We're watching a fund raising special on PBS about Johnny Cash. Kris Kristopherson is singing The Ballad of Ira Hayes. There is a story. A man who went to war had showed such courage but could not take the fame involved in being one of the heros who raised the flag at Iwo Jima. Read Flags of our Fathers by Bradley if you get a chance.

We have stories of such bravery in all of our wars. It is always the innocent boys who have to do the killing that is decided by those who don't have to go. I am not saying that all wars are wrong and I will not judge which are, but the truth is that those who declare the wars do not fight and it is the best of our young men and women who do die.

There is a song that says "Did you really believe when they told you the cause? Did you really believe that this war would end wars. For young Willie Mc Bride, it all happened again. And again, and again and again and again."

Don't mean to be so glum. Today was a good day. I worked out at Rhine for a bit as we were hosting the County High School Shooters. I stayed for about three hours. There are up to 60 teams of 5 that shoot at this event. Quite impressive. It is nice to see the young people learning the skill of trap.

It was a bit cool but sunny and bright today and it felt much warmer than it really was.

Hope this continues for a while. I did tell you that the day lilies and tulips are coming up, didn't I?

Have a nice Sunday.

Mary

Well, I went back to Plymouth this morning to join the Irishman's Walk. I have done that for many years. This was one of the better ones. The weather was very pleasant. Cold but sunny. I parked in the lot accross from the Stafford and hitched a ride up to Chester's Drive In where the walkers gathered. The Plymouth Lions Club was providing hot coffee with a wee bit of the barley and some Bailey's to warm the hands and the soul. I chose the Bailey's in some coffee and it warmed me all the way to the hotel. There I joined a few other "Marys" for lunch, visited with people that I knew. And came home. It was a pleasant day all around.

I am sure that you saw this but it is worth repeating. Nobody but the Irish

Ireland Declares War on France


Jacques Chirac, The French President, is sitting in his office when his telephone rings.

"Hallo, Mr. Chirac!" a heavily accented voice said. "This is Paddy Down at the Harp Pub in County Clare, Ireland. I am ringing to inform you that we are officially declaring war on you!"

"Well, Paddy," Chirac replied, "This is indeed important news! How big is your army?"

"Right now," says Paddy, after a moment's calculation, "there is myself, me Cousin Sean, me next door neighbour Seamus, and the entire darts team from the pub. That makes eight!"

Chirac paused. "I must tell you, Paddy, that I have 100,000 men in my army waiting to move on my command."

"Begoora!" says Paddy. "I'll have to ring you back."



Sure enough, the next day, Paddy calls again. "Mr. Chirac, the war is still on. We have managed to get us some infantry equipment!"

"And what equipment would that be Paddy?" Chirac asks.

"Well, we have two combines, a bulldozer, and Murphy's farm tractor."

Chirac sighs amused. "I must tell you, Paddy, that I have 6,000 tanks and 5,000 armored personnel carriers. Also, I have increased my army to 150,000 since we last spoke."

"Saints preserve us!" says Paddy. "I'll have to get back to you."

Sure enough, Paddy rings again the next day. "Mr. Chirac, the war is still on! We have managed to get ourselves airborne! We have modified Jackie McLaughlin's ultra-light with a couple of shotguns in the cockpit, and four boys from the Shamrock Bar have joined us as well!"

Chirac was silent for a minute and then cleared his throat. "I must tell you, Paddy, that I have 100 bombers and 200 fighter planes. My military bases are surrounded by laser-guided, surface-to-air missile sites. And since we last spoke, I have increased my army to 200,000!"


"Jesus, Mary, and Joseph!" says Paddy, "I will have to ring you back."

Sure enough, Paddy calls again the next day. "Top o' the mornin', Mr. Chirac! I am sorry to inform you that we have had to call off the war."

"Really? I am sorry to hear that," says Chirac. "Why the sudden change of heart?"

"Well," says Paddy, "we had a long chat over a few pints of Guinness, and decided there is no bloody way we can feed 200,000 prisoners."


HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY.

Have a lovely weekend

Mary

What a great day. The impending winter storm turned out to be a short period of light snow this morning that ended early. By the time I went to get my hair cut at 1:45 the snow was gone from the grass and roads already.

SO, the drive to Plymouth to meet Jeff and Kathy for dinner at Dairy Queen and on to 52 Stafford to hear Blarney at 8:00 was on and fun. Dick and I stayed for two sets and left at about 10:30. The smoke was really getting to Dick and I figure that I will be walking in less than 12 hours and really need to get some sleep. One of my classmates, Nancy Gallagher Roehre joined us for the music. We had a nice visit, sang some songs and lifted a couple of pints.

Pat O'Reilly sang a couple of songs for us too. He is my brother in law, Ken Thuemmler's, uncle. He has a lovely Irish voice. Several years ago, Dick and I had gone for the music on St. Patrick's Eve when Pat sang. In the middle of singing "My Old Man", he collapsed with a heart attack. Fortunately, one of the musicians is an EMT and there were two emergency room nurses in the audience. They were on him before he hit the ground. By the time the paramedics came he was coming too and they stagilized him before they took him to the hospital. I still remember that stubborn old man struggling to get off the gurney. He kept saying that he had not finished his song.

He fully recovered and sang his song the next year and for these many years since.


I got some more cards today - notably one from my daughter in law Brenda about St. Patrick driving the snakes out of Ireland. Totally FUNNY.

Tomorrow I walk. Have a WONDERFUL St. Patrick's Day. I know that I will.
Archbishop Dolan even said that I can eat meat so I am looking forward to some Corned Beef either in a sanwich or a dinner. I just can't decide. I will be fixing corned beef and cabbage on Sunday if you want to come for dinner. Just let me know so I know how many potatoes to put in the pot.

Love

Mary

It was truly a lovely day today. The sun was shining all day. This morning it was only 22 when Chelsea and I walked but it did warm up nicely.

Dick had his eye exam today and is getting new lenses in his frames. Otherwise, his eyes are healthy and he is scheduled for next year.

We racked and filtered the 6 gallon Luna Bianca wine today. As soon as we have a day at home, we can bottle it. Good thing. Our stock was dwindling. We like to give away gifts a lot and were scraping the bottom of the stock. Actually a couple of last year's scratch wines are ready now, which is helping.

Yesterday, I watered the house plants AND the plants that I am wintering in the garage. While I was watering the three herbs that I have on the potting bench, I saw movement to my left. Lo and behold, there was a little gray mouse. He wasn't even alarmed that I was there. I don't know whether he thought that I didn't see him or if he was so used to us walking in and out of the garage but he just kind of sat there, even when I banged on the box he was next to. Anyway Jim put the mouse catcher that he got when we had one in the basement and within an hour we have no more mouse. We hope. I hope he didn't have any friends.

O'Toman walked into a bar and ordered martini after martini, each time removing the olives and placing them in a jar.

When the jar was filled with olives and all the drinks consumed, the
Irishman started to leave.

"S'cuse me", said a customer, who was puzzled over what O'Toman had done, "what was that all about?"

"Nothin', said the Irishman, "my wife just sent me out for a jar of olives!"

Tomorrow, barring too bad a storm, we will be enjoying Blarney in Plymouth. Pray for a mild storm or an early ending.

Mary

It was not too cold today but very windy. Chelsea and I had a nice walk early. I hope we will be able to do so tomorrow too. I will go as soon as we get up because we have to be in Plymouth for Dick's eye exam at 8:35AM. Why do they have appointments at such odd hours?


A big storm is threatening to come in and RUIN the St. Patrick Eve (March 16) concert and evening with Jeff and Kathy. I really feel that it will pass us by but that we will have a VERY cold walk the next morning.

I went to see Dr. Casey this afternoon and he is pleased that my arm is improving and is now working on my rib cage which started hurting last Thursday. I am simply disintegrating, one bone and joint after another. Hopefully, he will continue to be able to put me back together.

On the way home, I stopped and got Chelsea's license. So she is legal for another year. We don't have to license cats in the town. We did have to license Waylon when we lived in the city.

Here is another Irish joke for you.

Irish Cemetery
Three Irishmen, Paddy, Sean and Seamus, were stumbling home from the pub late one night and found
themselves on the road which led past the old graveyard..
"Come have a look over here," says Paddy, "It's Michael O'Grady's grave, God bless his soul. He lived to the ripe old age of 87."
"That's nothing," says Sean, "here's one named Patrick O'Toole, it says here that he was 95 when he died."!
Just then, Seamus yells out, "Good God, here's a fella that got to be 145!"
"What was his name?" asks Paddy.
Seamus stumbles around a bit, awkwardly lights a match to see what else is written on the stone marker, and exclaims,
"Miles, from Dublin."

Til tomorrow

Mary

Chelsea and I were able to take a nice walk this morning. It was pleasant. The temps in the hight 30s. Tonight it is WINDY and we are getting a rather chilly rain mix. Maybe no walk tomorrow.

Bible Study was stimulating. The readings next Sunday are the Ten Commandmants and the time the Jesus lost his temper and threw the money changers out of the temple. We were very impressed with the beauty of the writing of the Commandments. It is very intersting to know that they are not laid out in the nice order and as concisely as we memorize them in our religious ed classes. They could actually be broken down in to 12 or so and the "covets" are lumped in the passage. But all the major religons and the Old Testament itself ALL speak of the 10 Commandments.

Writers Club was fun. We had an artist Larry Baskey who is a part of a book that was a project with Artists doing paintings to go with a poem. Kind of a reverse of what we did with the existing art at the Milwaukee Art Museum. He was quite inspirational and I think I will persue the idea with him. He has a gallery on Mill Street in Plymouth. I will throw a few poems in in see if I can catch him open some day. He does not keep regular hours.

I called Bart and Barb tonight. They sounded pretty good. Barb had been going through a difficult departmental review which is now over so she can relax about that and Bart actually sounded pretty good. Perhaps he is on a good healing upswing now. They have had hot and dry weather and need rain. They are well below the rains and tornadoes that swung through the heartland over the weekend.

I have been having and writing down memories of the Kohler Strike. One thing that came to mind was the soup kitchen that the union set up for the strikers. It was open all the time, because the strikers picketed 24/7 (as they say now days) and could stop in any time for food. We were impressed as children because you would just walke up to the table and take what you wanted. I remember bologna sandwiches wrapped in waxed paper (no baggies back then) and the fact that we could have soft drinks, as much as we wanted. This was a big treat in our family of nine children where soda was a luxary reserved for very special occasions like family gatherings and Mother's bridge parties. After her parties, IF we were good, we got to finish whatever soda was left.

Times they have changed.

Love

Mary

A pleasant evening with Bobbie and Bill here for dinner. The Schlitzhagen and Rhubarb Pie were good, if I do say myself.

Went to the 8AM Mass. The Trinity Teens were selling Cinnamon Rolls again. They are raising money to be able to go on mission this summer. The Cinnamon Rolls are HUGE and delicious. I always get the 4 for $5 package. We split one this morning with our bacon and eggs and then we each have one for the Monday's breakfast or whatever.

Jim and I went out to shoot pistol this afternoon too. My arm is finally healing. It hardly hurts at all any more. My shooting is improving a bit. At least I am getting all the shots on the target. Now I have to improve my aim again.

This was a nice warm day again. We are getting some more rain late this afternoon and evening. The snow will be all gone soon. Now I looked at the forecast and it is supposed to cool down and possibly snow again on Thursday. Not Fair! I heard the red winged blackbird. That means SPRING.

Have a wonderful St. Patrick's Week

Here is your Joke.

"The Brothel"

Two Irishmen were sitting at a pub having beer and watching the brothel across the street.

They saw a Baptist minister walk into the brothel, and one of them said, "Aye, 'tis a shame to see a man of the cloth goin' bad."

Then they saw a rabbi enter the brothel, and the other Irishman said, "Aye, 'tis a shame to see that the Jews are fallin' victim to temptation as well."

Then they see a catholic priest enter the brothel, and one of the Irishmen said, "What a terrible pity...one of the girls must be dying.


Mary

It was a warm beautiful day today. Chelsea would disagree with me this afternoon when the rain and thunder swept through the county. The rain and the warm temperatures took care of much of the snow. Chelsea and I had a lovely walk this morning and now I know that spring is almost here. I saw a robin, I saw and heard the Red Winged Blackbird who spends his mornings on the corner of Morning Dove Cove AND the ducks are back.

I spent most of the day catching up on computer work. I had to transcribe the minutes for Rhine, get ready for Writer's CLub and several other things that have managed to pile up on my desk. I also baked the rhubarb pie for tomorrow's dinner.

Dick took me out for dinner tonight. We went to the China 8 Buffet in Taylor Heights. Does anybody know what the heck the 8 stands for. They do have a good buffet. People were really piling in that place. They are busy. We were glad that we went early.

It will be nice having Bobbie and Bill here for dinner. As I said the pie is done so I just have the rest of the meal to prepare tomorrow.


"Water to Wine"

An Irish priest is driving down to New York and gets stopped for speeding in Connecticut.

The state trooper smells alcohol on the priest's breath and then sees an empty wine bottle on the floor of the car. He says, "Sir, have you been drinking?"

"Just water," says the priest.

The trooper says, "Then why do I smell wine?"

The priest looks at the bottle and says, "Good Lord! He's done it again!"

***********************************************

Later - I'll give you an Irish joak until St. Patrick's Day. Only a few days now. ARE YOU READY!!!!!
Mary

What a day. It was Beautiful. The temperatures were in the hight 40s and are supposed to be even higher tomorrow.

I went out to Plymouth for lunch with the girls and picked up some fresh eggs on the way. When I got back, Dick and I racked the Gewertiziminer wine from the primary to the carboy. We had bottled the Concord Grape yesterday. We got 12 bottles and about a glass extra which I tried. It is good and will be REALLY good when it gets a chance to mellow and age. Tomorrow we will bottle the Lemon Balm. It makes a nice summer wine. Very light and refreshing.

Tonight was bust up at Rhine. The mac and cheese went over very well. Many used it for an additional side dish. Bobbie and Bill both got trophies in their class. YA! HOO! I won a decorated shovel with a bird house on it. I will probably put it in a garden, though Dick gave me THAT look.

Tomorrow is a quiet day. I don't have any out of house errands. Dick said he would take me out for dinner so I don't have to cook. Bobbie and Bill are coming over for dinner on Sunday. Schlitzhagen and Rhubarb Pie. Want to come? You are welcome. There will be plenty.

Love

Mary

We went grocery shopping today. That is always a production and we enjoyed our breakfast at Zana's. They were exceptionally busy and we ended up with much more food than we could eat. Oh Well, Could have been worse. We could have gotten totally the wrong thing.

I also swung by Joanne's Fabric and got new blades for my rotary cutters and a pillow form for a pillow top that I made on our trip to Kentucky. I ran out of stuff to do and bought a kit at a gift shop in Kentucky. I consisted of EVERYTHING necessary to make the pillow top except batting, thread and the form itself. And all the pieces were cut out and ready to go. The cutting out is always the most tedious part of making a quilt. I actually finished the assembly on the trip and just never got around to finishing it. Then when I took the free form quilting class, I put the top, backing and batting together and did some free arm quilting. It looks pretty good. As it is in pinks, I will put it on the bed in Waylon's room with the two pillows that Eileen made for Grandma Bowser years and years ago. It will blend well with them

Tomorrow is the bust up party at Rhine. Jim will get to go for the first time ever. He always has worked on Friday nights before this. I am making some Mac and Cheese for the Catholics who want to abstain from meat as the main dish is chicken. They will also have beans and cole slaw. The beans may be iffy but I can eat the cole slaw.

Hope your Friday is pleasant. It is raining right now. Temperatures are supposed to go up into the 50s in the next couple of days. God Willing.


Mary

It was already light out when I got up this morning and the temperatures showed 35, so Chelsea and I decided to walk right away. We made it but it was rather iffy. The streets were slick in spots and I had to pick my way around. It's raining out there tonight. If it doesn't get to freezing we should be able to walk tomorrow. Probably when Dick and I get back from shopping though.

Choir got cancelled for this week because of a funeral. I can't say I am too disappointed. Things have been way to hectic lately and an extra night home is a blessing.

I went to quilt guild today. We doll makers from the class last Saturday wanted to share our creations. I finished my little doll this morning. When I get a picture, I will post it for you. The speaker today was from J& J Sewing in Sun Prairie. She collects antique quilts and brought them to share. She had a contract or something with the American Quilter. They feature her antique quilts (one at a time). She and her assistants recreate the quilts and provide kits to make the reproductions. A sweet deal. I must go to that shop one of these days. Sounds like a real treasure. She has about 70 quilts in her collection and showed a goodly number of them along with some of the repros. A nice program.

At the last meeting I attended, they had announced that there would be no quilt show this year. That has changed. The show will be on September 30. They got someone to come forward to chair it. Guess I had better get to work on my challenge block. I have to make three blocks for the Celtic Faire group quilt at church too.

I will share the quote from Cadfael's Book of Days by Robin Whitman today.

"Cadfael was not of the opinion that a man's main business in this world was to save his own soul. There are other ailing souls, as there are ailing bodies, in need of a hoist towards health."

Have a nice Thursday.

Mary

It was still snowing steadily when we woke up this morning. It kept it up until about 11:00 while I was on my way home from Bible Study. They are predicting thick fog from midnight to 9:00AM. I hope that we can see when we get the emission check on the car at 8:00AM. It may get up into the 50s by the weekend.

It was quite a nice bible study. The reading all tied around the story in Genesis about Abraham when God asked him to sacrifice Isaac and then at the last minute "stayed the knife." Something pointed out in the notes what that this was the first and direct command from God not to use human beings for sacrifice to honor him.

We filtered the Lemon Balm Wine today. Tomorrow we will do the second filtering of the Concord Grape. We should get both the grape and the Lemon Balm bottled this week and then we can mix up the wild grapes that I have in the freezer. I have a new recipe that calls for banana. I figure this should mellow it. The first time I made wild grape it was rather harsh. One keeps trying.


Less than two weeks until St. Patrick's Day. Dick and I are going to meet Jeff and Kathy at the Dairy Queen in Plymouth for a steak sandwich and then go listen to Blarney on the 16th. Then on Friday, I will go back to Plymouth for the Irishman's Walk and a nice craic with as many Irish people that I can fine.

Love

Mary

It is snowing again. We have a "couple three" inches out there. It is very fluffy and pretty but it IS March and I hope it clears up and gets warm by St. Patrick's Day. It would be nice to do the Irish Walk in sunshine and kind of warm weather.

I went to the 8AM Mass. Jim and I went shooting and I finally got a decent score on my last target (of course it doesn't count for league) I got a 69. WOW. Good for me.

We watched the Academy Awards tonight. It was a pretty good show. No one movie swept things this year. It seemed to be all over the board.

We did not see many movies this year and saw none of the five nominated best picture nominees, so did not really have an opinion. It is always fun to watch the awards for the stars and the dresses. Of course, some of the "stars" are completely unknown to me.

Have a good week.

Mary

A truly successful evening at the Stephanie Weill Center for the Unity Concert. Several people that I knew stopped me to tell me they liked my song, Beacon of Hope. AND I must tell you that the only standing ovation of the evening, and there were many really talented and wonderful performers was when our combined choirs sang the song You Raise Me Up.

I don't think that I posted the words to the song that I wrote for the Unity Concert. So here they are. If I did. Well - you have them twice.

BEACON OF HOPE


I.

We are all but a shadow in life.
We are cast by the light of the Lord
Made tall by the strength of His love.
As we go out as Jesus commands.
May we reach out our hands to the poor
To the lonely, the sick, the afraid.
To the families and neighbors we know
And to those who are lost in despair.


CHORUS

I'm the kiss of the breeze on your cheek
I'm the choir of avian songs
You can find me in flowering fields
And the gentle soft fingers of dawn

II.

When thunder and lightning surround
I’m beside you to calm all your fears
If the world is a frightening place
I'm the lighthouse that shines through the storm
Jesus taught you that Love is the Way
And by sharing the journey you grow
Heaven is coming safely home
With your hand in the hand of the Lord



A well planned event with local talent that was beautiful. We will probably be a part of it next year.

I also took a Doll Making Class from 10:30 to 2:00 which was fun. I have to finish the doll but have a good start and feel that she is rather nice. I made her a drindl skirt and a vest. She needs hair and finishing.

Enjoy your Sunday. I will. I can stay home except for Mass and I intend to be a bear and hibernate in my cave.

Love


Mary

What a day. It is almost 10:00PM and I just got home from Rhine. It was the last day of league shooting and all the teams had to finish up. They were done by 9:00 but people were having a good time and REALLY hanging around enjoying the company AND the beer. We were kept quite busy restocking the cooler, I tell you.

I did finish my last two pistol targets tonight before the crowds came. It wasn't a very good league for me, my shoulder is very sore and it is really affecting my shooting. I will keep doing the exercises that Dr. Casey told me to do and when I see him next week, perhaps he will have some other suggestions.

I had lunch with the gals in Plymouth today. We missed last week so it was nice to catch up. My new glasses were ready too. Boy do they make a difference. There was a rather big change in my vision since last year.

I also picked up a couple of pair of sox at K Mart, some seasoning for bratwurst at Fleet (I want to try some with venison and pork. Crazy Vic who rabbit hunts with us said that it is very good.) AND stopped at Sun Graphics to ask Mary Kay to give me an estimate on what it would cost to self publish a book of my poems. WHEW.

On the way home I stopped and joined Mother and the others for the opening prayer and rosary at the First Friday Exposition of the Sacrament at Blessed Trinity.

Now, I am tired.

It will be cold tonight but is supposed to warm up by the end of next week.

Have a GREAT weekend.

Love

Mary

Cadfael today said. "All Welsh are kin, even if they slit one another's throats now and then, an manure their sparse and stony fields with fratricidal dead in tribal wars."

Actually applies to all mankind, even if they don't want to admit to it.

It was slippery this morning. There was a sleety rain followed by snow on Wednesday night. Which left some ice. By the time we went grocery shopping, the plows had done the streets and spread ice so it wasn't too bad driving.

Tonight I went to choir. We are practicing for Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter and Beth will be on vacation for two weeks so we have a lot in the next two weeks. I will probably have to practice on my own a bit. Saturday we sing at the big Unity Concert at the Stephanie Weill Center. Dick has decided not to come because it is just too hard for him with open seating and all. He would have to come early and the concert is rather long also. Should be very good. All the talent is local. I understand that they will probably have a sold out theatre.

I remember Bret's 8th Grade Graduation. They had worked for several weeks on a song to sing together about moving on and wonderful things etc. etc. However, the kids did not like it. When it came time for their song, the pianist began her introduction and she played and played and played. Then, underneath the piano, I heard a little murmuring going on. There were at least 30 kids in that class, all "singing" and their total noise was not any louder than the buzz of a bee. I elbowed my ex husband and whispered. "They're singing!" He answered, "They are?" They sang a whole song without the audience hearing one single word.

Afterwards I told their teacher "Great Song" and laughed. He just shook his head and said that next year they would be sure the kids liked the music before scheduling.

Have a nice Friday. Mine is busy.

Mary

Ash Wednesday today. I fasted and did not eat meat. The only difficult thing about fasting is remembering not to snack between meals. I really don't eat much between meals but do like an orange at late morning and often enjoy a few peanuts or a cracker and cheese in late afternoon.

I joined Mary Bainbridge at the sewing basket to choose the fabric for the group quilt that we are going to make for Celtic Fair again. We picked out a really nice batik looking fabric in golds and greens and plumbs and a green for the sashing. I bought a nice plum fat quarter to add to my block.

Tonight I went to services. The choir sang. I remember that when I was a kid, while I was still in public school before St. Mary School was built, we used to get ashes in the morning and proudly wear them to school being very careful not to wash them off all day. The Catholics really stood out. Probably today we would be kicked out of school for "forcing our religion" on everyone.

I walked Mother over to church and back tonight as she doesn't like to walk in the dark AND it was starting to rain. It may freeze by morning. They are predicting freezing rain and snow. Mom's legs are getting a bit weak anyway. I guess after 90 years they have a right.

Now we have 6 weeks until Easter. I always liked Easter. It was fun dying the eggs and just fixing the baskets for the boys. I am glad that I still get to do a bit of it for Dick andJim. Now that I get eggs from the egg farm, I will just dy a few white ones. I found out that if you boil them in tumeric they come out the most beautiful yellow. Yellow, brown and if I save them the green aracana eggs will make a pretty basket.

Tomorrow we shop. Hope the roads aren't too slippery.

Be safe

Remember the Jesus never promised that it would be easy, he only said that it would be worth it.



Mary

The only place that I had to go today was to pick up the Market Day order. Oh and Chelsea and I DID take a walk this morning. It was a good day for a walk. Clear and bright and we were able to go at the best time of day to avoid traffic. I heard a cardinal and a mourning dove today. I have been hearing the cardinal off and on for a week or two. But this is the first mourning dove that I have heard for a couple of months. Do they migrate south in the winter? I never thought about it.

I roasted some veggies for supper tonight. Cauliflower, red onions and red pepper marinated in oil and vinegar. Sure tasted good with chicken and cole slaw. Tomorrow, Ash Wednesday, I will be fasting and eating NO meat. Good thing Dick and Jim don't mind fish or vegetable meals, because in Lent they get them once or twice a week. Tomorrow, fish.

Dick and I bottled 25 bottles of White Zinfindal today. Good thing, the ready to drink wines in our cellar are dwindling fast. It is ready to drink too, which will help. Tomorrow, we will rack the 2 year currant again. I need to get some of the scratch wines bottled so I can finish using the fruit that I froze in Autumn. But as they say, no wine before its time.

Til tomorrow.

Mary

It was a usual Monday. Had Bible Study this morning. We had a nice full table again. We read the passage from Genesis about God's promise to Noah that He would never again flood the entire world. (Katrina did NOT flood the whole world) AND the part about the rainbow being the sign of His covenant to His people. The sign of the promise.

I had heard that story somewhere but some of our people had not. It does give a person a whole new feeling about the beauty of the rainbow.

Tonight the environment committee decorated the church for Lent. That doesn't take too much. We just take all the plants off the altar, change the colors to purple and put some pottery and cactus around here and there. We had a nice crew so the work went well and quickly.

I wrote a poem about the tree and the snow and the night. Here it is to share with you.

Wonderland in White



Crystal white against an obsidian sky
The tree stands - outlined in ivory dignity.
Snow gives the tree short lived beauty.
Cool against an ebony canvas.

Like a jeweled tree in Aladdin's cave
The tree stands - regal
Encased in a silky cocoon of fresh fallen snow
That gently outlines each dormant twig.

Breath softly as the picture imprints on your soul.



I still want spring

Mary

It was a quiet Sunday. Started out very cold. It was 9 degrees on the thermometer. It did warm up to the mid 20s by the time Chelsea and I walked.

I went to the 8AM Mass then visited with Mother until it was time to walk her over to church. She always has someone offer to walk her home but walking over is another story and there is just enough ice out there to make us nervous. People are SO good though to keep an eye on her. She went to the U W Theatre with her friend Helen Murphy to see Frankenstein this afternoon. That lady has a busy schedule, now you know that I come by it honestly.

Since Bobbie felt that spending time with Bill was more important than shooting and THEN to top it off Jim felt that going to meet a lady in Waukesha was more important than shooting, I decided to take a Sunday off also. I only have two more targets to shoot to complete league anyway and will be working next Friday so can finish up then.

This meant that I had an afternoon to more or less goof off. I sorted things on the desk and did some sewing. Tonight I watched the Dancing With the Stars Finale and was pleased with the winner. The last time, I felt that John O Hurley should have gotten it. I do enjoy that show which is odd because I don't much care for the reality shows and such. I hope they do it again next year but not before. It is especially good because it is not overdone.

I can't believe that Ash Wednesday is here this week. We will be decorating for Lent
tomorrow night. Should have a pretty good crew and there is less to do than with most of the decorating because simplicity is the name of the game.

Have a special week. Spring gets closer every day.

Love

Mary