I prepared as much of the Easter Dinner as I could today. I baked the Blitz Torte. Grated the cheese for the mac and cheese and got up the dishes. I also filled the Easter Baskets. I will put them out when I take Chelsea for her walk in the morning.

It snowed today. Not a lot - non stayed on the ground- the temperature stayed in the upper 30s and the road actually got wet as the snow melted on the warmer pavement. But it snowed. This is not what one wants for Easter Weather. One is supposed to be able to wear nice pastel dresses and straw hats with flowers on them and sandals just for pretty.

The choir will be singing at the 10:30 Mass. The last time with Steve directing us so we want to really be good. Then Jim and Bobbie and I will go pistol shooting and then we will have a lovely Easter Dinner at about 5:30.

I have a teeny Easter Basket and a bunny bell for Bobbie, Bill, Bart and Barb too. I hope they don't read this posting tonight. It would ruin the surprise.

Have a Blessed Easter and remember that HE IS RISEN and saved us all.


Love

Mary

Good Friday. The choir sang at the services. We are singing with such enthusiasm and trying to remember everything because we are so glad to have Steve Naffin directing us for these holy days. We will have him on Easter Sunday too. But he is ill and it is very hard on him.

Haven't heard from Bret, so I am going to assume that that means that he is doing VERY well and has nothing to report. Thank you for all your prayers.

I am going to share the reading from Cadfael's Book of Days. It was really super and worth sharing.

"Don't reach for your halo too soon. You have plenty of time to enjoy yourself, even a little maliciously sometimes, before you settle down to being a saint."

I need to get Easter Baskets out tomorrow.

Love

Mary

Hallelulah!!!!! Bret had his surgery at 7:30AM and I talked to him at 11:30AM. He sounded just fine and said everything went well. Thank you all for your prayers and thoughts. Now I can really rejoice this Easter.

The Holy Thursday service was very nice. Bob Born, a music teacher at Falls High school, played the organ. He is always a pleasure to listen to. As we didn't sing, I was able to be a minister of communion which is always a wonderful experience. I never grow tired or used to that. Maybe because of all those years that we were not even allowed to touch the Eucharist and received it on our tongue. Which was rather silly as it is supposed to be a meal and we feed ourselves at meals. Anyway, I find it a very moving experience to be able to be an extraordinary minister.

I took poor little Chelsea to the vet today for her heartworm test. She was a pitiful little thing. We always have to muzzle her because I think she probably would snap at them and then she would feel bad. (Ha Ha). He took blood and then her little leg bled a bit and he had to put alcohol on it to stop the bleeding. Poor baby. Well, she will enjoy the chewable heartworm pills throughout the summer anyway. Now ALL of the animals are set for about a year.

SALAD
9 cups torn mixed salad greens
1 can (11 ounces) mandarin oranges, drained
1/3 cup thinly sliced scallions
2 teaspoons unsalted sunflower kernels

DRESSING
3 tablespoons canola oil
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 tablespoon orange juice concentrate
1 1/2 teaspoons red wine vinegar or additional cider vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons chopped scallion
1/2 teaspoon ground mustard
1/4 teaspoon salt
Water


1. Make salad: Gently toss greens, oranges, scallions, and sunflower kernels in a large salad bowl.

2. Make dressing: Combine dressing ingredients in a measuring cup. Add enough water to measure 1 cup. Pour into a jar with a tight-fitting lid; shake well. Pour over salad and toss to coat. Serve immediately.


Per serving (1 1/2 cups): Calories 140, fat 9 g, saturated fat 1 g, cholesterol 0 mg, sodium 130 mg, carbohydrate 16 g, fiber 4 g, protein 2 g.


From Light & Tasty

The recipe is from our ChangeOne Diet and I am fixing it with the Ham dinner on Easter. It is really GOOD.

Love

Mary

Bret will have surgery tomorrow morning around 6:00AM. The angioplasty is so non invasive that he probably will be able to go home tomorrow evening. I sure hope so, then I will know that everything is OK. Please keep him in your prayers. I know this surgery is minor as far as danger but as I heard one time, I believe that Dave Barry said it, no surgery is minor if it is MY child.

We had choir practice tonight. It is so good to have Steve there to direct us and we do appreciate him pushing himself to do it for us. He is really exhausted as he is very ill but I hope he knows how much we all love him. He should from the enthusiastic singing he is getting out of us. Easter music is so beautiful.

Bobbie and Bill and Bart and Barb are coming for Easter Dinner. I found a little present for everybody and got the last of the Easter candy today. The Easter Bunny does come to our house you know.

"May dawn find you awake and alert, approaching your new day with dreams, possibilities, and promises."
John O'Donohue


Thanks for your prayers.

Mary

This was not a good day. Bret called this morning. He is back in the hospital so we need a lot of prayers again. It seems to be the same thing as he experienced four months ago. They though the balloon inserted by the angioplasty would solve the problem but now they may have to clamp off the offending blood vessel. I am very worried.

Please pray.

Love

Mary

We had a stimulating book discussion today. We were talking about love and expressing love for others and how it does become easier as we get older to do so. Perhaps we aren't so worried about rejection, or we are just more comfortable in doing so. Anyway, we had a lot to say about it. We just have two more weeks of the book and have agreed to continue meeting for a bible study. Liz said she would like to study Psalms so we are going to start with that. I love my Wednesday bible study group but it would be good to have a study group at Blessed Trinity and I would be pleased to be instrumental in starting it. I think we could grow. Spreading the word of Jesus is what we are supposed to do and knowledge and love will do it.

I guess this is a little bit of a rambling paragraph. But I just wanted to get some thoughts down. Enjoy tomorrow. I guess we will, BUT we have to take the cats to the vet for their yearly checkup. Always and adventure.

Love

Mary

We decided a year ago, when we got the cats, that this would be their birthday, so we can keep track of their ages. The cats are six now and Chelsea is ten. So on the way back from church, I bought a cake. I got a Pepperidge Farm Coconut cake so Chelsea could at least lick the plate. She was grateful.

It was a pleasant day but a busier one than I expected. After Mass, Jim and I went out to Rhine to join Bobbie in shooting and to my surprise, I was supposed to be working. So I did. It seemed rather quiet but we ran 16 teams through on a Lewis Shoot which is very good.

I hope you all remembered to "spring forward" with your clocks. One of my friends, still in the mortgate business, send postcards to her data base, telling them to turn their clocks back. I didn't call her because I am sure she heard from tons of other people and WHY rub it in. So far I am not feeling that I lost an hour.



Thought I would send a picture of (in order) Jim, Bret, Bobbie and Bart from Bret's visit last summer.

Enjoy your week.

Mary