It never got over 7 degrees today. Started out just below zero and inched its way up. I did my walking on the treadmill this morning. I just didn't want to go two days without my walk. It is not much fun down in the basement staring at the walls. Well, we have at least two more days of this bitter cold ahead of us accordint to the forecasts. Kind of makes us wish we had someplace to go during these cold months. I wouldn't mind being a snowbird.

We went to see the Classical Mystery Tour at the Weill Center tonight. I had purchased two tickets for Dick at Christmas. The "Beatles" were very authentic and sang two hours of Beatle music, backed by the Sheboygan Symphony Orchestra. One of them was a Huntington Beach native. Pretty exciting. They came back for four encores which was really special. They encouraged us to sing and sway along on the choruses. Randy and Donna were there too. (Randy is my youngest brother for those of you who might not know that.) Randy has ALWAYS been a Beatles fan.

Here is my poem about Winter. I feel this way now.

CRANKY OLD MAN



Cranky old man sucks joy out of the world.
Cold and harsh is his way.
Life pulls in to the ground, away from his fury
As Winter marches in, cold and forbidding.
Snow covers ground, trying to protect,
To shield the earth from his wrath

Some of God’s creatures sleep away his reign.
Some flee South before his rage.
Some timidly creep out to search for food.
Cold and hungry they nip at weeds and tree bark,
While struggling to survive
Then rush back to shelter among the trees.

Cranky old man stays much too long.
The earth sleeps and gains the strength.
To finally answer the call of sun and light
And dare to bring color back to the world.
Winter grows empty and weak
And falls before the strength and joy of Spring.

Tomorrow the choir sings at the 10:30AM. Then Jim, Bobbie and I are going pistol shooting at Rhine Plymouth.

Have a good Sunday yourself.

Mary

Cold! Cold! Cold! It never go above 4 degrees today. Needless to say, Chelsea and I did not walk today. She did not object but was rather confused. I let her out OFTEN.

Went to Plymouth for lunch with the gals despite the cold. Dairy Queen has a mushroom Swiss burger that is delicious. Ceil gave me a .50 coupon, so I tried it and liked it. It was a break from my usual Sheboygan County Fair Grilled Cheese.

Blessed Trinity had a second collection at the weekend masses to be sent to Catholic Charities for the Tsunami victims. I have always said that the people of Blessed Trinity are really a generous bunch. Gary Henderson said that the monies collected amounted to over $6000. Give us a need and we respond.

I read something by a Bob Hostetler in the January Family Circle. He have suggestions for New Year Resolutions and this was a good one. Give something away every day (or once a week, if that's too challenging). It could be money, but it doesn't have to be. A smile, a compliment or a helping hand will do just fine.

It is really fun to give things away and we have SO much. I am snug in our warm friendly home and feel so sorry for the homeless or those without the means to keep warm.

You keep warm and try giving something every day.

I give you friendship.

Mary

I gave a very short speech at the St. Mary Home and School meeting tonight, relating my experiences at St. Mary WAY back in 1951 through 1954. The thing is that there is a proposal to extend the school gradually back to a K through 8. (Actually I started when the school was new, as a 6th grader and graduated from 8th grade. Then as years went by they dropped the last two grades.) There is also a proposal to combine classes as the classes are so small. As I am the product of combined classes, I was able to relate my experiences in this also. The parents were smiley faces as I spoke so we should be OK.

Then there was choir. So it was a busy evening. I am dabbling a bit in the bell choir too.

It is hard to believe that tomorrow will be Friday already. I have no plans beyond lunch with the Plymouth ladies at Dairy Queen. If it is as cold as they say it will be I may have soup or chili for lunch. Jim will not be home for dinner until Sunday. We had leftover chicken and stuffing today and will have Kraft Dinner with ring bologna tomorrow.

I am making a cheesecake though. I am still experimenting for the cheesecake contest they have in Sheboygan Falls every year. So far the winner is the Bunratty Poteen Upside Down Double Chocolate. But I am going to try a triple citrus this weekend. It calls for Orange, Lemon and Lime juice and zests. Sounds super refreshing.

If it is good, I will share the recipe on Sunday.

Mother and I were updating some notes that I wrote about the various places that Grandma and Grandpa lived during their marriage. She was remembering Uncle Henry, my Grandma Bowser's younger brother, who was a veteran of WWI and died at King Hospital here in Wisconsin a few years ago. He was such a courtly man and made a woman feel like a lady. He was married to my Grandpa Bowser's sister Clare. Poor Uncle Henry was surrounded by women. For some time Henry and Clare ran a B & B type of place in New Prospect where they put people up and took them on tours of the Kettles and stuff. I guess that Henry's sisters in law, Genevieve, Lenore and/or Jo were involved in it also and really drove poor Henry crazy, surrounded by all tese women.

Anyway I have a few changes to make in my notes and must remember to correct Grandma's birth place to New Prospect. We are also pretty sure that they would have been married there, as people usually marry in the bride's home church and even more so then.

An old Chilean proverb says: Why should a man without a head want a hat?


Love

Mary

We ended up going twice for Dick's doctor's appointment. We got there this morning and Dr. Schwalbach had been called to the hospital for an emergency. They were able to reschedule for this afternoon. As we said, we would hope he would come immediately if Dick needed him too. All is stable. He said we should continue as we have been and come back in six months. We have to try to get a bit more exercizing in, which is difficult as Dick's back and hips hurt with very little exertion and I can understand his reluctance to push it. Dr. Schwalbach suggested water walking. Dick said he would consider it but I wonder. We will see. I will mention it in a day or two.

The rest of the day was uneventful. I got all my computer and church stuff caught up. Tonight I can sew while I watch LOST.

Jim got a Roomba ( the robotic vacuum) and we are having fun watching it move around the den. The animals seem mildly interested but not alarmed. Actually, I don't know if Oscar has seen it yet. He seems to be staying upstairs though.

It was up in the upper 30s today and rained most of the day so the snow is melting very fast. More preciptition on the way and then the temperatures are going to drop to single digets and below zero. Think of us. I understand that my California readers are going to get a respite from all their rain. What a tragedy in that massive mudslide.

Have a nice Thursday

Love

Mary

Another busy day. I helped take down Christmas in church today. How sad. I got there at about 9:30 after I went grocery shopping and I had to leave at about 12:00 when Dick called because the Sears Repair person was coming earlier than the 1:00 to 5:00 window they had projected.

I needed to be there, because I do the dishwashing. We had a female repairperson who just loves animals. She always tries to get Chelsea to come up to her. Chelsea is not the cuddliest doggy in the world and only puts up with me after 7 years because she has come to understand that I expect it. But I don't push it either.

This woman, Jan, is delighted to see the kitties too but for some reason, Roxie doesn't like her. Both times, when Jan has pets Roxie and she meows and eventually hisses at her. I can't quite figure out why. Roxie is usually pretty friendly. On New Years Day, she walked up to Mother and introduced herself, which we thought was very nice of her.

We racked the Marigold wine today. I have to suck to tube to get the flow going, so I always get a little taste. It is still one of my favorite scratch wines. It will be ready for tasting in late July, I would guess and be REALLY ripe in January of 2006. Patience is the name of the game. If you want to try it, let me know.

A month from tomorrow is the 28th Annual Deeley Wild Game Dinner and Beer Tasting Contest. I will be bringing venison stew this year. I finally have found a good stew recipe and it is fantastic with venison as the meat. The feast will be hosted by Kurt and Jody Thuemmler, my sister Dolores's son and wife. For those of you that may not know. The winner of the beer tasting contest hosts the following year's event. A very efficient system. We are all plugging for Kathy, Jeff's wife. She has valiantly competed for lo these many years and REALLY wants her name on that trophy.

Have a good Wednesday


Mary

We regrouped for bible study today. It was good to get back. We are still studying Corinthians and are finding it challenging.

Then this afternoon, I went to Writer's Club. I read a story that I wrote. I don't often finish stories. I got good feedback. One of the other writers called it riviting. I entered it in a contest, so we will see what happens.

When I got home, I was really tired. It is hard to get revved up when you have two events during the day.

Tomorrow is not much better. I will be shopping, then going to help take the Christmas decorations down at church, then waiting for the Sears Repairman. We bought a new dishwasher last year because we were not happy with the old one. This one is worse. BUT we have a 5 year service contract, so they will be coming out here until it is right.

This morning when Chelsea and I stepped out for our walk. I found a thin vaneer of ice covering all paved surfaces. Needless to say, we walked on the edges of the road and driveway, just long enough for her to accomplish those things that good doggies do outside. She is funny when there is ice all over. She falls a lot but just bounces up and continues on her way. She does not have very far to go you know. I, on the other hand, worry about broken limbs. It got up to the mid 20s today. You in warm climates can smirk if you wish. We will get up to the forties tomorrow and the next day, I hear. Then the temps will plummett to sub zero again on Friday and Saturday.

Dave Matthews said."You lean on me and I'll lean on you and we'll be OK."

That reminds me of the first time Bret went to a movie with out me. The school had a special afternoon movie, so my neighbor and I took Bret and Chip and dropped them off at the door. They were about 7. On the way in they kind of huddled against each other for courage. When we picked them up, they had "grown up." They were "Cool." They pranced out of the theatre like big guys. Another little step towards independence.

It is funny how you remember these teeny little milestones.

Have a good Wednesday.

Love

Mary

Packers got smacked badly today by the Vikings. Ich!!! It was not a fun game and I finally did something else for the last quarter. It was just too painful.

The rest of the day was fine. The choir sang at the 10:30AM Mass. That was fun and I brought my Spiderweb stitchery to share with Mother and Mary Bainbridge. They liked it so that made me feel good.

I have spent the rest of the evening watching the People's Choice Awards and trying to find a needle in a haystack - a picture of the eigth grade graduating class of 1954 from St. Mary School in Sheboygan Falls. I am speaking to the Home and School Meeting on Thursday at St. Mary School about going there through eighth grade and also about my experiences with combined classes. These are two proposals for St. Mary for next year to help keep the school practical.

I guess that is really all for today. Going through those pictures really brings back memories. Pictures of my babies and the pets and friends and places and things that are not in any order at all. Do you have that kind of a memory pool? I found things from Aunt Helen's house that I did not even know I had. I have rememberence cards from MY great Uncle Oscar Ziegler's ordination commemorating his first Mass dated 1904 and 1919. Wow.

A quote from Ellis Peters - Cadfael

There is a right place for every soul under the sun.

Remember that you are special and have a place under the sun too.
Mary