Aunt Kathleen's 80th birthday party was just wonderful. There were SO many people there. And we are all related. I saw cousins that I had not seen since they were just little and cousin's children that I had just heard about.

I saw my godson, Jim Ayers, who lives in Texas, and his wife and three children. I told him a story. Daddy and I were his baptism sponsers. After the ceremony, Aunt Kathleen and Uncle Leo had a party to celebrate the event at their home. This was quite a party. The Ayers had 6 children, including Jimmy. There were nine of us.

Randy, my youngest brother, was about three years old and a spoiled little person was he. He is 16 years younger than I am. Of course, everybody was raving over this beautiful baby Jimmy, the star of the party. Apparantly, Randy finally had enough of that. He was used to being the center of attention. He walked over to the bassinet, looked Jim over carefully and stalked off with the following statement. "He doesn't have any teeth."

Hope your day was as good as mine.

Love

Mary

Marlon Brando died this morning. Such a talent. Dick put it in perspective. I was commenting on the fact that he had let himself go in the past 10 to 20 years and Dick pointed out that the man was 80 years old. At 80, any person has had a long life. He "did it his way." He also left something of himself behind on film and with his children, all and all not a bad legacy.

Tomorrow, poor Chelsea will get a bath. She is quite dingy and has a spot of something or other on her ear. I must do it tomorrow because we have been invited over to Bobbie and Bill's for the Fourth of July and we could not possibly take a dirty puppy to visit "the Goddess". We refer to Bobbie as the Goddess because Chelsea adores her.

I will end with a quote from Cadfael. I do find the daily readings form the Book of Days to be always interesting and often pertinant. This was from June 18.

"If there must be fighting, if there must be deaths, let it happen as God wills, not as ambitious and evil men contrive. Those lives we cannot save, at least let us not help to destroy."

With all the talk of war, death penalty and abortion it seems very timely.

Love

Mary

Mother and I went to pick up her new eyeglasses today. Boy do they look nice. She has them JUST in time for Saturday, which is the day we will be celebrating my Aunt Kathleen's 80th birthday. I hope everybody notices the change. They are pretty obvious with no frames around the glass and just a touch of color on the side provided by very delicate bows.

Aunt Kathleen was actually 80 in January but she and Uncle Bob were "south" for the winter so her children are having this surprise party on Saturday. Uncle Pat and Aunt Joan will pick Mother up for the dinner. Aunt Kathleen has seven children with spouses and grandchildren. Later there is a reception to which EVERYBODY is invited. It will be good to see all the cousins again. We do get along. They are part of what I consider Comfort People. We may not see each other often but we are part of each other's roots and core and history and time does not separate but just waits for us to be together again.

Mom and I picked up a few plants at a nursery on the way. She is so disappointed in her garden. It does look rather pitiful. We purchased more petunia, marigolds, salvias and some herbs to fill in her herb garden. Hopefully the weather will continue warm and things will begin to grow and produce.

I stopped at church after I dropped her off and lit another two candles at the St. Joseph Statue. I want him to keep interceding for a quick sale of Bart and Barb's house in De Pere. They are close to closing on one in Oklahoma. They were going to rent but are finding that it is JUST as cheap to buy. Prayers for a quick resolution of that too. Please.

Well, I believe I will go down to the den and continue quilting my Flying Geese quilt. I have a goal. I want all the geese quilted before we go to Canada.

Have a nice evening.

Mary

I thought I would talk about bunnies today. There is a reason.

Years ago, Aunt Nonnie trained a little bunnie to actually come and eat out of her fingers. It was quite cute. Aunt Nonnie was a strange little person but she did love babies and animals.

The nest story I have to tell is a sad one.

I was walking with Chelsea this morning and ran into a gentleman in front of his house. He told me that he had let his son's dog out the back door that morning and immediately saw a mother bunny running away trying to distract the dog. Then he saw several babies running the opposite direction just as the dog saw them. A couple of the babies were killed by the dog and he felt so bad. It is hard to be angry with a dog who is just acting according to his nature. And we certainly are not going to miss a bunny or two in this neighborhood. But one does feel so bad that a poor little creature dies so violently.

Zero, my previous dog, did that once. He got a baby bunny coming out of its hole and he was terribly proud. He carried it all the way home and immediately forgot about it.

One day, shortley after we moved to this address, Chelsea and I took a walk around the house and as rounded the corner, I saw a baby bunny huddled up next to the house. Chelsea is NO hunter and is not too observant either. Thank Heavens. I was so startled and when it didn't move, I reached down and stroked its little back. It was trembling and absolutely paralized with fear. All I could see was a grey little body and big black eyes. Then I suddenly realized that if Chelsea DID see it she would hurt it just by exuberance so we continued on our way.

So two stories of life and two of death. All part of the scheme of things I guess.

Mother's neighbor found a rabbit's nest in her garden last year. She decided that she was going to just dispose of those babies before they could grow to become destroyers of her plants. She lifted them out of the nest and set them aside. Then she looked at them and they were so cute that she put them back. I like that. Three stories of life are better than two.

D. H. Lawrence said that "I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself."

Mary

Another sunny beautiful day. It WAS supposed to rain. Perverse as weather is, it did not. We delayed sealing the deck because of the projection. I am just as glad to have had a day off. Wielding a paintbrush is not my idea of a great time. We will hit it again tomorrow and with any luck at all will get it finished.

I remember an incident that happened years ago when Bret was trying out for Little League. They used to get the coaches together and all the kids would show their skills at hitting, fielding, throwing etc and the coaches would try to build a core team.

At one point a swarm of boys, including Bret, were gathered in the left field area just kind of milling around while another group of boys were being pitched to in order to show their batting ability. One of the batters really caught one and it flew up and into the swarm of boys - who scattered. Except for Bret. He stood firm and caught the ball. That is Bret. He sees a need and fills it.

The Huntington Beach Little League had a food trailer in one corner of the field. All parents were required to work it at some point of the season. We all ate there too. With two boys, we ate there as much as three meals a week. The menu was simple but inventive. We would heat chili in a crock pot. We heated hot dogs in a microwave. You could jazz up your hot dog with shredded cheese or the chili or both. We had tortilla chips. You could have them plain. Or you could jazz up them with a scoop of chili and/or with melted shredded cheese. Aren't you impressed? We also had candy bars and popcorn.

"See! How I have loved you. I have carved you on the palm of my hand." One of my favorite passages from the Old Testiment.

Hope your tomorrow is great. Enjoy and remember to treat yourself like the special person that you are.

Mary

I talked today to another reader of my "Blog". It makes me want it to be more interesting. I do try.

Pretty exciting news today. The govenment in Iraq has been turned over to the Interim Iraqui rulers. Early. Probably a very wise move as a public ceremony well publicized, would have been an invitation to the terrorists. The terrorists have no compassion and seem to see no further than their own self centered agendas. I cannot conceive of a society that will decapitate innocent bystanders in their country who seem to be a part of the peacekeepers and a part of the rebuilders of the country.

The Psalms we are studying in the Monday morning bible study speak of persecution and evil and fear. It is quite interesting to read these words from so many many centuries ago and find that they are still pertinent today. Sometimes they make me feel sad and afraid. But they speak of God's love and his protection too. Psalm 35 verse 6 says " Let their way be dark and slippery, with the angel of the Lord pursuing them."

I shared a cartoon from Newsweek with the group. It was from the Dayton Daily News by a Peters.

The cartoon shows a church, empty except for one woman. In the pulpit is s a Bishop with a priest standing beside him. The Priest says to the Bishop. "Well, First you banned pro-choice politicians, then pro-choice voters, then stem cell advoctes, then gays, then gay marriage judges, then..." This is excactly how I feel about the bishops demanding that the eucharist be denyed to certain people, such as gay advocates or politicians that have voted for certain bills. The bishops are then telling us that we should not vote or run for office and that we, not God are to be the judges.

Tomorrow, I will tell a story or give you a recipe.

Love

Mary

P. S. I need to find out where the sites are that I need to put pictures on my site. With my new computer. I have lost them. I do have my puppy back.

In three weeks we will leave for our vacation to the northern shores of Lake Superior. We will be spending most of the time in Canada, of course. It will be fun to take advantage of having our passports again. I have only used mine for Ireland and Canada. Dick only for Canada. It does make one feel rather cosmopolitan to have one and to actually USE it. We are going to be staying in such places as Thunder Bay and WaWA and Sault Ste. Marie. How fun.

We are about 1/3 done sealing the deck. We couldn't do anything today because there was rain predicted. We are happy to report that is is indeed raining tonight. Otherwise, we sould have wasted a whole day. I just want to get it done with. I only have two more bushes to trim, however, and the yard is looking pretty good. With all the rain, things are growing like crazy.

My brother George and his wife Betsy will be visiting from Houston. We think they will arrive on Friday as there is an event on Saturday that I will tell you about at a later date. George and Betsy were childhood sweethearts in the same grade in school. They dated through most of their high school years and married when they were just a couple of years out of school I know that when they were dating, I used to have an awful time getting through on the phone because they would talk for hours on end and there was no Call Waiting then. "George and Betsy sitting in a tree. K - I - S - S- I - N- G." One true love story. It is always good to see them. I am grateful for easier transportation and ability to travel as our children are now all on their own and we have more free time. This will also be a high school anniversary year for them. So they will be busy while they are here.

Have a nice Monday.

Love

Mary