A lovely quiet day. There was snow on the grass but the warm streets kept it from staying there and there was no ice. It was definitely cooler today than it has been.

I spent the morning cleaning the kitchen counters and making a nice Waldorf salad.
Then we had leftovers for our dinner and I took a nap.

Woke up in time to catch up on the computer a bit before heading to church for 4PM mass. I was sitting peacefully praying when someone whispered in my ear and hugged me and said Hi Mary. It was my friend Jerry Koene. I jumped about three feet. His wife says he does that to her all the time. He said I probably thought it was God.

Home again, we had cauliflower soup and meatloaf sandwiches for our supper. Now I am winding down for the night. A cup of tea to wind me down, one more walk for Cheslea and off I will go.

God love you

Mary

The end of a lovely week. I was able to stay home this morning and got a lot of little things done, like finding the top of my desk. I gave Dick some of the leftover corned beef and cabbage for lunch, then went to join my bank friends at the Dairy Queen. I had a really good grilled cheese sandwich. While I was out, I picked up a prescription for Dick, mailed the CWI banner back to Maureen for a Chicago event at the end of the month and stopped at Kate's to give her a recipe and a book that I found of Rotary songs. We had a nice cup of tea together and a good visit.

Home again, I walked Chelsea about four times. I think I told you there was an accident last night in the house and we are very nervous. We are hoping it was just an anomaly. Today has been fine, though she does seem awfully tired.

I fixed a pizza for Dick for his supper tonight as I went to Rhine for the bust up for the winter league. Now the spring league will start next week. We had a good dinner there. Chicken, seasoned fries, potato salad, corn and veggie and cheese pizza for the Friday Catholics (at least those who cared). Everybody was welcome to the pizza anyway and I brought a couple of pieces home - I think I will make a small chicken apple salad tomorrow. I stayed until the awards were handed out then came home. It was lots of fun. I wore the shamrock ring that came with the cookies that Nora brought to Eileen's house on Wednesday night. So Bill Olson, one of the trap shooters, made me a ring to go with it out of a dollar bill. He folds it so the one is the "jewel". He said I am number one. Dick said I should ask him if he can do it with a $10.

Got home to find that Michelle had called while I was out and Dick was "indisposed". So I called back. We had a nice talk and they are coming for sure for Easter. Yippee. We will be so glad to see them. They are getting 6 to 12 inches of snow over the weekend. Michelle and Jim said that when thy tell people where they came from they are saying that it has been 10 years or more since Oklahoma has had such a winter and why did they bring it with them. We told them we are only getting one to two inches. They are starting to get jealous. At least this will not be an ice storm which is very dangerous.

Bobbie is going to cook the Easter Dinner as we are not sure whose turn it is, but I did both Thanksgiving and Christmas because Bobbie had broken her wrist. So we decided to start over.

That is the day. Pretty good. Now after three days of fun, I have to settle down to a normal schedule again. Oh. Well. I need the rest.

God love you all

Until tomorrow, may He hold you in the palm of His hand.

Mary

Another exciting day. A good continuation from St. Patrick's Day. As Bobbie and Bill were coming over for dinner tonight because Bobbie and I needed to do some wine racking, I mixed up a meatloaf and made a Chocolate Mousse Pie for our dinner.

I left here at 11AM to go to Mother's because of Fr. Mike's visit. I got there are was able to help Joan set the table and put the food on. Fr. Mike Shea and Michael
O'Connor were there to visit. Michael O' Connor is my second cousin. Great Aunt Mae's grandson. He is a really good looking nice guy and I have his address and email so can communicate. He is trying to get the O'Connor genealogy together and was eager to talk to Mom. This was a good day for Mom but exhausting. We had a lovely lunch of ham, turkey, cheese with croissants, fresh fruit and cookies.

I helped Mom find the pictures and life stories that we have collected to show to Michael and when I figure out how, will do a disc of my collection for him and whoever else wants it.

Then after lunch, Nora and Leif, Eileen and Fred, and Dolores and Ken came to say Hello to Mike and Michael and we had a longer visit. We all left at about 2:30. Fr. Mike had to get packed for his return trip to Thailand on Saturday and Mother was completely drained. I would like to call her but will wait until tomorrow so she has a chance to rest a bit.

I got home shortly before three as Bobbie and Bill were arriving at 3PM. Bobbie and I took care of racing the lemon balm wine and found that her two wines need another bit of time.

Our dinner turned out quite well. My picture along with Joan Brigham and Dorothy Rose from the Celtic Women was on the front page of the Sheboygan Press. Yippee. That is good publicity.

So the day has wound down. Tomorrow will be quite busy with a eye doctor appointment and the Bust Up Dinner for the pistol league but Saturday will be very quiet and Sunday even quieter so I hopefully can get rested and caught up.

I love you all

God loves you too

Mary

I had the Sheboygan Press website wrong. Naughty me.

It is sheboyganpress.com.

Mary

What a great St. Patrick's Day. I had to go grocery shopping this morning but was home before 9AM. So. After making sure that everything was in good shape here I went down to the Exchange Bank just before 10AM so I would be there when the other Celtic Women got there. There were 12 of who marched or lunched or both together. What a glorious day it was. I marched without my jacket even. We carried the Celtic Women International Banner and are in the Sheboygan Press Online. Just go to sheboyganpress.com, look under the Plymouth Irish pictures and there we are.

Anyway, we marched from Highland and Eastern to the 52 Stafford. I drove a bunch of us up to the site, then Kathy Paul drove me up to get my car. It worked very well. We all stayed at the Stafford for about an hour visiting with lots of friends, many such as Mark and Deb Hanna, who I had not seen for SUCH a long time. At about 1PM, Kate, Rosemary, Joan, Luanne, Dorothy and myself walked up the street to lunch at the newly opened Mill Street Grill. We were very pleased with that too and had a lovely visit. On our way back to our cars, we stopped in at the Dear Old Books Book store for some browsing.

Then I went home to take care of the critters and fix Dick his dinner before going to Eileen's house at about 5PM for a Deeley gathering. Nora and Leif are in town and they along with Dolores and Ken and Eileen and Fred had been out on the town enjoying the Irish festivities in Sheboygan. Jeff and Kathy along with Shane and Georgiane came too. They had spend a bit of the afternoon with Mother. Shane even brought his guitar and they sang a few Irish songs with her. Eileen had a wonderful spread of food. Corned beef, cheeses, meatballs, breads including a yeast soda bread and cookies with shamrock rings in them. I will download some pictures and Put a couple on here, probably Friday or Saturday as tomorrow is also going to be very busy.

I think I mentioned that Pat and Joan are bringing Fr. Mike Shea to see Mother. They are bringing lunch with them. I am going to Falls to join them. Mother doesn't know it but a couple of the O'Connors are coming with them. They would like to talk to Mom about her memories of Armstrong and the old times.

And tomorrow afternoon, Bobbie and Bill are coming over. Bobbie and I have to work on wine again.

So it was a busy and beautiful day and tomorrow is shaping up to be just as good.

I hope your St. Patrick's Day was as blessed.

God love you

Mary

This was a red letter day. I went to bed at about 9:30PM last night and Chelsea did not wake me up until 5:30AM. Actually, I woke up a couple of times and was afraid to get up and check. I was much relieved when she came to get me. But I must say that if she just falls asleep, I will not be too unhappy about that either. I don't want her to be afraid or in pain.

Then, when Chelsea and I went for our walk, I heard a crane flying overhead and actually got to see him. They are magnificent creatures. I was so excited.

Dick had his dental appointment at 10AM followed by the blood testing at the anti coagulation clinic. The dental appointment went great. He goes back in 6 months for another cleaning. The blood test was not great. He had popped from 1.7 which is low to 3.7 which is high. So we go back in two weeks after two weeks of an adjusted dose.

Home again we had lunch and then took a nap. As Dick was still sleeping, I decided to get some of the errands that I would usually do on Wednesday done today. I got gas, picked up a prescription for Chelsea, four for Dick, some garden supplies and some dog food for Chelsea. I have decided that as she seems really unhappy with the dog food that is good for her kidneys, I am going to go back to what she likes. For heavens sake, the girl is almost 16 and failing. Why should she be eating food that she does not like?

So Happy St. Patrick's Day Eve to you all. Tomorrow will be a full day. I want to really enjoy it.

Enjoy your St. Pat's Day. If you want come to Plymouth at the corner of Eastern and Highland at 11AM and join the Celtic Women in the Irishman's walk. We would love it.

Mary

A usual busy Monday.

There were 6 of us at Bible Study discussing the passages from Mark regarding divorce. We had a lot to say, needless to say. Then over to Mother's house. She looks good and said that she still has her goal of going to Mass on Palm Sunday. Today was sizing up to be a gorgeous day, her plan was to walk around the house and see what is starting to push its green above the ground. I see buds on some of our trees and some of my herbs and annuals are starting to green up.

Thursday, Uncle Pat and Aunt Joan are bringing Fr. Mike Shea for a visit with Mother before Mike heads back to Thailand. Mother doesn't know, but a couple of the O'Connors (cousins) are coming too. They asked if they could come and visit Mother too as she is the only one left from way back when who knows first hand a lot of family history.

This afternoon, I went to Writer's Club. There five of us there. Again, not a full crowd but we had a lot of nice readings and good discussions and left with a list of words for an "assignment" for next month.

When I got home, I put the beef that I corned myself on the stove to cook for our supper. Boy did that turn out good. We had corned beef, cabbage, potatoes and carrots. It was just wonderful. Tender and lean.

After I cleaned the kitchen, I was so tired, that I laid down on the couch to rest and did not wake up until just before 9PM. Now, I have taken Chelsea out twice already and I am ready to go to bed. This afternoon, Chelsea had a rather violent fainting spell. She looked very confused but seems to have recovered nicely. Poor little girl, when we were out on her second walk this evening she did not see the grate and her little paws fell into it. Usually she sees it or senses it or I do but in the dark we both missed it this time. She is OK from that too but was very apprehensive the rest of the way home.

That is the day. Tomorrow morning, Dick will be busy with dentist and blood tests. Sleep tight. I am still tired and going to bed myself.

God love you

Mary

I did get to stay home all day. And it was a beautiful day. The sun shone and the temperatures were springlike. We had to change the clocks to daylight savings time this morning, so when I got up at 7AM it was really only 6AM and it was still light outside at 7PM. Chelsea and I definitely heard red winged blackbirds this morning so I know that spring has arrived.

It is supposed to be sunny and dry on St. Patrick's Day. Two years in a row, that is unbelievable. I remember walking in sleet and snow some years.


Nothing else to say and as it is my day off, this is all you are getting.

God love you, I do.

Mary