Such a fun day. That class at the Sewing Basket was so informative. I learned SO much about my machine and so much about different kinds of machine quilting. Now I must practice. We learned to follow patterns, stipple and meander and lots of other stuff. WOW. I am tying a quilt to donate to the Celtic Faire Take a Chance Booth and have decided to try to machine quilt the border. Lucy, our teacher, said that borders are a bit easier because you don't have to deal with the bulk of the whole quilt, so make a nice practice piece.

It was quite comfortable today. The temps topped off at 82. Tomorrow it is supposed to be in the upper 80s in Milwaukee. We have to wear white tops and black skirts (or slacks, I suppose, ) for the choir. I am wearing a skirt and kneehighs then changing into shorts.

On the way back from the Sewing Basket, I stopped and got fresh corn, tomatoes and kohlrabi for supper. Wow, was it good. The first of the season for us. I was pleased to be able to get the fresh tomatoes too. Mine are not showing any sign of ripening.

I practiced the German music again today and feel that I mainly have it now. I know that with the big choir, I will be able to pull it off. It realy is lovely music. I checked the Germanfest site and they are not as informative as the Irishfest site, so I will have to wait until tomorrow to really figure out what to do first. I am looking forward to the market place. I remember really quality things when I went with Bart and Barb.

A quote from Cadfael for you to ponder. "The manifold gifts of God are there to be delighted in, to fall short of joy would be ingratitude."

Delight in your gifts this Sunday.

Today, my gifts were the class AND the two sandhill cranes I saw in a field on my way home from Plymouth.

Mary

It was cool today. Not really, but when the temperatures neve top 75 in the summer, it seems cool.

Had lunch in Plymouth and picked up birthday cards while I was out. I also swung by Wingert's and lo and behold they are advertising SWEET CORN!!! Tomorrow I have a class at the Sewing Basket in the afternoon so I will pick up our first batch of corn and we will begin our late summer ritual. I think it will probably be too early for fresh tomatoes, but I have those "stem tomatoes" which at least have some taste to them.

Uncle Ken called this afternoon. He has decided to get his Fall Turkey license and thought he would let me know. Now that he is retired, he has more time and that season is most of the month of October. We had until 8/1 to get the permit ordered. I decided, why not. October is OK except for our Mystery Tour which is only one week of the month and October should have some pretty nice weather for hunting too.

Tomorrow, the class I am taking is on Free Motion Quilting. How to quilt on the machine in a non structured manner. Should be fun. Dottie, a friend from church who made some of the blocks for the Celtic Quilt, said that she tried it once on a baby quilt and ended up tearing it all out. Not too encouraging, but perhaps if I start on wall hangings or table runners and worked my way up. Lord, give me courage.

Have a nice weekend.

Mary

I think that I mentioned the cricket that we had in the office the other day. We don't know what happened to it. We figure that either it died of the spray (after laying eggs in the carpet of course) or the cats got it. By the next morning there was no more cricket sounds.

When the boys and I were still in Huntington Beach a cricket got in the house. It went into the coat closet at the bottom of the stairs. I pulled everything out of that closet piece by piece and actually found the darn thing, scooped it up and took it outside.

It reminds me of the bugs in the basement of Bart's and my little house on Broadway in Sheboygan Falls. One day I went down to do the wash and there on the floor was a huge June Bug - it was about the size of a half dollar. I called Dick down. He scooped it up on a paper and tossed it out the back door.

The next summer, I went down one day and there was another one of those big bugs. Dick wasn't home, but Bart was, so I called him down. He took one look at it, shrugged and stomped on it.

Two different solutions. Both satisfied me.

Have a nice Friday.

Mary

This was a rather quiet day. We went to Cedar Grove to make the final payment on our Washington DC Trip. That is taking place September 12th to the 17th. It will get here fast - time seems to be flying by. On the way back we stopped at Mc Donald's to try the new fruit salad. It is fine. Just grapes and apples with walnuts and yogurt for dipping. But the grapes and apples are fresh and the yogurt makes a refreshing addition. So we would order again.

Aside from that it was an uneventful day. No rain, some sun but it never got over 69, so we turned off the air and opened everything up. Kitties always like that and so do I. It really airs things out and freshens everything. The only problem is that all the outside noise comes in too and there are noises out there that are scaring our poor little Chelsea. I sometimes wonder if those kids will EVER fire off all their firecrackers.

I practiced the songs for the Germanfest Mass today. They seem to be coming easier. I probably won't make a complete fool of myself. Actually - If I get too lost, I can just do a "silent meow" (I love that term) until I catch up and get back on track. By practicing a bit every day and then with the whole choir just before Mass, it will be fine. I am looking forward to Germanfest. We will be staying until about 4:30 so I will have four hours more or less to listen to lots of music and shop a bit. Maybe I can find a Christmas present for Barb.

Some woman complained that Acuity spent so much money for the huge flag that they have flying on their grounds next to Highway 43. I just remembered it because we went by the flag again today. Why do people have to be so crabby. Our flag just is beautiful and makes a person feel so proud of our country. This flag does that, at least to me. Acuity is generous in many ways to the needs of the community. Frankly, why shouldn't money be spent for something we can see, that nourishes the heart and not necessarily the poor. Sheboygan people themselves are pretty generous. If they know of a need, they usually come through with help. But don't forget, they also lined the streets and highways when their boys came back from Iraq. I believe that beauty and patriatism can go hand in hand with good works and indeed are just as important. I even liked the idea that some of our park workers in Maywood were taking a little time to carve the stumps into wood sculptures. I don't care if MY tax money was spent paying their wages to do so. If something beautiful or fun to look at was produced, I say - Yippee. Let generations enjoy.

Have a nice evening.

Mary

The Lake Geneva trip was a pleasant success. We learned that the town is properly called Lake Geneva but that the lake itself should be referred to as Geneva Lake. Makes sense.

We got to the Riviera Dock in Lake Geneva and boarded the Walworth II, a U. S. Mailboat, for a tour around the lake. This tour is actually a U. S. Mail delivery boat and as it goes around the lake, a young lady, who also helps give the narrative history and description of the journey, jumps off the boat at designated stops and runs the dock to the mailbox, leaves the mail and runs back to jump back on the boat. Sometimes she barely makes it. Once on this trip, she didn't - some teasers had tied the box shut. The captain backed up to get her in this case.

Today was special. A crew from the TODAY show were there filming the tour. There is going to be a special Wisconsin day on the August 11 show. This will be one of the high lights, along with the Maritime Museum in Manitowoc. There may be others, but we know about these for sure. I doubt very much if we will show up on the show, but we will tape it anyway because whatever they show we will have witnessed and it was fun.

We had dinner at the Grand Geneva Resort which used to be the Playboy Club. The meal was very good. We had a huge salad, crusty French rolls, chicken, pasta and nice crispy veggies. Then Apple Cranberry Strudel for dessert.

The afternoon found us on a tram for a tour of the town on land. That was not so successful because the engine noise was awful, the microphone kept cutting out and being loud with static. The gal narrating was good but the noise really ruined it. We had more rain today and it even rained while we were on the water, but as Dick and I sat down below on the lower deck with windows, we were quite comfortable and had a great view of the mail delivery girl flying off and on the boat.

Anyway, I think I got some reasonably good pictures, I will know in a day or two when I get a chance to preview them.

Have a nice Wednesday.

Remember there is more to life than increasing its speed.


Mary

There is a cricket in the office. Dick sprayed under the desk in the area that he thinks it is hanging out, but periodically we still hear it and now the office STINKS. I hate the smell of bug spray and kind of worry about the animals breathing it. They are, after all, much smaller than we are. When we are on Dick's side of the desk, it sounds like it is on my side and vice versa. What a pain.

This was a much more pleasant day and we are having some welcome rain this evening. Actually we are under a tornado watch until midnight according to the radio.

I went to trap league tonight and shot a 16, a great improvement over last week when I only got a 12. I need to keep concentration on getting my bead and keeping in front of the bird. I actually feel good about this because I got a 4 and a 5 on the last two stations. So I improved as I went along.

We have to get up at 5:00AM so we can get to Discovery for a 6:45AM departure for Lake Geneva, so I had better go to bed now.

Cadfael today was interesting. "What else is salvation? It is no bad thing to feel obliged to earn it, and not wait to be given it as alms to a begger, unearned."

Kind of like the quote that I got from that dear Alchoholic year ago at AlAnon. "You can pray til hell freezes over and you can pray on the ice. But unless you get up of your ass, you will never be goosed by the Holy Ghost."

Enjoy your tomorrow.

Mary

Today, the temperatures topped out at 97 - at least that is what Bobbie's car indicated as we were traveling back from Rhine Plymouth. We all practiced our pistol shooting. It was too hot for trap. I understand that tomorrow it will have dropped to the mid 80s so shooting trap league will be at least bearable. I hope I settle in a bit and do better than last week. I must remember - get the bead then lead the bird.

The brat patties and venison steaks were good. I have enough left that we can do leftovers for most of the week. Good thing. It will be warm enouth that one does not like to heat the house up.

I am going to start reading the Sr. Fidelma book Absolution by Murder by Peter Tremayne for an online book club with some of my Celtic Friends. The reviews indicate that Sr. Fiedlma is somewhat of a female Brother Cadfael. I find it interesting that a woman Ellis Peters writes about the male monk and a man, Peter Tremayne writes about the female nun. I am also reading the Historian. Wonder which I should take on our day trip to Lake Geneva on Tuesday.

Nora has a birthday at the end of the week. Hard to believe that she is 17. Whew - where does the time go.

Joan and I each sold $10 worth of tickets for the Celtic Quilt. Not bad for the first day when noone has even seen it except On Line and/or in pieces.

Have a nice week and stay cool.

Mary