I don't think the temperatures topped 76 today, which was fine with me. I am watering tonight even if we are supposed to be getting rain. The weather bureau has been promising rain for so long that we just plain don't believe them anymore.

Dick and I bottled 25 bottles of White Zinfindal today. It has a lovely color and the bit that was left over sure tastes good.

Tomorrow we will be picking up Mother at 11:30AM and going out to Hilbert to see my brother Jeff's son Matthew and his wife Kaoru and their son Matt who is about 9 months old now. Everyone who lives in Wisconsin who can will be there to see them. They live in Hawaii now, where Matt teaches grade school. His school is a year round, so they will be only here a week or so as his vacations are quite short.

I made an apple cheesecake to take along. It is VERY heavy. You mix apple pie mix into the cheesecake before you bake it and top it with a struesel topping. I am hoping it is as good as it seems to be.

I also made some guacamole today which is EXCELLENT. It has been a long time since I had any of that.

I am really tired tonight. I have to stay up until at least 9:00 though so that Chelsea can get out for her walk. I also want to turn the water off then.

Did I tell you that Barbara called last night? Bart is having a lot of trouble sleeping and is not at all with it in the mornings. She is trying to get a doctor in Oklahoma City to look at him and listen to him. His doctor in Lawton doesn't even know what he has prescribed for Bart.


Have a nice Sunday.

Mary

It was HOT today. Dick and I went and saw Mr. & Mrs. Smith today. It was a good movie. Lots of excitement, shooting and romance (kind of romance anyway.) It is the first time we remember seeing Angelina Jolie in a movie. She is really good and quite lovely.

It was 98 degrees when we came out of the theatre. Then I dropped off the 9 extra quilt squares from Blessed Trinity to Mary Bainbridge. She will add her 3 so that we can make the lap quilt to raffle along with the queen sized one. By now it has dropped down to 74 and tomorrow will be much cooler. I am hearing 84.

I did get all the flowers watered and part of the lawn too. We had about 15 minutes of rain as the front barreled past us.

We Writer's Club Members did a little excercize at our meeting using words that sound alike but mean different things. I came up with the following using horse - hoarse and lead - led.

The hoarse auctioneer led the horse nto the ring. They were old, the horse and the man. The horse's back was bowed as if he carried lead weights on his back. The auctioneer's the weight of the world.



Til tomorrow

Mary

Just got home from choir. We are just practicing our German pieces for the choir at Germanfest. Beth, our director, is able to translate enougth so that we at least know what we are singing about. We finished going through everything but the pieces that are just for the men and just for the women. The melodies are quite easy to learn but matching them with the foreign words is difficult.

Dick got the little burr on his tooth filed and feels much better about them. They really do look nice.

It was very hot today - up in the 90s. Tomorrow will be the same they say.

Tomorrow we are going on a date. We are going to an afternoon movie. Dick gets to choose this time and has decided on Mr. & Mrs. Smith. It has great reviews. I can hardly wait for POPCORN.

I have the Cashel Dennehy School of Dance booked to dance at Celtic Faire. I am really excited.

Have a nice Friday and a super weekend. We will be going to my brother Jeffs on Sunday. I am making an Apple Cheesecake to share.

Love

Mary

Dick and I are watching Dancing with the Stars again. Two dancers have been eliminated. We are really enjoying it. There are two more weeks after this one as they elimate ONE couple each week. This week they will dance two dances. A Samba and a Waltz. I find myself getting really irritated with the judges. They are very nasty with their comments - at least the old crotchety one. I liked Evander Holyfield myself.

It was very pleasant today - the temps were in the mid 70s. I sat out on the deck for a while this evening and read. The rest of the week is supposed to get HOT HOT HOT. Up into the 90s by the weekend.

I talked to Barb and Bart is feeling a bit better thought he is still struggling and needs prayer. He will be seen in Oklahoma City on July 12 and Barb said they are taking more blood tests so perhaps they are finding some odd levels. She feels that perhaps because he is exercising more he needs to have his meds adjusted but the doctor in Lawton won't listen to them about ANYthing.

We filtered the White Zinfandal today and will do another filter tomorrow. Then we can bottle it. We will be done just in time to start racking and filtering the Gewertziminer. Got to build up the stock. We like to have it for gifts. I have been harvesting rhubarb and hope to have enougth from my plants for both wine and desserts. But - I will probably have to get some from Bobbie or Donna. My plant just isn't quite big enough for everything I want to do with it.

We got the car washed today and went to Menards. Tomorrow morning we are getting the Alantra serviced AND Dick has to go back to the dentist to get a little burr on his new caps smoothed out. Busy Busy.

Thank God that the little Boy Scout in Utah was found safe and sound. I loved his mother Jody's statement. "People say that the heavens are closed and God no longer answers prayers. We are here to unequivocally tell you that the heavens are not closed, prayers are answered and children do dome home."

WOW.

Mary

It was warm today, up in the middle 80s. We waited until after 4:00 then started both sprinklers. The rotating one is acting up. We have such hard water that they keep getting jammed with minerals. What we need is a big vat of vinegar to soak it in and then have two - one soaking, one working.

This afternoon, Dick and I met with Mary Schroeder, my friend and investment counseler, and her replacement, Tom Schmidtke, to review my retirement portfolio. They had some suggestions that I have to study. Mary is retiring, at least temporarily. I will miss her as my consultant, but will see her often, as she is a part of the group of Wells Fargo ladies that meet on Friday's for lunch.

Tonight, eight quilting ladies met with our squares for the Quilt that we are putting together for a raffle at Celtic Faire. I believe I told you about that. 9 ladies have made 39 squares that are all unique and just wonderful. We are making a queen size quilt and have enough squares left that if Mary Bainbridge makes her three will become a lap quilt for a second prize in the raffle. This was a good idea, I hope it turns out to be profitable.

I made a pasta salad today. Anything with pasta is well received in this house. It is a great one that I found on Richard Simmons' recipe cards. You mix 2 cups of elbow macaroni with four or five cups of chopped veggies (carrots, celery, green onions, cucumber, peppers, zuchinni) whatever you have, add some shredded cheese and/or sliced ham or pepperoni and stir in a couple of tablespoons of light mayonese, salt and pepper to taste. Chill and serve.

A nice quiet day tomorrow.

Happy Day.

Mary

Nice day today. We started reading Paul's II Corinthians. Actually, we just read the introduction from the study guide and the greeting. He always has quite lengthy greetings that seem to go on and on. Again, we are going to have to rely on the notes to tell us the customs of the area and the time so that what Paul says makes sense. For example, we always have to keep in mind that slavery was customary and a fact of life in his time. He actually gives slaves advice on how to be good slaves.

Then I took Mother to see her eye doctor, Dr. Larson for her bi-annual check. He did notice a slight change but not enough to warrant any action and just told her to keep checking that lined chart and if there is any change to call immediately. Then we went to the Restoration Gardens, Thyme Savors, restaurant for lunch. It is a pleasant place to eat. We had tuna and a cup of soup. I had their corn chowder and it was great. They put all kinds of nice greens on their sandwiches.

This evening I shot trap league and bumped up to a 15 score. Better than last week and CERTAINLY better than yesterday. But I am still not leading on the bird. (That is what Bill, a friend who teaches trap to high school kids says.) It will come. I am determined.

Dick got the second prime coat on the garage door today. Probably on Wednesday he will put the paint on. We also racked wine.

Old Oscar is on the desk all sprawled out with his paw over his eyes. I am surprised that he has not noticed that Dick opened the deck door and the windows. It has cooled down enough to turn off the air.

My reading in the Cadfael Book of Days by Robin Whiteman said "God is still looking your way." I like that.

He is looking at you too. Enjoy.

Mary

Here it is Sunday night at 8:00PM already. This has been a rather eventful day. As I said, the Bell Choir (by the way we are called the Trinity Tones. Not my choice but that is the name that was chosen,) played at Mass this morning. our first piece was great. The second, was moderately ok. We fell apart on the third (I think we fooled the congregation by plunging on through) and the last one was OK again. I received complements from two of our audience and will bask in that.

This afternoon, Jim, Bobbie and I went shooting. I did pretty good on the pistol range but was disappointed with the trap shooting. I have done some adjustments on my shooting vest which I hope will help when I shoot league tomorrow.

It was Father's Day and all the kids contacted Dick. Leslie called tonight and we had a nice phone visit. He has been busy lately, scraping and painting the inside of the garage door.

It was an absolutely perfect day today. The temperatures were in the mid 70s. It was sunny. Everything is green and beautiful. Wisconsin is really the prettiest state in the union. I have always said that, no matter where I lived.

Bart is having a bit of a problem with his med adjustments. We can use prayers that things can be resolved and will get better soon. He has not been sleeping for one thing.

I have the get together for Fr. Mike Shea all arranged now for July 5th at 11:00AM. That should be fun. I am going to fix "Old Rags" for lunch. I can make it the day ahead of time and just put it in the slow cooker for serving and to keep it warm. It is really good on hard rolls. A salad and nice dessert should round it off.

I was reading a sentence in a book called Celtic Christianity by Timothy Joyce. He said "Of course, there can always be a cast of too much spirits in a pub, but you can also have too much religion in a church!" It reminded me of the parish priest in Ireland at the church where Fr. Mike Moran said Mass. Fr.Mike asked him why there was not more music in the service and the priest said that they did most of their "singin' in the pubs."

Roxie just joined me for a bit of cuddling, so I will sign off now. Have a nice week.

Love

Mary