“Friends come in all shapes and sizes, and always full of surprises.”
~Toni Armenta Andrukaitis
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St. Gabriel the Archangel Church has so many ministries, activities, and formation groups available for parishioners. I only belong to a few, but I do love the 60+ group the best. It’s just a potluck get together hosted at the home of one of the members. Everyone brings food or beverages to share. We get to visit with long time friends or meet new people. A fun social event.
Lots of food and friends.
When I got home, I went out the front door to try and get a photo of the beautiful full moon. I’m not sure if it’s a perfectly full moon, but it sure is bright.
The flag made an awesome foreground. Look who followed me in the house. My furry neighbor friend Juno. Uh oh!
“I would love to travel if it wasn’t for all the preparations, packing, traffic, airports, security, waiting, crowds, delays, etc. Besides that, travel would be fun.”
~Toni Armenta Andrukaitis
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There is nothing about Love Field that I love. They should call it Hate Field.Well, it’s not really that bad, but it ain’t great. That’s what I like about Star Trek. I would just love to say, “Beam me up, Scottie.” That’s the way to travel.
My friend Helene was coming back from her two week visit with family in Maine. I drove her to the airport, but she had her GPS cranking away and guiding me with tricky turns and ramps. I am a self-proclaimed directionally impaired driver. I’m pretty good within a 5 mile radius, but if I haven’t been there 27 times before, I still use GPS in those 5 miles. Oh, if it’s dark, even worse. I could pass up my own street. I’ve done that. 🤦♀️
A couple of different times before, my GPS guided me to some weird low rent scary district behind the airport, and said “You have arrived.” So today, I asked Sid if he wouldn’t mind driving to the airport. Saved! It worked out great because he got there in less than 40 minutes, and while he parked by the curb, I ran inside and waited for Helene and helped her with two big heavy bags.
Welcome home!
On the way home, we stopped at Rosa’s Cafe and Tortilla Factory for lunch. It was Taco Tuesday! Gotta have tacos.
Thanks for an awesome lunch, Sid.
The tortillas are freshly made while you order. And… they give you extra tortillas on the side, so warm and delicious. Oh no! It’s right down the street from Helene’s new apartment. I have a feeling this will be our new Taco Tuesday. 🤦♀️
On my way home, I stopped at Sprouts to stock up on more nuts and such for my trail mix that I make and always keep handy on the counter.
“Sometimes you feel like a nut…”Mmm! Dark chocolate covered almonds on sale. $4.99 a pound. Can’t beat that. Now, to add to my mixture.
A wonderful day called for a long afternoon nap. After that big lunch and eating like a polar bear getting ready for a long winter’s hibernation, a nap was perfect. It’s nice being old, retired, single, nothin’ I have to do. I can nap any time I want. Life is good! 🤗
“Without a Shepherd, the sheep will go astray.” ― Lailah Gifty Akita
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Another very very warm Sunday. It is very rewarding and uplifting to greet at the door before Mass again. I really missed all those months where we couldn’t meet and greet. Now, I get to take the arm of Miss Dorothy and assist her up the steps, or help an elderly gentleman navigate his walker. I just love seeing the smiling babies and scampering toddlers. Very special.
Today, we welcomed our new parochial vicar, Father Cristian. St. Gabriel is his first assignment after his recent ordination. Born and raised in Spain, he has traveled and lived in several cities around the world. He received a very warm welcome.
Today’s Gospel was the story of Jesus sending out the 72, sharing peace, curing the sick, and spreading the word…
Gospel, Luke 10:1-12, 17-20
1 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them out ahead of him in pairs, to all the towns and places he himself would be visiting.2 And he said to them, ‘The harvest is rich but the labourers are few, so ask the Lord of the harvest to send labourers to do his harvesting.Start off now, but look, I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.Take no purse with you, no haversack, no sandals. Salute no one on the road.Whatever house you enter, let your first words be, “Peace to this house!”And if a man of peace lives there, your peace will go and rest on him; if not, it will come back to you.Stay in the same house, taking what food and drink they have to offer, for the labourer deserves his wages; do not move from house to house.Whenever you go into a town where they make you welcome, eat what is put before you.Cure those in it who are sick, and say, “The kingdom of God is very near to you.”But whenever you enter a town and they do not make you welcome, go out into its streets and say, We wipe off the very dust of your town that clings to our feet, and leave it with you. Yet be sure of this: the kingdom of God is very near.”I tell you, on the great Day it will be more bearable for Sodom than for that town17 The seventy-two came back rejoicing. ‘Lord,’ they said, ‘even the devils submit to us when we use your name.18 He said to them, ‘I watched Satan fall like lightning from heaven19 Look, I have given you power to tread down serpents and scorpions and the whole strength of the enemy; nothing shall ever hurt you.20 Yet do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you; rejoice instead that your names are written in heaven.’
My take on it… “the harvest is rich but the laborers are few,” tells us that this life has so much to offer, but not necessarily with physical wealth and riches. We can share our beliefs by sharing peace and love with all those we come in contact with. But, if we are not welcome, move on. Not everyone is accepting, no matter how much you try.
After Mass, Jerry, Helene, Ashleigh and I stopped at McD for coffee. Today, there were a few other groups from church who stopped for breakfast. I saw them in line and said, “Welcome to the St. Gabriel after party.”
Afterwards, Helene and I stopped at Tom Thumb for a few sale items and to say hello to Miss Suzie, our favorite checker.
Well, it’s been over 24 hours, closer to 30 hours since my booster, and so far the only side effect has been a little sore arm at the injection site. Fingers crossed. 🤞🏼 It’s too hot to do anything outside, so, I’m staying inside with air conditioning and more massive quantities of Hallmark movies. 🤦♀️
Sunday is a good day to count your blessings. Happy Sunday, my friends.
“I had to wait over 50 years for a little sister, but it was worth the wait.”
~Toni Armenta Andrukaitis
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Today is Sherri Murphy’s birthday. She is the little sister I NEVER had. I was the youngest of three daughters, so I never had a little sister to play with, teach new things to, or boss around. I’ve been blessed with girlfriends who are like sisters, but Sherri is my LITTLE SISTER. REALLY! She is very little, and just cute as a button, and laughs like a a three year old, and is always smiling, learning, creating and loving everyone she meets. Feeling blessed! HAPPY BIRTHDAY SIS!!!!!
Happy birthday, Little Sister!So many wonderful adventures!Here’s to many more! Love ya! ❤️
And thank you for adopting me as part of the Murphy Family.
“A good friend is like a four-leaf clover: hard to find and lucky to have.”
~Irish Proverb
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It’s always good to count your blessings and count your friends, of which I have so many. Today, I am thankful for my crazy catholic side-kick and partner in crime, Helene. She was going to Sam’s Club to get gas and shop today, so I asked her if I could ride along and go shopping with her. I don’t have a membership.
Tomorrow is our visit to Towne Creek Senior Apartments for our arts and craft day. We are always on the look out for sales and deals for our projects and dinner feast. Helene has been volunteering with me for… hmm, at least a couple of years, if not more. I’ve been going for 15 years. Time flies when you’re having fun.
Today, I’m especially thankful for all her help, kindness, and sweet friendship.
A friend is someone who keeps you out of trouble. A good friend is someone who keeps you company while you’re getting into trouble. Thanks Helene.
So, tonight I’m busy getting ready for tomorrow, making pasta salad, bad ass peanut butter brownies, and I still need to go upstairs and think of our art project. It’s gonna be a long night. 🤦♀️👩🏻🎨
Here’s just the beginning of the kitchen chaos tonight. Stay tuned tomorrow for the grand finale. Miles to go before I rest.
“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” ― Albert Einstein
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Another beautiful, gonna get really hot, Sunday. I arrived at church early so I could light my candle, get a few bulletins, then run over to the side door to meet the Chateau Senior bus. Darn, they were already in the door before I could run over to meet the bus pulling up. I have the ladies a hug, gave them their bulletin, and asked if Mr. Mike was coming.
Miss Marilyn said he was still coming. He has a wheel chair, so the driver has to lower him on one of those up and down thingys. I squally grab the handles and race him down the long hallway. Today, I gave him his hug and started to reach for the handles…. oh my, Mr. Mike had a brand new motorized shiny red wheel chair scooter vehicle.
I said, “Oh no! Now I won’t be able to scoot you down the hall at lightning speeds anymore.” He laughed. But, then I said, “I know! I’ll race you!” I lined up next to him and did the “On your mark , get set, go!” We raced down the hall. I let him win. (Not really. He was pretty fast.)
After our race, I went over to the front door to do a little greeting. Oh, I missed greeting the folks coming in for church. With all the Covid stuff, we hadn’t gotten back. We did have a church meeting of the Welcome Ministry last Sunday, talking about getting back into the swing. But, mostly they talked about standing behind the Welcome desk in the narthex to answer questions or help new parishioners get info. I just want to greet people. We haven’t started yet, but I started anyway.
Above the heavy metal door is a Bible verse. The two hands made me think that welcoming and greeting people on their way into church was more of my calling than standing behind a desk inside. (A sign)Ah, look! It’s Helene. (I made her do the hands up Toni greeting.)
I had so many smiling faces and salutations as I greeted. I got to see the sweet babies, elderly couples holding hands, and that adorable family with the five little girls all in matching dresses with matching pink bows. This just gives me such joy. A few people even said, “You’re back! Good morning, so good to see you!”
Here’s a cool story… I saw a lot of familiar faces as I greeted at the door, but also a few new faces. I gave out a few hugs to some elderly folks who were moving slowly, just to give them a chance to catch their breath on this hot and steamy morning.
Then, I saw an elderly gentleman walking ever so slowly down the long sidewalk. His wooden cane strained under his tired arm. He finally made it up the two narrow steps, so I scooted across the way by the other entrance and said, “Good morning! Looks like you could use a hug!” As I gave him his hug, he paused and let out a slow sigh. He said, “I needed that. I had a heart attack a few weeks ago and I’m movin’ slow.” Then he look right into my eyes and said, “Would you pray for me?” I assured the sweet old gentleman that I would pray for him. I think we both needed that hug today. 🤗
Today’s Gospel on this Feast of Corpus Christi is the famous story of the loaves and fishes. Jesus blessed the five loaves and two fish and then fed thousands.
Jesus spoke to the crowds about the kingdom of God, and he healed those who needed to be cured. As the day was drawing to a close, the Twelve approached him and said, “Dismiss the crowd so that they can go to the surrounding villages and farms and find lodging and provisions; for we are in a deserted place here.” He said to them, “Give them some food yourselves.” They replied, “Five loaves and two fish are all we have, unless we ourselves go and buy food for all these people.” Now the men there numbered about five thousand. Then he said to his disciples, “Have them sit down in groups of about fifty.” They did so and made them all sit down. Then taking the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing over them, broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd. They all ate and were satisfied. And when the leftover fragments were picked up, they filled twelve wicker baskets.
My take on it… miracles do happen when you have faith. But also, the analogy of, you require very little to satisfy your needs when you follow the Lord’s teachings because if you share what you have, no one should ever go without or go hungry.
After Mass, Helene, Ashleigh and I stopped at McD for a beverage. The rest of my day has been just flittering around.
I did get to FaceTime with my favorite family and say Happy Father’s Day to my eldest son. He truly is the finest father that I’ve ever known. Aren’t those girls getting big!
Happy Father’s Day, Happy Sunday, Happy Day, my friends. ❤️
“The only thing better than a day creating art, is a day creating art with old friends.”
~Toni Armenta Andrukaitis
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Today was our Towne Creek Craft and Art Day with our senior friends. There’s always a lot of preparation, anticipation and great expectation… (you See my literary play on words there? I was going to say constipation🤦♀️)
I decided we would work on the torn tissue paper project from my Tuesday video. I really wasn’t sure if it would go over well or if it would be too difficult. Boy, was I surprised. They all turned out fabulous.
I started out this morning making my famous popcorn/pretzel/cereal mixture. I make individual bags for each person to take home after the class. They said that they like to watch tv and have their popcorn snack. I gathered up all the supplies, and cut up individual brown bag trees, little squares of 4 colors of green for the trees, and squares of tissue paper colors for the background. A lot of prep.I also chocolate dipped some strawberries, made a few more lemon cheesecake cookies and cut up a watermelon. Helene was making her famous pasta salad and I was bringing hot dogs, nacho cheese dip, tortilla chips, drinks, and ice cream. Can you say Friday Feast!
Helene and I arrived about the same time and got a couple of carts to haul in all our supplies and goodies. We organized tables, put plastic table cloths and passed out the art supplies needed. I did a brief demo of how to tear the tissue paper, add the dimensional tree, and make all the dimensional leaves. Then, everyone got to work. I couldn’t believe how awesome each background looked.
The background layers were pretty wet from the watery glue, so we set them outside to dry. They were dry in 10 minutes in the sun.We also had a lovely teenage girl, Michele, who volunteers at Towne Creek, join us. (Miss Kathy-top left, Michelle-top right, Nadia-bottom left, David-bottom right.Helene’s and Bonnie’s trees turned out so cute. Helene even experimented with two or three colors in one leaf. I love when people experiment and create something spectacular. While the trees were drying, we had a dessert break, then worked on some holographic scratch boards. Those were cool, too.Then time for our Friday Feast. We hold hands, say a prayer of thanks for our meal and our friendship. Then, we eat like little piggies u til we are about to explode.
Happy Friday, my friends. I hope your day was a fun and fabulous as ours. ❤️
“It’s funny how when you grow old together with old friends, no one seems to notice that we’re getting old.” 🤦♀️
~Toni Armenta Andrukaitis
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We had such a perfect day for a picnic over by Miss Pat’s place. There are about eight friends that live in the apartment complex, and they host a spring picnic every year, and every year the weather is perfect. We also celebrate May birthdays. A few of our regulars couldn’t make it today, but we still had a nice crowd.
Fun! A few of us remembered to wear our matching “Friends” t-shirts.It was a potluck and there was SO MUCH wonderful food. We celebrated May birthdays for Will, Harriet, Doug and Patricia. There were only four huge cakes and dessert trays. Enough to feed an army.Of course, I had to stop and share some of my famous lemon cupcakes with my friends over at Station 9. No one answered the phone in the hall, so I just went through the open bay doors where the team was out back doing drills. Chief Floyd was back there, so I said “Hi,” and told him that I left some cupcakes on the table inside. I think they should give Miss Toni a key for when they aren’t around. Don’t you think so?
Happy Friday, my friends. I hope you have a great start to a great weekend.
“We are all the same and we are all different. What great friends we will be.” ― Kelly Moran
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I was scrolling through Facebook this afternoon and ran across a post from a friend, well, an unlikely friend. We met on a train ride from Elgin to Chicago quite a few years ago. We sat together on the train, talked and exchanged numbers and became Facebook friends. We only met once, talked for less than an hour, but we keep in touch via Facebook. She posted this cute video on unlikely friends, and it made me smile. You never know when you’ll make a new friend.While I was watching the video, I ran across some other videos on unlikely friends. Wouldn’t it be great if the whole world could get along like these unlikely friends? We are all different, but all God’s creatures, great and small. ❤️❤️
“Friendship is the only cement that will ever hold the world together.”
~Woodrow Wilson
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A very busy Friday. My neighbor Kathy was in need of a ride to pick up her car at ServicePro this morning. She was going to take an Uber. So, I volunteered. That’s what neighbors are for, right. Plus, I’m going to be cat sitting for her a few days, so I needed some instructions. Her kitties love Miss Toni.
Kitten kisses.
Seeing as I was so close to Discount Tire, I remembered my email reminder that my tires needed checking. Just pull up, no appointment, no charge. A young man was out there just checking car after car, courteous and diligent. I only had a couple of singles, so I told him, “It’s not much, but maybe you can get a Coke.” He gave me a big appreciative smile.
On my way home, I stopped over at GRACETOCHANGE, to meet Kim Hughes. Kim is an awesome community volunteer and advocate for folks in need. I had a trunk load of men’s clothing donated by my great friend Sherry Joplin. Kim is collecting for a men’s clothing closet at Turtle Creek Manor, a community center for men on the road to sobriety.
Kim Hughes, such a blessing to our community.
Another stop. Time to check out McDonalds to see if they got any new Happy Meal toys. I’ve eaten a lot of French fries these past few weeks. The people there are so sweet and friendly and we chat.
Miss Kim was kind enough to tell me what day they get new deliveries of toys (Monday and Friday) and Michael was telling me how it was a great job. I was on the phone with my sister when I got excited and said, “The McDonald’s truck is here.” I wanted to see if they got any new toys. I’m easily impressed.
A lot more to my busy day, but it’s getting late. Happy Friday, my friends.
Toni Andrukaitis 