Happy Fathers Day, Daddy!

Eventually the Princess moved out of the castle 

and went into another line of work

but her Dad is still a King and always will be!!

Happy Fathers Day, Daddy to my one and only from your one and only!!

A wonderful few hours at the Park

The next part of my Saturday in San Francisco was to met up with my friend Marie and her wonderful children, Charlotte and Alexander.  We headed to a local park and had a great time. I was so sad I was dressed in my dress and heals or I would have been all over the new play things in the park. 

Charlotte is having some very special Fridays at the moment as on Friday June 6th she celebrated her 6th birthday and next Friday she will graduate Kindergarden.

Charlotte, you are growing up so fast  - I remember with joy the day you were born and I love watch you blossom and grow with each passing year

Here are the photos I took:

It was one of those special sunny San Francisco  days and even more special that I got to spent it with Maria, Charlotte and Alexander.

Thanks so much for my beautiful Butterfly necklace, I LOVE it and am still wearing it. 

Have a wonderful trip to visit family in Cleveland and I look forward to seeing you all soon after your trip.

I SAY "YES," LORD

Yesterday morning I attended a Mass of Solemn Profession where my friend Karl, with 5 of his fellow Dominican Brothers, took vows to dedicates himself totally to God.  It was a wonderful ceremony to witness and I was so happy to see Br. Lupe take another step on his life's journey  and follow God's Call. He looked so happy and I was so proud of him!

Here are some of my favorite pictures taken to record this wonderful occasion:

After the Gospel was proclaimed, the Brothers to be professed prostrated themselves with their hands extended in the form of the a cross:

Br. Lupe kneeling before  the Prior Provincial with his hands laid upon the book of COnstitutions, making his profession:

Br. Lupe and his Brothers looking so happy at the end of the ceremony as the procession comes back up the end of the church. 

Another wonderful part of my visit to St. Dominic's was to get to see some of my friends from the time I used to be a parishioner and a member of the Young Adult Group:

                                 Joe, Tim and Larry

        
Sarndra, Jay and Susan                                      

                                                   Susan, Maria, Bobby, Tim and Virginia 

I love this picture of Karl, oopsh I should say Br. Lupe, chatting with some guests outside the reception in the Parish Hall.  It is a typical pose of his that I remember seeing often as he listened intently to others at Young Adult Meetings, at Choir events, at Renew meetings and at many late night parties that I had the pleasure of sharing with him.

And a final one of Karl and Leona:

And here is a slide show of all the photos I took on the day:

Happy Anniversary

June 1st 1965 Len and Gwen got married:

Forty three years later, the story continues with three children - Brian, Leona & Eoin, daughter-in-law, Niamh,  son-in-law, Lar and three awesome granddaughters - Aoife, Aislinn, & Eimear.

Happy Anniversary Mum and Dad - we love you!

Success we have a tomato....

... it is very small and green but it is a tomato!! It is probably due to the heatwave we had last week and the high 90 degree weather that made the plants spring up and bloom. They are probably confused yesterday and today as the temperature is actually a little cooler than normal with the sky very overcast and we actually had rain yesterday. 

Yes, that little green blob in he background is a tomato.




Look how big the plants have got they two Early Girls are both nearly passed the third rung of the cage. 

I eventually did get a cherry tomato plant which is taking its time to grow but I have confidence that it will grow big and tall very soon. 

My friend Maria added a comment to my earlier post asking advice from my green thumb. This made me laugh as I am know to kill most things that come into my garden with the exception of tomatoes.  The only thing I can think of for my success down here in Mountain View is the wonderful sun and I water them every morning and evening in the very hot weather.  Also shhhhhh don't tell anyone, I also talk to them as I water them and I tell them to grow big and strong and bear me lots of fruit!  I suppose I show them some LOVE! I did also have success growing tomatoes in San Francisco but I think that was due to that wonderful window seat I had and even on the foggy days it captured the heat like a glass house. Hope that Alexander has some success with his tomato seeds. 

I will finish up today with a beautiful poem by Hafiz and a wish that today you all felt loved and the encouragement of light to show your true beauty to the world.

It Felt Love

How did the rose

Ever open its heart

And give to this world

All its beauty?

It felt the encouragement of light

Against its being,

Otherwise,

We all remain

Too frightened

Happy Mothers Day Gwen

So Mothers day in not today in Ireland, it is celebrated there in March. Gwen is lucky as she gets celebrated twice and how best to celebrate her here by showing what an awesome artist she is and showing a cross section of her wonderful paintings:

Tomato progress and other miracles in my garden

I just got back in from watering the tomato plants and I am proud to announce we have flowers!

And of course, I took some photos to show you all:

And that was not the only surprise I got, we also have strawberries. The miracle of the strawberries is that these were planted last year and did give us a few fruit  and when I got back from Ireland I noticed what I thought was some dead plants were coming back to life again so I stared to water them. Here is what I saw this morning:

Some other photos I took:

The Butterfly Story

Before this great change comes about, The fuzzy little worm withdraws from its caterpillar world, an finds itself a place alone ,and there painfully, and with much struggling, it wraps itself tightly into a cocoon of its own making; It literally seals itself from the world. Days pass and then, very gradually, a crevice appears in the hard outer layer of its private little cage---and finally a new creature emerges, quite different creature, too! It sits for awhile, clinging to its familiar surroundings, waiting for the warmth of the sunshine to dry its wings-and after while , it begins to flutter from flower to flower; and each time it lights on one it strengthens itself with what each one has to offer ,and at the same time it leaves the pollen that it has gathered up from every flower it has visited-thus enabling the flower to make seeds and born again.

The butterfly is a spiritual symbol-transformation, beauty ,fragility .It has been described as the Kiss of God. Look at the butterfly and see GOD.

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Happy May 1st - Enjoy this video

The first time I saw this it gave me goose bumps and as May starts I want to share it with you all.