Wine Tasting

St. Mary's Women's Club had a wine tasting. Everyone enjoyed themselves. Lorie and Bruce Hurst hosted the event. We had Chardonnay with mac and cheese. Pinot Noir went with chocolate chip cookies. Dessert was apple crisp and cantaloupe with Cabernay Sauvignon. Everything was topped off with brownies made with Pinot Noir.


Need I say, I'm well satiated.

These wines were from HandCraft winery.  Excellent.  The recipes were good, too.  

Something funny happened during the wine tasting.  Since we all had brought our own glasses to the event, I just brought an old one.  It happened to be from 2005, when I visited the Horton Vineyards, in VA.  Now, picture this.  Here we are enjoying our glasses of wine and I pick up my glass and read, There is evil in every berry of grape ~ Koran.

Ah....another good reason I'm glad I'm Catholic.

After a few more sips, I see that the other side of the glass has something else written on it.  One barrel of wine can work more miracles than a church full of saints ~Italian Proverb.

Maybe it was the wine, but like we say on Face Book:  ROFLOL!  Because you see, St. Mary's is an Italian parish.  

So. Sew Us Together

This is a picture of my parish church, St. Mary's, at Christmas. Tonight, St. Mary's Women's Club had a wicked good evening, at the Mill Store.

We are such a good group. We're a good example of "community." We share a good liturgical life. We have an opening Mass, we have a Night of Recollection, and a special Mass for us on Laudate Sunday. We women are the Lectors and EM of these Masses because enough of us are, anyway.

Our members are of all ages. While some of us have been members for so long, we don't have to pay dues, anymore, others are young enough to have babies. We kind of are one extended family of generations.

At our meetings, we have presentations, demonstrations, trips, movies, concerts, games, and I don't know what else. Tonight, we met at the Mill Store. The Mill Store is an old mill converted into a place that sells fabric, yarn, craft supplies and that sort of stuff. Many take lessons there. We learned how to make a tote bag tonight.

It was fun. I chose a quilted material, so my bag looks quilted. My friend, Claire seemed to know what to do, so I stuck to her like a shy child. I even picked the same supplies she did, so I could copy her exactly. It came out pretty good.

The evening was a success, like all our evenings. At St. Mary's Women's Club, we enjoy each others' companionship, and the mutual pursuit of Catholic social friendship.

I pray for the continued success, and spiritual enrichment of this women's community.

Why Catholics Have More Fun

This morning was St. Mary's Women's Club annual Laetare Breakfast. It was excellent. The pastor, Fr. Dave celebrated Mass for us. After Mass, we went to Rossi's in Millis for the breakfast. It is a beautiful atmosphere for a restaurant. It's a converted old beautiful Victorian home. The food was exquisite. You name it, they had it: eggs, bacon, sausage, ham, fish, salmon, pork, toast, muffins, bagels, fruit, vegetables, etc. We certainly had our money's worth.

Our guest speaker was Dr. Ernie Collamati, the Chairman of the Religious Studies Department at Regis College in Weston, MA. He is quite the entertainer. I bet his students love him. He's so funny; I'm still laughing.

His topic was "Why Catholics Have more Fun or Ought to." He involved the audience in his talk. For example, he asked us what Catholic objects we had in our homes, and then he explained why.

One thing gave me pause, however. I told everyone about my holy water font, and I was the only one that had one. I was considered kind of unique. But that holy water font is a great reminder to bless myself and ask God's protection as I start my day. It's one of my favorite Catholic sacramentals.

Fr. Bob's Reception

It did not start well. Hubby this morning was the first to leave. When he moved my car out of the way, he put my keys in his pocket, got into his truck and drove off.

I was unaware of this. At 11:30, I was leaving to go to Fr. Bob's reception, with some of the food I baked for it, and looked around for my keys. It didn't take me long to figure out why I couldn't find them. No use praying to St. Anthony; I knew where they were.

Hubby was at a meeting, so his cell phone was off. I tried looking for a second set, but not too much because I vaguely remember Dick saying to be careful of the keys because we only had one set.

Oh well. I didn't have to panic because I was only bringing food and I was sure they had enough. It wasn't like I was in charge of setting up and had the keys to open the door.

It turned out well, because Dick came home at 1:00 PM. The reception was from noon to 3:00. Fr. Bob was celebrating his last Mass for the parish at 4:00 PM.

The place was mobbed. Fr. Bob's family was there. His brother, who is a parishioner was the funniest. He told the joke of when Fr. Bob was an altar boy, and he use to try to catch his eye to make his snicker or smirk, or even laugh. Then, he said, to see him up there as a priest...well... luckily, he's matured.

Now, I have to bring food for St. Mary's Women's Club bake sale, and go to Mass, and then to Our Lady of Lourdes Healing Novena, where it's my turn to lead the Rosary.

Lord be with me.