“Hey, sorry for the delay.
Lots of stuff, so I’ll get right at it.
Christmas went well, except Michelle didn’t make it, just like Thanksgiving. I asked no questions. Theresa did her Christmas at the Kennedy’s in Buffalo, so we were a couple short, but we had the best roast beef I can remember. I bought a ton of it, so the kids got huge chunks to take home. I made the best hash I ever made. You would have loved it.
We had an exceptionally good New Horizons Christmas concert, and I keep hearing from friends who attended how good it was. I think, I even did the best I could. Have been regularly taking Anne to lunch. She seems better and better. She has found some purpose in taking care of Corky, and I think, as usually happens, when you find yourself caring for another, you get helped in the bargain.
Patty reports that Grandma Fagan in not doing well. I noticed when I was at her house for Thanksgiving that she was hooked up to an oxygen devise. Not her usual alert self, but still good all things considered.
Phil and I saw the Pirates of Penzance, and he treated me to dinner again. It is becoming kind of a ritual. However, he sees a lot of his new girlfriend Martha, and visits her in New York a lot. We plan on going to another Gilbert and Sullivan, later this month.
I have been deeply involved with the Discovering Christ program than Kathryn McAlarney heads up. She was recently appointed Pastoral Associate for Evangelization at St. Louis. She is good at what she does, and believe it or not, I find myself enjoying her programs and the people who attend. I am now attending her next program as a helper and am being accompanied by a young Afghanistan and Kosovo War veteran. His name is Steve McAlpin, and he is in my classes at Osher. A very high quality person with lots of heart. You would like him.
Guess who I had a long phone conversation with? Don Roudenbush. We last saw him at the ACHS 50th reunion in 1993 – over 23 years ago. I happened to be talking to Betty McClure and she mentioned she just got through talking to him. She gave me his address, so I sent him a Christmas Card (I have attached it for your information – you probably would give it a two tsk rating, but you know me).
My Irish trip has given me so much material. I won’t live long enough to translate it all into the many stories I write for my Osher classes. I wasn’t able to sign up for my Irish Literature classes this term because Jack Callaghan changed the time and it would interfere with my band practice. So, instead, I signed up for a Poetry class in the next session. I have attached my first poem. I will present it next week. We’ll see how it goes.
I am doing a whole series of memoirs for the Memoirs class based on all the items of furniture we accumulated over the years. It works out perfectly. I will be putting them on the Relighting Us website, as soon as I format them for the site. I want to introduce them in a way that that will inspire others who could use them as templates for their stories. I think it might work. I might even adapt them to my Skibootch stories on the Seniors Ink website. I’ll keep you posted. So, here’s the stuff:”
I went to Ireland in September 2016.
I learned the Irish Secret
They Love Celebrating
- The Birth of Jesus
- Our Births
- A Happy Christmas
- A Happy You
I, also, learned that Murphy is a common name in Ireland
Furthermore, there are 687 Murphy’s Saloons in Ireland
The picture shows me in my 8th.
I got 679 left to go.
Let’s together find one, and celebrate 2017 with a pint.
The Windvane of Moher
May the road rise up to meet you.
May the sun shine warm upon your face.
May the wind be always at your back
May it direct the rain
May it soothe the pain
May it find love again
May it be not all in vain