Sunday was another beautiful day and another first.  This time it was the first time we had been to church (9AM mass) without jackets since our return.  We joined our friends Mary Ann and Joe and daughter Dana with husband Rick for breakfast at Blueberry Hills Pancake House on Bell Road in Homer.  The food was good, the service pleasant and speedy a generally overall positive experience.  They were most generous in providing some short cake in celebration of our anniversary and our friend Joe's birthday. Once again arriving home in time to find the Cubs already losing, we got to the bottom of the ninth this time with a 5-4 lead.  That's when deja vu set in. In the bottom of the ninth with Carlos Marmol again sailing along, and two outs and a runner at first, Marmol got the batter to lift what should have been a routine fly to left field. Unfortunately, Soriano an excellent hitter but no Gold Glove outfielder lost the ball in the sun. The runner at first, with two outs running on the pitch comes all the way around with the tying run and it is extra innings again.  Of course in a repeat of last night the Cubs proceeded to lose in extra innings. This time it was 6-5 in 10 innings.  We followed that with a womens' College softball game as Virginia Tech beat Michigan 6-1 to win a super sectional and a trip to the Women's College World Series in Oklahoma City next weekend.

    Today is Memorial Day and we of course participated in our usual Memorial Day activities.  This morning, we went to Christ Lutheran Cemetery fort heir Memorial Day ceremony.  Following that activity we stopped at Southfork for breakfast on the way to the Orland Park Village Center for Orland Park's Ceremony at 1PM.  Each time Orland Park has a ceremony, Memorial Day and Veterans Day, names are added to the wall at Ara Pace (the place of Peace).  This time, among the 35 names was our own Jack Bath, Sgt at Arms who transferred to Post Everlasting in January.  The Post covered the cost of adding the name of our late friend and comrade.  It had rained overnight and the humidity must have affected my bad hip because today it was quite painful.  Perhaps I will have the surgery later this summer so I will be through it well before "snowbird season." I will schedule an appointment with a surgeon recommended by three other physicians, including one whose testimonial was that "he is an artist"  and also "if I were having my hip done I would want him to do it.
The cubbies stopped being cubbies (see the last two days) and beat the Dodgers 3-1.  Is this the year?  Just when it appears that the other shoe had dropped and the Cubs are the Cubs they surprise you and get back on track.  It is a long way to October so we'll see.
   It is Tuesday and since there was no bulletin today I sent an email to Rita inquiring as to its whereabouts.  Sometimes, when we have a holiday she gets it together early and it slips her mind to send it,
   Well it is Wednesday and I called the doctors office to arrange for some x-ray copies for fridays's appointment.  There was still no St Julie bulletin and upon calling the parish office found that Rita would be out until Thursday. Since the Commander was working I took the Legion Newsletter to the copy shop so it could be ready for tonight's Legion meeting.  The St. Terrence bulletin was received and readied for their web site which I also maintain.  In addition I also received a report and scores from the St. Terrence Men's Club Golf League coordinator.  These also, were readied and uploaded to the site.  Having done these updates and had a bite I went off to pickup the completed newsletter on the way to the meeting at 8 PM. At the meeting new members were introduced, plans for our participation in the Orland Days activities and discussed upcoming events like the farmers market and Taste of Orland.  The meeting adjourned a bit after nine and some hung around for pizza and pop.  We were watching the ballgame and when I left the score was ties 1-1 in the bottom of the tenth.  By the time I arrived home, and turned the game on the cubs had won it 2-1.  This was the third win in a row and completed a sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Time to go listen to Web Site Wednesday on WGN Radio.

    Thursday Rita sent the bulletin with a note indicating that since as I had suspected she was going to be away from the office the bulletin was ready Friday but it had slipped her mind to send it.  I immediately did what I needed to do with it and uploaded it to the site.  Since there were no meetings to attend, the evening was spent watching TV including looking in on the Cubs game which they came from behind and won for their fourth consecutive victory.
   Friday dawned dark and cloudy and shortly before 8AM the National Weather Service issued a Tornado Watch for our area until 2PM.  I had another appointment scheduled with a surgeon on my hip.  The verdict was as I expected the same.  Looks like I will need to schedule hip replacement surgery later this summer.  By the time I left the  Dr's office it was starting to drizzle.  By the time I left the parking lot and got headed home it was raining quite hard but had stopped before I got to the Veterans Center.  When I left the Veterans Center it had started to rain again but shortly after arriving home it had stopped and as predicted earlier the sun was out (for a while) and it was a bit warmer.  This warmer air is supposed to build up conditions conducive to strong storms later on.  This is no surprise because we usually get rain for one day of Orland Days and it is quite often Friday. Right now it is again gray (our lights are on) and looking like rain.  If the weather is not threatening, I may go help at our Orland Days table tonight.  I am left confused by our current culture.  It appears that one can say anything one wants and then after the hue and cry only say I am sorry and everything is OK. It would be like the judge admonishing the jury to ignore testimony.  Is it possible that the words can be recalled into the mouth?  I think not.  I speak of course of the vile rantings, this time it was a catholic priest spewing comments about Mrs. Clinton and her feeling of entitlement to the democratic nomination. It is possibly true that she held such feelings but is it something a catholic priest should rant about from a pulpit? Once again we have a candidate who has a lifelong friend who does the heavy lifting and is able to proclaim he is taking the high ground.  Again, however, is it possible to be hurtful and then under pressure the next day make it all go away by saying "I apologize if anyone was offended"?  This week the pundits tell us that after these last primaries we should have one less candidate.  Then we shall have another open season and Mr. McCain can begin to expose Mr. Obama as a naive empty suit.