Update #2

Hi all from sunny, warm southern LA,

We had a nice long visit with our son, Tim, and his girlfriend, Kat, in Jacksonville. They had us moving. We saw our first rugby game with two Australian teams. It was quite fast-paced, a little like football, but much faster, no helmets, no padding, no stopping to announce 1st and 10, just continual movement…it was quite exciting. One full day we spent in St. Augustine, visited Fort Matanzas, San Sebastian Winery, A1A Ale for dinner with Kat’s parents, Fishing in the Atlantic (too cold and a lot of wave action). Tim took Ken biking for over an hour through the wilds of the state park, switchbacks, hills, etc. Quite a bumpy road…then he put his father through the rigors of Frisbee. We did a lot of eating out at the local restaurants – mainly seafood. Nothing better than fresh fish or shrimp, only hours old.

The weather turned chilly – I can’t say cold because cold is what we have in PA. It got down in the 30’s and Tuesday it is to get down to the 20’s…brrrrrr. Our son says we always bring the cold down with us.

(left to right: Julie, Ken, Tim, Kat)

We left last Tuesday morning to head to Moss Point, MS. People are slowly coming back from Katrina’s devastation. Our campsite was reserved for us at Dantzler UM Church and they were ready for us. We have been going to Moss Point for the last four years and we could not pass our friends by and help them out a bit.

We worked on cabinets in the parsonage which had to take a back seat to the other destruction. Ken sanded and sprayed 57 cabinet doors and I helped him hand paint 14 drawers. They look exceptionally well and so white.

(Ken spraying cabinets) (cabinets lined up to dry)

We had a nice visit with Mrs. Finklea, the pecan pie lady and then went to visit Ernest and Callee Young. They were so excited that we had not forgotten them and came to visit them. Callee lost her mother in September. She was 98 years old. We reminisced and laughed with them as we remembered her little quirky ways. Ernest has prostate cancer, but he is in denial and says it isn’t bad. Callee knows how bad it is and she is quite worried.

Pastor David’s wife, Sandra, is a member of the “Happy Hookers”, a group of women that ‘hook’ rugs. She invited me along to their three-day event but I only went to an hour session.

This is one of their samples.

David and Sandra made sure our stomachs were filled. Another couple, LaVerne & Frank, also entertained us at their ‘fishing camp’. Their fishing camp is a lovely renovated house on 10’ stilts that is beautiful…not your typical fishing camp.

(left to right, Frank, Sandra, LaVerne, Pastor David)

We are now headed to Galveston, TX to more destruction. Talk to y'all later.

julie & ken