Such a nice pre-birthday. The birthday cards came today. And Dick and Brenda sent flowers, a special surprise. It is a beautiful arrangement of cut flowers with a Happy Birthday balloon. The balloon made me think very happily of Waylon. Anytime a balloon came into the house, he would make a mad dash for it and bit the ribbon holding it and turn that balloon into a free range ballon that floated around the house until it deflated.

Dick took me out to dinner with Jim and Michelle and Bobbie and Bill. We went to a restaurant on south 8th Street called Nonna Maria. It is not very big but serves wonderful Italian/Sicilian food. I had Pasta with Sicilian sauce and sausages. It came with a nice crisp salad and fresh Olive Bread. We had Tomato Crostini before the meal for appetizer and it was so good. A lovely evening with lovely company. Tirimisu for dessert.. Num Num. They have a nice website. www.foodspot.com/nonnamaria. Check it out. It is another place that we could take Dick and Brenda too. A good selection of vegetarian and/or seafood dishes. All prepared fresh while one waits.

I suddenly remembered a little story about Bret when he was in Kindergarten. He was in a small class of about 18 kids. 16 little boys and 2 little girls. He had a teacher called Miss Gammel who was marvelous. She suffered from Hypoglycemia and had 18 little kids swearing to her that they NEVER ate sweets.

The incident that I remember, however, is this. Bret came home from school one day and told me that there had been a fight and one of the boys hit another one twenty two times. Five year olds are really funny. I told Miss Gammel and we both marveled at how he managed to come up with a number so specific.

She was a great teacher and had them doing preliminary reading by the end of the year. She taught them the an e on the end of a word makes the vowel "say its own name." A very clever way of introducing the long sound of the vowel.

Have a nice Sunday. We had sunshine most of the and just enough rain to water the plants on the deck this evening.

Love

Mary

It was a rather lovely day today, albiet a bit chilly. We started out this morning by going to the Johnston Bakery for a donut and coffee (actually, I had some tea.) It reminded me of when the boys were little. We lived in Santa Ana Heights, just above the Newport Back Bay in California. A point of interest. This Back Bay is the only remaining estuary in Southern California. And estuary is a body of water where salt and sea water come together.

Every morning the "Donut Man" drove through the neighborhood. My neighbor, Joyce and I would buy donuts for breakfast for us and the kids. The kids were mine - Bret and Bart and hers - Chip and Mark. Those neighborhood bread trucks don't exist any more, I guess. We had an ice cream man too and I even had milk delivered for several years. I guess that those services are no longer profitable, though I did see an ice cream truck a couple of years ago. I miss the Donut Man.

Then I cleaned the kitchen and we watched one of the "camp" horror movies that Dick bought for me last Christmas. We have been working our way through them over the past month or so. Today we watched "The Giant Gila Monster". There was an actress called Stormy Meadows in it. We looked on the net and that is the ONLY movie she ever appeared in.

We went out for lunch too. I have some 2 for 1 coupons for Subway, so we decided to take advantage of that and then drove around looking at some of the condo complexes in the area. Jim and Michelle arrived shortly after we got home.

I went to Superior Gardens and got my herbs. I picked up a couple of Rosemary, Basil and some parsley.

Bobbie and I worked at Rhine tonight. It was pretty quiet as it was the last day of league and most of the teams are done. Next week is the bust up. I guess that Sara is fixing turkey for sandwiches. Jim and Michelle came out so that Jim could finish his last two targets for league. Michelle shot one target and got a 62. She seems to be a whiz.

I have been so looking forward to the DaVinci Code movie and now all the reviews are saying that it is really rather boring and a disappointment. I probably won't want to pay to see it now. The book is an exciting mystery and very well written. The movie is being described as tedious.

Today, Dick had his monthly blood test. He was perfect again! Sue says that he is very boring. She wishes, actually, that she could figure out what he is doing right for the rest of her patients. Now she is challenging him to be the EXACT reading for two months in a row.

We went grocery shopping too. We didn't need as much as usual, so that was a pleasant surprise. We racked the wild grape wine today. Once more and then we can filter and bottle it. It has a rather nice underlying flavor but, of course, needs to mature. I get a quick taste as I have to suck the tube to get the stuff flowing.

Tonight was choir night. We have so few people show up for practice. I think we need to regroup at the beginning of the church year which is September, just in time for Celtic Faire. We will be singing this Sunday, my birthday. We are singing two songs, that I really like. Come to the River and My Song Will Be for You Forever.

I worked a bit on the banner this afternoon too. I am drawing out the symbols for the Four Evangelists tonight. So far so good. I will definately put the picture on the blog when I get it done.

I am thinking of sending a story to Reader's Digest and/or Field and Stream. What do you think of this.

I made it to my stand overlooking the marsh at about 7:00AM, Thanksgiving morning, just as dawn was breaking. It was really quite beautiful, despite the cold. I had dressed in several layers with hand and foot warmers in my gloves and boots. To pass the time as I scanned the swamp, and sang songs in my head to pass the time. By 8:00AM, I was bored so I ate the bag of trail mix that I had brought for a snack. We were only staying out until 11:00AM so that we would be home in time for the big dinner.

Because of the cold, it was slippery and each leaf seemed to be its own little ice encased entity. After the snack I realized that it was time to “mark my territory”, to put it mildly, so I worked my way to a small stand of trees close by that make a kind of shelter. As I pulled down my pants and crouched down, (boy, do men have it made) to my dismay, my right foot slipped down a small incline. I discovered to my further dismay that in that position, it is impossible to stop the bladder from doing what it is doing. So I did the best I could to avoid clothing, and got myself put back together.

I maneuvered around the evidence and crawled back to my post, just before my nephew made his way around the swamp. I find it very important to retain one's dignity.

Let me know what you think.

Mary

The sun shone this morning until about 11:00AM then the rain started and it kept it up off and on all afternoon. Late this afternoon we had some good old thunderstorms. Chelsea seems to be handling them better these days. She gets nervous but does not completely panic.

I did get the branches from the bushes out front into trash bags. Would you believe that there were 5 bags full.

Dick and I bottled the Gewertziminer today. There are 25 bottles in a carboy. Good thing, the stock was dwindling and we do like to have wine to share. Some of the wines I make from scratch should be getting ready to drink AND some of them from this year are getting close to bottling.

Jim went to Michelle's this evening so Dick and I were alone for dinner. I fixed chicken, stuffing and gravy. Mom had given me some fresh asparagus that Jeff picked near his home. Boy it was good.

I did a little more work today on my Hand of God Banner for the Celtic Mass. I need to draw the symbols for the Four Evangelists for the center of the banner. I have decided to use the Zodiac Symbols which are clean and simple and should transpose quite well.




ALL men see in only 16 colors, like Windows default settings.
Peach, for example, is a fruit, not a color. Pumpkin is also a fruit. We have no idea what mauve is.

Love

Mary

It was raining this morning and I didn't have much hope for the day. We took the Santa Fe over to Hyundai for servicing and spent TWO hours there. We had the systems flushed but never dreamed it would take that long. We got there at 7:00AM and by 9:00 we were starved. We went over to Mc Donalds and had breakfast. Boy, did that taste good.

By the time we got home, the rain had stopped so I went out and trimmed bushes. I have a whole pile of branches that I have to cut up and put in bags. I am sure that Jim will be "thrilled". Another bunch of stuff for the dumpster. But it all has to be done. I also dug up some of the oregano that is invading my lavender plants and planted marigold seeds. WOW. It was good to be able to be OUT. I only brought Chelsea out for a little while because with her short hair and wet grass, I didn't think it was wise to have her out too long.

Dick and I also filtered the Gewertziminer and will bottle it tomorrow. I don't have to go ANYWHERE at all tomorrow. What a treat.

Mother and I were talking Sunday about age. She mentioned that I have a birthday coming up and I said that I can't believe that I will be 66. Where did all those years go? She said that she wonders where her last 90 went. Then I said that I could not believe that I have a son who will be 39 in September. It was just yesterday that he fit in my arms with his head snuggled into my shoulder. So SHE said, she is trying to figure out how HER baby got to be 66.

Let's hope for sun tomorrow so that I can get those branches in bags.

Love

Mary

We actually had a bit of sun this morning (fortunately while Chelsea and I were out for our morning walk.) Then it kind of sprinkled all day until about 4:00PM or so when the sun came out again. Too late for me to do anything outside. If we have a day like this tomorrow, I will go out and trim a couple of bushes and plant some marigold seeds.
Maybe I'll pick up a couple of geraniums to accompany the beautiful one that Dick and Brenda brought for me on Dick' birtday. I have kept it on the deck so it didn't get beaten up by the wind and rain. We are still getting the rain but the temperatures are up and the wind seems to have died down a bit.

On my way to Bible Study, I took Mother her Mother's Day Card. I forgot it yesterday. I also took the Vermont Bear that Dick got for me to show to her. He is such a cute bear with his blue jeans, white t-shirt with rolled up sleeves and cool sunglasses.

Bart called today. He sounded pretty good. He was on his way somewhere with his friend Brett but wanted to touch base because he didn't get time yesterday. I told him that I knew he was thinking of me because I got the e-card but that his voice was the best greeting.


Subject: unbelievable

Another way to Unlock Your Car" - AMAZING - but it works.

One can't believe it, but this works -- who'd a
"thunk" it? Have you locked the keys in the car?

If you lock your keys in the car and the spare keys
are home, call someone at home on your cell phone and
ask them to get your car keys.

Hold your cell phone about a foot from your car door
and have the other person at home press the unlock
button on the spare keys while holding it near the
phone on their end. Your car will unlock. It will
save someone from having to drive your keys to you.

Distance is no object. You could be hundreds of miles
away, and if ! you can reach someone who has the"remote"
for your car, you will be able to unlock the doors (or
the trunk this way!)



I don't know if this is true or not (not having had to try it) but it is certainly something to be aware of since most of us have cel phones and remotes.

Let's opt for sun tomorrow

Love

Mary

Another gloomy day and it is supposed to continue until Wednesday - at least. It was Mother's Day. Fr. Gene gave all the mothers in church a special blessing this morning at Mass. I got lovely and/or fun cards from the boys and Leslie and Bobbie. Bobbie brought us rhubarb pie for dessert. Yum Yum. Her rhubarb is ready ALREADY. Mine is coming along but has a way to go.

Bret called this afternoon and we had a nice talk. I miss my boys being so far away from them. He was at the mobile home he owns at "the river" (the Colorado if you are not familiar with the area - that is what was always referred to as "the river".)

I went out to Rhine and finished shooting my pistol league. AGAIN - the first one was not good, the second better and the third was nothing to be ashamed of.

Aside from that it was a quiet day. Michelle was here to join Dick and me for our Sunday brunch. I went to the 8AM mass so we ate at about 11:00AM. Dick and I do enjoy our sunday brunches. Today we had fried potatoes, bacon and scrambled eggs with feta cheese scrambled in. I tried the pepper jelly. It is a bit hotter than the last batch but VERY good.

A quote:

"God, give me the grace to be open to the surpising ways you can change heart - even mine." Amy Welborn

A new week is upon us. Much quieter than last week, thank heavens.

Mary