampa to be with his two uncles. That was kinda sorta a last minute decision. While Peyton and I went to "Sonic 3" for the NCG Summer Camp Film Festival, those two left and we didn't know a thing about it until we were back at the house. Wild!

"Wow! That's just crazy!"

Here's what makes it even crazier: tomorrow is the seventh anniversary of Tony and Laura's wedding! I do hope she is planning to be back this afternoon. Maybe me and the girl child will return from our movie and find that has happened.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! You and Peyton are going to see "Sonic 3" again?"

Nope. That would be silliness. We're going to "M3GAN 2.0" at AMC. I'm having to rush right now because the washer I used stopped early in the cycle and had to be restarted. When Bridget, the attendant at SUDS, did that, she gave me a longer cycle, with warm water, and that tripped me up on my timing. I had started the wash at 11:45, which meant I should be done and back home by 1 PM, easily. The longer wash cycle that Bridget gifted me, coupled with the delay before I realized the washer had stopped that first time, has added another thirty minutes to my time there.

"Yikes! What time is the movie?"

On paper, it starts at 1:45. That means it really begins at 2:10, so that gives me a little breathing space. Still, I need to pick her up and I just got home.

"Well, don't let me hold you up. Move along!"

I'm moving, I am, but I want to show how my front yard. Doesn't it look so nice and neat? I've been working my Ryobi almost every day, either late in the evening or around 10 AM. Plus, the heat finally dried out the spiderwort, so I've pulled it up for the year. I have some new clumps out by the curb, not including Mama's liriope. The new clumps are wild lantana. That's from Asia, by the way, and isn't native to this area at all. I found that out a couple of weeks ago.

"Yes, dear. Now, tick tock, tick tock!"

Oops! Gotta go!!!