I hate "reality" shows. I have been one at a time e-mailing the networks that air them to let them know that. I do not watch them. It isn't so bad that they are on (I guess) it is just that there is NOTHING else on. I have taken to just avoiding the major networks. But so many of the History and A&E etc are reruns and we have seen them before too. Thank heavens for a good supply of movies in our DVD and Video library.

I am in the middle of a good book too and am a bit behind on my other reading. The trouble is that when I do my hand quilting, I like the TV on the occupy a part of my brain.

Last night Dick and I watched a Prime Time Special on Jesus, Mary Magdaline and da Vinci. It was trying to document the truth or non truth of the Da Vinci Code, which, if you haven't read it, proposes that Jesus and Mary Magdaline were man and wife and had a child. From all I heard, there is no irrefutable proof yes or no. But the premise, that Mary Magdaline was very close to Jesus and held a position at or above the apostles is very probable. Fascinating proposals and I can't see that it would make any difference as to Jesus being who he is.

I put my dries oregano and thyme into jars tonight. I also made a thyme beer bread that seems quite moist and tasty.

Have a nice Friday

Mary

We just checked the numbers and we did not win the Powerball AGAIN. Such a disappointment. Oh well, we will have to wait til next time.

Dreams and plans are what keep people going. When a person loses the ability to plan and dream he or she dies. (or might as well.)

Tomorrow I am going to bake bread. I am going to try a thyme beer bread that sounds wonderful. Today, I harvested oregano and thyme and have them drying in Jim's dehydrator. I believe I have enough for the year now and maybe even some for gifts. The oregano plant is taking over the herb garden. It will have to be culled for sure. Maybe tomorrow.

We are having guests this weekend. Dick's sister Hazel and her daughter Suzi are coming to spend the Saturday and will stay the night. Bobbie and Bill, Dick and Brenda will also be here for dinner so we will have a full house. I am fixing the famous Kunert Spinach, Egg, Noodle casserole for dinner along with strawberry shortcake for dessert.

Have a nice Thursday.

Mary

The PGA comes to Sheboygan County next week. The county will be hosting somewhere in teh neighborhood of 300,000 people for about a week. Every hotel is full and every restuarant and store is planning on making a fortune during this time. We, the citizens, have been asked to avoid the main roads to Whistling Straits the golf course where the whole event is taking place. Actually, I am not planning on going ANYWHERE I don't have to.

Tomorrow, we don't have to go out and are planning on racking one of the carboys of wine that we are in the process of preparing. Then it will sit until we filter and bottle it. Next week, I will be racking a gallon of Lemon Balm wine. It is an experiment but smells good and was REALLY working up until a week ago. We will see how that works because there is always LOTS of lemon balm during the summer.

The winemaking is fun. It is double fun to be able to share it with people.

Have a good day

Mary

I've been thinking about Grandpa Deeley lately. He was the cutest little Irishman. He was my picture of a leprechaun.

He came to Sheboygan Falls in 1889 at the request of Mr. George Brinkner, who owned the Woolen Mill on Broadway and Pine in Sheboygan Falls. Grandpa was the Boss of the Carding Division. He used to tell the story of his coming. He was 23 and had just voted for Grover Cleveland.

He was dropped off at Weeden's Station about 4 miles f Sheboygan Falls and he had to walk the rest of the way to town. After walking a short distance he heard some noises and cries that he thought must be Indians. Needless to say he made it to town in record time. Later, he found that someone was raising peacocks out in that area and their noise was his "Indian Calls." That story shows, among other things that Wisconsin was still considered a frontier in those days.

Til tomorrow

Mary

I decided to shoot today. So I went out to Rhine at about 1:00PM and shot two rounds just for practice. I got and 18 and then followed with a 13. Consistancy is my aim and I must keep practicing.

Mother and I were talking abit about my brother Matthew, who died over 30 years ago. It really does seem like such a long time ago and yet just like yesterday. Mom felt a bit sad today. She saw an article in the paper about a musician, John Ohlschmidt, who was coming to Sheboygan to do a concert at the Masonic Lodge. He was a schoolmate of my brother Matt. Several years after Matt's death he wrote an article about him that was published in the Milwaukee Journal.

Anyway, Mother recalled a story about those two. John apparantly had "fallen in love" with a young lady from Beaver Dam. Now these boys were 16 or 17 years old at the time. John "borrowed" his Dad's car and asked Matt to join him on his journey of love. John's father called the Beaver Dam Police and they were promply picked up and held until Mother and John's mother came to get them.

At that time, Matthew was very enraptured with the "Jesus People", Hippies and even talked of joining a group of them. While at the police station, one of the detectives pulled Mother aside and told her, with a smile, that she had better watch Matt. Matt had tried to convert him.

That story brought a smile to Mother's face today. So the sadness had passed. We never get over losing a child. They are a piece of us and kind of just float out there in our minds and in our hearts. They are never REALLY gone.

Here is one of Matthew's poems.

THE FELLOWSHIP
by Matt Deeley

members of the fellowship
drew pictures
behind a mask of memory
one cool summer night
when the wind blew
fierce in the face of
nature's poetry.......


He also said this

APOLOGY
i apologize for keeping you from church....
god is much better company then me.

Matt did not use capital letters - in case you didn't notice. Have a good week.

Mary

Saturday was nice. It used to be that Saturdays were the only day I had to really get housework done. Now that I am retired, it has become a day to kind of catch up and get ready for the next week. I did quite a bit of sewing too. I am almost done with the crane wall hanging. I should be able to finish it tomorrow.

I wrote a poem today also. It is still too rough to share with you but I will finish it soon and intend to send it to the poetry contest at Irishfest. I send one whenever I know about the contest. I couldn't find any notice of one last year but this year it has reappeared. Dick doesn't want to go to Irishfest. I know why - the crowds and all the walking.

I learned basic sewing from Mother when I was a teenager. I made some of my clothes. Grandma Bowser was a really excellent seamstress and make clothes for us too. I remember a dress I had when I was young that she make for me, It was made of the most beautiful silky, almost oriental, material that showed green, red and gold as the light hit it. It was not gawdy though which is difficult to understand and the dress was very elegant.

I remember an outfit I made that was a jumper type. It fitted up over the rib cage and when I put it on it fit perfectly. However, it did not allow room for expansion and I almost sufficated before I got the darn thing off because I couldn't get a deep breath in. Never could figure out how to fix it.

Tomorrow I will call both the boys. I will let you know how they are doing.

Love

Mary

When Bret and Bart were about 7 and 11, they had a hamster. They named him Spike and he was the nicest little hamster in the world. He was kept up in Bart's room and was really easy to get along with.

Every so often he would get out of his cage. I would discover him missing and just get up early the next morning and go down stairs to the kitchen. He would invariably be skirting around the edge of the room, making his way to a little hole that went under the cupboard that I used as a pantry. I just had to lean down and pick him up and return him to his cage.

One day, I purchased a new box of hamster food and left it, as I usually did, next to his cage. He picked that night to escape. However - this time - I found him in the morning sound asleep in his turret. Every possible spot in the whole cage had a pile of food neatly stacked. He had spent the entire night filling his little cheeks with food and carrying it back to the cage to store for the "future". The poor little creature was totally exhausted.

I just thought that was a funny story. We had Spike for about three years. A very long life for a hamster. I found him one morning dead in his cage looking quite peaceful. He was the best hamster we ever had.

Have a nice weekend

Mary

My daughter in law, Barbara, and I went to a quilt class together just before she and Bart left for Oklahoma. We have both finished the quilt top that we started at that class. Then we discovered that the fabric requirements given did not include the backing. We both would really like to back it with the material that we used to frame the motif. I went back to Evans to get some more and was not happy to find that they had none left.

We had several people at the class ask where I got it and I made the mistake of telling them. So. Yesterday, I looked at the edge of the piece I have left and found out the pattern and manufacturer. Jocks Rock by Hoffman International. I got on the internet and lo and behold I found some. So I bought enough to back mine and send enough to Barbara to do hers. I am so excited about that.

I've been catching as many of the speeches at the convention that I can stay awake for. I will do the same next week at the Republican convention and then try to weigh my priorities. Good Luck to me!

The mornings have been just perfect for walking and the birds sing us on our way. Chelsea likes it a lot. We walk for about 40 minutes every morning.

A verse from a poem I wrote:

The Cardinal - most blessed in soun and beauty
Sings his melody in the early morning air.
The Morning Doves coo their gentle song
From rooftop to rooftop.

Go out some morning at about 6:00AM and just listen to the choir.

Love

Mary

Are you watching the Democratic Convention? I thought it would be boring because the decision as to who is running was decided long before they got there. However, the speeches that I have been hearing have been full of information and exciting. There are wonderful orators in our country and I think they are all speaking in Boston.

I am really struggling with the issues this election. I can't just pick one issue. I hear that there is a pro life candidate and a free choice candidate. I just know that pro life should apply to ALL human life. I am definately anti abortion - but after much soul searching and much personal debate, I am also anti death penalty.

I hear that the Bush Administration has produced many many new jobs. (I forget how many.) I also hear that it has become profitable to send jobs overseas. That the good jobs are leaving and the new jobs are entry leval and/or minimum wage jobs. What good is a job for everybody if a person cannot survive unless he or she has two or three of them.

I believe that Iraq is better off without Sadaam, but I do believe that we should have waited and harassed and nagged the other big nations until they either made him back down diplomatically or agreed to go in with us. I believe that we need to stay there now until that country has a stable government. Close to 1000 of our young people have given their lives for this war. We should not be doing it alone. And why does so much of the rest of the world hate us at this point.

I need to get a lot of questions answered in the next couple of months.

Do you have any of them?

Mary

We went to Door County today and toured four lighthouses. It is fascinating. I can see how people get hung up on the history and the collecting of memorabilia of them. We have seen six in the last month now. Split Rock in Canada, the one at the Shipwreck Museum in Whitefish Point MI. and these four on the Door Penninsula. These four are still working lighthouses, though they are automated and use battery or solar power. With the new innovations in radar and sonar and the GSL systems available, the need for lighthouses is really past. A wonderful romantic part of our history - it is wonderful to see them preserved and treasured.

Have a great Wednesday. Remember to have faith and trust that prayers ARE answered.

Love

Mary

Monday, Monday. We were busy today. Bible Study at 9:30AM. Bart and Barb are back on the prayer chain. Please, keep them in your prayers too. Sunday's reading were very encouraging to me. They spoke of persistant prayer. They were Luke 11: 1-13 where he says that if you persist in asking for help even if you are at first turned down, sometimes people will help just to get rid of you. In Genesis 18:20-32 Abraham wears God down in agreeing to save Sodam and Gomorrah even if there were ONLY 10 just people in the cities. Anyway, I am going to persist and I ask that you do too.

Tomorrow we are going up to Door County on a lighthouse tour. This will be a nice cap to our Canada trip where we saw toured two lighthouses. I will have more pictures. I am working on Jim to fix my ability to import pictures to this site.

I shot tonight and I was terrible. I am going to have to go on Sundays too to see if more practice will help and if perhaps I shoot the previous day, I will do better on league nights.

Hope your week is wonderful.

Love

Mary

Do you remember summers before the polio vaccine? When I was young, the hot muggy days of summer could be very frightening because of the danger.

Nora babysat for a neighbor one evening. She came home from the job really disgusted, as young people are wont to be after cleaning up vomit and changing sheets on a bed. The daughter of the people had gotten sick. The next morning word came that the girl had been taken to the hospital as symptems persisted. Later word came that she had polio and had been transported to Milwaukee to the only hospital in the area with an iron lung and the means to treat this disease.

Well, Mother about paniced. Here it was, the middle of summer and she had eight children (I don't believe that Randy was born yet.) under the age of 13. The doctor said that she really should not have to worry about anybody but Nora. (Yea right, tell ANY mother.) Nora, however, had to get the only known possible deterant, a shot of Gamma Globulin, that was given by weight. That upset her too. She hated shots. Big surprise.

The little girl died. It was a sober summer that year with the heat and the humidity and whatever else contributing to the fear but there were no more cases in town and we all remained well.

Aunt Helen always said that she was sure that Dad had polio before they called it that. He got very sick one summer and the following year, Uncle Jack took him to school in a wagon for a while. His legs, in my memory, were alway small and skinny. However, he did everything he wanted too.
Mary

You all missed a great turkey dinner. You can't say you weren't invited. The blueberry cake was good too.
Here is the recipe for the cake, a definite keeper.

Easy Fresh Blueberry Cake

1 (18.25 ounce) box yellow cake mix
2/3 cup water
1 egg
1/4 cup butter (NO SUBSTITUTE), melted
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9-inch square baking pan.

Measure 2 cups cake mix into a bowl.

Prepare remaining mix according to package directions, using 2/3 cup water and 1 egg. Measure 1 cup batter; set aside. Pour remaining batter into prepared pan.

Add butter, cinnamon and nutmeg to reserved cake mix. Mix until crumbly. Sprinkle half of the crumb mixture evenly over the batter in pan. Arrange blueberries evenly over crumb mixture. Spoon reserved batter evenly over top of blueberries. Sprinkle with remaining half of crumb mixture.

Bake 45 to 50 minutes or until done. Serve warm.

I got it off the internet at www.recipegoldmine.com. I always like the sound of "easy". Usually those recipes taste the best too because there is less to mess them up.

Fresh blueberries are really reasonable this year so I have been getting them and even freezing them. They are about the easiest things in the world to freeze. You don't even wash them. Just throw in containers and into the freezer. You wash and check them over when you thaw them and use them just like fresh.

Kitties like turkey too but we found out that they do not care much for white meat.

Love

Mary

What a rotten day in the market. Pretty discouraging.

The weather on the other hand was way too wonderful. It is pretty hard to be discouraged for long when nature provides such a bonus day. Dick and I sat out on the deck for a while this evening and last because it is finally nice enough to do so. I discovered that there are a couple of tomatoes on the tomato plants. Wow.

Today, when I was in Plymouth for lunch, I stopped at the Farmer's Market there and got some sweet corn. The owner said he got it from Spring Green which is west and south of us so they are ahead of us. The Sheboygan County crops are way behind or non existant so I will get it where and when I can. It sure tasted good.

The perfect gift is from the heart
The perfect love is not the start
The perfect life is after death
The perfect word is quietly said.

Have a Great Weekend

Mary

Next week the Democrats are having their convention. Big Woo! Conventions used to be exciting. You never knew, until the end, who the candidates were going to be. There was lots of hype and lots of excitement and lots of speeches and platforms were discussed. Now - it is a done deal but we have to put up with speeches that just will rubber stamp the already decided issues. I guess the major networks won't be showing it all day and evening like they used to. They would lose too much of their audience to cable.

I am disgusted with the whole thing. Then we will have three months until the election.

Oliver Goldsmith had the following verse in his poem - Three Jolly Pigeons

Politicians they tell us each day,
Of their good sense and propiety.
But puff as these blowhards they may
They cannot disguise their venality,
Swaggards and braggards they all,
Sing songs of their courage and vision,
Crow loudly as ever they will,
They're not heard at the Three Jolly Pigeons.

To right to roddle to rol.

I lifted a pint or two of cider at the bar in County Athlone Ireland called the Three Jolly Pigeons that Goldsmith refers to in his poem. The barkeep Seamus recited the poem for us. I think his portrait of the "politician" is accurate.


I had gotten a card for a free turkey last winter. The card expires in September, so I decided to get it now. We are going to have turkey dinner on Saturday. Aren't you jealous? If you want to, you can all come over for dinner. I am also going to fix a fresh blueberry cake.

Enjoy

Mary

We have three animals. I believe that I have conveyed that information, even to those who do not know me very well. All our critters came from the Humane Society.

We have had Chelsea, the dog, for almost 7 years now. Prior to her, I had a little terrior mix named Zero. He was my love. When Bart and I moved from California to Minnesota and then from Minnesota to Wisconsin, he was there with us and he trusted and comforted me through all the bad times.

When he died, we kind of decided not to get another dog because they are a lot of work and we like to travel and all. And after all we did have cats. I lasted for two years. then one day, I told Dick that I simply HAD to have a doggy.

So we started going to the Humane Society to find a proper dog for us. Most of the dogs that are turned in to the Humane Society are big gangly eager doggies and much more than I could handle since they are also not usually well trained. So we went back for at least four weeks. The forth week, Dick said that we had better find a small one soon or he was going to take one of these because they were starting to recognize him and he was feeling bad leaving them there.

Then low and behold, here was this little white fluff of a thing and she was available, so we took her. I remember bringing her home and telling Dick that Jim was going to say that she was a little rat. He did too. She is actually a medium sized dog in the 17 to 18 pound range. We do just fine and are all so glad to have her. Now I have someone to "walk me" every day.

Have a nice Thursday.

Mary

Tuesday already. It was a quiet day here on Hunters Glen Drive. We didn't have to go ANYWHERE. What a thrill. Tomorrow, I will lunch with Betsy, my brother George's wife, and Betsy's mother, Dorothy. Betsy will be going back home to Texas next Monday. It will be pleasant to spend some time with her.

Betsy and George graduated from Sheboygan Falls High School 35 years ago. George and Betsy started dating in high school and married a couple of years later while George was in the service. I remember trying to call home during that time and knowing that if the phone was busy for a long time, Betsy and George were talking. They went to school all day, then George worked. Then they would get on the phone until bed time.

A friend sent me the following, I thought I would share with all of you because it is SO FUNNY!
Enjoy.


Diet/Exercise Questions answered by a noted Dietician:

Q: I've heard that cardiovascular exercise can prolong life. Is this
true?

A: Your heart is only good for so many beats, and that's it. Don't
waste
them on exercise. Everything wears out eventually. Speeding up your
heart will not make you live longer; that's like saying you can extend
the
life of your car by driving it faster. Want to live longer? Take a
nap.

Q: Should I cut down on meat and eat more fruits and vegetables?

A: You must grasp logistical efficiencies. What does a cow eat? Hay
and
corn. And what are these? Vegetables. So a steak is nothing more than
an
efficient mechanism of delivering vegetables to your system. Need
grain?
Eat chicken. Beef is also a good source of field grass, a green leafy
vegetable. And a pork chop can give you 100% of your recommended daily
allowance of vegetable slop.

Q: Is beer or wine bad for me?

A: Look, it goes to the earlier point about fruits and vegetables. As
we
all know, scientists divide everything in the world into three
categories:
animal, mineral, and vegetable. We all know that beer and wine are not
animal or mineral, so that only leaves one thing, right? My advice:
Have a
burger and a beer and enjoy your vegetables.

Q: How can I calculate my body/fat ratio?

A: Well, if you have a body, and you have body fat, your ratio is one
to
one. If you have the weight of two bodies, your ratio is two to one,
etc.

Q: What are some of the advantages of participating in a regular
exercise program?

A: Can't think of a single one, sorry. My philosophy is: No
Pain...Good.

Q: Aren't fried foods bad for you?

A: You're not listening. Foods are fried these days in vegetable oil.
How
could getting more vegetables be bad for you?

Q: Will sit-ups help prevent me from getting a little soft around the
middle?

A: Definitely not! When you exercise a muscle, it gets bigger. You
should only be doing sit-ups if you want a bigger stomach.

Q: Is chocolate bad for me?

A: Are you crazy? HELLO .. Cocoa beans ... another vegetable!!! It's
the best feel-good food around!

Well, I hope this has cleared up any misconceptions you may have had
about food, exercise, and diets. So, have a cookie.

One more thing... "When life hands you lemons, ask for tequila and
salt."

Congratulate me!!! I shot league at the Sheboygan Falls Conservation Club with Rosalie tonight. I had not shot for two weeks, of course, since we were on vacation last Monday. Rosalie and I shot twice because we needed to catch up. My first round was not good. I shot a 10 and was a bit discouraged.

BUT we shot the catch up round. I started in figuring that I couldn't do any worse and by gumbo - I got an 18. This is my all time high. I got ONE other 18 last summer out at the club across from my brother Jeff's house. (I was really glad of that, as I was so afraid that I was really going to look dumb in front of my brothers.) Anyway, I am all excited now.

Bible study resumed today. There were six of us there so most people are back after our two week hiatus. We really got into a discussion of the child abuse by the clergy. It was fresh on our mind because last week the Milwaukee Archdiocese published a list of all the priests, past and present, that had been accused and were proved to have abused children. We were doubly upset because it seems that St. Mary (now Blessed Trinity) has had its share serving us. Three on the list were assigned here over the years. We feel that the parishioners have to be willing to face the fact. There seems to be a lot of denial going around. We need to be alert and not be blind to the fact that priests are people too. When they do wrong, they need to face the consequences, legal and otherwise. And being a priest should not arouse any more or any less suspicion than any other person. I liked Psalm 37, verses 7 through 9.

7. Leave it to the Lord,
and wait for him;
Be not vexed at the successful path of the man who does malicious deeds.
8. Give up your anger, and forsake wrath;
be not vexed, it will only harm you.
9. For evildoers shall be cut off,
but those who wait for the Lord shall possess the land.

I am starting to get tired now. It has been a busy day. We had temperatures of 84 or more today but the rain they threatened us with did not come. I am just as happy that we are not getting 90s and 100s like Bret, Bart and Leslie. I noticed a few blossoms on my tomato plants on the deck. Yippee. Of course every year, I get a couple but my crops are usually pretty pitiful. Maybe, this is my year.

Tomorrow

Mary

I hope somebody missed me this week.

It was a wonderful week for Dick and me. We drove over the top of Lake Superior. Each day we stopped at a different place of interest. We saw a freshwater aquarium, two lighthouses, an old fort, and took a tour of the locks at Sault Ste Marie. Wow. What a lot of territory to cover.

It is good to be home though, and to be welcomed so eagerly by a white dog and not so eagerly by two silly cats.

Dick and I decided that we do like Canada. The country, at least above Lake Superior is really beautiful and we only saw a bit of it. The people are really friendly too. We found the food and accomodations to be very similar to the US. Not unexpected. We realized that the Canadians do not have a "food". Not like Italian, or Mexican or German. Even American. We have our hot dogs and apple pie. But the Canadians do not have a kind of food. But they have good food. At least we found a lot of good food.

Anyway, here we are, home again and glad to be here. What is it about traveling. A person wants to get away, so badly and then are so very happy to be home again.

This week, I will try to get a picture or two on the site for you to see some of the beautiful sites that we saw.

Have a good Monday.

Love

Mary



The currency exchange was a bit confusing as their coins AND bills are somewhat similar but an American Dollar is worth about $1.30 Canadian dollars. It is startling to fill up your tank and put in(as an example) 58 L at .895 totalling $52.