We, Dick and I, got to stay home all day today. Quite a relief after two very busy weeks.

I spent a good part of the morning cleaning the garage windows, watering the gardens (it did not rain, as was promised) planting some herbs and repairing the wire crane. At least to the best of my ability. If it was not so rusted, I would take it somewhere to be welded. As it is, I just wrapped it in lots and lots of twine that I think is made of plastic and hopefully will not rot, at least until fall when I take the bird in for the winter.

Dick and I did the next steps on the White Zinfindal wine, that we are working on. Now it just has to be stirred three times a day for three days and then rest for about 30 days before bottling. The White Zin from the kit is really the best that we have tasted.

Dick's right leg is swelling up again. We are going back to the half stocking and wrapping for a day or two to see if it will bring it down. Otherwise, we will have the doctor look at it again. The left leg looks great. We are worried. A little prayer would be appreciated a LOT!!!

Love

Mary

5 - Fifth Important Lesson - Giving When it Counts...

Many years ago, when I worked as a volunteer at a

hospital, I got to know a little girl named Liz who

was suffering from a rare and serious disease. Her only

chance of recovery appeared to be a blood

transfusion from her 5-year old brother, who had

miraculously survived the same disease and had

developed the antibodies needed to combat the

illness. The doctor explained the situation to her

little brother, and asked the little boy if he would

be willing to give his blood to his sister.

I saw him hesitate for only a moment before taking a

deep breath and saying, "Yes I'll do it, if it will

save her." As the transfusion progressed, he lay in

bed next to his sister and smiled, as we all did,

seeing the color returning to her cheeks. Then his

face grew pale and his smile faded.

He looked up at the doctor and asked with a

trembling voice, "Will I start to die right away?"

Being young, the little boy had misunderstood the

doctor; he thought he was going to have to give his

sister all of his blood in order to save her.

We went to Hunters Glen today to run the water and check things out. I cut the spent blooms off of the peony so it does not look so scraggly and dug up some oregano to plant here at Tallgrass. The ground was SO dry that I didn't get much root. I hope it is enough. Might be because oregano is really tough.

Tomorrow If it doesn't rain, I will water the garden areas here. They still look pretty good but by tomorrow will be parched.

I cleaned the kitchen this morning. Office Max delivered Dick's new chair. It needed to be assembled so we spent the second half of the morning doing that. He likes it. It has good back support but he liked the seat and the arms on the old one better. We will work on that.

Tonight I worked on the quilt. I am finishing up the binding, then it will be done. Unless something unexpected happens I will be done and can post a picture on Sunday. Then I need to decide what I will be doing next. I have one more quilt top done and have a Cathedral Window started. Well, we will see.

I heard on the news today that a study in Norway has concluded that the oldest sibling generally has the highest IQ. I find that quite believable.

Love

Mary

It was a beautiful day today. Chelsea and I started it with a walk at 6AM. She was a happy girl and got to bark at a couple of people too. I saw a heron flying overhead and there were lots of happy birds out there. After the rain we had last night. Not much but enough to freshen things up and give everything a drink.

After that I cleaned the carpet in the office and cleaned the upstairs bathrooms. At about 10, Dick and I drove to Sheboygan. We picked up his new support thigh high stockings first. Then we went to Office Max to look at chairs to replace the one that broke. We found one designed for big and tall people that fest good to him. When we got tot he checkout we found out that it was 65 dollars less than the tag said. So we were VERY happy campers. Lastly, we went over to Bed Bath and Beyond and picked up a Paraspa to do heat therapy on my hands with melted paraffin. It too was much less than we were led to believe so I got that today to.

Then home. I tried to nap but was unable to sleep so I read for a while, made some phone calls and just puttered around the house until dinner.

I mentioned last night that we had watched the AFI's selection of the best 100 movies of the past 100 years. Jaws was one of them and I enjoyed a quote from Steven Spielberg, regarding the movie. he said. "I had not intended Jaws to be a movie where you waited an hour to see the shark. Only because the shark didn't WORK did you have to wait an hour to see the darn thing."

This reminded me of a time that Bret, Bart and I went to Universal Studios for their tour. The tour consisted of a tram ride through the studio with several kind of "real movie" experiences. At one point the tram went on a track over a body or water and as we were going over the water, to our right and coming over our shoulder came JAWS. It was sudden and scary. Poor Bart, who was about six, crumpled and tried to crawl over me and out of the tram on the other side. He was just moaning. It really scared him. Then he realized that it couldn't be real and kept stammering "It's Just a Model.. It's Just a Model" I assured him that it was of course. Boy was that kid scared.

That's all folks

Mary

I just came in from sitting out on the deck for a while. Dick took a little walk tonight too. Chelsea liked that. She enjoys going out with both of us.

We had a lot of errands to do today. We started about 10AM because we had to be at the Plymouth Aurora sometime between 11 and Noon and it seemed most efficient to make a circle.

We went to the bank, then down on Mill Street to pay for the Review/Falls News (it had expired and I had not received the notice. At the end of last week, I realized that I had not received any papers that week, so I called and found out that I was no longer subscribing. Since I get local ads and obituaries and news from those two little papers, then share it with Mother it is worth the $44.00 per year.

We went from there to the Pig to do our grocery shopping and then to Aurora for the blood test and home. Took just about two hours, we were home in time for a lunch and then Dick took a nap.

I had some sewing and ironing and vacuuming to do. Now we are winding down and watching the 100 best movies of something or other. It is always fun to watch those kind of shows because we always have our own opinions as to what we would have chosen. It is surprising the memories that these shows bring back. They always show the BEST scenes.

Tomorrow will be a cleaning day. We are going to shampoo the carpet in the office which is really ucky from Chelsea drooling all over it before we go to Office Max and Bed Bath and Beyond in Sheboygan. We need to look at office chairs for Dick and Sandy from the Lymphodema Clinic said she thinks that Bed Bath and Beyond carries the paraffin dip equipment that really makes my hands feel good. I can also look for presents for Holly and John. They are getting married in August and there is a shower coming up too. She is registered at Bed Bath and Beyond.

Yesterday Mother told me that Dolores had called. Kurt and Jody are expecting their third son in August. Jody went into labor a couple of days ago. They have stabilized her but Jody has to do NOTHING for the next few weeks to be able to be sure that the baby is safe. As school is out, the timing is good because Kurt will be able to take up the slack. But pray for them and that little life.

Love

Mary

4 - Fourth Important Lesson. - The obstacle in Our Path.

In ancient times, a King had a boulder placed on a

roadway. Then he hid himself and watched to see if

anyone would remove the huge rock. Some of the

king's wealthiest merchants and courtiers came by

and simply walked around it. Many loudly blamed the

King for not keeping the roads clear, but none did

anything about getting the stone out of the way.

Then a peasant came along carrying a load of

vegetables. Upon approaching the boulder, the

peasant laid down his burden and tried to move the

stone to the side of the road. After much pushing

and straining, he finally succeeded. After the

peasant picked up his load of vegetables, he noticed

a purse lying in the road where the boulder had

been. The purse contained many gold coins and a note

from the King indicating that the gold was for the

person who removed the boulder from the roadway. The

peasant learned what many of us never understand!

Every obstacle presents an opportunity to improve

our condition.

We did get a little bit of rain last night. Enough that I only had to water a few of the planters on the deck today. And I had to add some water to the birdbath too.

Chelsea and I had a very nice walk this morning. There was a pleasant breeze that kept the mosquitoes away until we were in the woods. We ran through there so I only got bitten once. Chelsea is such a strange little dog. We walked right past a rabbit today. I saw the round brown bump out in the park with the shiny bright eyes. I could see that it was hoping that we didn't see him. Didn't have to worry about me disturbing him and Chelsea didn't see him OR the little one that was on our left nearer the woods. Pretty soon all the rabbits will just keep on grazing. They will realize that she is no harm and I certainly am not.

Dick had an appointment with Dr. Hodous to have his callouses looked at.We can't quite figure out why they are not healing. Two of them are so deep and we have done all we can with insoles and stuff. We are going to try another medication to see if that will help.

We racked the dandelion wine today. It sure is a nice color. And, seems to be getting a pleasant taste.

I also did some vacuuming and sewing this afternoon. So it was a busy day.

The rest of the week is rather quiet. I need a chance to re energise

Love

Mary

3 - Third Important Lesson - Always remember those

who serve.

In the days when an ice cream sundae cost much less,

a 10-year-old boy entered a hotel coffee shop and

sat at a table. A waitress put a glass of water in

front of him.

"How much is an ice cream sundae?" he asked.

"Fifty cents," replied the waitress.

The little boy pulled his hand out of his pocket and

studied the coins in it.

"Well, how much is a plain dish of ice cream?" he inquired.

By now more people were waiting for a table and the

waitress was growing impatient.

"Thirty-five cents," she brusquely replied

The little boy again counted his coins.

"I'll have the plain ice cream," he said.

The waitress brought the ice cream, put the bill on

the table and walked away. The boy finished the ice

cream, paid the cashier and left. When the waitress

came back, she began to cry as she wiped down the

table. There, placed neatly beside the empty dish,

were two nickels and five pennies..

You see, he couldn't have the sundae, because he had

to have enough left to leave her a tip.

It was hot AGAIN today. We got a sprinkling of rain but not enough to be really useful for the gardens. This cold front they speak of seems to be a figment of somebody's imagination.

This morning I went to bible study. We had a pre-discussion of the worms that Shirley and her family had found in one of the holy water fonts last summer. That was very lively from, what one does with wormy holy water to the expressions on grandchildren's faces when Fr. Gene told them that SOMEBODY had to DRINK it.

Sunday is the feast of St. John the Baptist. The readings were interesting. I was surprised to find it stated very specifically in the Old Testament that the "servant of God" was to "restore the survivors of Israel" AND be "a light to the nations that my salvation my reach to the ends of the earth." So he promised heaven to everybody, not just his chosen people.

Then I went to see Mother and brought her some soup and cookies. We had a nice visit. She is very well now. I stayed until a bit after 11AM when Aunt Kathleen and Uncle Bob picked her up to take her to Uncle Pat and Aunt Joan's house in Van Dyne, just north of Fond du Lac on the west side of Lake Winnebago. Some of you may not know that Uncle Pat is Mother's youngest brother. He is only a few years older than I am.

This afternoon was the Cream City Writer's club. I enjoy these meetings but once in a while a couple of our members get onto religious or political tangents that should not be part of the meeting. Today, it turned into a heated argument between Sy Regan and Don Cooper. This was a disagreement on the prison system that turned into BOTH as religious and political debate between the two. Three of us ladies just raised our hands and told them to take it outside as this is a writer's club not a political group. That ended it right away and we continued around the table and ended quite amicably. We ended as we usually do with each member present putting in a word. Then during the next month we try to use as many of the words as we can in a poem or paragraph. It is a good exercise and as the words usually have no connection we have to stretch our minds.

Maybe you would like to try. The words this month are 1. plover 2. glorious 3. tranquil
4. concert 5. flag 6. fireworks and 7. lavender.

Kate and I had coffee after the meeting. I drove her home. She hurt her back on Friday and had been unable to drive safely. We are going to go to Hobby Lobby one of these days to frame some prints that she has AND the print that George and Betsy gave me of Courtney's Silver Taps. I think I can get it done quite nicely there as I have had other prints done there. Kate is an interior decorator and has never tried them but was impressed with the framing that I had done there last year.

I did some quilting tonight. I just have the binding to do on the kitty quilt. Then I will take a picture and post it here. It is such fun when a project is finished and one sees the results. Then I get anxious to get on to the next one.

Have a nice Tuesday. We have to be in Sheboygan to see Dr. Hodous at 9:15PM

Mary

The promised rain has not shown up - again. I have watered everything outside, so will not worry about it.

Chelsea tried to wake me up at 4:45AM this morning. I was not amused. I took her into the kitchen, made sure she had water, gave her a little lettuce and went back to bed, shutting her out of the bedroom. I managed to get back to sleep and stayed so until 6AM.

We had a nice walk and I went to the 8AM Mass. Fr. Van Beeck gave a nice talk about fathers.

Bobbie and I worked at Rhine today from noon to 4PM. We left a little before 4 as it was SO quiet that we amused ourselves by visiting with each other and the guys. It was altogether a pleasant afternoon.

As we had leftovers for supper my evening has been very relaxed and easy. Dick had cards on the computer this morning from Dick and Brenda and Bobbie and Bill. Then both Bart and Dick called tonight so he has been a very popular guy. He is always so pleased in his heart when he is remembered.

I am all prepared for tomorrow. I have Bible Study and Writer's Club. I am still writing my haikus each day. I did miss two days but made it up the next day. I hope that counts. I try to do it in the morning so that I do not forget but occasionally the day starts goofy and things slip by. Some are kind of interesting when I go back and read them and some are icky. But there you are. At least something is done each day. I feel that way about this blog too. It has become a journal.

Bobbie and I had such a nice afternoon. She brought me some of her soap too. I was about out of it and am so glad she still has some.

Here is today's haiku:

Suddenly I knew
That bunnies and birds can
Bring peace to my heart.

Love

Mary

2. - Second Important Lesson - Pickup in the Rain

One night, at 11:30 p.m., an older African American

woman was standing on the side of an Alabama highway

trying to endure a lashing rainstorm. Her car had

broken down and she desperately needed a ride.

Soaking wet, she decided to flag down the next car.

A young white man stopped to help her, generally

unheard of in those conflict-filled 1960s. The man

took her to safety, helped her get assistance and

put her into a taxicab.

She seemed to be in a big hurry, but wrote down his

address and thanked him. Seven days went by and a

knock came on the man's door. To his surprise, a

giant console color TV was delivered to his home. A

special note was attached..

It read:

"Thank you so much for assisting me on the highway

the other night. The rain drenched not only my

clothes, but also my spirits. Then you came along.

Because of you, I was able to make it to my dying

husband's bedside just before he passed away... God

bless you for helping me and unselfishly serving

others."

Sincerely,

Mrs. Nat King Cole.

Just for fun. We got this picture of a peacock in
full spread on a trip up north a few year ago.

Mary

It was HOT today. When Chelsea and I walked it was still pleasant but warmed up quickly thereafter.

At about 9 I went over to the Hunters Glen property and spent three hours on the bushes. They needed to be trimmed so badly so that the house looks its best. I shaped the privot type hedge at the corner of the house, the "tree" that was planted as a bush and grows under the locust tree and cut the dead lilacs off of the Korean Lilac that grows under the garage window. I told Dick that if I had known that cutting it back like he did last year would produce that much flowering we would have done it every year.

I had three bags of cuttings plus the bag I had here to take to the city lot. I was exhausted but feel good that it is done for a bit. I will have to go out again in the next week to tidy up the junipers.

When I got home, we had lunch, I showered and then I lay down for a nap. I got to sleep but then heard noises so I got up and found that Dick's desk chair had broken. He had been sleeping in it an apparently twisted wrong or it was just weakened and snapped. So we have a captain's chair in until we figure out what we can do to replace it.

Father's Day has started early for Dick. While I was out with Chelsea, a floral delivery arrived. It is an absolutely beautiful yellow arrangement of lilies and roses in a really pretty pitcher that will be placed up on the cupboard above the pantry along with two other pretty pitchers that need a friend.

Then - Jim and Michelle took us to Antoinette's for a Father's Day dinner. Altogether pleasant. A good meal AND good company. It was a good "catch up" as we see each other so seldom with them working in the Milwaukee area and us running all over the county for appointments.

Now a quiet evening.

I think I told you that Barbara, the kid's mother, is doing better and is much more alert and responsive.

However, please pray for our son in law, Bill Smith. His mother died today in California. I am sure Bill and Leslie will appreciate your prayers and comforting thoughts.

Tomorrow will be Mass at 8AM and I work at Rhine from 12 to 4. I will be working with Bobbie so that will make it fun.

Love.

Mary

Here is the first part of an email I received. I may have started it before but I know that I didn't finish it.

1 - First Important Lesson - Cleaning Lady.

During my second month of college, our professor

gave us a pop quiz. I was a conscientious student

and had breezed through the questions until I read

the last one:

"What is the first name of the woman who cleans the school?"

Surely this was some kind of joke. I had seen the

cleaning woman several times. She was tall,

dark-haired and in her 50s, but how would I know her name?

I handed in my paper, leaving the last question

blank. Just before class ended, one student asked if

the last question would count toward our quiz grade.

"Absolutely," said the professor. "In your careers,

you will meet many people. All are significant. They

deserve your attention and care, even if all you do

is smile and say "hello."

I've never forgotten that lesson. I also learned her

name was Dorothy.

It was HOT today. When Chelsea and I went for out walk, however, it was quite beautiful. Then I took my shower and Dick and I went out for breakfast.

I left two things out of yesterday's saga.

When I was cleaning up the kitchen after supper, I was moving a pan from the left to the right side of the sink - with the water running - the pan hit the faucet handle and it broke off with the water running like crazy. I tried to reattach it but found that it had actually cracked. So the only way to turn off the water was the valves under the sink.

SO this morning, we went to Sonntag Plumbing for help with the faucet and with the toilet in the guest bathroom upstairs. We have been struggling with that for months now. It may have been able to be fixed but Dick had decided that it would be better to replace it with a higher one with the longer seat which is better for him now. We got there at about 9:00AM and they came and did both jobs before 1:30PM. I am impressed and amazed.

We stopped at Hunters Glen while we were out and ran the water again. As I went out the garage side door to check the gardens, the guts of the lock box - with our key attached - fell onto the ground. Whoever had showed the house last did not put it back together properly. So I had to call ReMax for instructions as to how to put it back together. We were not happy.

I had lunch at Dairy Queen as usual, then went over to my friend Kate Herman's house to dig up some lavender that she said I could have. It is beautiful. I put a bunch in the front next to the sidewalk, two small bunches on the deck in pots and a large hunk down at the bottom of the garden. We had a good visit. I took her and her husband Ron two pasties for their supper and some lavender cookies. With all her lavender, she needs some way to use it aside from the scent use which is actually reason enough.

We brought home the sprinkler heads from Hunters Glen so I am now able to soak the gardens using them rather than standing out there spraying and getting eaten by mosquitoes.

Tomorrow I am going back to Hunters Glen to trim the bushes. Kate said to call her before I left. If nothing changes, she will come and help me. It is good to have good friends.

There was a second thing that I forgot to tell you about yesterday. When Dr. Schelcht lasered Dick's eyes, he told him that there might be floaters which will absorb. It is the debris that he "washed" off the lenses. As we were heading to lunch after the treatment, he suddenly looked at me and said that it looked like hundreds of ants were crawling all over me. We had a lot of fun with that. Fortunately it did not last too long. Today he is doing very well. The slight soreness that he was experiencing yesterday is mostly gone. He will be on eye drops for about a month.

And that is what is happening in Plymouth with the Kunerts today. A much nicer day than yesterday. Instead of things breaking, they were getting fixed and planted. I am feeling very fuzzy content this evening.

We also heard that Barbara, the kids' mother, is doing much better. Not well by any means but much better. So prayers and good medical care are working. We must keep up our end by continuing to pray.

Happy weekend.

Mary

This morning Chelsea and I had company on our walk. Suzi loves to walk and got up so she could go with us on our morning trek around the condo complex and the park. It was beautiful. We only got a few mosquito bites. We had to run through the wooded area to stay ahead of them. We only to a couple of bites each.

I make the omelets that you boil in a bag for breakfast. That is an easy meal for a crowd. We all loved it. We had toast, muffins and scones with them and a lovely visit with Suzi and Hazel. They left at about 9AM for Medford and Theresa and Gary.

Dick and I left at about 11:00 for the Sheboygan Clinic. This is where the day got really goofy. We saw DR. Schlecht, who said that Dick's implants were indeed clouded as Dr. Zeigler had thought. He was able to do the laser treatment necessary to clean them and correct another small problem while we waited. Then things got goofy. Because we had an appointment with Dr. Sharon for a leg inspection at Aurora in Plymouth, he set up an appointment in Plymouth for an hour after the laser procedure to determine if the pressure was OK.

We got there and the technician checked the pressure, but noted that Dick's eye seemed red and irritated and asked Dr. Zweben, who was working in Plymouth that day to check it, after they found him. He seemed resentful stating that he did not have an appointment and didn't know what was going on and frankly did not seem willing to listen to the circumstances. He finally looked at Dick's eye and calmed down some. He agreed that it was irritated and gave us some antibiotics and confirmed the drops that Dr. Schlecht had prescribed.

Then we went up and saw Dr. Sharon. He is very pleased with the improvement in Dick's legs. We are going to proceed with the thigh high stockings, the massage, and the bicycle shorts. We are scheduled for a yearly physical for Dick in mid July. At that time a couple of other small things will be addressed.

After we left the clinic, we picked up Chelsea's heartworm medicine. I had noticed on TV that it is time for the meds to be administered. Apparently Kettle Moraine does not notify its patients like Dr. Zechlinski did. It is a good thing that I happened to see the ad. They prescribe a yearly, once a month, program. It cost $49. That means Chelsea Has to live for another year to use it up. I think that is wonderful. I hope we have her forever, but it also means that I cannot have my kitties. I miss them so. Perhaps someday, someone will say. Here is a present for you and I will have them back in my house. The longer it gets the less likely I will ever have them again.

For our last stop we went to Walgreens to get the prescribed eye drops. There I found that they do not stock the drops prescribed. Walgreens called all the Plymouth Pharmacies and found that NONE of them do. So we called Dr. Zweben and he switched the meds and asked Walgreens to bring the med in as they are going to be using it.

It was after 4 when we got home. We were both very tired. Chelsea was glad we were here and ready to pay some attention to her. Dick took a nap and I caught up on some computer work.

Now it is 8:30PM and I am exhausted. I did get my outdoor plants watered today. A man came and cleaned out all the thistles next to the garage today. We are sure glad that is done as it was an awful mess. I can only do so much. The back and that bed right in front along with the pots on the patio AND I HAVE to get to Hunters Glen are really more than I want to handle. There is so much time being spent on personal health issues that I need about 8 more hours in the day. If I had them, I could sleep then and work the 8 that I sleep now.

Be good to yourself on Friday and throughout the weekend.

Love

Mary

It was a very eventful and successful day.

Chelsea and I started with a nice walk. Didn't see another walker at all but there were a couple of the Tallgrass residents out watering so we didn't feel too alone.

Then we had an 8:30AM appointment with Sandy at the Clinic for the last of this series of massage therapy. His legs have settled down. They have not changed appreciably in circumference since last Thursday SO. We sent to the Aurora Drug Store on Superior in Sheboygan to see Barb, who fits people for support stockings. We are now the proud owners of a pair of thigh high support stockings. They really look good. They will be difficult to get on BUT can't be any worse than the double wrappings that we have been doing. Tomorrow we will see Dr. Sharon and he will be able to answer the questions that we have come up with.

We stopped on the way home for Dick's blood test and then went to Culvers for lunch. Their special was a taco. I tried it and thought it was really good.

When we got home, I baked some Lavender Cookies, just because I wanted to bake something. Then my friend, Kate, came over and we discussed the formation of the CWI Sheboygan branch. Kate reviewed and made suggestions for the invitation and we are discussing WHEN we should do it. Kate thinks September, which might be a good idea especially if we do some talking up about it.

Suzi and Hazel got here at about 5:30. They are such fun. We had a glass or two of wine and then ate dinner. Then Suzi and I went for a walk. Chelsea loved that. Jim and Michelle came home just about the time we got back and were standing outside while Suzi had a cigarette. So I asked them over for some dessert with us. That was nice.

Now it is time for bed. They will be leaving in the morning to go to Theresa and Gary's house.

We all watched a bit of Larry King's interview with Regis Philbin. Regis was complaining about his scar and it reminded me of my Uncle Roman.

Uncle Roman, one of my Mom's brothers, and his wife Aunt Mary Ann drove up to Wisconsin for a visit one year. They lived in Texas. Uncle Roman is gone now. Mary Ann is still in Austin. Anyway, Uncle Roman was complaining of discomfort in his abdomen for several days, so Aunt Mary Ann insisted that he go to see a doctor. They discovered an aneurysm about 5 inches long in his abdomen. Fortunately they were in time (obviously) and able to fix it before it burst. Mother went to see him in the hospital and all he had to say was "Do you want to see my scar?'
He was quite proud of it. Such a lovely love story he and Mary Ann had. You could just see the relief and love in her face when she looked at him.

Two doctor appointments for Dick tomorrow. I had better get to bed.

Love

Mary

What a day. It was beautiful.

Dick had his massage therapy this morning and then we went grocery shopping. That pretty well took up the morning.

After lunch, I made the soup for tomorrow night and did some other kitchen things. Tomorrow will be even busier so I didn't want to be having to worry about a meal for Suzi and Hazel. The soup is done and just has to be warmed up. I have some corn muffins, dill bread and cheese and crackers to go with it.

Tomorrow, I believe that Dick is going to be fitted for his thigh high stockings. We are going to see if they will help as much as the knee high have for the lower leg.

Received a May newsletter from Fr. Mike Shea updating us on Sarnelli House. They are having a tougher year this year because of two things. 1. a change in government has stopped a lot of funding and 2. the rains are slow in coming which is not helping the rice crops that help feed the 162 residents and staff at the Sarnelli House compound. The numbers are growing constantly. Fr. Mike will be home again in August and is going to say Mass at the Reunion of the Clans at St. Michael's Church in Parnell. This should be a good fundraiser for him. These are all people who know who he is and what he is. He was born and raised at Our Lady of the Angels Church in Armstrong, just over the Fond du Lac line. Mike's Grandmother Mae was my Grandfather John Bowser's sister. These are generous people so I hope it will go well. I need to call Rosemary Mugan tomorrow to see if she can advise me how to get all we need for him to do this and we can plan the mass and music. I am excited.

Here is a description of one of the children at the House of Hope at Sarnelli. "At the House of hope, Josie, who has cerebral palsy, holds her own. She is settign records for herself by not having to go to the hospital. Even some doctors ask anxiously about her, not seeing her come in for treatment. She is a lovely little thing of 5 years old. Some say she is a mindless little vegetable. But I don't believe that, since she hates the timbre of my voice, I am not talking to her for 5 minutes, when she gets irritated and cries."

Fr. Mike is big and can sound loud I am sure.

This reminded me of a friend of mine who made babies cry when she laughed. Beverly made Bart when she laughed for probably the first year of his life. He finally did get used to her. One day when he was about two he walked over to her house as she was getting ready to go somewhere. He asked where she was going and she jokingly said that she was going to hell, did he want to come along. Then she had to chase after him frantically and explain as he ran home screaming at the top of his lungs. "Mom, Can I to go to hell with Beverly."

Have a good Wednesday.

We are looking forward to our company.

Mary

Today was pretty much for me.

I could hear Chelsea sighing outside the bedroom door at about 5:45 AM so I finally got up because she sounded so pitiful out there. (Dick couldn't hear her. I think it has something to do with having been a mother. We hear things.) We had a lovely walk. It was very comfortable, about 58 degrees and there were no bugs buzzing around my head. We like these kind of mornings. It was pretty quiet, we only saw one other walker during our time in the fresh air.

I had bible study at 9:30AM. Only two of our semi regulars were missing so we had 10 people there. This makes for lively discussions. The readings next Sunday were about faith and the law. Which is the most important. and told two stories. The Old Testament told of David sending Uriah to be killed in battle so that he could marry Bathsheba. Pretty rotten, but David repented so the Lord forgave him, BUT he had to take responsibility and make amends. Then the Gospel spoke of the sinful woman washing the feet of Jesus and the Pharisee kind of offended because Jesus was accepting being touched by a sinful women. This reading does point out quite explicitly that there were women that traveled with Jesus and the disciples and that they contributed in every way to the ministry. We always have opinions that are sometimes in agreement and sometimes a bit a part. We did wonder again, why God gave Israel to the Jewish people when they had to go in there and drive out and kill a whole bunch of peoples to claim it.

After that meeting, I went over to Mom's. She and I visited and had lunch together. Then I went to Sheboygan for Writer's Club and she got ready to be picked up to play canasta with her friends. This is the one that takes forever, because one of the players plays very slowly. Today Helen Murphy, who usually spurs her to make a decision, was not playing so Mother was hoping that either she or the other lady had the gumption to do the spuring.

Writer's Club was fun. We had a lot of reading and discussion. John Textor had us end by each person giving an update of what he or she is working on and what he or she plans for the forseeable future. Hopefully this, like a workshop, will motivate us to do more. I was amused that Sylvia was surprised that everybody doesn't spend at least four hours a day writing. I write each day, but would find it difficult to carve that big a chunk to devote to my writing. She is so good and so dedicated that I can understand her feeling that way.

However, I was a bit surprised today at how rather rude some of our members are. Groups were talking over people who had the floor. It made it difficult to read and for Sue to conduct a meeting. At least twice, we had to just stop and wait for people to stop their conversation. I don't understand our society. During a meeting, people should be listening, not carrying on their own conversations. They sould step outside of the room if it is that important. And when someone is reading a piece, everybody should be listening not carrying on what we used to call sidebars when I was working. How can there be any genuine comments if people are not really listening?

Anyway, it was good to see friends.

Then I went over to my cousin, Brian Ayers, with my jewelry. Peggy was home too so we had a bit of a visit before I had to head home with a stop at St. John the Baptist to pick up Market Day.

I am still writing my haiku every day. Some are not to good but that is all right as it is an exercise and the idea is to keep writing. This one I kind of liked.


Ride up to the clouds
Free from all that burdens you.
Quiet and still up there.
Mary

Except for church this morning, this was the second day that I got to stay home the entire day. I even managed to take a nice nap. Good thing - the upcoming week is turning out to be very busy what with several doctor visits for Dick.

Tomorrow is for me though. I will be going to bible study and have decided to attend the Sheboygan Writers Club meeting. I have not been for some time and really just want to. I am going to drip several chains and rosaries off to my cousin Brian Ayers, the jeweler, to have them repaired while I am in town and am leaving my ring to be checked and cleaned. It is time.

Chelsea is getting really Old. She is very vocal, whining and chortling, EVERYTIME she wants anything. She does have to go out more, because she is old, but lots of time, I think she is just hoping for more lettuce. The little bum. When she sleeps, and she does sleep a LOT, she is so deep that we often can walk right by her without waking her. Something that would not have happened, even a few months ago. But on her walks she is still like a young puppy so I know that basically she feels OK. During the winter months, sometimes she gets tired and just turns back when we are on our walks.

Dick and I racked the White Zinfandel to the secondary fermenter today. We have figured out how to do it so Dick won't have to lift the 5 gallon jugs when they are full so we will be able to continue our winery, though on a bit of a smaller scale.

Wednesday, Suzi and Hazel are going to be here overnight on their way up north to Theresa's place where Hazel will spend a few weeks. We are looking forward to the visit. Hazel, I think most of you know, is 90 years old and a neat, fun person. Suzi and I were marvelling at how lucky we are to still have our mothers and to have them so full of life and joy. And physically doing so well too.

Guess that is all for now. I am watching the Tony Awards. Dick and I just love this every year. If we were rich, I think I would go to New York at least once a year to see a play. It really is nice that the touring companies come around and that the bus companies do have good tours and great seats. I also like the tours because we don't have to worry about driving, parking or eating.

Til Tomorrow.

Mary

I can't tell you how long it had been, but today, I got to stay home all day. What a neat deal that was.

I woke up at 6:00AM and could hear Chelsea whining outside the closed bedroom door. So I got up and we went for our walk.

Then I worked in the garden in the back. It looks really nice now that I have all the weeds out of it. I think I will move the day lilies to from in back of the lilacs in the fall so that we can see them when they bloom. It does seem silly to have them in back of the trees.

Tomorrow I will finish hand quilting the last of the blocks on the kitty quilt. I am, as I said, getting anxious because I can see the end of the project.

When I was a little girl, I used to climb trees. We had one next to our house that we kids climbed all the time. It has several spots that were fun to just kind of curl up on and look out over the world. This was the same tree that Dad would hang the deer on when he went hunting in the fall. Neat old tree. I guess that is why I like to take pictures of trees and share them with you all.

My boys liked to climb things sometimes too. I always had a rule. If they asked me to lift them up into a tree, I would tell them no. I told them that if they could not get up by themselves they would surely not be able to get down again either. One required the other. And they learned.



Love

Mary

Isn't this a magnificent tree? I intend to get pictures of it at every season of the year. This is a good picture of the condo too. It will be even prettier when the "tallgrasses" are grown.

Mary

Today was supposed to be really nice. After the storm (which we did not get) we were promised a nice calm day with temps in the 70s. Well it did reach the 70s but not until late afternoon after I had changed twice because I was cold and had to keep layering more clothes on my chilly body.

Chelsea again woke me up too early. This morning it was 5:15AM. Dick was sleeping again and you know that if he is sleeping I try to keep him that way because he has such trouble getting rest. SO -there we went, walking at an ungodly hour again. At least it is summer and is light then. It was not too cold but I wore a light shirt to keep the chill out and we walked for about 40 minutes. It was a pleasant walk but I am starting to feel the lack of sleep. It probably would be OK if this stormy weather was not causing achy joints and muscles from the arthritis. As they say, growing old is not for the weak.

I did all my physical work this morning so I would be able to lay back a bit this afternoon when I knew the early rising would hit me. So I cleaned the kitchen and went out in the back garden for about an hour this morning before I took my shower. Pretty good plan, I thought.

I had lunch with my bank buddies at DairyQueen. Then home and a short nap. Some days I can really relax and others it just isn't as successful. Today my neck and arm ached and the nap was only mildly too successful. I sound like a whiner. Don't I? Don't mean to as overall it was not a Bad day. I miss my kitties though. Probably because I am tired and miss old Oscar. He always cuddled me when I was tired. He was such a comfort.

Now I am rambling.

I fixed a lasagna out of the leftover spaghetti and meatballs that we had left from the other night for dinner. It sure was good. We had fresh dill bread that I made this afternoon too. Love that bread machine.

Tonight I went downstairs and quilted some more. I have one more panel and two corners to hand quilt on the kitty quilt. Then I can do the binding and will only have the sashing left to do. I feel excited now, as I always do when suddenly I can see the end of a project. It does seem to be sudden too. Though of course one keeps working towards it.

The following is on a tag that came with the Don't Piss Off the Fairies stone. I love it.

They are armed with sling shots, bows and arrows and wands. Keep them on your side. Be sure the water in the bird bath is fresh and there's Krispy Kreme and Coca Cola around... they love sweets...however, this leads to a carb high. Then you really have to tippy toe around.

Wonderful things will happen if they settle in your garden,
flowers will bloom, your trash will smell sweet and
cats will be very wary.
Here are a few fairy facts:
They don't grant wishes, they make decisions.
They don't wear panties.
Their wings get waterlogged in rainstorms...then they can't fly.
This may be your only chance to see one.


Isn't that a cool write up? I will be looking during and after the next storm.

Love

Mary

Well this week is sure going fast. Dick managed to keep Chelsea out of the bedroom this morning so I got to sleep until 6AM. I had to get up then because we had to be ready to go to The Clinic at 8:15 for Dick's massage treatments. We are still getting results from the wrappings and compression. Sandy had us schedule one more treatment so we have two next week. After the second one, we will go into Sheboygan to have him fitted for the thigh length stockings. THAT should be interesting.

I had ordered those tomatoes in a bag that you see advertised on TV several weeks ago. They finally came yesterday. I am rather impatient to see how they work so I have started one peat starter piece with seeds but did buy a seedling at Kmart so I can get it going sooner. Today was hot and windy and we are supposed to possibly have strong storms and maybe even a tornado warning tonight up until midnight. So I planted the seeds in the peat and will wait until they sprout, but fixed one of the bags and planted the seedling and hung it in the garage for tonight. Tomorrow I will put it out on the deck and then it will be on its own. This will be fun.

I wrote a couple of articles for CWI and did some quilting this afternoon and evening. So it was a busy day. I had wanted to work out in the yard a bit but did not because the wind was unpleasant. Dick and I DID put the stepping stone that says "Don't piss off the fairies" out in the garden in front of the house next to the entry path. I really like that. I have been watching the park for the fairy rings that were all over it last year. So far - no sign, but I have been noticing flower clusters here and there. Maybe the fairies moved on and left the flowers.

Michelle and Jim invited us to a fireworks celebration on July 3. Sounds like a super time and we will have a view of Milwaukee's fireworks near the Art Museum. I am delighted.

Enjoy Friday. The weekend is nigh.

Love

Mary

Chelsea was very mean to me this morning. She woke me up at 5:20AM. Dick was sleeping (rather unusual) so I didn't want to disturb him. SO I got up and took her for her walk. We did our whole walk. It was about 45 degrees and that makes for a nice workout. We did not see a single soul. I was quite irritated with her to say the least BUT then I got a surprise. A deer came bounding to the edge of the park as we were walking. AND I saw a beautiful cardinal swoop across the lawn to a tree.

We went to breakfast at Mc Donalds and then grocery shopping. With our early start we were home by 9:30AM. So I had time to do some weeding in the back around the bird bath while Dick took a nap and before we went for his blood test.

We had fruit salad and cottage cheese for lunch. That is our special treat on shopping day. Then I took a short nap. So did Dick. I had trouble sleeping so I went downstairs and did some quilting instead. When Dick woke up I did some vacuuming. Then dinner and some more quilting while getting Dick's legs all taken care of.

Tomorrow we go to the Clinic for another massage session. We DO feel that there is some improvement.


"Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you
stop opening presents and listen."

Bobby - age 7 (Wow!)

And


Author and lecturer Leo Buscaglia
once talked about a contest he was asked to judge.

The purpose of the contest was to find the most caring
child.

The winner was a four year old child whose next door
neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife.

Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the
old gentleman's yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there.

When his Mother asked what he had said to the neighbor,
the little boy said,

"Nothing, I just helped him cry"

Got these in an email from a friend and I liked them.

Later

Mary