I am gathering Celtic Designs. Some of our venders for the Celtic Faire would like them. Actually there are TONS of sites on the net that have lots of Celtic patterns and designs. Half the fun is the searching. One of our vendors was concerned with the possiblity that some designs might be demonic or evil. Perhaps so, but the Celtic people seem to cheerfully coexist with both spirit worlds and just throw up walls or avoid or try to placate the evil spirits as they intrude on the present.

Tomorrow, I need to make an announcement for the Celtic Faire. We are selling the leftover t-shirts and choir CDs and tapes starting right now. It would be nice to get them out of the closets and into people's hands.

Dick and I were thinking of the Walrus and the Carpenter from Through the Looking Glass by Louis Carrol.

What a wonderful poem. I escpecially like the second verse which goes as follows

The moon was shining sulkily,
Because she thought the sun
Has got no business to be there
After the day was done-
'It's very rude of him,' she said,
'To come and spoil the fun.'

What a funny concept. Imagine the moon being sulky.

Well I must go to watch the Packer Game. Sure hope they look better than last week.

Love

Mary

I just got home from Irishfest in Milwaukee. I am content. Got there at 3:30PM so I could get in free at 4:00. Good thing too because I spent a bit of money. Not friviously, of course. I got all "good stuff." Gaelic Storm has a new CD. So I bought that for Dick. And there was a nice t-shirt with Michael Collins that had The Big Fella printed on it, which is great for Jim.

I wanted to go because a couple of my friends were there. Maureen Smith from Chicago, who I met a couple of years ago at the Celtic Women Conference. We have communicated since then by email. We met at the booth of Cindy Mayti who is a wonderful artist. I took a mini course from her several years ago and have a print of hers in my livingroom. I got pictures of both of them. Cindy has great tshirts and I bought one for myself. I picked lavender.

Then I listened to Tommy Makem. Yes. Tommy is still singing at Irishfest and is still bringing down the house. He sang O Donnell Abu,acapella, accompanied only by the bodhran which is always spectacular. Of course we ALL sang Waltzes with Bears with him.

Better get the damages recorded while I still remember.

Someone asked me what color my eyes were. It made me remember when I was a kid. Nora and I used to fight terribly. I guess most sisters do. She used to tease me and say that I had army green eyes and dishwater blond hair. I would be furious.

Mary

I harvested the chokecherries today and began the winemaking process. I got to smush the berries - with my hands not my feet. It is a nice dark rich color. I am trying a slightly different recipe this time. Last year was better but I am still working with it. A gallon a year doesn't give much practice.

I will mix up the marigold next week or the week after. That one I am sure of. It makes a nice rich wine, much like a sherry.

As I said yesterday, I call the marigold, Mary's Gold. We call the chokecherry, Banshee Blood because of its deep color.

Tomorrow I am going to Irishfest. I am going to look for some nice Celtic Designs. Visit with some friends. Listen to Tommy Makem and come home.

With any luck they will be serving sausage rolls somewhere on the grounds. It is soon time for me to order more Irish sausage and bacon. I have just enough bacon for BLTs. I must fix them soon now that tomatoes are starting to ripen.

There is an old Irish proverb that says. "The mountains never meet, but people can always encounter each other."

Mountains stand next to each other forever and never exchange a word, but people, even strangers can exchange all kinds of parts of their lives and possibly never even see each other again.

Mary

It is time for making scratch wines again. The marigolds are blooming and I picked my first quart today. I will pick another quart tomorrow then will have enough to prepare two gallons of my quite popular marigold wine - known as Mary's Gold.

The chokecherries are also ripe. I will pick them on Saturday and get that batch started too. That is not as popular but Dick's son Dick does like it and I will try a couple different things this time to jazz it up.

It was in the high 60's most of the morning then shot up to 79 degrees about 2:00PM. So I closed everything up and let the air conditioning do its thing. Then it started raining this evening. However, it is supposed to be clear and pleasant from now until Monday. Good thing because I am going to Irishfest on Friday evening. I will arrive in time to go in at the opening at 4:00 and stay until Tommy Makem is done singing then head for home. I will have time to see friends and eat and check out the cultural center. All I want. I think I will buy a couple of tshirts if my artist friends have them this year. I am excited anyway.

A quote from Anam Cara for your consideration:

"One of the reasons so many people are suffering from stress is not that they are doing stressful things but that they allow so little time for silence."

We do live in a noisy world. I realized how noisy our house is one day when the power went out. Silence CAN be deafening.

Have a "silent" day.

Mary

We shopped today. We also sent a couple of packages. One to Suzi, Dick's niece, when she and Dick's sister Hazel, came for a visit she left her pillow. We all know how special ones own pillow can be.

I also sent some fabric and a pincushion - thread catcher that I made for her. They are in their home so she will be able to set up a sewing area soon. I know that will be a way down the line. First bedroom and kitchen and living room and clothes etc. need to be put in order. But soon, I hope she can relax and do something just for fun. She said that she has been invited to join a quilting group.

Last night, Rosalie and I shot our last round in the summer trap league. I got a 15 so I feel that I went out with a bang. I believe that I averaged 13 which is better than I have ever done before though I have a long way to go. I will keep at it until I get good. It is fun.

Really not a very newsy day so I will sign off now and go down to sew on my quilt.

Mary

Today is our Anniversary. Do you believe that Dick and I have been married for 18 years already. We both agree that it seems like yesterday. Isn't it nice that we both feel that way? We decided today that the relationship will probably last.

We had a nice intimate reception. Just our families had a dinner at Riverdale. Bret came from California so all of our children were there. It was the first time some of them had met. We have become a close family. I feel really blest.

I read a story about an African explorer who was moving his safari in great haste through the jungle. After three days the three Africans who were helping him carry his equipment sat down and refused to move. He tried to explain that he was under pressure to arrive at his destination by a certain date. They absolutely refused to move despite his pleas. He finally got one of them to tell him the reason. (This is a quote from Anam Cara by John O Donohue.) "We have moved too quickly to reach here; now we need to wait to give our spirits a chance to catch up with us."

Maybe we all need to do a bit more of that.

Mary

Watching the end of the PGA. We sent out for dinner and while we were there (only 20 minutes ago) some of the patrons at the Villager told us it was all over - that Vijay had won. But they are still playing and there is still only one shot separating him from the last two players. So I am confused.

As I was writing the above, the phone rang. It was my daughter in law Barbara. They are finally in their home. They will have to sign the papers on Thursday because of some problem in that the loan company did not have the blueprints or something but they are IN. She said all the animals are sighing in relief as they smell their own furniture and bedding. Say a prayer of thanks and pray that Thursday, the signing goes OK.

Vijay won the PGA. So I am no longer confused. It was a beautiful day for a change. Everybody is complaining about the lack of summer. It seems that we have gone directly from spring, such as it was, to autumn.

Did you know that Jimmy Buffet has a new album. I heard a cut from it. He sings some old country. The one I heard was Hey Good Lookin' by Hank Williams.

Did you ever hear this quote from a song he wrote? It goes "Wrinkles only go where the smiles have been." Isn't that a wonderful thought.

Love

Mary