This morning on my walk I was thinking of Creeping Jenny. Creeping Jenny is a weed. It gets into lawns and, deceptively, looks rather pretty in its prime with bright green leaves and a yellow buttercup looking flower, but it is a root and vine spreader and will destroy a lawn if not controlled.

My Dad was a boy scout leader before and shortly after he and Mother got married. Sy Regan, who is a retired deacon at Blessed Trinity, and is also in my writers club, was one of his scouts. One day he told Dad, who he knew loved plants, that he had a really nice plant for him. So he brought Creeping Jenny. Dad loved that story.

I went out to Maywood to feed pheasants today. That is fun. I will have to go sometime tomorrow too. We found a mink trying to get into the pens. Jeff was able to kill it. Otherwise there would have been a slaughter of those defenseless birds.

Have a nice Sunday.

Love

Mary

This is Bratwurst Day Weekend in Sheboygan. Bratwurst Sheboygan style are the best in the world. It used to be that you couldn't get them anywhere but in Sheboygan County. However in the past years many of the producers, notably Johnsonville, have been producing in bulk and sending all over the country. Bret and Bart can get them in some stores in California and Oklahoma.

However, there is nothing like the Sheboygan Hard Roll. Dick and I have come to the conclusion that Hard Roll is a very "German" pronunciation of Hearth Roll. The Sheboygan Hard or Hearth Roll is shaped like a hamburger bun and is crispy on the outside and very fluffy in the outside. The strange thing is that one would think that as they belong with bratwurst, they would be baked in a hot dog style. But no. The Sheboygan double brat is a hard roll with two bratwurst on it.

When I lived outside of Wisconsin, I would occasionally see a sign advertising "hard rolls" and momentarily think that I would find hard rolls as I knew them, but they do not exist outside of the county.

It is said in Sheboygan, to the horror of all nutrition minded people, that a balanced meal is a Brat Sandwich. After all, you have your meat (the brat), your vegetables (the ketsup, the mustard , the pickle and the onion), your grains (the hard roll) and your dairy (all proper brat sandwitches have a dollop of butter on the roll). Talk about cardiac arrest. But WOW what a taste.

Have a good weekend.

Love

Mary

I hate "reality" shows. I have been one at a time e-mailing the networks that air them to let them know that. I do not watch them. It isn't so bad that they are on (I guess) it is just that there is NOTHING else on. I have taken to just avoiding the major networks. But so many of the History and A&E etc are reruns and we have seen them before too. Thank heavens for a good supply of movies in our DVD and Video library.

I am in the middle of a good book too and am a bit behind on my other reading. The trouble is that when I do my hand quilting, I like the TV on the occupy a part of my brain.

Last night Dick and I watched a Prime Time Special on Jesus, Mary Magdaline and da Vinci. It was trying to document the truth or non truth of the Da Vinci Code, which, if you haven't read it, proposes that Jesus and Mary Magdaline were man and wife and had a child. From all I heard, there is no irrefutable proof yes or no. But the premise, that Mary Magdaline was very close to Jesus and held a position at or above the apostles is very probable. Fascinating proposals and I can't see that it would make any difference as to Jesus being who he is.

I put my dries oregano and thyme into jars tonight. I also made a thyme beer bread that seems quite moist and tasty.

Have a nice Friday

Mary

We just checked the numbers and we did not win the Powerball AGAIN. Such a disappointment. Oh well, we will have to wait til next time.

Dreams and plans are what keep people going. When a person loses the ability to plan and dream he or she dies. (or might as well.)

Tomorrow I am going to bake bread. I am going to try a thyme beer bread that sounds wonderful. Today, I harvested oregano and thyme and have them drying in Jim's dehydrator. I believe I have enough for the year now and maybe even some for gifts. The oregano plant is taking over the herb garden. It will have to be culled for sure. Maybe tomorrow.

We are having guests this weekend. Dick's sister Hazel and her daughter Suzi are coming to spend the Saturday and will stay the night. Bobbie and Bill, Dick and Brenda will also be here for dinner so we will have a full house. I am fixing the famous Kunert Spinach, Egg, Noodle casserole for dinner along with strawberry shortcake for dessert.

Have a nice Thursday.

Mary

The PGA comes to Sheboygan County next week. The county will be hosting somewhere in teh neighborhood of 300,000 people for about a week. Every hotel is full and every restuarant and store is planning on making a fortune during this time. We, the citizens, have been asked to avoid the main roads to Whistling Straits the golf course where the whole event is taking place. Actually, I am not planning on going ANYWHERE I don't have to.

Tomorrow, we don't have to go out and are planning on racking one of the carboys of wine that we are in the process of preparing. Then it will sit until we filter and bottle it. Next week, I will be racking a gallon of Lemon Balm wine. It is an experiment but smells good and was REALLY working up until a week ago. We will see how that works because there is always LOTS of lemon balm during the summer.

The winemaking is fun. It is double fun to be able to share it with people.

Have a good day

Mary

I've been thinking about Grandpa Deeley lately. He was the cutest little Irishman. He was my picture of a leprechaun.

He came to Sheboygan Falls in 1889 at the request of Mr. George Brinkner, who owned the Woolen Mill on Broadway and Pine in Sheboygan Falls. Grandpa was the Boss of the Carding Division. He used to tell the story of his coming. He was 23 and had just voted for Grover Cleveland.

He was dropped off at Weeden's Station about 4 miles f Sheboygan Falls and he had to walk the rest of the way to town. After walking a short distance he heard some noises and cries that he thought must be Indians. Needless to say he made it to town in record time. Later, he found that someone was raising peacocks out in that area and their noise was his "Indian Calls." That story shows, among other things that Wisconsin was still considered a frontier in those days.

Til tomorrow

Mary

I decided to shoot today. So I went out to Rhine at about 1:00PM and shot two rounds just for practice. I got and 18 and then followed with a 13. Consistancy is my aim and I must keep practicing.

Mother and I were talking abit about my brother Matthew, who died over 30 years ago. It really does seem like such a long time ago and yet just like yesterday. Mom felt a bit sad today. She saw an article in the paper about a musician, John Ohlschmidt, who was coming to Sheboygan to do a concert at the Masonic Lodge. He was a schoolmate of my brother Matt. Several years after Matt's death he wrote an article about him that was published in the Milwaukee Journal.

Anyway, Mother recalled a story about those two. John apparantly had "fallen in love" with a young lady from Beaver Dam. Now these boys were 16 or 17 years old at the time. John "borrowed" his Dad's car and asked Matt to join him on his journey of love. John's father called the Beaver Dam Police and they were promply picked up and held until Mother and John's mother came to get them.

At that time, Matthew was very enraptured with the "Jesus People", Hippies and even talked of joining a group of them. While at the police station, one of the detectives pulled Mother aside and told her, with a smile, that she had better watch Matt. Matt had tried to convert him.

That story brought a smile to Mother's face today. So the sadness had passed. We never get over losing a child. They are a piece of us and kind of just float out there in our minds and in our hearts. They are never REALLY gone.

Here is one of Matthew's poems.

THE FELLOWSHIP
by Matt Deeley

members of the fellowship
drew pictures
behind a mask of memory
one cool summer night
when the wind blew
fierce in the face of
nature's poetry.......


He also said this

APOLOGY
i apologize for keeping you from church....
god is much better company then me.

Matt did not use capital letters - in case you didn't notice. Have a good week.

Mary