Saturday, September 10, 2005

Arson!


Sign on the fence surrounding the remainder of our local grocery store...

Wednesday, September 07, 2005

News Blurb

Rumor has it that Gockel's has been declared a crime scene for arson!

...oh, and the first day of "school" (really, a day of pseudo-recollection) went pretty well. :)


~ ~ ~

Tuesday, September 06, 2005

Academic Act and the Start of Another School Year!

We had a Solemn High Mass this morning to start the school year out on the right foot. That was at 8 am and just packed with students even though only 7th through 12th and the college were required to attend. Afterwards, there were still about 40 minutes before the Academic Act began at 10:30 so a group of us just stood outside and talked for awhile...
Fr. Griego gave a good talk during the Academic Act - all about how we are Crusaders and we must fight for Christ the King. We must wage war on the spiritual enemy and always stand guard so he doesn't sneak in and catch us unawares. Viva Christo Rey!
Then there were the awards from last year's Spring Semester to be handed out. I got a 3.59 GPA which landed me on the Dean's List, plus I got perfect attendance. I was the only person to get both! :O Rose got on the Honor Roll to her surprise. ;)
It was all over by about 11:30...

In the afternoon, I ran some errands and went by the school to put my notebooks in my locker - about 2:30. That's when I noticed that I was supposed to have seen Dr. Berfanger at 1:45! So I went up to her office and met Johnny Mac up there. We talked for a few minutes until she showed up. She had to take care of an emergency involving the ordering of more Latin books *lol* and then was able to see us. I'll be taking 17 credits this semester but they'll take 19 hours a week. Tuesdays will be my worst day but Mondays should be pretty nice. Wednesdays, too - I only have one class on Wednesdays!! :D

This evening, I babysat from 6 to 8... the kids were fairly good; a little tired but all things considered, they were good.

So long for now!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Monday, September 05, 2005

My Piggy Bank...

...After I filled up on gas...

Labor Day Weekend

Good morning!
Today is Labor Day and I have had quite an active weekend so far. Read on! :D

On Friday afternoon, I went up to the school to take the retreat group picture at the end of the Girls' Retreat with Fr. Tague. Then I kinda helped Rose pack up and brought her home with me (much talking ensued! :D). Immediately thereafter, I had to rush out to babysit - I was late. I babysat 3 kids (ages 1, 3 and 5) from 6 until midnight. I got home about 12:15 but didn't get to bed until 1:30...

Saturday morning, I rose at 7:45 and got ready to leave for the Irish Fest in Kansas City at 8:40. Well, as things went, we didn't leave until a quarter to 10!! Mom, Rose and Joey had gone to 7:30 Mass which turned out being a Solemn High Mass with a sermon for the feast of St. Pius X! So that got out later than they thought it would. Afterwards, they learned that Gockel's had burned down so, on the way to get the mail, they were among the many curious passers-by who stopped to watch for a bit. Then Rose had to eat breakfast and we had to gather the things that we were taking to Lindsey. We went by and picked up Brittany and Christa, went by Gockel's one more time and were finally on our way out of town! *whew*
In Topeka, we picked up Lisa - a penpal of Rose's whom we'd never met. We reached the Festival a few minutes after noon. It was a lot of fun, thanks to the good company we were in. :D
We walked around the tents selling things for a little bit, got some (expensive!) lunch and then headed over to watch the Feis that was going on in the hotel next store. That was pretty neat even though we couldn't see the dancers' feet too well. We had to guess what was being done down there! ;) We walked through "the Link" - a glass-covered sidewalk which crosses at least two streets to connect Crown Center with Union Station. It was really hot in there (green-house effect and all) but FUN!! We wandered aimlessly for a little while after that until we came upon Ellis Island playing inside Crown Center. It was very crowded because of the air-conditioning so our view was soon obstructed. Britt and I went to check out a 75% off sale at Casual Corner which was very nearby and were soon joined by Rose and Lindsey (whom we had met there), shortly followed by Christa and Lisa. Linds left and we got really goofy and forgot all about human respect!! :P We went to get something to drink and met up with Linds and Mike. Rose left with them to help take the bike we'd brought to KC for Linds to the Angelus.
Sadly, on the way, they saw a car accident occur in which a little girl of about 7 years got hit by a flying tire. She was rushed off to the trauma center and, on their return, Rose and Mike gave eye-witness accounts to the police. Meanwhile, the rest of us were unaware of what had happened so we were watching the Cottars (VERY good performance! What talent!!) and wondering all the while what was taking Rose so long to join us. It was all rather bizarre - the day starting with the fire at Gockel's and ending with the witnessing of this car wreck.
We said our rosary on the way home, dropped Lisa off in Topeka, Britt and Chris at their home and arrived home by 9:30 pm.

Yesterday, we all went to the 9 am Mass which Joey was thurifer for... Mass was said by Fr. Griego and there was a very good sermon on pride and obedience to superiors and things like that. There was recording in the afternoon for St. Magnus, RMP's next production. Rose and I went up to the Fall Festival about 2:45, staying until 6. There were a fair number of people there and I got to see a couple of old friends again who are back for the school year.
At home again, I changed clothes, fixed my hair, ate dinner and was off again to the square dance. I do believe this square dance marks an historic first!! At the beginning, there were ACTUALLY more guys than girls!!!! :O :O That just NEVER happens... and of course, it didn't last too long because by the end, it was quite the opposite once again. Happily though, a lot of people showed up. My estimate is that there were 85-90 people there. It was the biggest turn-out I've seen in the four dances I've been to. I danced 8 out of 9 dances (which, since there are 2 songs per dance, is really more like 16 out of 18 dances). Oooo, were my feet sore afterwards!! But I had a very good time so it was worth it! :D

I think today will be spent catching up at home, cleaning my room and preparing for the school year which begins tomorrow! I'll try to keep updating but often it happens that when there's news, I'm too busy to write and when I have the time, there's nothing to relate! We'll see....

Thanks for reading and come back soon! :D

Sunday, September 04, 2005

Further pictures of Gockel's (or what was...)

From the front...



Addendum to the News

So Gockel's burned down... and last night it was still smoldering so they had fire hoses on it all day (water pressure was really bad this morning! :/) Yesterday, they started bulldozing the place so here are a couple of pictures we got of the place:

From the back, in the morning


From the back, in the evening


From the front, in the evening

Saturday, September 03, 2005

The News!

The local news on this fine First Saturday is that there was a fire at Gockel's during the night!!!!!!!! :O :O :O Bertrand is blocked off and firetrucks are all over down there.... I haven't seen it myself yet but apparently the roof and windows are all missing though the stone edifice remains standing. According to the source, none of the adjacent buildings were thought to be harmed.

But WOW!! It never ever occurred to me that Gockel's would burn down...... I think this is good news. :P

(By way of explanation, I mean absolutely NOTHING malicious in saying that it's good news! I realize that a significant loss of property is involved, but thankfully - as far as I know - no one was heard. The problem with Gockel's was that it was never improved. It was often dirty and its frozen goods were almost always freezer-burned. In addition, it had a somewhat immoral atmosphere and some of the help was less than helpful. Hopefully, a new grocery store will be cleaner, in more ways than one. I'm sorry if I scandalized anyone by saying the fire was good news! :/)



~M~

Friday, September 02, 2005

Thunderstorm

We had a pretty cool thunderstorm last night. :) The power went out about 2 - I wasn't up for that - but I did see some pretty good lightning out there about 12:30 am... I was able to capture this shot:



I think it was worth the 25 tries it requried to photograph the bolt! :)

Thursday, September 01, 2005

Welcome, September!!

Wow, can September be here so soon?! Doesn't seem possible.
September is good news and bad news. It's good news because it means cooler weather and the return of friends. It's (semi-)bad news because it heralds the return of classrooms, books, papers, and tests. Of course, if we didn't go back to school, we'd probably get bored out of our wits... I know I would. So, all in all, September is a symbol of good things.

This first day of September is beautiful here in NE Kansas. The temperature is in the 70's. It's mild and sunny. Aaaahh.
We have a new month ahead of us and a new school year... what shall come is known only by God. May He give us the graces we need to use this time He has given fruitfully and in such a way that we draw ever more near Him.