It was just about as perfect a day as one could imagine.

Chelsea woke me up too early, but I was already having trouble sleeping so it was not too bad a thing. We had a pretty good walk but I got a good idea of how windy it was going to be on our cemetery tour.

We met at St. Patrick's Church in Adell at a little after 10AM. Beth Dippel from the Sheboygan Historical Research Center and Janet Mersberger, who is on the Committee to Save St. Patrick's met us there and gave us a wonderful history of the church. I will put a couple of pictures on tomorrow and the next few days. We then walked around the cemetery. I was to pleased to point out to Anne Mc Caffrey that there was a Mc Caffrey tombstone in the cemetery. She comes from Ireland and could not believe it. I took pictures of the stones and will send them to her.

Then on to the Madison Avenue Inn in Cascade for a marvelous lunch of chicken salad with hot rolls and fruit. Numm Numm. I told Dick we have to go there sometime because I think he would like it. Maybe we will take Mom.

Our next stop was St. Michaels out at Parnell. Beth gave us a lot of history about the church and those that settled the area. We left feeling we knew many of them personally. She is quite talented.

At that point, we came back to Plymouth to have some tea and cakes and my friend Sylvia Bright Green did some psychic readings for some of the gals. I figure I can have Sylvia read me later. She really did not have a good chance to meet Kate and that was something I really wanted. My two psychic friends to meet.

At some point there, I zipped home to change for the evening with Maya Angelou and then met everybody at Dee O Malley's for dinner. The dinner went well and I wish you all could have been there to hear Maya Angelou speak. We found out that she turned 80 on April 4. She is much taller than I expected. She said she is (or was, we all shrink as we get older) 6 feet tall. She told us stories, all intertwined. The message I took away was that we all have our roots. Our roots are those who made us what we are. We should stop and think sometimes - Will these "roots" look at us and be proud or will they say "Is THIS what we lived and breathed for?"

Then back to the hotel. I had a glass of wine and a couple of crackers with cheese then came home to my love. A glass of Baileys and a cup of decaf are capping off the evening.

Chelsea and Dick are both glad to have me home.

Love

Mary

A treasured day at home. I finished up the last things that I will have time to do before the Celtic Event starts tomorrow and cleaned.

Chelsea and I took a nice long walk this morning. We went around the entire route we have mapped out with no shortcuts at all. My new steps on the slope leading from the railroad tracks work just fine. I feel much more confident now.

I did have to go out this afternoon to pick up some pills for Chelsea. Can't have her running out. She has trouble with that cough sometimes anyway. But there have been no seizures for a long time now. That is encouraging.

The next three days will be full and exciting. I will report.

Love

Mary

A lovely warm day. It went into the 70s today. I got up at 6AM to walk the silly little dog that lives with us. We had a nice walk. She sometimes chooses to vary the route which always amuses me.

Then we went for breakfast to the Wilderness. They are now open for breakfast. The jury is still out on whether we really are happy with it. They are a bit pricier than the Family Restaurant but have the advantage of having a true non smoking section. The food is not quite as good, at least I don't think so but it is OK.

The we went to the bank and the grocery store to get the tickets. Dick was tired so I took him home and headed back to do the grocery shopping. The rest of the day was really full. With a day at home, I did some vacuuming. Then I fixed that slippery incline coming through the woods from the park to our backyard. I dug some steps and put some shale on them to make it easier to traverse. I filled the birdbath and weeded the area around it.

Dick had his physical therapy at 3PM today. On Friday they will reevaluate him to see if there is any improvement.

Today I was thinking of an absolutely beautiful day. Many years ago, I was in real estate, and all of the agents decided to take a day and go to Catalina Island on the ferry. We started at the office with donuts and mimosa (champagne and orange juice) then we carpooled down to take the ferry to the Island. It was a beautiful day. We wandered around the shops and streets of Catalina which is a beautiful tourist spot. Then Cal, one of the other agents, and myself had lunch up on a balcony overlooking the ocean. It was a picture perfect day and I felt so elegant.


Love

Mary

Hello - this was an at home day. Except for a hair cut at 2:30 for me. Then I swung by WalMart and picked up a couple of outside stuff that we needed. A new cover for the grill and a rake.

Today I had nowhere to be and could have slept late. Wouldn't you know that this it the morning that my back starts to ache at about 5:30 so I got up at 6 and Chelsea and I went a-walking. We did the WHOLE route that we have kind of mapped out which gets us really loosened up. Chelsea is like a young pup in the morning. She sure sags the rest of the day but I know she loves those walks.

It rained today. Not too hard but off and on for several hours so things did get a good soaking. We did not get the thunder and lightening that was possible. I am a bit sorry that did not happen as lightening will get the trees excited and cause them to burst into green.

I did a bunch of vacuuming today. Just have the bedroom and office left. I got behind with my tests and all of Dick's appointments.



If the population of China walked past you, 8 abreast, the line would never end because of the rate of reproduction.

I have heard this before. It came in an email from a friend today with LOTS of interesting facts. My question is that if this population is walking how are they reproducing?

Have a wonderful Thursday.

Mary

Another beautiful Day. It started out a bit cloudy and when I got up the temperature was 41 degrees. I have made it a rule that if it is below 45 I put on my winter coat. So. Winter coat it was. Chelsea took a short cut through the west side of the park. Then we continued as we usually do to the east side of the park. There - between the soccer nets were 5 HUGE geese just a grumbling away. I decided that it is after all OUR park so Chelsea and I continued on our usual trek around the edges of the park to the path that leads to the back yard of the condo. Two of the geese were very suspicious and started patrolling and kind of making lots of goose noises under their breath. Chelsea never saw them - never heard them so we made our way around the park without any serious altercation at all. BOY are they BIG!

Bible Study at Blessed Trinity this morning. We had a pretty big group and a lively discussion. We are all impressed with the Pope's visit. It think he did a good PR job and addressed many of the problems faced by the church in America. We had another lively discussion on homosexuality and the church's view on that. I am afraid I do not agree with the church's position.

I think you know that I have an oven downstairs. There is a "summer kitchen" down there for those of you who don't know. It is very handy when I cook meals like Thanksgiving or if I want to bake in the summer. But I found that it bakes HOT. So Bobbie lent me her oven thermometer and I find that it cooks about 52 degrees hot on all settings. I called Magic Chef and found that this model does not have anything to adjust the temperature. She said that the sensor might be at fault but agreed that if it is consistently off 52 degrees, I should just be able to work with that and save the repair fee. So I will.

Writer's Club in Plymouth this afternoon. Everybody but Sue was here. She is still working. We celebrated Kate's, Jena's and Lynn's birthdays with cake and presents. Everybody had something to share. AND we gave new words for a challenge for next month. They are: hyacinth, really green, trellis, fishing season, crocus, morning dove, graduation, springtime. Now we have to make a poem using all or most of these words.

Is it morning dove or mourning dove?

Love

Mary

Today was absolutely beautiful. The sun shone, the temperatures were perfect, the birds were singing.

I got up at 6 and walked Chelsea early then went to the 8AM Mass. That will be gone in mid June. I will have to change my Mass time. There will only be ONE Sunday Mass at St. John's and that will be at 10:45AM. So I guess I will have to change and go to Mass on Saturday evening at 4PM or otherwise go to St. Thomas Aquinas in Elkhart Lake or Kohler who will have an early Mass. Ick. When will the church wake up to the fact that they discourage so many vocations by eliminating married priests and women priests. I understand that other religions are also facing some downturn in vocations, BUT they have a bigger pool to pull from.

I picked up Nancy at about quarter to 10 and we went out to shoot. I am having lots of trouble because my arm is so sore. I guess I will have to look for some help as I am unable to heal it.
Wasn't a great score day. But We will be able to finish league. Nancy is doing very well for a beginner, especially when you consider who her teacher is.

This afternoon she and Toni came over at 1:00 and we finished the pretty nametags that we are doing for the fling. Only five more days til the event. I think we are pretty ready. Only time will tell.

Had a nice quiet rest of the day. We had pasties for supper and I tried to burn the house down. I turned on the wrong burner, the one UNDER the pasties instead of under the veggies. Dick said that Bart is right. I am trying to burn us all up.

I had the doors and windows open all afternoon. Good thing after the extra crispy pasties. Most of the smoke smell is gone. And it cooled the house off nicely.

Have a good week.

I love you all

Mary