Weather was great again today. The first sign of rain is on Tuesday and that is a slight one.

The first Badger football game was on today and it was great. They won 56 to 42. The first quarter was a bit shaky but then they settled down, pulled ahead and never looked back. I was quite fascinated in watching. College games show SO much of the coach's preference. The Badgers play a running game while the Bowling Green team was much more into passing. In this case the running game was the winner. This is Barry Alvarez last year as coach. He will be sorely missed. His replacement is already chosen and doing (I believe) the defensive coaching. So everybody is watching him.

Dick and I finished all the trimming of bushes that we are going to do this year. Jim hauled 11 bags and three bundles of trimmings and sticks to the disposal site. He was impressed.

He informed us that he is the hot news at the library right now. He has lost 60 pounds in the past few months. He also got contacts. He is really looking good and should be very proud of himself.

The choir sang at the 5:00PM Mass this evening. We sang Circle of Love which is rather difficult. However, we needed the practice as we are singing it at Celtic Mass. We did OK tonight and I am sure that Thursday's practice will firm it up. It was also a celebration of the 50th Wedding Anniversary of Roland and Veronica Gilles, Veronica went to Ireland on my second trip. Their daughter, plays flute and she played the communion song and did some accompanying for the choir too. It was very lovely.

Tomorrow is the party at Donna and Randy's house. It is a kind of surprise birthday acknowledgement for my brother Jeff, and my brothers in law , Fred and Ken who are all turning 60 in the next couple of months.

The news says that they have most of the survivors out of New Orleans - finally. Not soon enough. There should have been massive inflow of help on the very first day and it should not have stopped till every person was on dry land. Well shoulda, woulda, coulda. We need to get past that and get on to providing aid and comfort to these survivors and as soon as everybody is fed, we need to get the kids in schools. ASAP. It sounds to me as if the majority of these little people are those who can least afford to miss any school.

Next, I am already worrying about the animals. The pets who were left behind and are now, with no means or knowledge of how to do so, expected to fend for themselves. I will check on that in the next few days.

There is a quote, I don't know who by that says.

"Start where you are.
Use what you have.
Do what you can.
It will be enough."

We must all do that - the important thing is that we do something, each and every one.

Love

Mary

Here it is the beginning of the Labor Day weekend and I always feel, the beginning of Autumn.

It was a lovely day today, topping off at the mid 70s. Dick worked on trimming bushes most of the morning and I get the job picking up all of the branches and filling the trash bags. I also cleaned the kitchen so am pretty darned tired tonight and am going to hit the hay as soon as I finish this.

I made a big batch of chili yesterday so it was ready today and we had it for supper. Dick is having a cononoscopy on Tuesday, so he will begin eliminating medications and certain foods as of tomorrow. Monday, Labor Day will be his liquid diet day. I guess we won't be having any culinary delights that day. I figure that Jim and I can have chili.

I will be going to Mass on Saturday because the choir is singing. I must copy the words for Lament for the choir. We will be able to practice Circle of Light again tomorrow. Extra for preparation for Celtic Faire.

Have a nice day.

Love

Mary

Dick and I had SO many errands this morning. We left the house at 7:30 and didn't get home until after 11:00. First, we went to breakfast. Then to see Sue to have Dick's blood tested. Next, we went grocery shopping, followed by stops at the Post Office, the bank and Mother's house. Tomorrow would have been Mom and Dad's 66th wedding anniversary. Dick and I always give her flowers for the anniversary. I did that the year Dad died and when Mother got this wonderful smile and said that she wondered if anyone would remember, we knew that this had to be a yearly event. And it has.

After we left Mother's we went back home, via the Pet Store on the south side of Sheboygan, where we got a new retractable leash for Chelsea. Her old one broke on Wednesday as we were passing Reverand Tim's house. Chelsea and his dog Isiah were barking and running at each other both on leashes. She was just as surprised as I was when it broke.

The last stop was at Walgreen's to fill a prescription. Then home and were we EVER glad to get there.

This evening the Blessed Trinity choir practiced for the first time since July. We are getting ready for Celtic Mass. I went a little early to help introduce the Brendan song to the Kindercore who practiced from 6 to 7. They are such a nice group of young kids. We sang Circle of Love and reviewed the Lament that I have written the words to. I will keep you informed as to how that goes. I can hardly wait to go to Writer's Club in October and tell our young Don that I have written lyrics too. He does a lot of them. Quite a talented young man.

So that was my day. I want to finish with Cadfael. It was so appropriate for this season and for this year.

"September was again September, mellowed and fruitful after the summer heat and drought. Much of the abundant weight of fruit had fallen unplumped by reason of the dryness, but even so there would be harvest enouth for thanskgiving." Ellis Peters.

It amazes me how often the daily readings of the Book of Days fit the day.

Enjoy Friday. It is supposed to cool down to the 50s tonight.

Mary

Pray for all those souls in New Orleans. Let them be provided fresh water and a healthy place to sleep.

"God be good to anyone
Whose sleeping out tonight.
Tuck them in and keep them warm
And don't put out the light."

I called Leslie last night because, though I knew they were way far northwest of Katrina's damage, I wanted her to know that we were thinking of her. They are all fine. Sara is trying hard to find work and Nora is working AND going to school. Leslie said that they are actually experiencing almost drought conditions and could have used some of the rain. But Katrina veered northeast after she destroyed New Orleans.

It is indeed heartbreaking to hear of the devistation and all the suffering the survivors must be going through. It is almost unfathonable to think of their plan to evacuate the 15,000 or more souls from the damaged Superdome to the Houston Astrodome. But they obviously have to get those people out of there.

A friend of mine, Steve Naffin, who was the choir director at Blessed Trinity before Beth Hoegger came, was in the music department at the Cathedral in New Orleans. It is apparantly an old old structure of great beauty. He is terribly upset as he says that there is no way this church could have survived the hurricane.

As Leslie said, What were they thinking, building a city in a bowl next to the ocean.

Dick is talking to his son Dick and mentioned that he no longer wants to go to New Orleans, at least for a long long time. We should have gone a couple years ago. We did talk about it several times. It will not be the same again, I am sure.

I had to do some repairs on one of the first quilts that I designed. It was really not quite made for hard use. I am going over it with freehand random quilting to mend and to make it sturdier. I think it will work and will keep mending until it is OK. Because I like it and it goes well in our bedroom.

Becky, my niece, called me this evening. They have wild grapes on their property. So, after the first frost, I will be a busy little harvester. Ken and Dolores have a good crop and I will go over to Becky's and get hers too. I am going to have to figure out how to "smooth" the flavor. My first batch is a bit "foxy" (a term we learned from Bobbie for a rawness in some wild fruit wines.)

I have frozen two batches of marigold flowers and will start that batch as soon as I get a couple of empty gallon jugs.

When women are depressed they either eat or go shopping. Men invade another country..
-Elayne Boosler-

Love

Mary

Except for grocery shopping this morning, I got to stay home all day. Tomorrow I don't have to go anywhere.

The weather was beautiful again. If it wasn't so day we could wish for these days to go on forever. Chelsea got me up at 5:30 this morning. I really prefer that extra half hour and it is only just beginning to get light at 5:30. Pretty soon, we will have to be waiting a bit for our walk. I have decided not to walk in the dark any more, especially when it gets cold and slippery out there. I can just see me crawling home in the dark if I fell. Of course, there are usually several of us out between 5 and 7AM so I am sure SOMEONE would find me.

I cut down a bush on the side of the house that is over half dead and looked like heck. Actually hell. I only got two new bruises on my hands and arms. I wish I could get Jim or Dick to dig it out and maybe we could put something better in there. At least, as Dick said the meter reader will be happy because I uncovered the meter with my efforts. Maybe it will grow back healthier in the spring.

We are getting closer to Celtic Faire. This Thursday, the Kindercore and the Classic Choir will start practicing for it. I am getting calls from the vendors confirming thier spots. I must call Beth Dipple at the Research Center as she sets up a booth to plug the center and advise people how to start looking for their ancestors. She had a great ad for the Faire in the Researcher, the Research Center newsletter. Probably more people with see that than the newspaper ads. That makes me remember that I still have not heard form the Sheboygan Falls Review. I guess I should let Tom, the publicity guy, know that.

Anyway, tomorrow is an at home day. Dick wants to trim some bushes which means that I will be gathering the branches.

"May sunlight shine upon you and warm your heart 'til it glows like a great peat fire so that the stranger may come and warm himself by it."

The second line of the Irish Blessing that will be in the Celtic Mass worship folder.

Enjoy.

Mary

The day is winding down. It was a beautiful sunny, warm, clear day here in Wisconsin. Something to be really grateful for when one hears the news about violent storm, Katrina, and the damage that is occuring in our Mississippi and Louisiana. Thank God, that the hurricane has been downgraded from 5 to a 1. Apparently hitting land really knocked the wind out of it.

Bible study was animated this morning. Chapter 8 of II Corinthians records the first (I believe) request for a collection to help the poor and the "saints" in Jerusalem. Sounded much like an appeal that might be made from the pulpet today. Next week is a holiday and the following week is a holiday for Dick and me, so we will not meet until September 19. They say they "need" me to lead. I think they put more importance on my abilities than are warrented. I told them of a poster that a friend of mine had over her desk years ago. The poster was a landscape of a great expanse of snow, Antartica perhaps, as in the middle of the snowscape was a small lone penquin trudging along. The wording on the poster was. "Dear Lord. Either lighten my burden or strengthen my back."

While I was at church, I sewed the labels onto the quilts that we are raffleing at the Celtic Faire. The sales are not going too well. I was afraid of that , but feel that we will probably be able to sell a lot at the Faire itself. They are both beautiful. The queen sized quilt is more green and blue and the throw or lapquilt is also green and blue but has more gold in it. If you are intersted look at blessedtrinityparish.org. Under upcoming events find the Celtic Faire and then the mention the quilt. I can get you tickets and have I got a deal for you. They are $1 each or 6 for $5.


Have a good Tuesday.

Mary

I decided to share this picture that I took of Big Oscar some time ago. I believe that we have mentioned that it is almost impossible to get t good picture of him because he is black. By black, we mean there are no variations, no contours - nothing to give any angles or dimension. I apparantly just got close enough and there was enough light in the room so that this picture turned out just great. To top it off, he was not looking directly at me (I think he was trying to pretend that I wasn't there at all) and the green lights in the eye were avoided too.

Bobbie, Jim and I shot pistol today. Jim was really hot I believe that his best score was an 85. WOW. I didn't do TOO badly. I got a 41 and two 51s. Haven't shot for a couple of weeks and my hands got sore. I have to get past that because league starts in two weeks.

The next five days are projected to be rather quiet. Then everything will break loose, starting with Labor Day Weekend and visits from George and Betsy and Nora and Leif with a get together at Randy and Donna's on Sunday. It will be so good to see them. The party starts at 4:00PM and I am working at Rhine from 12:00 to 4:00PM so it WILL be a busy day.

This morning, Beth and I sang the words I wrote to the music of Lament that we are singing at Celtic Mass and with a couple of minor changes, they work just fine. I am really rather proud of the effect.

I was telling Beth and Chris Musel, when they heard me walking accross the church after Mass, whistling softly that Roxie hates it when I whistle. They asked what she does, so I told them. She yells at me. I told them how the other day Dick decided to teas her and he whistled constantly until she stormed from my lap over accross the desks and stood right in front of him and told him off. If she could have crossed her arms and stamped her feet she would have. They thought that was really funny. So do I frankly.

Mary

Have a good week.