They said the temps would be in the low 70s today but it got up to 80.    There was a gentle breeze.   It was a bit muggy, but not too bad.   I had a quiet day.    Home all the way.

I finished sorting out my drawer in the file cabinet on writing.

I made Banberry cakes for tomorrow.  Tomorrow is Bloomsday at 52 Stafford, in case you have forgotten.   My friend, Maureen Smith, lent me a book called the Joyce of Cooking.   It is a full cookbook for foods from Ulysses.    I had the ingredients for Banberry cakes so decided to add them to the taste of the Gorgonzola and Burgundy Wine.   A writer friend, Paul Hanson, is coming to talk to us about Joyce and the book.    We may not have a lot of people but it will be a good program and a lovely evening.

My neighbor, Rita, went to Mass with me again tonight.   It is pleasant to have a companion and she is not supposed to drive anymore.   So this is a win win for us.   Fr. Dan blessed all the fathers in church after communion.    I always like to see that kind of recognition.

So tomorrow will be quiet until 5PM when I will be heading over to the Stafford for our Bloomsday event.   Yea.

Dia Dhuit

Mary

I wrote a Haiku that I like but can't figure out what it means.   Can you

Closer behind me
is the world that lies ahead.
 How can I catch up?

Today was beautiful.   The sun shone all day but the temperature hovered in the low 70s.   Perfect.   I could be contented with that all year.

Jody cleaned this morning.   I spent the morning studying up on St. Andrew, who I have chosen for the first chapter in my Celtic Patron Saints book.   Found a lot of interesting information.   Of course, much of it leads to more questions.   That is why it will take a while to finish this book.

I got a call from the Corner Studio in Sheboygan Falls.   My engagement and wedding ring was all repaired.   I am so happy.  You know how good they look new and freshly cleaned and now I know the gem is safe for a long time.  I picked it up on my way to lunch at the Dairy Queen with my friends.   A long way around but I am so happy to have it back.   I just did not feel right without it.

We had a nice lunch.   I received the box from XLibris with my business cards, book marks and post cards.  So I did a bit of marketing at lunch, I gave bookmarks to my friends.

I will send postcards to all of you.   I am so excited.   I should be getting the copies that I have purchased in a week or two so will be able to give my family and friends who read this the book store price.   It really looks good.  

I have spent the afternoon going through the file drawer that I have set aside for writing.   I am throwing a lot away and organizing the rest so that I can get my hands on it easily.

This will be a lovely weekend.   Both days are quiet until evening.  Saturday, I will go to Mass and Sunday the Celtic Women will be celebrating Bloomsday at 52 Stafford.   If anybody wants to join us, we are gathering at 5:30PM for cocktails and conversation.   We plan one eating at about 6:PM  then between 6:30 and 7PM, closer to 7PM I think we will enjoy a discussion of Joyce and Ulysses.   We are joining perhaps thousands of Joyce enthusiasts all over the world in this celebration.   CWI are providing Gorganzola Cheese and Burgundy Wine in the spirit of the event.  

So the day is done and was a satisfying day, I must say.

Hope you can say the same.

Dia Dhuit

Mary




"Every day has one hour in which a wish may be granted and in which a person has the power to see spirits.   Only by trial and error can that period be known."  An Irish Superstition

It poured last night and the thunder just rolled over the house.   I always have trouble sleeping, thunder or no, but finally dozed off and when I woke up it had stopped.  

Today, I worked on gathering information on the first Celtic Patron Saint for  the new book that I am starting.    I have decided to do St. Andrew first and then St. Colum Cille.   They are both patron saints of Scotland and since I am planning on going to Scotland in 2015,   I will do them first.  

I received a call yesterday from a lady named Jen Stewart.  She works for the International Crane Foundation and was coming to the Plymouth Area and wanted to meet people who are members of the Crane Foundation IFC.   I thought that was interesting.    She came today about 10AM and we had a wonderful conversation.   She was interested in how I go interested in them.   I was able to tell her how much Dick and I had enjoyed ICF and used to try to go every year when Dick and I were able to travel.   I also told her that I had met George Archebald at UWSheboygan several years ago.   I had introduced myself to him as a groupie.    I do love the cranes.

George Archibald leads groups to areas where the cranes gather to help them and learn more about them.   Next year in March, they will be going to Nebraska to the Platte River.   I am going.   I told Jen to put me on the list.   One of those tours was always one of my dreams and one in the states would be great.   Maybe overseas sometime in the future.   But this will be just great.  

I took a walk this afternoon.   I also got a call, finally, that my new glasses were ready, so I picked them up too.

So a full, full day.   Tomorrow about the same.   No appointments but a lot to do.  

I called Jacquie tonight.   I received my birthday present from her yesterday.    We had a pleasant talk.  Pray for her.  She is having a procedure done to her lumbar region to relieve fluid in her cranium.   This is suppose to be a very low rish way to do this.  But it is still a procedure and an invasion to her body.

Dia Dhuit

Mary

  I  had my day at home.     The only times I left the house were to go to the mailbox and to step out back to cut some lemon balm for a sauce I made to go with my lamb burger for lunch.

 Steger, the furnace people, serviced the air conditioning unit for the summer today.   They check in the early summer and in the early winter.   Good thing they did, there was a warranty part that needed to be replaced.

 I did not set any specific goals today, but just worked on simplifying anything that I could put my hands on and sorting things.   I feel pretty good about it.   Tomorrow can be more of the same.

 So with nothing exciting to say, I will sign off for the night and hope that you are all safe and warm.   There is a thunder storm raging outside.   Apparently it may go on until 1AM.  But we are not in the "severe" storm area, so I can sleep soundly, with any luck at all.   Roxie is not pleased with the thunder, but she does not hide.

 Dia Dhuit

 

Mary

 

 

 

There is an Indian proverb that says that everyone is a house with four rooms, a physical, a mental, an emotional, and a spiritual. Most of us tend to live in one room most of the time but, unless we go into every room every day, even if only to keep it aired, we are not a complete person.
Rumer Godden

This was a day with no scheduled events.  It was trash day, so I had to get that out to the corner.  I went grocery shopping at about 11AM and got home in time for lunch.    I even made a stop at the bake to cash a check for Mom.  

I had thawed some venison and gravy that I had in the freezer and served it to me with rice and the leftover bean salad I brought home from Mom's yesterday.   It was very good.

I worked on Condo stuff today as I have all the files from the previous secretary now and I also did more followup on the Scotland trip and some writing.    I have decided that starting next week, I am allotting a project for each day of the week.   Actually, Wednesday will be Ancestry and I may at least spend part of tomorrow on that.   However, I received the author's copy of my book and tomorrow will need to contact XLibris to begin the marketing.   I will be doing a lot myself but need to get advice and the marketing tools from them.

I got a call at about noon from my friend Kathy Paul.   She was coming to town and wanted to have coffee at Exchange Bank, if I was free.   Why not.   So we met a bit after 2PM.  On the way, I took a bunch of books that I don't want anymore to Dear Old Books to get credit on new books.  I also picked up a copy of Ulysses as my copy on the Kindle will not be user friendly for me on Bloomsday.   My friend Maureen lent me a book called The Joyce of Cooking which will also be fun to refer to.

Kathy and I shared a cup of coffee and a good visit.   She is a good friend and is a caregiver so I was able to support her in her need too.

Jeff came this evening and replaced the blinds on the north side of the house.   I am so glad.   I have had a towel in the bedroom covering the window where it had fallen down.  I like these better too.   they are the push up, pull down kind.    He stayed for a grilled cheese supper with me.   I really like that, I so seldom have anybody to eat with and meals are much more pleasant if they are shared.

So, a full day.    Tomorrow, I believe I can be home ALL day and am going to work on marketing the book, which by the way is called Schlitzhagen and Green Meatballs, and Ancestry.   I will "Market" it to you all soon.  

Dia Dhuit

Mary

Just another frantic Monday. 

I left the house at about 9AM and got back at 3:30PM.

That is a long day for me.   First I went to Bible study.   We were all there but our Peggy who is still recovering from knee surgery.   We only have one more Psalm after this Psalm 124.   Then a couple of new testament readings and we will be starting a new study.   So we have decided to go from Psalms in the Old Testament to Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament.   It will be a change.   The Psalm studies have been so wonderful.    They are written so beautifully and have such meaning.   Poetry has a message that spans the ages.

After that I went to Mother's.   She was doing well today.   Her hearing is really bad, but we got her bills paid and organized and I helped her pick out her TV for tonight.   I had brought a piece of my pizza for my lunch so I ate with her when her Meals on Wheels came.   We had a longer visit that way.   Since I was was going to Sheboygan for Writer's Club at one o'clock, It seemed like a good idea.

I picked up Sy Regan on the way.    We always have a great visit both ways.  On the way home in our conversation, he mentioned that from way back in the bible when men became " the boss" it was because men are afraid of us because we can bring life into the world.

 The meeting was good.  Each month our leader "assigns" a 250 word or less challenge for us.   The challenge for this month was a 250 word or less writing about an accomplishment in our own life.   I will add mine to the end of today's blog for you.

I have no appointments for the rest of the week, so I should be able to get a lot of writing and some cleaning done.   Yea.   I want to get back into Ancestry too.

So.  Until tomorrow.  

Dia Dhuit

Mary

What have I accomplished by myself. HMMM

Looking back, some of it was foolhardy but it all lead me to the where I am today. I believe that sometimes you have to keep walking down the trail in faith until you see the next stretch.

Almost 30 years ago, my personal life had become impossible for me to continue as it was.

I lived in Southern California. The company that I worked for offered me the management of a new branch in Minnesota, so I loaded up my son and my dog and drove across county to Minneapolis to start a new life. Since I grew up in Sheboygan Falls this brought me closer to “home.”

As it turns out the locals decided to give the job promised to me to another person. A long story , quite colorful. I was given another position and managed to survive in that job for a while. Eventually, I decided that I needed out and if I was going, I would come back to Sheboygan.

Another move for my poor son. The first position I got was necessary but I was horrified at the pay. We got by and I worked myself from processing into an underwriting mortgage position. When I had the opportunity I moved to another company and moved up there too. Before I married again, my son and I were doing just fine and had even purchased a home and found a cat.

Mary

This was a very pleasant,productive and fun Sunday.

I lazed around this morning until 10AM.  My friend, Nancy Gallagher Roehre, picked me up at ten to go to the mass for the St. Mary School final year.  Nancy and I were in the first class that graduated from St. Mary's .   We started in 6th Grade and graduated in 1954.   My brother Jeff was in the first class that went from 1st through 8th Grade.  So the Deeleys were well represented.  It is a shame that the school has to close.   As Mother said,  it was the only alternative to public school in Sheboygan Falls.  Of course these days people are home schooling.  

When I got home it was about 1:30PM.  So I did some cleaning downstairs.  I am trying to get my sewing stuff sorted through and organized.   An impossible task, I know, but one can only try.

Leslie sent me pictures of my new granddaughter and great grandson.  They are both beautiful and I can see family resemblance in them.   So they are good looking.

I will be going to bed early with the Tony Awards on.   Dick and I always watched them and this year I need to find out which show I need to see when I go to New York for my trip.   The entrance act was so phenomenal.

Sandy came over today to bring me the rest of the files and such that I need for this Secretary of Tallgrass gig.   We had a nice visit and  I will spend part of the coming week familiarizing myself with the information.

 I fixed myself a pizza tonight.  Bart and Bret remember this one.  I would thaw a loaf of bread and let it sit.  Then spread it over a pizza stone.   Pour a can of tomato sauce over it.   Add sliced hot dogs,  shredded cheese, ( your choice), assorted herbs.  I used fresh today.  Oregano and thyme.  Don't forget oregano.  Bake at 375 for about l/2 hour.   It is SO good.  I won't even mind eating it for the next week.

Dia Dhuit

Mary