What a day. It was HOT. 88 or more I guess. I am watering the front yard this evening. I have to remember to turn it off. We got to stay home today EXCEPT for a drive to Walgreen's to pick up prescriptions for Dick and Mother.

Chelsea and I went for our usual walk at 6AM. I started the soaker hose in the herb garden and watered the plants on the pole. We mixed the White Zinfindal this afternoon.

I called Bart tonight. He and Barb are doing fine, but the heat is really hard on them and Barb is being really stressed at work because the other two people in her department are out for surgery and they have provided her with NO help at all. He parents are doing better. Her Mom finally got some surgery she needed so will be able to better take care of herself and Don.

Sad news though, Bart and Barb's dog, Beauty died. She was almost 16 years old but that makes it even harder. Their other dog, Sheva is really depressed. I remember how depressed Waylon got when we had the cats put down. He cried, literally. It is so hard to lose a pet, but perhaps that is one of the reasons we are on this earth. To take care of the creatures that would be lost without us.

We had colcannon for supper tonight along with pork tenderloin and cole slaw. Boy was it good. Michelle likes Colcannon. This was the first time she had ever had it. In case you don't know, Colcannon is mashed potatoes combined with cabbage and green onions softened in milk with butter liberally applied to all.

We will have apple pie when the kids get back from the Moose Lodge. Michelle is a member and wants to transfer to Sheboygan. She is thinking of using the lodge for their reception.

Have a nice Sunday.

Mary

Apparantly today is considered the birthday of the bikini. The bikini was quite a scandle when it first came out. By today's standards the original was quite modest. The scandel of it then was the fact that the belly button was exposed for all the world to see.

I remember coming home for a visit (I lived in California at the time) and bringing a two piece bathing suit. It was not even considered a bikini in those days, but Mother was quite embarressed that I would wear it on the sands of Lake Michigan.

I started thinking of the changes over the years and remembered Grandma Bowser. She was a very outspoken person. Back about 40 years ago, pregnant women started wearing shorts during hot weather. Grandma said that she could not help thinking, when she saw them, of an orange with toothpicks stuck in it. I could never wear shorts while I was pregnant because that image STUCK in my mind. I think I mentioned to you that Grandma Marie (Matie) Bowser was a lady and my image and picture of a lady was the way she behaved and expected us to behave.

I gave blood today. It was even more easy than the first time, because I don't seem to be bruising this time. Of course, I didn't get a t shirt. They only do that for the first time. I went right from there to Plymouth for lunch with the girls, and ran into Kathy Fields, the director of our bell choir at Blessed Trinity. She had a knee replacement and spent a couple of weeks at Progressive Health Care a nursing home, that sounds like a hell hole. Finally, a friend of hers just plain got her out of there. She has a long way to go but is planning on directing the bell choir in September, even if she has to do it from a chair. So she is fighting.

We had a cheesy tuna casserole with a salad and peaches on a merengue shell for supper. Quite good.

I am very tired tonight. Perhaps giving blood does that.

Til tomorrow

Love

Mary

We did our grocery shopping this morning. The store was cold. I guess it seemed colder because it was so pleasant outside. We got gas this morning. Can not believe spending $42 for a tank of gas. It is obscene.

I spent part of the afternoon, e-mailing and calling different sources to try to find dancers for the Celtic Faire. I will know next Monday or Tuesday, but talked to a man called Reuel Zielke who coordinates the Caledonian Scottish Dancers. He was encouraging. He will be meeting with the dancers and the piper this weekend and will get back to me. The Faire is held during their natural hiatus (after Irish Fest and before they need to get practicing for holidays) but he was hopeful.

Next I have to call Beth Hoegger, choir director, and Jim Wilsing, our local piper, to plan the Mass for this year.

I think I will do the inserting of my words into the music of "For Ireland, I Won't Say Her Name." tonight. It is good to be getting all these little crummy chores caught up and out of the way. Next week, I want to get back to sewing on the banner and the quilts for quilt show.

I fixed merengue shells last night and we had them tonight with fresh sliced peaches and cool whip. Really refreshing. I made two and they were so big, I split one for tonight and we will have the other tomorrow night. I love the Allrecipes site. You can cut a recipe down by just reducing the number of servings. This will become more useful as time goes along.

Tomorrow, I will be going to Plymouth for lunch, the bank and a stop for a consult at Sun Graphics. The book is getting close and I need to be sure that I have things in a manner that they can work with.

Have a nice Friday


Mary

Today was the last day of shooting in the Morning League at Rhine. I did not do well at all, though, at lease, I did get over half. I finished with a 13. Ich. Next Wednesday is the Bust Up Party.

Dick and I were REALLY busy with wine today. We bottled the Riesling. Twenty Six bottles with the Roxie's Riesling label on them are now ready to put on the shelf. We also added the last ingredients to the Luna Bianca. That will be ready in about a month. Later this weekend we can filter the Wild Grape and the Marigold. Then they will be ready to bottle too. It is a good thing too, because Kathy said that she noticed that the currants are ripening out in Hilbert and I will have to go harvest them in the next week or so.

I got the book I want to publish all put together. There is quite a bit of editing still needed but I think it is really coming together. I would like to have it published before the Irish Reunion out at Mitchell which is August 13.

I was looking at Charles M. Schultz book Happiness Is A Warm Puppy and will share a couple with you.

"Happinessis some black, orange, yellow, white and pink jelly beans, but no green ones."

"Happiness is three friends in the sandbox ..... with no fighting." (The world could sure use a bit more of that!)


Mary

Happy 4th of July! Our country's birthday. We are 230 years old now. It seems like a long time but we still need to realize that compared to many nations we are only a youngster. We are a melting pot, a nation of "mongrels" (that was a great description from a Bill Murray movie called Stripes). We are a mish mosh of ethnic diversity that is always struggling to be fair to everybody.

Fairness, however, does not mean that Everybody can Never be offended. Sometimes we all have to accept that each citizen in our hodge podge of a nation has a RIGHT to believe (or not believe) differently. That if someone chooses to thank or praise God in a public place, it is not necessarily an affront to someone else who does not believe in God. I say "necessarily" because there are always flaunters in our world as well as those who are offended by everything.

We also, as a nation, need to accept the fact that, just as the popular axiom goes,"I wish I was still 16 and knew all the answers." We are a teenager amoung nations and do NOT have the ability to mold the world to our way of thinking. We can only, as the richest nation in the world, try to be generous and as helpful in diplomatic ways and in any other way we can. We are a generous, loving and joyful people. Let us share THESE things.

We went to Randy and Donna's for a fry. What good food and what good company. Michelle got to meet LOTS of the Deeleys. She was a big hit. Everybody is excited about the wedding on October 21. She will meet most of the rest at the Ball Game in August. That is really going to be a busy week.

Donna made a really great flag cake. White chocolate with strawberry stripes and blueberry stars. I fixed calico beans but used chorizo instead of hamburger and were they ever good. We still have a meal or two left.

Did I tell you that I made dill bread? I had made some yogurt cheese (again) I still have not mastered a real good taste mixture, but in the process, I checked for uses for the whey that drains off of the yogurt and found a bread that called for the yogurt cheese AND the whey. It also has fresh chopped onions and dill in it and is VERY good.

At 9:30 I plan on going out on the deck to watch some fireworks for a bit. Poor Chelsea. Well, this will be the worst of it though I am sure there will be some straggling fireworks for at least a week.

Tomorrow, we hope to hear from Bill Cain with some condo info and I am going out to Rhine to shoot my last round for the Summer Morning League.

Have a good rest of the week. If you are working, I am sure the short week is welcomed. At least the weather was beyond beautiful today for United States of America's big birthday bash.

Love

Mary

  

Well, don't ask what happened to me the past two days. I can't even tell you why I didn't post. I think the days just got away from me.

Saturday we were really busy. Dick and Jim and Michelle and I went out for breakfast and then drove to the Ponds (a Sheboygan Falls Condo area) to just see what they look like. We couldn't get in, of course but did find that there are some that are one story, four in a building that might work. However, today, I think I found them on the MLS and they are more than we can spend so that will eliminate them right off the bat. We also drove to Howards Grove and looked at two new units in one building. They are not of the quality of the condos at Tallgrass, so we have eliminated them too. Then Dick and I went to an open house at Tallgrass in the afternoon, but it was not a floor plan or position in the tract that we liked. Anyway, today, (Monday) I called and left a message for Bill to call us. The four of us have decided that if a unit in the Tallgrass can be found that suits Dick and me, we will make and offer and Jim and Michelle will offer on the one they liked.

Saturday night we had quite a storm. Thunder and wind and rain. To top it off, kids are shooting off fireworks and poor Chelsea is a real basket case. We have to force her out to relieve herself and then she is a trembling little bundle.

Sunday night we did not have the storm, but the fireworks were worse. So far tonight, it is pretty quiet on all counts. But we are under a thunderstorm watch for the next couple of hours.

We had enchaladas and tostadas last night. Pretty good. Tonight I fixed leftover vegetable stuffing with Chicken Italian Sausages and fresh leaf lettuce for a salad.

George and Betsy are in the state. They spent the weekend with Shawn and Sara in Chicago and will go back there later in the week. Today, they chose a headstone for Courtney and picked me up so we could go to the Humane Society to see Courtney's window. It is wonderful. One of the big ones on a cage that holds two cats. I was able to put a picture on the blog. George and Betsy were very pleased. I had trouble leaving a big old kitty who kept bumping his head on the glass to ask for some lovin". But two kitties is more than enough. I always was so glad to be able to tell Courtney that when we got pets, we always rescued them from the shelter.

Tomorrow, the Deeley's will congregate at Randy and Donna's for a pot luck fry. I made Calico Beans to take along. I used chorizo instead of hamburger and they are REALLY tasty.

All else is well. Aunt Kathleen called this afternoon, her daughter Christine and her husband Ron, who is a winemaker also, were there and I wanted to share a bottle of Marigold with him. That is our really nice signature scratch wine. They all liked it. Ron gave me a bottle of his daughter's commemorative wedding Chardonnay. We are instructed to let it age for a year. We are very patient. As some of our wines are still trying to age up. Some never will. I also shared Dad's wine book the Wines of the Southwest which is a real little treasure.

Guess that's all. From Cadfael "Aim at making everybody happy, and if that's wighing reach, why stir up ay kind os unpleasantness?"

Mary