Quite a day.

Bobbie and Bill and Jim and Michelle all came over this morning and we packed and loaded cars and drove back and forth to the Condo Twice. Most of the stuff that we are taking is now there. We will gather the rest over the next week and a half as I get through Celtic Faire.

We will have a mover come to take the furniture, the auction company come to take what we are selling and a trash man to haul off the rest.

I got hold of a carpet service, I know the owner and feel confidant, and he will come to clean and deoderize in the Hunters Glen property so we don't have to worry about that. I will have SOME cleaning but it will be OK.

I am so very tired. It will be so good to be in one house and at least partially settled.

Tomorrow we hope to be a bit more laid back. A couple of boxes to Plymouth and some unpacking. It would be good to have the kitchen and bathrooms ready before we move in.

Love

Mary

And I thought I was tired last night.

Today, we loaded up the car twice and made three trips to the house. The third, we picked up Mother so she could tour both houses. Then we took her out to dinner with Jim and Michelle also to the Villager for a Fish Fry. Very Sheboygan. YA!

I stopped at Souchon Funeral Home on the way from Mom's to the condo to give my condolences to Del Mc Clintock, who's wife passed away this week. They were married for over fifty years and he is going to miss her very much. He was very sweet and said that he is not good at letting go of things he likes and loves. All I could tell him was that I cared and that he should remember that he DID have over 50 years. Much more than most.

At the house, we finally have garage door openers. The garage is getting full. I have unpaced about five boxes, not much but I do a bit whenever I have a moment.

The neighbors "donated" their son Patrick, who mows our lawn, to carry boxes up from the basement to the garage for us. What a help. People are REALLY good.

Take care. Tomorrow is coming much too soon.

Mary

Well, the deeds are done. Dick and I followed immediately by Jim and Michelle closed on our adjacent condos in Tallgrass in Plymouth.

Dick and I signed first and then went directly to the new place with the loaded Santa Fe, dropped off those boxes (and did we ever have it jammed) and moved the five boxes that I had put in Jim and Michelle's garage as we had one of the garage door openers.

Then things got a bit goofy as we, along with a representative from the Realty Company, managed to lock the garage door opener in Jim and Michelle's condo and couldn't get the garage door shut with the control panel. So, Stacy, the rep, went looking for keys and Dick stayed while I went and loaded up the car again. By the time I got back, they had found a key and closed things up again. We still only have one key and no garage openers for our unit but are sure this will be resolved by tomorrow.

After I got back, we unloaded the car again and then went to lunch, where I managed to leave my purse. Didn't discover that until after we had come BACK to the Hunters Glen and loaded up AGAIN, including Chelsea. She has been rather distressed and I thought it was a good idea to get her a bit used to the new place.

So, we got her there and she was afraid of the kitchen floor. Reminescent of the weekend that she spent with my Mother, where she spent the whole weekend in the living room because she was afraid of the kitchen floor there. Mother and I have concluded the at the "little people" had taken up residence in her kitchen. The last two times we took her to Mother's she has gone into the kitchen, so we believe that the "little people" have moved on.

After, Chelsea wandered around on her own for while, she became comparatively comfortable and did explore every room. The cats are also quite agitated but I am just trying to love them enough as they will have to go to stay with Bobbie and Bill for a while at lease.

Anyway, at about 4 I discovered that I had left my purse at Culvers. Thank heavens, It was there so the potential mess was resolved quite easily.

I had choir tonight and took the banner to see if it will fit. Everybody seems to like it and thank heaven's it does fit. and is quit spectacular, because of the colors when it is hanging.

That is all for tonight I believe that it it enough.

May the angels keep you save until morning.

Love

Mary

We are on the count down to the big signing. As Dick just said. Another "Great Adventure". An expression Dick apparently used when he built the new library on 8th Street. Many of his staff, including Bobbie, remember that phrase.

Today, we did a final walk though on the house. Had a nice visit with Judy Richards, the current owner. We found out that SHE is having the carpet cleaned so that is a load off of our mind. We checked out the connections for the TV and what shelving is there and what we will bring with us. We then went over to Plymouth Utilities to sign for the transfer to us and went grocery shopping at the Pig in Plymouth.

This afternoon Kaye called with the final amount that we need to bring to the closing, so we went over to the bank and got a cashier's check to take with us.

Tonight we loaded the car and tomorrow morning will fill the ice chest so that we can go RIGHT to the house from the closing and start unloading. We got quite a bit in. We were really rather surprised to find out how much will fit.

Anyway, tomorrow at 8:30AM we will sign the papers and be the owners of two places. Hopefully that will not last long. Pray to ST. Joseph that this house sells VERY quickly.

Wish us luck tomorrow, I will update when I get home from choir.

Love

Mary

Only two more days til we sign on the condo. I packed the pans and trays and things on the shelves in the laundry room today. That was my three boxes.

Dick had an appointment with Dr. Hodous for his feet today. Things are looking pretty good there. He will be checked in a month now. The sores are healing quite well and he trimmed the callouses some more today. We also did a bit of shopping and dropped things off at St. Vinnie's.

It was a hard afternoon for me. I think I am tired and a bit overwhelmed. Took care of the insurance this morning and made several phone calls for church and the Celtic Faire.

Tomorrow, we will have a walk through on the house. We need to find out if we want to clean the carpets or not. If we do we want it done BEFORE we move in, not after the fact when furniture needs to be moved and all. I will also have to send a notice to the Beliefs editor at the Press regarding the Fair AND I want to harvest the Marigold blossoms to freeze for wine. If I don't get them, I will lose out. Frankly, I don't know what I will do next year as Marigold is my best wine.

I cleaned the upstairs refrigerator today too. I REALLY scrubbed it. I will get the freezer section later, but I wanted to check everything and then bring up what little we have in the basement refrigerator. I will have to clean that throroughly before we move too. Can't leave a mess, you know.

I fixed some teriaki chicken and from scratch fried rice for supper tonight. It sure was good and I fixed enough for tomorrow too. We will be eating out and on the run for the next couple of days, so I wanted something really good and something easy for tomorrow because we will be loading up the Santa Fe in the evening.

I believe that things will work out for the best. It seems that the condos are right and the other pieces will fit. I must trust that everything will be OK.

Did I tell everyone that you can take a virtual tour of the place at billcain.com. Just go there and then under his listings. Look for 725 Tallgrass under the condos and click on virtual tour.


Have a great day

Love

Mary

 

Bible Study this morning. It was quite a stimulating conversation. We discussed Deuteronomy where Moses told his people that they were not to add to or detract from the commandments. What is interpretation however? Is there ever ANY justification for fudging. Should you tell a person who is really ill that they look like hell? Do we have the right to kill someone in defense of our own life or the life of someone we love? We didn't resolve that but I don't think we have to.
We learned in the letter from James that we are responsible for the weak and defensless of this world.

Anyway. Dick and I between us got five boxes packed. We have an appointment to do a walk through on the condo onWednesday at 9:00AM and the names of a possible moving company and two carpet cleaners, one from Michelle and one from someone in Kiel from Tom Cain. We will order that on Wednesday, when we know if we need one or two places cleaned.

Tonight was the Environment Committee meeting at church and we firmed up Celtic Faire and they did some future planning. I don't care about anything beyond Celtic Faire because I will be gone by then.

That was ENOUGH for today.

I will post a picture from my files to brighten your day. It is a picture of the rose window at the national cathedaral in Washington D. C. and a picture of the Cathedral itself which I took through the arch leading to it and published just like this in a sepia in my book.

Mary

Church was very pleasant this morning. I distributed communion and Joan, my friend who is having hip surgery on Tuesday, asked that I carry the empty cups and all down from the altar after communion. It is a BIG tray. Fr. Gene carried a bowl and followed me down. When I got there ( it is rather awkward) I whispered to Fr. Gene that Dick would never have believed that they let me do that. I am not the most graceful person in the world and would have never made it as a waitress.

Dick, Jim, Michelle and I had our last breakfast in THIS house together before they left for West Allis. We had pancakes, hot sausages and eggs. Before they left, I gave them a St. Brigid's Cross, blessed by Fr. Gene to hang in their house when they sign on Thursday. I had won one of them at the Irish Reunion and I bought another one at Irish Fest so we can both have one. Jim had expressed concern that if we had one in our house, it would drive all the evil to their side. This way evil will have to skip the entire building.

Then I trimmed the bushes out front and Dick and I spent a bit of time down in the basement emptying the metal shelves that Jim and Michelle will pick up on Thursday.

I even took a nap for about an hour. I am still tired though and I am still worrying about my kitties.

Talked to Bret and Bart and Barb today. All is well, except that Barbara is being worked much too hard in too many directions. She needs to relax a bit but HOW.

I received the following from my friend Harold Diedrich who belongs to Rhine Plymouth Field and Stream. I liked it so I will share. Tomorrow, I will put some pictures on again.

His name is Bill. He has wild hair, wears a T-shirt with holes in it, jeans, and no shoes. This was literally his wardrobe for his entire four years of college.

He is brilliant. Kind of profound and very, very bright. He became a Christian while attending college.

Across the street from the campus is a well-dressed, very conservative church. They want to develop a ministry to the students but are not sure how to go about it.

One day Bill decides to go there. He walks in with jeans, his T-shirt, no shoes, and wild hair. The service has already started and so Bill starts down the aisle looking for a seat.

The church is completely packed and he can't find a seat. By now, people are really looking a bit uncomfortable, but no one says anything.

Bill gets closer and closer and closer to the pulpit, and when he realizes there are no seats, he just squats down right on the carpet.

By now the people are really uptight, and the tension in the air is thick.

About this time, the minister realizes that from way at the back of the church, a deacon is slowly making his way toward Bill.

Now the deacon is in his eighties, has silver-gray hair, and a three-piece suit. A godly man, very elegant, very dignified, very courtly. He walks with a cane and, as he starts walking toward this boy, everyone is saying to themselves that you can't blame him for what he's going to do.

How can you expect a man of his age and of his background to understand some college kid on the floor?

It takes a long time for the man to reach the boy.

The church is utterly silent except for the clicking of the man's cane. All eyes are focused on him. You can't even hear anyone breathing The minister can't even preach the sermon until the deacon does what he has to do.

And now they see this elderly man drop his cane on the floor. With great difficulty, he lowers himself and sits down next to Bill and worships with him so he won't be alone.

Everyone chokes up with emotion. When the minister gains control, he says, "What I'm about to preach, you will never remember. What you have just seen, you will never forget."

"Be careful how you live. You may be the only Bible some people will ever read!"

Just be kind to everyone. My Dad taught me that. Mother always remembers how gentle and caring he was to all of those workers at Gilson when he was their union representative. And she said that sometimes these men or women were so stupid. But he was unendingly patient and made them feel that they were important. Because he really believed that they were.

Love

Mary