A lovely day, holed up in our comfortable home, just the four of us. I got to sleep almost a half hour later than usual until I heard Miss Roxie calling quite instantly from the hallway. I always close the door after I take Chelsea out for her mid night walk.

It was just beautiful when Chelsea and I went for her long walk this morning. She is such a happy girl on those walks. You would never guess how tired she is so much of the time. She is coughing a lot lately. She is due for her checkup late nest month.

After our breakfast, Dick went down for a nap, so I spent the morning cleaning and sending out cards and practicing for tomorrow's Mass. There was one song that I was really having trouble getting the alto part down. I think I have it now but of course have to be able to do it with all the other parts singing along and against the melody.

I dusted downstairs too so I am now ready for the music workshop next Thursday. The cleaning company is starting next Thursday, so I did not worry about the floors down there.

I can't figure out why my knee seems more sore the past couple of days and my hips ache so much.

We ate leftovers all day today but I did make a fruit salad and a jello salad to accompany them. The fruit this year is just wonderful and is staying that way. We have been so enjoying the salads.

Roxie and I had the nicest nap this afternoon. I hated to get up. I spent about an hour out on the deck after that reading and enjoying a glass of wine in this most beautiful of days. The deck is shaded in the late afternoon, so even if the sun is hot it is always pleasant with a nice gentle breeze coming through the trees. Mosquitoes don't seem to come up there either.

I drove past the home I grew up in the other day. It is for sale again and is really looking run down. So sad. I am surprised that none of the owners in the past years didn't side it with aluminum or something. It is still wood frame and badly in need of paint. We had such good memories in that house. As George titled his book of poems, Old Red House. Mom and Dad started painting it red when I was very young. A Nice barn red. When I was VERY little we did not have an indoor bathroom. The outhouse was in the back yard. When I was in kindergarten, Dad and our neighbor, Mr. Roe, put the bathroom in upstairs. They took part of a bedroom to do it. People find it hard to believe that 11 people lived in that house with only one bathroom. We didn't think it a problem because we did not know any better and it worked out just fine as long as nobody overslept. Eventually, Dad put just a toilet down in the basement but that was after several of us had gone on our merry ways. Happy house, so sad to see it lonely and neglected.

Mary

What a day. I had to add changing the dressing on Dick's foot wound to the mix. It was more time consuming this morning and will be every other day because we have to change the stocking too. It is not seeping too much and looks OK, I guess. This evening, I just had to clean and dress it. I also cleaned the kitchen floor and counters and my bathroom.

But, we had a date this noon. Dick promised me that he would take me out for a meal once a week and he came through this noon. We went to the Parkview in Sheboygan Falls. We used to go there for breakfast quite often. Lunch Sometimes. So it seemed like a good place to start. It was easy to get in to and we had a good lunch. The main thing is that I got him out of the house for something other than a doctor's appointment.

When we got home, I napped. Roxie really liked that a lot. She figures that I never sleep long enough though.

This evening I picked up Nancy and we drove out to Rhine for the opening of pistol league. I brought my 12 gauge along too. My friend, Norb, who is a gunsmith said that he probably can do things to it to make it less hard on me. So he looked it over and took it with him to try to fix the spring and put a different recoil pad on. He has some other ideas too. He is a gunsmith so I am glad that I talked to him. He took it with him and will let me know what he can to. It is good to have him back in the league again. Bobbie and I always enjoyed Norb and Rocky being there.

Anyway, I shot three targets. They were pitiful compared to my practice targets of last Thursday but they were not impossible. I will keep working at it. Norb is looking for a florescent site for my pistol which would be helpful for siting on the target.

Tomorrow I am going to make a some fruit desserts and salads for us to snack on for the next couple of days. With leftovers and the Celtic Fair, I won't have to do any serious cooking. I am thinking strawberry, pineapple, banana jello with sour cream topping. Num Num.

Have a nice Saturday, the weekend here is supposed to be beautiful.

Love

Mary

So a full day. Tomorrow should be fairly quiet. I won't be going to church because I will be going to Celtic Mass. I am excited to have my words sung for all those people. It should be a very nice ceremony and the weather is supposed to cooperate for the Faire following the event. Mother is really looking forward to it too and Jeff and Kathy and maybe Shane, Georgi and Sara will be there too. I will buy raffle tickets and Take a Chance Booth Tickets and eat good food. I will try to bring something home for Dick.

I have made the arrangements to have the house cleaned. I am using the same company as Mother does and eventually will have the same cleaning lady. They are starting next Thursday. I am so relieved. Things are just getting away from me.

This turned out to be a much busier and more stress than was expected because of the appointment with Dr. Moreno.

Started out pretty normal. I got up at 6AM an took care of all the morning stuff, then went to pick up Mother for her 9:30AM appointment with Dr. Lavey the eye doctor. That took a long time. They were running a bit late and it takes time for them to run those eyes through their tests and then dilate them. But we ended up with pretty good news. Mom was noticing that letters are running together a bit and that the end of lines when she is reading drop off sight sometimes. Dr. Lavey said her basic vision is the same but that the dry macular is slowly progressing due to age. He said not to worry that it will not probably progress too fast and he sees her every six months anyway so we were quite relieved. I was so impressed with him. I noticed that Mother did not hear a couple of his questions so I, quietly, told him that her hearing isn't too good and he raised his voice just enough that she could hear him clearly. It is much better if she can just answer her own questions.

I got home at about 11:30, just in time to finish up lunch. I had put some chicken legs in the slow cooker so just had to heat some beans as we had Waldorf salad to finish up the meal. Bobbie joined us. We sure like her making the wine her. After lunch, we went down and racked lots of wine. Her peach, rhubarb and rhubarb/elderberry wer ready to be racked and my Lemon Balm. Next week will be time for at least one more of her wines to be racked and we will bottle the White Zin. It would have been just too much today as Dick and I had to be at Dr. Moreno's office at 2:30PM.

Here is where the trouble began. That blister that is seeping is also showing signs of infection. So he trimmed the dead skin off. I will have to clean and dress it and put ointment on it twice a day. He has antibiotics. He can't wear his fancy shoe, so he can't walk and we go back to see Dr. Moreno on September 22nd. I am very discouraged. Brian, one of our favorite nurses, dressed the wound and was very encouraging. He and Dick say that I did all I could. Dr. Moreno says those blisters can turn very quickly and apparently that is what happened. So. pray very hard. I am afraid of the slow healing.

I'll lean on you and
you lean on me and
we'll be okay

-- Dave Matthews

Tonight I went to Blessed Trinity to practice for Celtic Mass which is on Sunday. I think it went quite well and I was home before 8:30PM. Good thing because, surprise!!, I am exhausted. We have the football game on. The Steelers and the Titans. So far they are tied. I need the Steelers to win for my points in league. I worked very hard on that.

Til tomorrow.

Mary

Today was shopping day. By the time I got everybody fed, medicined, walked and cleaned it was after 8:30AM. So I went to the bank and then to Piggly Wiggly for the shopping.

I spent the rest of the day working on small projects and reading. I am trying to get some reading in every day to get back into the habit and the pleasure of it.

Bonnie from Bonnie's Housekeeping came by at about 12:30 to give us an estimate of her costs. Her service is the one that cleans for Mother so I feel pretty confidant. They are less expensive than Merry Maids. They do use my equipment and cleaning products. Merry Maids uses their own. With the experience Mom has had I think I will feel comfortable going to Bonnie's. She will call me at the end of the week to tell me what she has available and we will go from there. They have a minimum of 2 hours which should work quite well for what I want done. I can probably even have them do extra stuff in the extra time. That will be a relief. I just have trouble keeping up and frankly, my knee hurts when I vacuum.

I did some more reading this afternoon and watered the plants in the front of the condo. The new grass planted beside the road is doing so well and we have not had rain for several days to I felt that I wanted to give it a drink so it will stay healthy.

Dick's blister is still draining so I called Dr. Moreno today and we will see him tomorrow at 3PM. Tomorrow will be very busy though everything is nicely spread out.

Mom had her eye doctor appointment at 9:30AM, then Bobbie will be over for lunch and to work on wine. We have peach, rhubarb, white Zin and lemon balm to be working with. We can easily put off the white Zin if we need to as Dick had to be at the doctor at 3. Actually that is more than enough time to get the racking done.

Tomorrow evening is the last practice of the Blessed Trinity choir before the Celtic Faire on Sunday so I will be going to Sheboygan Falls at 7PM for that.

Now I am going to watch the president speak. Then it will be close to bedtime and I can listen to the opinions of his speech tomorrow.

Have a nice evening. This is such beautiful weather, it is hard to think that winter will rear its lovely head soon.

Something very special happened today. When I took Chelsea out on one of her walks today, imagine my delight and surprise to find, perched jauntily, like a lovely green hat, on the stump carving that I have on my front stoop, a BEAUTIFUL rosemary plant. I do not know for sure who left it but I have my suspicions. Bob Fleming and talked at length about herbs and he said he had several on his deck. Perhaps he wanted to give me that moment of pleasure. It would be so like him. Such a good friend. Now I must work very hard to keep it alive until next year.

Love and enjoy your evening.

Mary

This was a very busy day. Chelsea and I had a lovely walk this morning. It was cool again and very clear.

This morning, Dick followed through on his promise to spend some time outside the house. We drove over to Kmart and spend about an hour just looking around the store. Of course, we bought a few things that we needed. It is always good to have a purpose or the shopping isn't any fun. He did well. We spent almost an hour in the store and found a heating pad, a coffee pot and a couple of other things we needed. We got home in time to have a light lunch before Nancy picked me up to go shooting pistol.

That was fun. I had three good targets. All 30 on the paper and 28 in scoring position with several in the black. Nancy is having trouble with her pistol not chambering the bullet. We lucked out, though. When we got upstairs, Jerry and Nancy Coenen and Pat Becher and her husband were pulling in to practice too. So Jerry is looking at and going to check out her gun to see why it is jamming. It looks like it is catching on the magazine, but we, Nancy and me, don't have any idea what to do to correct that.

Then I napped.

I fixed Dirty Rice with Italian Sausage for our dinner. The critters started bugging me while I was messing around in the kitchen. Then I noticed a little bit of catnip left in the jar that Bobbie had brought several months ago. It was tucked behind some other stuff on the counter and I had forgotten about it so I gave it to Roxie. Was she ever funny. She started eating it and ended up lying on her side with her head just barely able to get to the last of the catnip in bowl. A total experience. She was the happiest kitty I ever saw.

So a busy day. I am glad it is over now and am about ready to hit the bed. Mother used to say "Up the wooden hill to four corners." Of course we lived in a two story house so it was a bit more appropriate.

Love

Mary

What a nice Labor Day this turned out to be. I was busy this morning with my usual stuff. Stuff is such a nice inclusive word. I had to walk two doggies, (Our neighbor, Dick , was Up North enjoying the color change so I had Katrina to walk too.) Katrina is funny. She stops every ten feet or so to just give kisses and love. She pees funny too. She squats and then lifts one leg or the other to relieve herself. We had several good walks. I tried to take her on different routes and to just be with her has she was alone in the house. She, as our Chelsea, is used to having SOMEONE in the house most of the time.

Chelsea was not neglected either. Chelsea is doing better than she was a couple of days ago. She is still old but some days seems more subdued than others.

I talked to Bret today. I had forgotten to tell him that his cousin, Brit, is moving to Los Angeles in October. She will be the head of two areas of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. A nice leg up. She sill be head of Photography and Works on Paper. I know that she did her main studies in Photography. I still need to ask her if she would like to see the stereoscopes of my friend Bob's parent's wedding. She did her Masters on Stereoscopes, as I remember. I hope that she and Bret can get together once in a while for a lunch or dinner or holiday as they are family and it is good to have SOMEONE of blood close by. I know how much it has meant to Vikki, my niece on the Johnston side that she and Bret are connecting more. Blood is thicker than water.

This afternoon Bobbie and I went to see Julie and Julia. It was charming and wonderful. Bobbie had gotten interested in the blogs that Julie did during the year that Julie did Julia Child's recipes and blogged. She said that she could see why Julia was not too excited about meeting Julie. There was a lot of oddness and melt downs in the blog. And after all, Julia was in her late 80s and early 90s at the time. But it was a beautiful story and well worth seeing, if only for Meryl Streep's performance. I want to get her cookbook now.

Jim and Michelle called tonight. They spent a day with Bart and Marlise and Don. I am glad that they are connecting. They took "Chip" Kunert their new dog with them and that was an adventure. It went quite well, after all Chip is just a puppy. Apparently some blood was shed but they couldn't tell from whom so it could not have been too important. They are doing well at their job and looking for others. There are prospects but I gather that they are grateful that, in this market, they are in the position that they can deep looking until it is right as they have an income coming in.

Did I tell you that I saw a Blue Heron, several flights of geese and two hawks flying overhead in the past two days? It is the onset of Autumn and I imagine the critters are trying to figure out the signals that are changing day to day. I am amazed that it is so gray at 6AM when I get up. Soon it will be really dark and I won't be thrilled about taking my girl out. She does not seem to worry as she knows that her MOM will take care of her. Guess that is how I feel about my God. I get scared sometimes but know that in the end Jesus will take care of it and it will all be for the best.

Take care and go into the week with joy.

Love

Mary

Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea.
- Robert A. Heinlein

This morning while I was watching Good Morning America, Bill Weir said that he was a Cheesehead. They featured the Packers meeting with the kids who bring their bikes to the practices for the opportunity to interact with the players. This has gone on for years. Anyway, he ended the segment saying, "Eat your heart out, Brett Favre, The Vikings eat children."

It was indeed a quiet day. I took Katrina, our neighbor's dog, out a couple of times today today. She is such a loving doggy but I am glad that we have Chelsea. Katrina leaks when she gets excited and I would not be happy cleaning up after a piddling pup.

I spent some time on getting ready for the Celtic Music Workshop that I am going to conduct on September 17 her at our house. If any of you want to come, you are welcome. It is for the Celtic Women but we welcome anyone that has an interest in our purpose, even for one evening or one event.

I a made a blueberry cheesecake today and is it ever good. I hope I can find someone to help us eat it. As usual it is SO big that it will last much too long.

It was a nice warm day today and some of my tomatoes are starting to ripen. That is good. I hope to be able to eat them fresh and perhaps preserve some of them. I am thinking Braciole de Manzo. To die for. I do love to cook.

Tomorrow I will go to see the movie Julie and Julia with Bobbie. I do like Meryl Streep and it is based on a great book so I am looking forward to it. Always good to spend time with Bobbie too.

That was the day so tomorrow is Labor Day. I am going to put the flag out to celebrate the day. Enjoy it. Remember the reason for the day. Did I ever tell you that Bret was born on Labor Day? I remember getting to the delivery area. There must have been six women all in labor at the same time and one of the nurses said. "Just because is it Labor Day didn't mean that you all had to come in a the same time."

Love

Mary

As quiet a day as the critters will allow. Roxie has taken to being somewhat of a nag in the wee hours of the morning but she goes away when I cuddle her too long. I got up at about 6:30AM. (Of course there is always that little potty break for Chelsea earlier.)

I cleaned the kitchen floor this morning. Dick slept until almost 9:30AM so it was really quiet around her. Chelsea and I had a really great walk this morning. It was nice and crisp and clear and dry. The rest of the day she has been a bit lethargic. Not a lot of zip and she has an OLD look about her eyes. This happens to her every so often. Even her tail droops. But usually after a day like that she perks up a bit again. Lets hope. We always feel so sorry for her when she is like that.

Today was Dick's shower day. That is still a production though we are getting really good at it. The callous with the blister on his foot is now oozing a bit. We are concerned, of course. Wounds we don't need. We are going to check it twice a day for a while and see if it will dry up faster. I put a bit of Neosporin on it today just in case.

I went to Mass at 4PM. Now I think I have some strength for the coming week. It is not too busy but a lot of preparation is needed for the next week. This week I just have to take Mom to the eye doctor on Thursday and work at Rhine on Friday which is the beginning of league. Nancy and I want to go out to practice once more before league starts. We didn't do TOO bad on Wednesday but are rusty.

So that was our Saturday. Busy but just us. It was nice and tomorrow will be more of the same it looks like. I will be watching out for our neighbor Dick's dog Katrina tomorrow and Monday. He and his friend are going to drive up north to try to catch some color.

So enjoy your Labor Day weekend. I talked to my Bret yesterday, his birthday, you know. He is out at his place on the Colorado River and sounded happy as a clam. He said his Aunt Jacquie called him for his birthday too.

Take care

Love
Mary

Except for going over to Capelle's to get our fresh corn and tomatoes, we got to stay home all day. Was that ever nice. Chelsea got to ride to Capelle's with me so she was a happy happy little doggy. She has been very tired most of the day.

Actually, between 3 and 4 AM, Roxie came in to pester me. She is getting used to Chelsea getting me up for a bathroom run by 4AM. Finally at 4:30AM, I got up to peek at Chelsea to be sure she was OK. I was beginning to think that maybe Roxie was trying to tell me something. She was - she wanted a snack. The little minx, Chelsea, saw me so I did take her out and then went back too bed til 6:30AM.

I mixed up the beginning of a batch of lemon balm wine in the primary fermentor today. That is a rather complicated process as this wine required boiling and then steeping the lemon balm leaves then straining the cooled water into an also boiled mixture of water, sugar and lemon juice then adding other things. Before I go to bed, I have to add the yeast. I also checked the Specific Gravity on the peach and will do that for the next few days until it is right.

The nights are cool now. It is only in the mid 40s when I wake up though it did get into the mid 70s today. Some of the tomatoes are showing color, I just hope they ripen before the first frost.

Tomorrow will also be a quiet day, I hope. I will end with PART of an email I got today. I liked this message.

Mary

My Dear Friends,
'Life isn't about how to survive the storm,
But

"How to dance in the rain.."

Well, Chelsea got her bath today and it sure took the zip out of her. She seems exhausted and has been coughing a lot. She was having a rough time about the time I woke up so I know the bath did not cause the problem. She sure looks pretty all white and fluffy.

I got my first bid for having someone come in to vacuum and do the floors for me. I have two others that I will look at before we make up our minds. I still want to be sure that we can work it into the budget. I just know that right now, I never get caught up - my knee hurts very badly when I vacuum. That must be just the wrong leverage. We will see. I hope it works.

I dried some basil today. That plus some that I froze will provide enough basil for the winter. I will try to keep a couple plants alive over the winter too. Next I will dry some thyme, oregano and rosemary.

The rest of the day was very quiet. I took a nap, did some quilting and worked a bit on the Celtic Music workshop that I will be giving in two weeks. I have chosen the music for the Manx and Galacian samples. Not to hard as I only have one Manx song and two Galatian songs. Next I will pick the Irish and Scottish.

Packer game tonight. The last of the pre season. I am gathering my information for the big first game next week. Have to have my picks in by the 10th. Hope I do well this year.

Have a nice evening and enjoy your Friday. Remember to wear red to honor our GIs over seas fighting a police stating for us. We need to honor them and pray for their safety.

Love

Mary

Grocery Shopping day. I went early and was back before 9AM. I did not have as much to get as usual so the trip was quick.

I picked up a really cute little miniature rose plant for Mother. The cut flowers just looked droopy and this has the prettiest little white roses on it. Mom was delighted. It is her and Dad's anniversary you know. They would have been married 70 years this year. Isn't that just amazing.

When I got home, I fixed gnocchi for lunch with spaghetti sauce. Bobbie came for lunch as she was working on the peach wine today. So we had gnocchi with sauce, salad and pumpernickel bread with cream cheese, tomato and basil leaf. As Bobbie explained to Dick, a smaltsy smaltsy treat. It sure was good. Then Bobbie and I went down and added the sugar and additives to the peach juice and racked it into the primary fermentor.

By then it was 1:00PM so I left to pick up Nancy to go to Rhine Plymouth to practice pistol shooting. We both did pretty well. My second one was not good but I was able to somewhat correct my aim on the third one. League starts a week from Friday. We want to go out one more time before it starts for one more practice. I also would like to get a new site on my gun and if I could have someone be sure that it its sited in correctly.

When I got back, Bobbie was still her so we got more chance to visit and be sure that all is well with the wine. I will be checking specific gravity so Bobbie will know when she needs to come back. It is SO nice to have her coming out regularly.

I took a nap when she left and have been reading and catching up on email since then. The day is almost over and again, I am very tired and my knee is sore. I guess over all things are better but it is SO slow. God is teaching me patience.

Love

Mary

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT REGARDING RAISING CHILDREN!

1. You spend the first two years of their life
teaching them to walk and talk. Then you spend
the next sixteen telling them to sit down and shut up.

2. Grandchildren are God's reward
for not killing your own children.

3. Mothers of teens now know why
some animals eat their young.

4. Children seldom misquote you.
In fact,
they usually repeat word for word
what you shouldn't have said

5. The main purpose of holding children's parties
is to remind yourself that there are children
more awful than your own

6. We childproofed our homes,
but they are still getting in.

We were really busy today until noon anyway.

Travis from Steger arrived at 8AM. He was doing the winter check on the furnace. Everything is OK. The furnace filter is fine but he did have to change the filter on the humidifier. I never knew they had filters. Originally, he was going to order it and come back, but they had one in stock so he came back and finished the job this morning.

Then at 10, just as we finished getting Dick all ready for the day, the bell rang again and it was Ed and his family workers from Servicemaster here to clean the carpets. They did most of the moving that was necessary and did a great job. They finished in less than 1 1/2 hours. The animals were fascinated and the cleaners enjoyed them too. The temperatures were in the 40s when Chelsea and I went out this morning but did get up into the low 70s today. That was good because I left the doors open for several hours after Servicemaster left to speed the drying.

After they left, I fixed lunch then we took naps. I could not sleep unfortunately and am feeling it now. It is only a little after 7 and I am exhausted.

I am investigating the costs of getting a cleaning service in to vacuum and do the floors for me. It would free up a lot of my time once I am healed and perhaps help me heal as when I vacuum, I always am very sore the next day. Hopefully it will work out.


Guess that is all for now.

Tomorrow will be busy too. Shopping and shooting and going to Mother's with some money and pills.

Love

Mary

 

This is a picture of the flowers in the berm at the front of our unit that are all squished down. Remember, Jim and Michelle? It is the same this year. Perhaps it is some creature that lies in them or perhaps, as Bobbie said, the weight of the flowers just causes the stems to collapse. I like the first theory best but have to admit I have never seen any critters near them.

Mary

A very active day today and I am ready for bed. However it is only 7PM and I have to wait until 9 so that Chelsea can get her last try at the bathroom. Since she sometimes gets me up at 2PM even when I do take her out at 9, I don't want to do it any sooner.

I had bible study this morning. We are such a good group and really support each other in prayer. We discussed the fact that Jesus was so accepting of the handicapped and put them right in the middle of things for acceptance and /or healing. This was the story of when he healed the man with the withered hand after the Pharisees asked him if he was REALLY going to do this on the SABBATH.

Then I went over to Mom for a visit. I took her some turkey and stuffing for a meal. We had our usual nice conversations and I got a couple of errands to do for her. As usual she said there is no hurry but, of course, since Wednesday is her and Dad's anniversary, I will take a run down there in the morning to bring her flowers as I have since Dad passed. I also have a box of candy for her. That will be fun. I do believe that this would have been their 70th anniversary if our Dad was still with us. We talked a bit about how cold it is this year and she remembered again how hot it was on their wedding day and the weekend following.

When I got home Bobbie was here already working on the wine. She had looked at her calendar and realized that three of her wines needed racking along with the two big ones we have working down there. So she had finished racking the three gallon batches before I got home. Then after lunch of Irish bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches she and I went down and racked my 5 gallon White Zin and her 6 gallon that I keep forgetting the name of. They both smell good and the racking went quite well. Roxie joined us. She complained for a while, then just hung around and observed. Bobbie also started peaches fermenting for a peach wine. There is a lot going on down in the MaryER winery. Wonder what Bobbie will call hers.

We are going to a Taste of Home event at the Weill Center at the end of September. We are excited. You get to taste stuff AND get a bag of goodies AND get in on a drawing.

Tomorrow will be a super busy day but it is all at home. Steger is coming to check the furnace for winter and Servicemaster is coming to clean our carpets.

My knee really hurt in the middle of last night and was pretty sore most of the day. I seem to have good days and not so good days. Tomorrow will be better, I hope.

Yesterday I told you about Miss Spratt. Mom reminded me today how scared Nora was of her. She hated kindergarten. Miss Spratt's father, George, was the last living Civil War Veteran from Sheboygan Falls.

Sleep tight.

Mary

It was a quiet day. I would not have left home at all, except that Nancy and I had intended to do some shooting so she picked me up at 1PM. We drove out to Rhine and discovered that there was a private party using the place so we turned around and came home and rescheduled, tentatively, for Wednesday. We know that league will be starting soon and haven't shot in weeks so we want to at least be sure our guns are working.

Dick had his shower today which is always somewhat of an ordeal though it is getting easier all the time. He is able to do more for himself as he becomes more mobile.

After I got home, I took a nap then read for a while. I am trying to make a point of reading every day and sewing every day. I have been pretty good about writing every day, even if it is only this blog. Doing this does keep me doing other things. So you are all good for me.

Now I am watching the Daytime Emmy Awards. I loved the lifetime award to Sesame Street. The cast sang their song and it was such a pleasure watching as they panned the audience and you could see all those grown people, actors mostly, become children again and mouth the words along with the song. If they didn't grow up with it, their children did. Would you believe that Sesame Street is 40 years old.


I was remembering my grade school days. I went to kindergarten in the same school that my Dad did. I even had the same teacher. Her name was Miss Spratt. Her family was quite prominent in early Sheboygan Falls and she was a spinster lady. I remember her as being quiet and very old. The school was a two story brick building with wooden floors and stairways. That is all I remember about the building. I remember having milk and graham crackers for snack in kindergarten and lying on mats for a rest. We were little people you know.

The only other memory I have is that I wanted high top black shoes for school. When I got there noone wore high tops and girls did not wear black high tops. Kids teased me. So Mom had to get me a new pair of shoes.

Have a save end of August and beginning of September. The months are flying.

Love
Mary

I learned a few things today.

Yesterday and the day before, I did some vacuuming. My knee hurt like Billy be Damned. Today, I did virtually nothing and it feels much better. I am a slow learner or as Dick says a slow accepterer (not a word but you KNOW what I mean.)

We had a very sedate day, watching the pre funeral and the funeral Mass for Ted Kennedy. Even his foes respected him. He spent 47 years in the Senate and never wavered from his beliefs in all those years. He never tried to hide his warts and never worried about what people thought of him if he had a mission. He believed that those who have been given much have an obligation to help those to whom little has been given. That does not mean giving up your place in society or not expecting others to help themselves. It means that help needs to be offered.

I found out that in 1954 when he was a Junior at Harvard (albiet with a rocky start) he was sent a recruiting feeler from the Green Bay Packers. WOW. He passed, deciding to go for his law degree. I am sure that most of you heard the wonderful tributes from his sons and President Obama. All three of his children had medical problems and he was a rock for them during them all. I know that he suffered himself from constant pain from his back injury, something that I can understand as my son Bart also suffers from constant back pain.

I always felt a bit of a kinship with the Kennedys. They are Irish, we are Irish, they had nine children, we had nine children, they were Roman Catholic, we are Roman Catholic. John and Jacquie Kennedy lost a baby the same year that my Tony died. Ted's humor reminds me of my Dad's humor. My he rest easy in the palm of the Lord's hand.

So, I spent most of the day watching the tributes.

I made a turkey breast and stuffing for our supper. Boy was that good. I have lots left. We will be eating turkey for quite a while and I can share.

Tomorrow is another quiet day. I am going pistol shooting with Nancy in the afternoon but the rest of the day will be spent at home.

Take care and let me know of anything exiting in your lives.

Two little quips I got in my email:

1. What part of Europe are you from. The part whose ass we saved or the part whose ass we kicked.

2. Question: How many retirees to change a light bulb?
Answer: Only one, but it might take all day.


Enjoy your Sunday.

Love

Mary

It is still too chilly for August. It will, as my friend, Peggy Feider says, heat up just when the poor kids have to head back to school.

But it makes for nice morning walking. Everything is beautiful, green and blooming, after all the rain we have had. I believe some warmer temperatures might help my tomatoes to ripen. We have plenty to eat, some still from Bobbie and I was able to freeze one bag but there are lots on my plants if they just ripen.

I got a little bit of cleaning done today and one load of wash. There was SO much clutter on my desk and around it AND on the counters that I feel I accomplished a lot. Of course, the table has several piles on it now, but much of that is destined to be filed or returned and I will take care of much of that tomorrow.

I only had to leave the neighborhood once and that was quick. I picked up a prescription for myself and the fresh corn from Capelle's for our supper. Boy is it good this year. We always wonder how long it will last. I have put some of that in the freezer also.

I went downstairs and cut out the pattern for the kitty square that I am going to quilt. I actually have a bit of ambition these days. It has been a long time coming. Then when I get started, my knee hurts or I just plain wear out, but at least I did something today. Maybe tomorrow will be even better.

I have a nice quiet weekend ahead also. Tomorrow I just have to go to Mass and Sunday I am going shooting with Nancy. Sounds good to me.

Take care and enjoy your weekend. Perhaps yours will be really exciting. That is always nice too.

Love.

Mary

One of the many things no one tells you about aging is that it is such a nice change from being young. Ah, being young is beautiful, but being old is comfortable..

It was chilly today. We have hardly had a summer. Mother said she talked to Nora today and it is HOT in Dallas.

We spent the morning getting everybody fed and cleaned up and I made a couple of important business calls. Then Dick had to be at the Plymouth Clinic at 10:30AM for his anti coagulation check. Yippee! The count was 2.7. Just right so we don't have to go back for a whole month.

We had more of that chicken for our lunch - Got a fridge full of salads and leftovers. Tomorrow we will have our usual summer corn and tomatoes for supper.

Tonight I went to choir practice for Celtic Mass at Blessed Trinity. It was good seeing my friends and singing with them again. Beth put the words that I wrote from St. Paul to the tune of The Water is Wide on paper and we will sing it at the prelude. I have a couple of credits in the worship folder, two songs and the introduction. Isn't that cool?

I actually spent about an hour this afternoon reading. I have been planning to set time aside each day to do so and hopefully this is the beginning of putting this plan in motion.

Saturday Ted Kennedy will be buried. He has, I believe, been a man of honor. He made some mistakes but stood up to them and lived them down with service. I loved the Irish expression that is being used, he grew old enough to comb gray hair. He, in his elegy to John Kennedy Jr. regretted that John did not grow to that stage of life.

Well. It is now time to sleep.

Tomorrow will be a quiet day, I hope to wax creative.

Love

Mary

It was a very pleasant day today. Not to warm, not too cool. The morning was really busy. Had the usual stuff to do just to get started.

I watched all of GMA this morning because I wanted to hear all the tributes to Senator Kennedy. I was not at all surprised at his death. When he was unable to attend his sister Eunice's funeral, I knew that there was not much time. They are a family like ours. He would have been there if there had been any way. God bless him and his family. It will be interesting to see how the next few days unfold and what happens to his place in the senate. Wow. He held that post for 47 years.

At 9AM, I went grocery shopping. I bought a rotisserie chicken for our lunch. They are so tender and good and it was on sale. We will be eating on that the rest of the week.

I did take a nap before lunch. I was so tired and had a busy afternoon ahead of me.

At 2PM, I drove out to Rocky Knoll for the Amputee Support Group. We had a nice turnout and two speakers. One was Gary Wright who told about a swimming class for disabled swimmers at Central starting in October, the other was Dick Ruh, from A&J Vans. He is the one that I talked to about possibly making the Explorer or some other van handicap accessible for Dick. Then it turned out that the Passat was more practical and works very well. I was pleased to meet him and be able to tell him how much I appreciated his help. I did pick up some information on hand controls for cars. This could be useful if Dick ever wants to drive again.Did you know that you have to be able to use the emergency brake with the hand controls too? That reminded me of a story about my Dad. He used cars only because he HAD to. He did not like them. He came home from work one afternoon madder than a wet hen. He had to park on a hill and set the emergency brake. The only problem was that he did not know how to release it. SO. He twisted the thing like a pretzel trying to release it and finally drove home with it on. Jeff was fuming until I started laughing. I could just see Dad trying to pull the thing loose. Fortunately, Dad never drove fast enough to do any permanent damage and he learned how to release the brake for the next time.Boy was he strong.


On the way home, stopped a the Sewing Basket and picked up the first block of a Kitty Quilt. There are 8 in the set so far and the Sewing Shop will be doing one a month. I will do mine at home and use hand applique. They are adorable. I picked one called Kitt'ney Bean. They are hard to describe. This one has a kitty on a kidney shaped rug and is adorable. The kitty has a Rosie expression. Each one has a recipe. This one is Tuscan Pasta and Bean Soup. So this will be a fun project and something I can do by hand upstairs. I will cut it out tomorrow and maybe start on the had quilting of the project I have on the quilt rack. I must be feeling better because I am getting excited about things again.

Tomorrow will be pretty quiet. We just have to take Dick to the Plymouth Clinic for his anti coagulation test.

By the way, I DID tell Dick about our upcoming trip to the Fireside. He took it OK. We just have to figure out a couple of things and it will be OK as Janice has wheelchair seating for the guys so he won't have to be walking or anything. It will be fun. I have decided that I would like to go to Chicago at the end of October for an event at the Irish Center for Irish Artists. I will be selling my book along with the other CWI members who wish to feature their CDS or books. I need to start planning that soon.

Have a good Thursday.

Mary.

Today was an exhausting day. We had to get Dick all washed and changed and inspected before 10AM. His appointment with the prosthesist was at 10:30. I got up at 6:15AM but there is so much to do just to get to breakfast every morning.

The callous that has the blister, looks much better now. It is still drying up but has not opened into an open sore. For this I am so grateful. Tim replaced the strap on the shoe on Dick's leg. We needed to shorten the strap. So far it seems to be helping keep the foot in position. We have to stop him from rolling the foot.
It went well, I think. We found out how long things should last and that they will notify us when regular inspections are needed. We can always call if there are problems that need to be addressed, but mainly, we are done. All we need to do is get Dick on his feet and walking.

I have this little problem. Three or four months ago, I bought tickets for a play at the Fireside with Lee and Janice Lemkuil, they are part of the Amputee Support Group that I go to and that Dick should be going to. At that time it seemed very reasonable that he would be walking and able to be more mobile. I still want to go. We have almost a month yet to prepare. So tomorrow I have to tell him what I did and face his discomfort. He loves the Fireside and we would be using wheelchairs. Lee is a double amputee. The seating allows for this. So wish me luck.

We had slow cooker pork chops that were just super for lunch along with colannon. Tonight we had soup. Boy are we lucky.

I spent the afternoon starting to get ready for the workshop that I am going to do for CWI on Music of the Celtic Nations and catching up on emails and things for the Celtic Mass on September 13. Thursday will be the first choir rehearsal. That will be fun. I miss choir but don't want to be committed to being away from home one night of every week. I didn't tell you this, but when I took the worship folder to Sandy with MY changes, she told me Fr. Bob's changes and he wants to give credit to me for writing the front page. I have never asked for that but think that it is nice and will be pleased to be acknowledged for it. I think it is good this year. Though other years have made me happy too. I like to share Celtic customs and beliefs with others. After the Faire, I will print it here for you all. It would be nice if you could come to the Mass and Faire. They are really fun.

Take care.

Love

Mary