Awake: 6:55am Temp 50 sleep 6+57 sunny overnight @ Nicktown, PA.
K & I drive separate cars to attend 8:00am Mass & then, join the Koffee Klub members @ Janet & Mark’s outback Gazebo for coffee and goodies; it was Janet’s birthday. Over (20) people from our club + some visitors from another planet shared the goodies. This was the 1st Gazebo gathering for our Koffee Klub that I know of & I personally thanked Janet for her generosity & hospitality. She, along with Donna & Kathy have been fairly faithful in providing some healthy goodies for our club members @ the morning meetings & we love it.
After that good start for the day, I drive the Lexus to the church hall, don my PVC gloves, find my leader & start with the needed work program @ 9:30am. 1st project: string out (3) awning covers between (2) buildings that serve as shade for people who are in line for our special chicken noodle dinner. They open the doors @ 10:00am & serve until everyone who wants to eat has eaten; usually after 3:00pm. Not only are the tarps fastened to both buildings but also a rope line above is run in a zigzag fashion to hold the tarps from flopping in a breeze.
Next, a group of us, including some young guys, help move out of storage: many large signs, many folding chairs, many long benches, many tables with folding legs, many bingo benches with an extra shelf for working all those bingo cards, & many other miscellaneous things etc. We moved them out, set them up & wore ourselves out, all in less than (2) hrs. My PVC gloves worked great & I was released around 1:00pm. After checking on Kathy who has been in the kitchen since 10:00 am with her hands in butter and grease, helping in the preparation of the chicken wings for the beer tent, & the chicken for the shut-ins, I leave her & return to our bus to take a nice hot shower. Kathy returns a little later & does the same.
We just finish dressing when Gary & Rosemary ring our doorbell @ 2:45pm. We put the final touches to our readiness & then G & R caravan with us to the Foote house; after we take in some food to store in Melissa’s refrigerator, Gary & Rosemary ride with us to Saint Thomas More University Church & attend the 4:00pm Mass + the Baptism of little Nathaniel Foote. Kevin’s sister, Billie Anne, and her husband, Jason, were also in attendance. It was amazing to me: as soon as Father Willie finished the Baptism ceremony, little Nathaniel, not even a month old, seemed to come alive; his eyes opened wide, he began looking around @ the congregation, he was curious about his where-abouts, etc. Father Willie, carrying Nathaniel partly wrapped in a towel, strolled up & down the aisles showing off our newest Catholic & member of the Foote family. Nathaniel seemed to be enjoying his new status looking those people right in the eye with his big eyes.
Nathaniel’s Godparents, Mary Beth & Philip who have (3) kids of their own, seem like real nice people.
Back @ the Foote home, we all patiently wait for the food that Kathy prepared. Melissa & Kathy have tried in the past to have food for the post Baptism celebration around a theme; ie. for Matthew it was the elements of Baptism; for Andrew, since St. Andrew was a fisherman, it was fish. Nathaniel, however, posed a real problem since there is not much written about him. Melissa & Kathy did find that St. Nathaniel is considered the patron saint of plasterers, tanners, & butchers and thus, a “theme;” a bit of imagination is required. Since Melissa was too busy caring for 3 boys, Kathy prepared the following: a cookie house frosted in white (plasterer); church & house cookies (assisted in making them by Matthew); potato skins (tanner); hot barbecued beef on buns (butcher); salad; potato chips; broken glass Jell-O dessert. Mary Beth, with the thought of Nathaniel being the patron of plasterers, brought a plate of white pecan cookies.
It was a nice celebration as we happily welcomed Nathaniel & enjoyed each others company. Unfortunately, Fr. Willie was detained and did not arrive until we were on our way down the front steps.
Late evening movie: “Tunnel of Love” with Doris Day, Richard Widmark, Gig Young, Gia Scala. Bright comedy of married couple Widmark & Day enduring endless red tape to adopt a child. 1958. It was ok but I am not really a Doris Day fan.
High temp=73 Lights out: 11:54pm
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