Saturday's are really nice. I did not have to go anywhere so got a lot of little things done around here.

I baked a cake and made a potato salad this morning. Then went down and sewed the binding on the quilt. Now I just have to do FINISH the binding and applique the trees on it.

Chelsea had a pretty good day. She coughed three times quite severely but had no seizures.

I got everything ready for the Writers event at Lakeland next Thursday and Friday. I will be going to a reception on Thursday night with Bev, our Cream City Writer's president. She said it is a wine and cheese thing before the evening readings. Sounds like real fun.

I fried out a whole bunch of bratwurst and some hamburgers for supper tonight. I had some "Harvest" from Miesfeld with apple and sauerkraut in them, some original and my venison brat patties. Jim and Michelle joined us for dinner and we played a game of rummy after we were done. Dick won.

Tomorrow will also be mellow. I am distributing communion at the 8AM Mass and intend to go to Rhine to finish shooting league but the rest of the day will be laid back. With all the meat and potato salad, I won't even have to do any cooking.

Hope you have a nice one. The weather has been just perfect fall weather.

Take care

Mary

A perfect Autumn Day.

I was able to sleep until 6:30AM. I could have used a bit more but that was not bad. Chelsea and I had a pleasant walk. Actually she was really wild and excited. She did not cough all night. We were so pleased, then at about 9:30AM she coughed twice and had a rather major seizure. Go figure. I just don't understand. BUT overall, the episodes do seem to be decreasing.

I cleaned the kitchen this morning.

Then, at about 10:30AM, I left for a bunch of errands. First, Walgreens to pick up a prescription and take advantage of a couple of sales. Then on to the Blood Center.

This is my every eight week appointment. Today was not easy. The vein she chose tried to get away and it took a bit of poking to get the needle in. However, once it was in I filled the bag really quick. We put ice on it right away and I don't have much of a bruise. While I was eating my cookie and drinking my orange juice, I talked to Butch, the volunteer, and a woman who is having her blood drawn and stored for an operation that she will be having the same day as Dick has his next procedure. She is in need of a lot of prayer and I will be putting her on the prayer chains. She is about broke and this surgery, I am sure, will not help that situation. I promised so maybe you could all include her too. Her name is Laurie.

My last stop before heading for Dairy Queen for lunch was Miesfeld's where I bought some of the brats that they told us about at the Michael Feldman Whad' Ya Know Show last Saturday. They have apple and sauerkraut in them. We will have them tomorrow. I am also cooking my venison brat patties and regular brats as everything freezes well. I am eager to try the new brats however. We will also be having potato salad.

I am a very tired person. For some reason the giving blood really wore me out so I will be hitting bed as soon as it gets to be 9PM and I can take Chelsea out for her last walk.

Have a fun and relaxing weekend. Barbara called, sounding so very happy, to tell me that Bart had arrived in Florida safe and sound and is with her. That makes me very happy.

Love

Mary

Today was beautiful. A bit chilly when we first got up but Chelsea and I had a lovely walk. We ran into the older lady with the cane who walks early too. She said that she has been missing us as we have not seen her for a few weeks. Both she and Chelsea and I have been trying to delay our walks because of the dark so our meetings will probably be chancy in this dark time of the year.

I cleaned bathrooms, sewed and Dick and I racked the Gewertziminer. Dick took me out for lunch because I was taking Mother out for dinner tonight. I like that kind of a deal. He and I went to Antoinette's. He had spaghetti and I had a mini pizza. We like that restaurant. Then Mother and I went to Chizzy's for dinner. I had a gyro there.

I won't have to do much cooking tomorrow either. We will eat leftovers and since it is Friday, I will have lunch with the Wells people at Dairy Queen. I also am giving blood at 11AM so will be able to really eat if I want to.

Jim and Michelle came home today, a day early. They did have lots of fun and saw lots of stuff INCLUDING bald eagles and a moose. Boots was beside himself to see them. Leslie, the flowers kept beautifully. I kept them in our lower level family room which is very cool. As I was sewing a lot this week I got to enjoy them as I "babysat' them. But they are still beautiful. only two flowers gave up the ghost. They called on their way home so the flowers were waiting on their dining room table when they walked in the house.

I took Mother to dinner tonight on the way to the funeral of a dear friend of hers called Madeline. Mother and Madeline went through grade school, high school and a year of Normal School (teacher's college) together. Madeline stayed in Sheboygan Falls with the Bowsers during the year she went to Normal school. She and her husband Melvin Seiderwere married in 1941. They were married for 15 years before their only child, a son named Hal was born. Mel came to the place that Dad was working after Hal was born and handed Dad a cigar and announced that he had a son. Dad assumed that, after all those years, they had adopted and asked Mel. "Where did he come from?" Mel glared at him and said "Where do you think?" They all laughed about that for years.

Before the service I spoke with Kay Seider. The coffin was closed and she told me that Madeline had told them that a closed coffin was her wish. She further said that if they had an open coffin, she would sit up and stick her tongue out at everybody. Kay said that they decided not to take that chance. A wise decision.

Mother feels sad because so many of her friends are going. But Madeline was also 91. Mother says she feels like "The Last Leaf" This comes from a poem by Oliver Wendall Holmes. If you don't want to read the whole thing (which is beautiful) just read the last verse.

I saw him once before,
As he passed by the door,
And again
The pavement stones resound,
As he totters o'er the ground
With his cane.

They say that in his prime,
Ere the pruning-knife of Time
Cut him down,
Not a better man was found
By the Crier on his round
Through the town.

But now he walks the streets,
And he looks at all he meets
Sad and wan,
And he shakes his feeble head,
That it seems as if he said,
"They are gone!"

The mossy marbles rest
On the lips that he has prest
In their bloom,
And the names he loved to hear
Have been carved for many a year
On the tomb.

My grandmamma has said--
Poor old lady, she is dead
Long ago--
That he had a Roman nose,
And his cheek was like a rose
In the snow;

But now his nose is thin,
And it rests upon his chin
Like a staff,
And a crook is in his back,
And a melancholy crack
In his laugh.

I know it is a sin
For me to sit and grin
At him here;
But the old three-cornered hat,
And the breeches, and all that,
Are so queer!

And if I should live to be
The last leaf upon the tree
In the spring,
Let them smile, as I do now,
At the old forsaken bough
Where I cling.

Love

Mary

I find it difficult to realize that I really have only one more day that I will be feeding Boots. I will go over on Friday Morning of course. BUT tomorrow is Thursday already. He was silly tonight and is getting really good about trying to hide behind the couch when I get up. I have to trick him to get him out and back into his room.

Chelsea had a good day today. She only seriously coughed once and that was the only time she even came close to a seizure. When we went on our walk, however, she sat down to rest twice as we were getting close to home.

We went grocery shopping this morning after a breakfast at the Family Restaurant.

I did some more machine quilting on the quilt that I am working on. Almost done. I have a little more stitching in the ditch and then need to bind it and applique the trees on the top.

Quote from Maxine: "They hold elections in November because it's the best time for picking out a turkey."

We had leftovers for dinner. Pork and rice, carrots and salad. With apple pie for dessert.

Today we saw a commercial about a kid going through the "wish book" ads for toys with her room full of toys already. But this is an American tradition. My boys absolutely devoured the Sears toy catalog - the original "wish book." They picked out everything, of course, but were always happy and content with whatever we got them.

I remember a year when this robot toy came out called King Ding. To top it off, you could buy mini robots called Ding a Lings. (Do you believe that.) Bret wanted this toy. I told him no way as I felt I had King Ding and the Ding a Lings already living in my house.

Love

Mary

I baked a pie and some muffins today. I had mixed up some "6 Week Bran Muffins" probably six weeks ago so figured that I had better get them baked.

We had gotten some apples last Wednesday and I had a pie crust mixed in the refrigerator. The pie was really good. I fixed a crumb top pie.

We went shopping for jeans for Dick today. We did not do too well. He is reconsidering and we MAY go online. The only ones we found had really wide legs and he did not like that.

I worked on a quilt this afternoon too. While I was downstairs, I checked the Gewertiziminor wine that we mixed up last Saturday and it will be ready to rack to the secondary fermenter tomorrow. I believe we are down to a system again. We have figured out how to avoid Dick having to lift the big 5 gallon jugs, which was becoming way to hard.

Yesterday, Mother mentioned that one of Aunt Kathleen's kids, I think Jim, asked Aunt Kathleen if he could come back here from Texas for Christmas with his family, even if Aunt Kathleen and Uncle Bob are south as they usually are at that time. It reminded me of when I lived in California. We, with the jeep club, used to go on a snow run every winter. We would wait for lots of snow up on Big Bear and start early on a Saturday or Sunday morning. We would then spend the day riding on the back roads and trails of the mountain. We'd slide down hills on inner tubes and build snowmen and have snowball fights, then end up in Big Bear City at a nice warm pub and restaurant for warm fire and food, then home.

Frankly, that was about all the snow I felt I needed. It would be quite enough now, though it is nice if we have snow for Christmas.

It was a quiet day overall. I spent a little time both this morning and this evening with Boots. He is warming up a bit. I had to trick him this morning to get him back into the bedroom.

Chelsea did pretty well today. She did have one seizure at about noon, but seems to be down to one a day.

Take care

Mary

It was somewhat cooler today, AND we are getting a little rain tonight. Yesterday was warm and the house got too hot by evening.

Chelsea and I had a very nice walk. It was dark and she had a minor spell just before we left so I kept her on beaten path and out of most of the park. The thought of carrying her though unlit parks and woods if she had another one did not appeal to me.

Went to bible study in Falls. The readings were about remembering that everybody is somebody and that God looks at all of us as equally important. The Gospel was about the Pharisee who thought so much about himself that he made a point of telling GOD how good he was and mentioned that he was MUCH better than the tax collector who was also praying and asking for mercy. Something to think about.

Somehow we got on the subject of how many children people have. I think because of the fact that we all have our own lives, responsibilities and (Yes) burdens. Peggy, who also comes from a large family, remembered her mother and some other mothers (also with multiple children) talking about the Holy Family. She remembers the comment thrown around. "And them with their ONE."

Stopped at Mother's afterwards and we had our usual fun visit. Today we were remembering the Union Chorus during the Kohler Strike. This local chorus was really quite good. They traveled. Dad got to travel all over the country with the chorus and sing at various union functions. They went by bus, as Mother remembers. Mother ran into a lady recently that she remembered was also in the chorus, so she introduced herself. The lady was quite delighted and remembered Dad very well. And then she told Mother "And there was NO hanky panky on those trips either." We got such a kick out of that. The woman was a single lady who worked at the plant.

I went over to Jim and Michelle's this morning and again this evening to feed, water and clean Boots' litter box. This evening I spent a bit of time so he won't be so lonely. He played a bit and seemed MUCH happier to see me. I bet by the end of the week, I will be just the greatest thing since white bread.

I did a bit of quilting and cut out a lot of flannel squares for the denim quilt that I will be assembling as my next big project.

Tomorrow, we are doing a bit of clothes shopping for Dick. He doesn't particularly like to do that so it will not be a real joy. I get to be home the rest of the day.

Later

Mary

I just wonder how long we will be enjoying this wonderful balmy weather. We all know what is looming on the horizon.

I went to the 8AM Mass today and filled up my tank on the way home. Using the Pig is giving us Pig Points. We got 50 cents off on each gallon today. This applies on amounts up to 15 gallons and I am getting pretty good. Today I got 14.728 gallons. Not bad.

The rest of the day was quiet, quiet quiet. I went over before Mass and after supper to take care of Boots for Jim and Michelle. He is not very receptive of me. He kind of hangs out in his bedroom and stares at me, occasionally wandering out and just surveying things. I think he is just not used to anybody but them and doesn't know quite what to make of me.

The children's choir sang this morning. They are quite good and it is always a pleasure hearing them.

Today is Jim and Michelle's anniversary. Too bad they didn't have this weather last year.

This coming week will be rather quiet. I will be able to catch up on a lot of cleaning and little chores.

Hope you have a good one.



"We do not remember days, we remember moment." Try to have at least one this week.

Mary

second view

Trying again. They REALLY were there last night.