May 10, 2010

The two inches of rain in the past week really greened things up. With the colder temps, I am surprised at how good the flowering trees and plants look. The flowering trees seem to be keeping their flowers a long time. Great! Trees are almost fully leafed out—except for the oaks, and they always take a long time. My Grandma used to say, “When the oak leaves are the size of a squirrel’s ear, then you can plant corn.”

My little trillium at home is blooming beautifully. So I thought I’d better make a trip over to Pine Grove Park. There are trillions of trilliums blooming there! What a wonderful sight to see.

We had an unusual visitor on campus last Wednesday afternoon—a big porcupine! Several people noticed it lumbering along the road side not to far from the Motherhouse buildings. What a surprise. Someone said porcupines like pine trees. We have lots of those on campus.

Last week we invited Associates Jim and Alice Blake to noon lunch before they moved to an apartment in Elk River. Several other Associates and the Associate Directors joined us for the meal. Besides being our Associates, they are neighbors and I will miss them.

Last Wednesday from 3 to 6 p.m. we had our “Appreciation of Our Volunteers” event. Terry set a table of great treats that everyone enjoyed. And there was a live band!

The band’s name was The River Breeze Band from Sauk Rapids. They played Old-Time music. There was a lot of dancing. What a fun event. (If anyone wants to hire them call Mel Hauck on his cell phone: 320-223-9217.)

About a year ago we started using a couple tables in the outer mailroom area for jigsaw puzzles. I have no idea how many different puzzles have been assembled. But a lot! All have been very pretty. Some have been really hard, but the “puzzlers” persist and get the job done. Sisters and employees stop by for a few minutes on their break time and put in a few or a lot of pieces. Always there are one or two boxes waiting their turn on the side cupboard. Getting the tables for jigsaw puzzles was one of the best ideas we’ve had.

The development Office recently sent out a letter for Memorial Day. Our Sister Cornelia Lee served as a 2nd Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps during World War I both in England and France. Honorably discharged from the Army in 1921, she entered the convent in 1923 and died in 1943. Two other of our Sisters were also involved in service. Sister Marcella Schuller served as a nurse during the height of the Vietnam War and Sister Mercita Pipp served for 11 years with Project HOPE, a peace-time hospital ship bringing medical care to people in the South American waters. We will remember all military persons and our donors on May 30th and on Memorial Day.

May is National Bike Month. Enjoy your bike…and the beautiful outdoors.

Peace and God bless you.
Sister Mary Lou