Miscellaneous Days
Sunday / 27 June 2004
This morning I had mass with the Catholic deaf community while their regular chaplain, Fr. Brian Lamberson, was away on vacation. It was great to see the group of old friends again. After mass I showed them photos of deaf work and of life in Cambodia, using a video projector. The deaf people are always most interested in the life style and opportunities available to deaf people in other parts of the world.After visiting a sick friend and then visiting my mother in the nursing home, I went to my sister-in-law's house to look at her sick computer. She definitely has some problems and the reason isn't immediately obvious.
Monday / 28 June 2004
This morning I went to my sister-in-law's house and used her phone line for an Internet connection for several hours while she was at work. The biggest task was to set the stage for changing my e-mail address. My present address, cditt@mail.com, is having problems because some spammers have been using mail.com to send out unwanted messages, and that has caused other ISPs to block all mail from mail.com so that some of my mail has not been getting through.
After lunch I went to visit my mother at the nursing home and couldn't find her. Instead i found my sister Mary and her daughter Sara, and they said Mom was at a birthday party so we went to an activity room on the other side of the building. Some Hawaiian dancers were performing. They had several volunteers from the residents to dance with them, but then for the last number they wanted new volunteers and one of the dancers grabbed my hand and pulled me to the front where I got a grass skirt and did some discrete wiggling through the finale.
This evening my sister Mary invited me to dinner with Mike, her husband, and their three daughters, and afterwards the adults sat and talked. It was nice to be able to have a good conversation with intelligent and articulate people.
Tuesday / 29 June 2004
This morning I worked on the e-mail change of address again at my sister-in-law's house. I'm trying to time it and plan it so that people will actually change my address when I send out the notice rather than just reading it and then forgetting to do it.
For lunch I met with a former classmate who is still my best friend.
For supper I was invited to the home of Judy and Bob English, my cousins, and their daughter Colleen. It took a bit to get there because the train that runs through Pewee Valley was stopped unexplainedly and traffic was backed up literally for miles. I had to go the opposite direction and along a circuitous route to get past the blockages.
Judy and Bob are super people, intelligent, articulate, politically aware, and with a highly developed sense of morality and social justice. It is a real pleasure and treat to talk to them. They are also quite generous, and it was Judy's help that enabled me to come home for last weekend's family reunion.
Wednesday / 30 June 2004
I went to the Office of Worship for the Archdiocese of Louisville to query the staff about some religious education materials. They don't handle that but are always a good resource about where to go and whom to talk to. Judy Bullock and Barry Mudd were delightful and helpful as usual.
Next stop was the chancery office. I knew the archbishop was on vacation so I wanted to talk with his secretary about my new contract to be signed by Maryknoll, the archbishop, and me. But the secretary wasn't in either so I just left it for her and I'll have to send her an e-mail.
Then I went to Sacred Heart Village where Mom lives and arrived just as my sister Mary Davis did also. We had a good visit with Mom, and then I headed for Pewee Valley where I spent the rest of the day on e-mail and phone calls getting ready for the departure to Nebraska on Friday.
Thursday / 1 July 2004
I went to visit a friend at a rehab center this morning, and then went to visit my mother at the nursing home. After that I picked up my sister and took her to lunch.
Next I went out to my sister-in-law's house and we went together to the cemetery where her husband, my brother, is buried. The workmen were coming with the completed monument for the grave, and she wanted to be there for that. It turned out to be a really beautiful grave stone that has their photograph engraved into the stone with a laser. The workmen were really good and pleasant men from down in the country, and it was nice to talk to them as they worked.
After that I went back to Tammy's house and worked on her computer, trying to find out why it is running so slowly.
Then I went to my sister Jane's house for dinner although she surprised me by saying that they had decided to go out to eat. We looked at photos with husband David and son Adam and then the whole family went to a nearby restaurant for an enjoyable meal followed by an ice cream cake dessert back at home. Altogether a very pleasant evening with really good people.
Then back at home in Pewee Valley, it was time to pack and get ready for my departure in the morning. I was up till 1:30 AM.