What a day. I am on a happy high. Isn't that a good thing.

Started out on not such a good note. We noticed a mole like thing on Dick's arm. So he called the doctor. Dr. Sharon was unable to see him so we booked with Lynn Wilderman a PA at Aurora Plymouth. She confirmed that it is suspicious so we have an appointment with Dr. Sharon on Tuesday to excise it. I will report as soon as we know anything and certainly on Tuesday to let you know that things are in motion.

Dick and I ran several errands on the way home, among them the task of filling that diddly darn left rear tire again. I HAVE to call the dealer to find out what is with that.

We had "Old Rags" on open face for out lunch - pretty good.

Now the fun begins. I went to my friend Kate Herman's house at 3PM for the reception for Mary Pat Kelly, author of Galway Bay. I keep telling you that title, because you should read this book. It is wonderful.

Kate did a beautiful reception. Her house, 150 years old and carefully restored (Kate says it will never be done.) is a beautiful place for such an event. Kate had wonderful hostess skills. She had wine, punch, cheese, fruit and crackers to snack on. Mary Pat and her sister Mickey and her Mother arrived right on time. (I gave the directions so am pretty proud of myself.) She even had a wonderful girl there playing the violin and whistle. It was SUCH an ideal reception. I left at about 4:30PM so that I could feed my critters, (all three of them) and get to St. Patrick's Church to meet Janet Mc Mullen and get thing set up. This was a real event. I got to the church and there was a car already in the lot. It was a couple from Oshkosh who came to hear Mary Pat. They met her three weeks ago in Ireland. She ran into them in a Pub, recognized their accent as Wisconsin and told them about the talk. I kept introducing them as the "couple from Ireland."

This really a win for me. We had close to 60 people there. Mary Pat sold lots of books. St. Patrick's got good publicity. (That church is a part of the consolidation of parishes that has become, Our Lady of the Lakes, in Random Lake.) St. Pat's is a beautiful church, built of stone by the Irish farmers in the area that brought field stone each Sunday to the site. The built it three layers at a time and had to go 9 miles to Lake Michigan to get the sand and about the same distance west to get the lime for the mortar to build the church. It is charming and well maintained with a graveyard in the back. I thank Janet Mc Mullen for wanting to be our host for this event. I am too tired tonight but will post a couple of pictures for you to enjoy tomorrow night.

Anyway. This is a super day for Mary. I am delighted that we were able to provide such a great event for the county.

Bless us all and pray for a safe trip back to Milwaukee for my Celtic Sisters that came up for the event and for Mary Pat and her sister and mother who are driving back to Chicago as we speak.

I talked to Bart and Barb tonight too. They will be here in three weeks. I can hardly wait to hug them and my Bret too.

God love you all.

Mary