Wow. What a day.

The morning was the usual business. Feeding and walking animals, Feeding us. Showering. I had to add the cutting of the breads that I had baked to the mix. I left at about 8:30AM for the Sheboygan County History Museum.

I got there at about 9AM. Which gave me time to get the Celtic Women Tea kind of set up, look around a bit and finish the board for the Clifford and Deeley family trees.

I think it was a very successful event for everybody concerned. I saw SO many people that I had not seen in years sometimes and had wonderful conversations with many others. I met a Shea who is a relative a Fr. Mike, on the Shea side. And I re met a Bowser relative. Bobbie and Bill came by before lunch. And Kurt, Jody and the boys were there in the afternoon too.

I will have to get copies of the booklet that I prepared about Grandpa Deeley for the family. It is nice. I am still working on the Clifford booklet. The poseor Board for the Cliffords is really nice though. You can see that from the pictures that I posted earlier.

It was a wonderful day and I am very content.

God love you all

Mary

Hello There. I have everything as ready as I can for tomorrow's wonderful day at the History Museum. I am leaving here shortly after 8AM and will not be back until about 4PM or so.

I worked this morning doing wash, fixing our dinner and making sure everything was in order for tomorrow. At 12:30 I went to Dairy Queen for lunch. When I got home, I took a nap, then I baked the brown bread for tomorrow.

So there is nothing else exciting to report. Tomorrow I will have a lot because of the Museum. I am planning on taking lots of pictures too.

God love you

Mary

Another marathon day. Chelsea got me up twice during the night. After she got me up at 5:30AM, I shut the door until 6AM. Not a lot but I wanted my half an hour.

My usual busy morning, then at 8AM I did my grocery shopping. That went very smoothly. and I was home at about 9AM. So I had plenty of time to put the groceries away and gather my wits before driving over to Rhine to shoot. That was a total disaster. I only shot a 7 in my trap set. I know exactly what I was doing wrong and I could not stop myself. I was not following through and I was shooting way to fast. Well, there is next week.

We had leftover mashed potatoes and a hamburger for our lunch. Then I drove to the Aurora Pharmacy on Superior in Sheboygan to pick up some supplies for Mother. I had to be at the Sheboygan History Museum at 1PM to meet Beth Dippel so it made sense to save Mom the delivery fee.

Beth and I and Bob Harker, the museum director, did a lot of planning and I started the board for the Clifford Deeley connection. It is very exciting. There will be music and food and lots of history, both Irish and Irish American.

After we were done at the Museum, I stopped at Mother's to bring her the supplies. She looked and sounded pretty good. Her hearing is really getting worse. Jeff will be taking her to the ear doctor on Friday. I hope there is something that can be done.

When I got home, I baked the first of the two barm bracks (Irish Tea Fruit Breads) that I am bringing to serve with tea. I will bake another tomorrow and then decide which recipe should be given to the people that want it at the event.

So as you can see, I was all over the county and got a lot done during the day. Tomorrow I will be home all day and hope to finish everything but the brown bread for Saturday.

So that is the day. Now I am very tired. As you noticed. I didn't (horror of horrors) get my nap.

But it was fun.

Have yourself a fun day tomorrow - I hope today was good.

God love you all

Mary

Another day at home. What a pleasure. I was busy from sunrise to sunset (which by the way has not arrived yet.)

Cheslea got me up at 2:30AM and then again at 4:30AM. At that point,I closed the door to the bedroom and slept until 6:45AM. I wanted to stay in bed longer even but was afraid of Roxie.

I spent the day getting ready for tomorrow. I am going to the History Museum to get preset up. I am sure I will want to add or erase things from my exhibit and I want to see about the tea area. I also made a pineapple upside down cake, some enchilada sauce and prepared some rhubarb for the freezer.

As I said a pleasurable day. I am closing down now and wish you all a wonderful
Wednesday. I intend to have one too with shopping, shooting and a bit of artistic work.

Take care and know that I love you.

God loves you too.
Mary

Pray for Michelle.

Today turned out to be a marathon day.

Chelsea got me up at about 2:30AM then again at about 4:30AM. So I shut the door and got up on my own at 6:30AM. Then I had the regular feeding and my shower and Chelsea's walk. Then she was a real pest until I left for Bible Study at 9:30AM. For a while it looked like there were going to be three of us there. I kept getting emails from members who couldn't come and then got there to find that Ione was not going to make it either. So four were out just like that. But Joe and Felicia and Mary, our summer member, all came so we had 6 of us which is a nice discussion group.


We discussed Mark's relating the event when the woman was being criticized for anointing Jesus with expensive oil and he told everybody to cool it that she was right as he would be gone soon. I was surprised to read, having heard this story at least 70 times, that the event took place at the home of Simon the Leper. I had never notices that Simon was the "Leper". Just goes to show you that we don't always hear things. We kind of wonder if this is one of the lepers that Jesus cured.

Then I went over to Mom's. She was really tired today. But looked good. We took care of a couple of bills and I took two boxes of her fabric for Bobbie and I to go through. She is not sewing right now and if she does get up to it she is working on a crazy quilt of satins and that fabric is upstairs.

Home again, Dick and I had lunch, then I rested for an hour before driving over to St. John's for the funeral of a friend, Joanne Drossel Schultz. The Drossels were our neighbors on Pinehurst Court when we were all growing up. Joanne was just a year older than me. She had knee surgery and died suddenly last week, they think it was a blood clot. It was good to see and visit with all of her brothers and to meet her children. I stayed for Mass and the meal.

Then I hurried home, fed critters and Dick and headed over to Rhine for that meeting which took FOREVER. There are a lot of ambitious suggestions being bantered around, including a new clubhouse with an indoor pistol and archery range.
Also we are going to try wireless traps and some new fundraisers.

So it took a long time but I am finally home and glad to be here. Tomorrow I will be able to STAY here and have a lot of home work to do.

God love you

Mary

I read this in Patrick Taylor's An Irish Country Doctor.



"IRISH POTATO FAMINE SOUP

Take a gallon of water, and boil the bejasus out of it until it's very, very strong."

It was a quiet day. I got a LOT done. I did not have to leave the neighborhood.

Chelsea woke me at 1:30AM and then did not wake me at all. I got up at 6:30AM a bit nervous, but she was just kind of dozing at the edge of the living room. So I fed Roxie and took Chelsea for a nice long walk. She did pretty well and seemed to enjoy it.

After breakfast, I went downstairs and cut out two squares for the challenge quilt for the Kettle Country Quilters. I also cut out two pieces for a placemat for Samhain. I need to ask Janet my friend to help me with that. I have a "vision" but do not have the equipment to accomplish it.

My friend, Bill Cain, had an open house down the street on Indian Grass Court. I decides to go down and do a bit of research. Not that we are planning on doing anything in the immediate future, but I like to keep my finger on the market. That place is l. on the road (not good) 2. also has the basement finished (the same) 3. Has been freshly painted. (good.) They are asking $176,000. Bill figures they will settle in the mid 160s.

Years ago, it must have been before Bart was born, Bret and I went to a public event of some kind. He had to go to the bathroom. I would normally have taken him in with me but ----- if you think women's bathrooms have long lines then, you have no idea what it was then. ----- So I took him over to the men's side and sent him in. I was a total wreck. Then too, we heard about child molesters. It seemed like he took forever. Finally, I asked a man who was exiting if he would check on Bret. He went back in and came out kind of grinning. I remember that he said. "He is just sitting." So I waited a bit and he came out quite confidant and proud of himself.

Nobody knows what torture we mothers go through except for another mother.

God love you

I do

Mary

What was supposed to be a rather quiet Saturday turned out to be a bit more busy than I had hoped.


Mom called at 8:AM or so to tell me that her caretaker had not arrived. She is supposed to be there by 7:30AM. Mom could not find the phone number of the agency so she wisely called me. She would have gotten an answering service and gotten confused because of the hearing anyway. I called the service, then the cell phone. where I left the message that the caregiver had not shown up. Then got myself cleaned up and ready for the errands that I was going to run.

I was at Mother's by 9AM and the substitute helper was already there. Mother was exhausted. She had fixed her own breakfast and it really wore her out. I am so GLAD that she has someone in the mornings to help her. She gets so tired. The substitute had been called and had to get there in a hurry too. So I left her in good hands and went on my way.

I went to the bank, to Woodlake, to Amy's Hallmark, do Dunham's Sports and then picked up some prescriptions at Walgreens on the way home. I was home at about 11AM and was able to finish up our dinner. We had pork, mashed potatoes, creamed corn and the fruit salad.

Then I tried to take a nap.

Michelle and Jim called this afternoon. Michelle is healing quite well and her voice sounds nice and strong. Keep praying for healing though. Jim was fixing a tirimisu with homemade lady finger. Quite ambitions. Michelle said the lady fingers are delicious.

I went to Mass at 4PM. The skies opened just after I got home. I had almost decided to water the plants but they said we might get some rain so I held off. This should be just about perfect. I am getting tomatoes setting on my plants but they are slow and way behind. Oh well, it IS only mid July, there is plenty of time for them to set and get ripe. My herbs are doing very well.

So here I am, all tired out and ready for bed. I just have to take Chelsea out, fill the pet water dishes and turn on the dishwasher, then I can crawl in. I just seem to always be tired these days.

Have a blessed Sunday.

Love

Mary

I am sitting here with a sweet warm kitty on my lap purring. This makes me very happy.

Today was a bit less humid but the temps managed to get up into the high 80s again so it was warm. I hesitate to say "hot" when I read about the temperatures in the east and south.

It was a pretty much at home day. Jody came to clean this morning. I made a nice big fruit salad, made labels for the Marigold wine and did some more work on the Museum project. Dick and I got his hair washed this morning too.

Then I went to have lunch at the Dairy Queen with my friends. WE had a nice visit. Barb had her little granddaughter with her. She was very good. She ate her lunch then fell asleep on her grandma's shoulder.

I brought a cheeseburger meal home for Dick.

Then I took a nap.

I am trying to locate a nice world map that I can cut out what I want to show the routes that I think the Cliffords and the Deeleys took from Ireland to the US. Any ideas are welcome. My picture of the presentation I want to do is getting clearer now that I know how much room I have.

This evening I had to pick up a prescription for Dick's eye, which is healing very slowly. I seems better BUT is still read and I noticed a small lump on the lid, so we had to change his prescription.

Now it is almost time to wind down. Tomorrow will be nice and I will have time to work on the project again. Only a week to go.

God love you

Mary

A fruitful day. I discovered that I DO have pictures, actually tin types of my great great grandfather and grandmother Clifford. I was reviewing some of David Bowser's notes and realized that the tin types that we had copied are them. Grandma Matie Bowser, my grandmother had the tintypes and knew that Johannah Clifford had a "bad eye", a result of an accident when she was young and it is very obvious in the picture. So I am having her picture and Great Great Grandfather Jeremiah's pictures enlarged for the display.

So that took up a bit of the day, researching and then getting emailed for enlargement.

Bobbie came over a bit after 10AM. We bottled two of our wines today, the Concord Rosemary and the Marigold. They look so pretty. The colors just sparkle after the filtering. We decided that next time we will start some new batches as there is room now and fruits and herbs are now ripening and we want to take advantage of the harvests.

I had made a mac and cheese casserole with ham for out lunch with a lettuce salad using the leaf lettuce from my deck. That is the sweetest tenderest lettuce. I wish I could share with everybody. We really like having the wine making here as we get to spend time with Bobbie. She took Chelsea for a nice long walk. Chelsea REALLY wants a ride but we are trying to break her of that as she is getting very insistent and nags us.

Then, I drove over to Mom's. I had three prescriptions for her and took her some soup, mac and cheese and a cupcake. We had a lovely visit and shared some family history before I had to head home again.

It is still almost 80 degrees outside. Actually 10 degrees below today's high. It is still muggy and uncomfortable because of the humidity. But 10 degrees is 10 degrees.

This morning when I took Chelsea for her walk, a toad was in the garage when I got back. When we got up to the door, it just hopped further in. I don't know if it is still in there, but have been trying to leave the door open for an escape route and did put some water in a bowl out there. When I cleaned the garage recently I found a dead mouse. That did not upset me but I like toads.

God love you

Mary

I ALMOST went to sleep without writing this day's blog. Tsk Tsk. The day just almost got away from me.

It was a busy day. I went grocery shopping pretty early this morning. 8:30AM. I was pleased, I found hornet spray at the Pig. I was afraid that I might have to make a special trip to Fleet. We had gotten an email from Alison, our condo president, that hornets are nesting madly in this hot muggy weather and I had used up the last of our spray on a small nest on the front porch some time ago. Now, I dare them to try to set up camp.

I got home at about 9:30 and put all the groceries away. Then I drove out to Rhine to join and shoot in the summer trap league. I barely got a two blocks from home when the skies opened and it started to just pour. Well, according to the reports I have been hearing the rain was supposed to be rather light and just passing through, so I kept going. I got to the club to find everyone, of course, inside. They had gotten one group through and half of another before the storm started. So we all just waited and it stopped in about a half an hour. They all blamed me for starting it. After all, it started when I left home.

I shot a 13, not too bad for me. Doc watched me this time. I am shooting too fast and need to remember to follow through. But, not a bad start.

Got home in time to fix lunch. Then I took a nap. Spent the rest of the day working of family trees for the 17th and some phone calls.

Tomorrow Bobbie is coming and we are going to wine.

Love you

God loves you too.

Mary

The first day after the holiday weekend. Boy was it hot. 88 degrees and very humid. I started off the day taking care of critters, changing Dick's leg wrappings and doing all the morning things that seem to take forever.

I went out at about 9:30AM to pick up prescriptions for Mother and Dick and a couple other things at Walgreens, pic up a prescription for Chelsea and stop at Sun Graphics to have some photos enlarged for the When Irish Eyes Were Smiling event on July 17. I know what I want to do for the poster, now I need to get it accomplished.

We had the leftover chicken and stuffing for our lunch. Still as good as Sunday. Then I stopped at the post office for stamps before going to the Kettle Quilters meeting. We had a nice meeting. I had seen Lucy and Helen after church on Sunday and they got me motivated to finish one of the challenge squares for show and tell before the meeting. I am pleased with the project.

Then I got my hair cut. Jessica does such a nice job but my hair is always all sprayed and stiff when I come home.

So this was therefore a very full day. We had grilled ham and cheese sandwiches for our supper. Then this evening, I reviewed the Hallmark Christmas ornaments as Saturday is the big blowout beginning sale and I have lots of special offers. I like to go in there knowing what ornaments I need as it goes much faster.

I am tired. I did rest a bit when I got home this afternoon, but could not sleep so I am ready for bed at any time. Tomrorrow morning will also be busy but the afternoon should be quiet.

Have a good Wednesday yourself and God love you.

Mary

Another quiet day. The only time I left the neighborhood was to to to see Mother this morning. She had been weak on Sunday and Monday is my normal day to visit. So I went over at about 10AM. She seemed a bit stronger, at least her voice, when I got there. We solved a lot of the world's problems, as usual. Then I came home to fix lunch for Dick and Me.

I brought her some cheese, a chicken dinner and a piece of deep dish apple pie.

We had brats and beans for lunch.

The I rested a bit. I have everything ready for taking to get the poster on the Cliffords and Deeleys ready for the 17th at the Sheboygan County Museum.

So I am as rested as I can be for the next couple of weeks.

I was remembering, as we were watching something or other on Tv. That my friend, Janet's children, used to call my ex husband, Uncle Grumpy. That was because he never smiled and always grumbled at them.

Take care and have a good week. A short one for those that work.

Love and God love you

Mary

Happy Fourth of July. I hung our flag up yesterday and have decided to keep it up until tomorrow night because of the long holiday weekend.

We spent a quiet day today. I actually got to stay home all day. So there is not much to report except that I miss you all and wish you were all here.

We had a nice chicken dinner at noon and Irish Bacon, tomato and lettuce sandwiches for our supper.

That is really it. We are well and I am trying to get rested. I must need a lot because I took a two hour nap this afternoon and I am still tired tonight.

God love you

Mary

The strangest thing is happening on my blog. I cannot type anything in the post - UNLESS I hit publish post and then go back and edit. Isn't that weird?

Today was quiet and hot. I saw a high of 88 degrees an it is muggy. Trying to convince Mother to keep her air on to keep the humidity down in the house is quite a chore. But not here. I did leave the doors open this morning until the temps hit 70 degrees. Just to freshen the air.

I baked a deep dish apple pie today. I am overstocked on fresh apples. Oranges too. We had better get to eating fresh fruit.

Chelsea had a good day and a bad day. We went for a nice long walk through the park and around the tract this morning. She was a perky little girl with her tail flying majestically. Then this afternoon, she had two seizures back to back.

I went to mass at 4PM. Now I can be home tomorrow all day. Monday is the holiday. I plan on being home most of the day then too but will go to see Mother for a couple of hours on Monday.

Hope you have a very special holiday weekend. I have decided to fly my flag all three days of the holiday weekend. We sang America the Beautiful and God Bless
America at church today.

We are a proud country. Lets remember where we came from, who we are and protect our soldiers overseas and those that are struggling with the injuries inside and out or their service for our freedom.

God love you

Mary

Well, you are going to have to wait until tomorrow for the pictures.   I am pretty tired and we are not done yet.

Bret, Barb and I drove over to Wade House this morning for the tour.   The weather was perfect and we had a great time.   I had not seen the sawmill that was restored in 2004 so along with the house, the blacksmith shop  and the carriage house.   We all had lots to see.   Barb and I got to pet the horses - they have very soft noses and seemed to like it.

We had fun doing a bit of shopping.  I got Dick some popcorn, some homemade candles and a small jar of orange marmalade. 

Then we came home and rested just a bit.  By the way, Bart was kind of sore and tired so he rested while we were gone.   Then Barb and I went to the Design Center in Kohler as Barb had never been there.   We "picked out" a whirlpool bath for Barb and a wonderful roll in shower for Dick.

Jim and Michelle called.  Michelle had surgery today.   It seems to have gone well but please pray for them as it is always scary.

This evening we went to Sweet Basil for our dinner.  It is our favorite restaurant and we love to share.  Bret treated us.  I had salmon, the kids had scallops and Dick had spaghetti and meatballs.   Then we came home and Bart and Barb stopped at Walmart and picked up fresh strawberries, sponge cakes and whipped cream for dessert.

Now we will be going to see Mother so that the boys can say goodbye to her as they leave in the morning.  Bret at 5:45AM.   Bart and Barb somewhat later but before noon.

So this wonderful visit is coming to an end.  I will miss them but we will never let this long elapse again.  It was so good  to have them together just being brothers.

Love you all and God does too.

Mary

Another week coming to an end. I just got a call from Bart and Barb. They are safe at home and have their critters at home again. They say that Tigger has been hiding under the bed since he got home. He not longer trusts them. They had a wonderful trip home stopping at many sites that they wanted to see.

I had a day mostly at home. Jody came to do the cleaning and I worked on some computer and phone projects while she was here. Then after she left, I went out to clean the last half of the garage. I cleaned the floor and got rid of empty and half empty containers of various chemicals.

I drover to Dairy Queen at 12:30 to have lunch with my bank friends. Ceil, Marlene and Barb were there. I was able to brag about my boys. While I was leaving Betty came but everybody else was gone. I was still there because I picked up a hamburger meal for Dick.

I also finished the wash today. I still have to hang up and fold one load but am almost there.

So. It was a busy day. Chelsea is doing pretty good. I think she misses Barb. As Dick says, why did we let the nice one leave.

This will be a quiet holiday weekend for us. I am going to put the flag out tomorrow and leave it up until Monday night. I think I need to express my love of our country.

Have a lovely weekend and enjoy your forth. I will sit on the porch on Sunday and Monday nights and see if I hear or see anything. But I am not leaving home.

God love you
Mary

This was my at home day. Then Dick had some prescriptions that needed to be picked up. But it could have been worse.

Chelsea let me sleep until 4:30AM. I went back to bed and slept until 6:AM. Last night, I was so tired that I lay down on the couch at 6:30PM and slept until 9 when I walked the dog and then went to bed. So I had almost 12 hours of sleep. Guess I really needed it.

I got sheets on the bed downstairs washed and put back on. Got the air out of the new blow up mattresses and got that stored away until we need it again. We are still eating leftovers from the weekend so cooking has been a snap.

I watered the plants and did a bit of pruning on the plants outside and just caught up on a lot of wash and general touch up.

So it was a good day. I have three more days that will be similar. I want to get the presentation on the Clifford and Deeley family genealogy ready for display on the 17th.

Did I tell you how pretty the wines that Bobbie and I filtered look? They are just jewel colors. We decided that though Country Wines often retain sediment despite racking numerous times, we don't want to be chewing ours.

Have a nice Friday.

God love you.

Mary

A busy day with too many events outside of the house. It started with shopping. That went quite well and I was home by 9AM. I put the groceries away and prepared a frying pan full of Chili Mac for out lunch.

Bobbie got her at about 10:30AM. We had a lot of wines to work with today. We bottled the lemon balm, then we racked the persimmon and filtered the marigold, the concord rosemary and the currant. Whew. When we were done we were READY for that Chili Mac lunch.

I left at about 1:30 to pick up a couple of things at KMart and then drove over to Rocky Knoll for the Amputee Support Group Meeting. We had two new amputees with their spouses. I am going to drop out of the group as Dick is not interested and it seem silly for me to go alone. I will go next month as I promised to lead the meeting as Janice and Lee will be on vacation. I will contact the DNR and see if they can send a speaker. I had better do that tomorrow so that if it does not work, I can think of an alternate.

So here we are at the end of the day. I called Michelle this afternoon. She sounds pretty good. I hope she will remember to take it easy until she is strong again.

So have a lovely Thursday. I can stay home the WHOLE day and am not even going to shower. So you might think twice if you are going to visit.

Love you all

God loves you too.

Mary.

Bret, Bart and Barb

Bart, Me and Bret

Bart, Bret, Bobbie and Richard