Dick and I just got home from the Stephanie Weill Center where we enjoyed a couple of hours of watching the Trinity Irish Dance Company perform accompanied by a group who wrote a couple of their numbers called Stone. It is fascinating to watch the dancers. They make such use of their dance for both the beauty of the dance itself and for incorporating their sound into the entire body of the music.

I was interested to read in the program that a couple of pieces were cowritten by Liz Carroll. She is a very accomplished fiddler and musician who performed with Green Fields of America several years ago when Robbie O'Connell and Jimmy Keane were in the group.

All in all it was a very nice evening. The first piece was called "Out of the Woods" and was on the order of Riverdance. I loved the poem that it was writted about. The first line is "On the day when the weight deadens on your shoulders and you stumble, may the clay dance to balance you."

Beautiful.

Love you

Mary

What a day. I got a LOT done. Started this morning with cleaning the kitchen, then I finished that article for the Angelus (our church newsletter). At about 11:30 I left for Plymouth and went to the bank, the Sewing Basket and lunch with the ladies at the Dairy Queen. Following lunch, I stopped at the church office to drop off the article and I spoke to Fr. Gene for a bit about the concern cards.

The trip to the Sewing Basket was successful. I found a nice sale fabric for the back of the quilt top that I just completed . It is a twin quilt. I really like the colors. Mainly greens and browns.

Then home. I cleaned the strawberries for dinner. We had shortcake on those chocolate bisquits that I made a few weeks ago and froze. I also prepared pork tenderloin, rice and egg rolls for supper. The pork was roasted at a rather high heat, 400 degrees, and basted with a sauce of ketsup, soy sauce and apple cider vinegar. It was very tasty, tender and moist. The nice thing about tenderloin is that here is very little fat and it lives up to its name - tender.

Dick and I mixed a batch of White Zinfindal, five gallons, into the primary fermenter. Tomorrow, I will add the yeast. The temperature has to cool a bit from the initial mixing or the yeast will die. We also have a box of Gerwertziminer that we will start as soon as we get the White Zin into the secondary.

Tomorrow evening we are going to see the Trinity Irish Dancers at the Weill Center. I believe I will wear the sequinced vest that Dick bought me for St. Patrick's day.

I will end with a story that I have received a couple of times through email. Most of you probably have received it too, but it is really special.

What a son taught his Dad

One day a father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the
country with the firm purpose of showing his son how poor people live. They
spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a
very poor family.
On their return from their trip, the father asked his son, "How was the
trip?"

"It was great, Dad."

"Did you see how poor people live?" the father asked.

"Oh yeah," said the son

"So, tell me, what did you learn from the trip?" asked the father.

The son answered: "I saw that we have one dog and they had four.

We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a
creek that has no end.

We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night.

Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon.

We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go
beyond our sight.

We have servants who serve us, but they serve others.

We buy our food, but they grow theirs.

We have walls around our property to protect us, they have friends to
protect them."

The boy's father was speechless.

Then his son added, "Thanks, Dad, for showing me how poor we are."

The buying food versus growing it reminds me of the children at Sarnelli House. Fr. Mike says that they have great difficulty understanding why they have to help plant the fields when (as they keep showing him) there us perfectly good rice and other food in the market. I told him I understand their feelings as I used to HATE working in Mom and Dad's garden when I was a kid.

Later

Mary

This afternoon, I drove four other ladies out to Rocky Knoll Health Care Center to play bingo with some of the residents. We do this every two months. The last one was cancelled because flu was sweeping the residents and they were keeping them away from others and others away from them to prevent spread. I really enjoy this. We spend about an hour and sit at a table with two to three of them to help if they have trouble with the numbers. I sat with two men today, Steve, who was able to do his own card and Paul, who could close the numbers but needed help finding if he had them. Both of my guys won a game. We bring $10.00 in quarters and each winner gets a quarter with four quarters presented for the last game, a blackout.

Tonight was choir. We have a pretty busy two months aheaed. We sing again on May 7th at the 5:00PM Mass. I will go directly to Richards to meet the family for Dick's birthday dinner. Dick's kids want to take him out for his birthday, especially since this is his 75th.

Here is a quote from B. C. the cartoon . Two of the ladies are talking. One says "Woe! says her, in biblical times. Women were stoned for being unfaithful to theie spouses." The other women asks " What about men?" The first replies "It would be my guess that they wer severely pebbles." The second says, "Go Girl!"


I also have a quote from Cadfael by Ellis Peters. Today's was really good. "There are true things I will not tell you and questions I will not answer, but everything I do tell you, and every answer I give you, will be the truth."

Tomorrow is quiet except for lunch in Plymouth, and I intend to stop at the Sewing Basket to see if they have any fabric for the back of I quilt that I intend to finish for the Celtic Faire.

Have a nice one.

Mary

I have had a very "needy" kitty today. Needy is Jim's term for the kitties when they get on the lap and won't leave while demanding a lot of petting. Surprisingly it was Roxie who isn't usually too interested in me. She is sleeping on the desk under the lamp right now. We really have been exceptionally lucky with the cats. One really never knows when one gets adult cats from the Humane Society.

We grocery shopped today and also bottled the Chablis. We got 25 bottles. This batch is from a kit. I think I told you that we bottled the Chokecherry yesterday. That is a scratch wine and we got 5 bottles from the gallon. I did a gallon batch of that earlier in the season too.

We will be starting a batch of White Zinfandal tomorrow. The trick is to keep it maturing rather steadily. It is lots of fun to share it. The grape wine from the wild grapes that I got from Dolores and Ken will be ready in May. I am really excited to try that. It is really the only true "wine" that I have ever made from scratch. In theory wines are made from grapes.

the most important tip....

LADIES- Don't throw out all that leftover wine. Freeze into ice
cubes for future use in casseroles and sauces.

REAL WOMEN- Leftover wine??

Have a fine Wednesday,

Mary

This was a nice quiet day and not nearly as chilly as I was led to believe that it would be. I took Chelsea out a bit ago and we are getting a little evening rain. We need a lot more than a little but will take all that we can get.

We had a nice crowd at Bible Study. Our Snow Birds are gradually returning. Someone asked me if we were going to continue the study through the summer. I said that we surely would, our attendence is more likely to be down in the winter when several of our members spend a month or two or three in warmer climates, Texas, Arizona, Florida for example. They come back for the nice weather in spring, summer and fall here.

We finished I Corinthians and now are going to spend six weeks doing a study of the Eucharist. We decided not to do the singing that is part of the book we are going to use, but "Shall We Gather at the River" might be fun.

I did a little sewing and pinning tonight. The Celtic Knot that I am doing is really a pain to pin on. Once I get it pinned, it should be OK. I need to be working on it. I did finish the shamrock that I am doing for the Celtic Faire Quilt but want to to Two Celtic Knots and am having trouble coordinating the first one.

Patience, I need patience.

Jeff called this evening. He has some more venison sausage. It is from the deer that we got from a friend of his and the meat was finally processed into sausage and hot sticks. We just finished the other about a week ago so it will be a welcome addition.

The Kunert kids are taking Dick out for dinner on his birthday, May 7. We are going to Richard's in Falls. Should be fun. He will be 75. A very special birthday.

"If evolution really works, how come mothers only have two hands?" Milton Berle

Have a nice Tuesday.

I am a tired do-bee. Remember Romper Room and do-bees?

The thank you dinner for the volunteers was a great success. We had planned for about 175 and served closer to 200. We had plenty of food except for rolls and cake. The menu was ham, potato salad, baked beans, cole slaw, corn, rolls and cake. This was the first thank you dinner that Blessed Trinity has ever done, at least in my memory, and we will do it again next year. I said the prayer and think it was OK. I will print it here for you to enjoy.

No one of you is a believer until he desires for his brother that which he desires for himself. ISLAM

If you woke up this morning with more health than illness... you are more blessed than the million who will not survive this week.

If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation, you are ahead of 500 million people in the world.

If you can attend a church meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture or death...you are more blessed than three million people in the world.

If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep...you are richer than 75% of this world.

If you have money in the bank, in you wallet, and spare change in a dish someplace...you are among the top 8% of the world's wealthy.

If your parents are still alive and still married...you are very rare.

If you can read this message, you just received a double blessing in that someone was thinking of you, and furthermore, you are more blessed than over two billion people in the world who cannot read at all.

Source Unknown

Someone once said: "what goes around comes around."

Work like you don't need the money.
Love like you've never been hurt.
Dance like nobody's watching.
Sing like nobody's listening.
Live like it's heaven on earth.
Author Unknown

Like the goodness of the five loaves and two fishes,
Which God divided among the five thousand men,
May the blessing of the king who so divided
Be upon our share of this common meal.
An Irish Blessing


Leslie sent a picture of Nora, all dressed up for work. She sure is a beauty. We miss them.

Enjoy a spectacular week and "Dance Like Nobody's Watching." It will be fun - I promise.


Mary