This was a wonderful day.

Chelsea TRIED to get me up at 10 to 5. I staggered out to the kitchen, gave her some lettuce and staggered back to bed until 6. We had a fine walk. It was a pleasant temperature. We saw several bunnies and lots of birds. I saw house finches and those lovely yellow finches and the usual robins and red winged blackbirds. She is so perky in the morning that it is rather startling because she sleeps so much of the rest of the day.

I had a physical therapy session at 8:15 which was good because my arm was SO sore. She did relieve it a LOT. And I have anew exercise to do.

Then Dick and I drove into Sheboygan to have Dick's blood tested. We were quite shocked that his count had jumped from 1.7 to 3.7 in two weeks. We don't know why. It is supposed to be between 2 and 3. Oh for the early days when he went for well over a year right where he was supposed to be. So they adjusted the meds and we will retest on Friday just before he has his procedure with Dr. Siddique. Dr. Siddique likes it low so Dick doesn't bleed so much.

Then for the fun part of the day. I drove over to Mother's at noon and met the people that I mentioned yesterday and we went downtown to The Other Place for lunch. It was so great. Fr. Mike gave us all presents. He gave me a beautiful silk tie (I know that is for Dick but he doesn't wear ties, so I will figure out a way to wear it myself. ) He also gave me a bead bracelet made by his kids and a lovely silver and red stone dragon ring. We spend a nice lunch finding out about how things are going in his world.

He is so good about describing things. He said his girls don't understand why he is buying rice fields and having them planted and plowed by the shared efforts of all the kids. The girls tell him that he really could just go down the road and BUY rice. But the planting they do feeds the whole group for 6 to 8 months and that is a fantastic savings. I told him that I understood how the girls feel and Mother delighted in telling him what a poor "farmer's daughter" I was. Dad always gave each of us kids a row to weed and I always managed to be "sick" when it was time to weed it.

Next year he said he would bring babies. I told him that maybe that could replace the other gifts. He said that the little girl who came to them at about 30 pounds and 12 years old is still hanging in there and finally gaining a bit of weight. She had had a really rough time, but he never gives up on them. He always tries to keep kids with family if they have any that can take care of them but will not give teenage girls back to families who suddenly appear and want them. Obvious reasons. Once they are in his facility it is home as long as they need it.

So a delightful day. Mike said that he WILL be able to say the Mass next year at St. Michael's in August. His scheduled trip home will be later in the summer.

Jim and Michelle stopped by tonight and hooked up the sound, the printer and the backup on the computer so we are all set again. Now it is a matter of getting things put back and rearranging the peripherals.

Tomorrow I have my CTScan. I cannot eat or drink after 5AM so I figured I would get up early, walk the dog, shower and get the grocery shopping done so I won't be thinking about eating and drinking. If I keep busy it will go fast.

For some reason today I was thinking of Uncle John and Aunt Ruth from my previous marriage. We were talking about odd couples and I remembered them. They were married for many many years but there were at least two incidents where they got mad and wouldn't speak to each other. This is not too unusual. However, John and Ruth did not talk to each other for years. I believe their record was 5 years. Their kids were old enough to be furious with them.

Til tomorrow.




Mary