My granddaughter had an early Christmas on Sunday. Among my gifts to her was the complete books of Narnia . She really expressed her excitement on that gift. (She is always so diplomatic...if I had put coal in her packages, she would have found something positive to say about it. Her mother, xtine, told me there was more to the story than what meets the eye. Evidently she had read it in her youth. I never have. I just thought it was a good gift since a children's movie was coming out ...

Graybar’s blog features A Recipe for People Who Eat Real Food. Anyone who knows this young man at all, is aware of his proclivity for posting articles that are sure to draw a variety of opinions. When I know what he is talking about, I sometimes will join in those discussions. That happens very rarely, but today I am taking the bait. Since my reply is rather lengthy, I choose to react on my own blog. Here goes! This morning my hubby attended an early morning meeting and breakfast where...

If your life is anything like mine, many things happen each and every day that really can aggravate. Sometimes they are just little things that just get under the skin and can make the day seem dismal. Then I ask myself, “What will this accomplish if I choose to be angry, worried, frustrated, irritated, miserable, unhappy, despondent? You guessed it…nothing positive. All those negative feelings do nothing but make me more miserable and ready to lash out to hurt someone near me who rea...

This is to wish greywar a very happy 32nd Birthday. You have a great day, son, and many more to come. I wish I were with you. I would bake you a cake with 32 smoking candles on it. Love you, MOM

Yesterday started with worship, prayer and fellowship. Then in the cool of our sunny, fresh Minnesota weather, my husband and I traveled to Harriet Island in the Mississippi River located on the edge of St. Paul to take part in the last day of Irish Fair Celebration. We experienced a wide variety of Irish dance, song, bands, art, and culture. It was great to see very young dancers who had already mastered the intricate stomping steps of the Irish Jig. They were so cute in their elabo...

Everyone I have ever met gets feeling of hopelessness, discouragement or even despair at sometime during life…maybe many times. Bills pile up. Work gets stressful. Friends betray us. Divorce, hostility, and unforgiveness split our families up. Traffic is bumper to bumper. Lines at the checkout are interminably slow. The washing machine breaks down. We are overweight. Tires go flat. Someone cuts us off in traffic. The list of things that can steal our peace could go on and on …and it will ...

Is it possible to enjoy life despite the constant difficulties that are present in our lives? Maybe what we need is a Peace of the Rock on which to build our homes. If we build our lives on his word---we will have a solid foundation that will not be shaken when the storms of life come upon us. Jesus will be our personal architect. He gives us standards to live by so that when life’s tragedies come our house will not collapse. It is not always easy to surrender our plans and let Jesus...

The most destructive habit..............................Worry The greatest Joy.......................................Giving The greatest loss........................Loss of self-respect The most satisfying work.......................Helping others The ugliest personality trait.....................Selfishness The most endangered species.................Dedicated leaders Our greatest natural resource.......................Our youth The greatest "shot in the arm"..................

There are many great memories from those days spent in Oakes. The people were so great. They always supported the teachers in dealing with the children. To this day I still have many of those students who keep in touch with me on a regular basis. Of the many good people I remember, one little fellow, Billy, holds a spot in my heart.. He was small for his age but he had a huge heart and brain. He absorbed learning like a super dried-up sponge. I remember he volunteered to memorize a very lo...

Today I received word that a dear friend of the family has gone to his reward. Stan Gallus and his wife, Lorraine, were long standing friends of the new family that my son and I gained when I remarried three years after the death of my first husband. My thoughts are with Stan’s family today as I plan to attend his funeral on Friday in St. Cloud. There are so many good memories of the good times we had together when we all lived in the St. Cloud area. Stan and his wife lived on the out...

These last few days I have been feeling several negative feelings: anger, frustration impatience, and disappointment…I have felt the need to research the sources and face them because all of those feelings are negative. And as far as my experience has gone, negative feelings do not do good. There are in direct opposition to each other. Before you get all up in arms…(watch that temper…) I am not trying to say that all anger is wrong. Anger can be a good warning that all is not well in o...

All points bulletin: Where is Greywar? He does not answer his e-mail. His phone is on the blink the last I heard. I am suffering from withdrawal. Help!

I vacillated but then an event helped me to make up my mind to go back to boarding school rather than stay at home. Mrs. Lux from our parish decided she would send two of her oldest to boarding school. She told my mother that I was welcome to ride with them when they took their daughter, Almira and their son, Richard, to enroll at St. Benedict School. Almira was going to be a sophomore like I was and Richard was entering his junior year. They told mother that they would bring me home wit...

My life started during a difficult period in America history in 1929. Since I was born right at this time in history, I was known as a "Depression Baby" in my family. Maybe this title came from the name of the era in which I was born, but there may have been other reasons. Was my mother happy with my birth? I was her ninth child. Does this fact say it all? No, added to this sad state of affairs, another emotional blow came to Mom and her family. Her mother, Elizabeth Mary Connell No...

In the summer of ‘44, I went to help my oldest sister Aggie who lived in Minneapolis. I was thrilled to be going to the big city and to be with my sister whom I barely knew. During my stay with my sister in Minneapolis, my horizons widened just a bit. I met new people and took in some activities that I would not have experienced in Verona. Aggie’s sons were 3 1/2 and 1 1/2 years old. Harley, her husband, was off to war. Aggie had to work to make ends met. I had lots of experience baby-sit...