August to

On Sun, Aug 25, 2013 at 6:25 PM, Mary Kunert wrote:

 First:   Lets all celebrate a bit in our hearts as today is St.     Anne's Day.   St. Anne, the mother of St. Mary, the mother of Jesus,     is the patron saint of Brittany.   In about a year, I intend to have     a book available about ALL the patron saints of our Celtic sister's     nations.   The studying and research is really fun.

But, I digress.    Last weekend, August 18, at Milwaukee Irish Fest,     all the Celtic Women in attendance walked in the Irish Fest parade     behind our banner.   A special blessing,  Nancy Vose's grandson       and a friend of his carried the banner for us.   We were left     free to wave and greet and smooze as we walked the route.    For     those of you who may not know,  our Gail McAleese is this years     Shamrock Club Irish Rose and was seated in a cart in the parade.        We are so very pleased that her deeds and accomplishments are being     recognized.   The Irish Fest this year was REALLY stupendous.  For     those of you who were on the Brigit trip, Martin Byrne, gave a     lecture at the Hedge School on Saturday.    He is so nice.    I have     a print from a wood carving on my already full walls.

August 11, the Reunion of the Clans, was celebrated at St. Michael's     Church in Parnell, Wisconsin.   It was a soft day.    Light rain     fell, but did not deter the revelers who came at 11:00AM to     celebrate Mass, presided over by Fr. Michael Shea, a Redemptorist,     who has been a missionary in Thailand for over 45 years.   His     currant main mission is being a literal father to over 140 children     left orphaned by the AIDS virus.   Incidentally, he is my cousin and     I love him.  After Mass, there was perpetual music, sharing ,     eating, drinking and cavorting with the dead who reside in the     graveyard.

Now we need to look to the future.  

The Wisconsin Highland Games will be celebrated the coming weekend, August 30 - September 1 in Waukesha. I am going     one day.   As soon as I hear from Rosemary Baumann and Gail     McAleese, I will let you know.  Perhaps some of you would like to     join us.

October brings two events that are important to CWI and the     Sheboygan Branch.

The Annual IBAM, Irish Book Art Music , is     scheduled for the weekend of October 10-13 at the Irish American Heritage Center, 4626 N. Knox     Avenue, Chicago, IL 60630.   Several of our members have attended     this event and would not miss it if at all possible.    Maureen     Smith of the Chicago Branch is the organizer and host of the     Literary Corner.   This is an all day presentations by artists,     musicians, authors, historians, etc , an unbelievable source of     information.     I believe that Joan Kramer will be doing a     mediation and I am booked to do a program also.   I have decided to     introduce people to the wonders of Blessing Bundles and the power of     herbs and other symbols.  

I have a special announcement regarding IBAM.   Veronica Ceszynski     (Veronica Ceszynski )Cliff Carlson, editor/publisher of       the Irish American News in Chicago and creator of IBAM, who came up with the idea of a bus       from Milwaukee to Chicago for this year's IBAM are arranging for a bus from Milwaukee early Saturday morning to     take "revelers" to Chicago for IBAM.    There is a hotel room cost     of $94 to $92 also, if you are going for the weekend.    Shared room     cost this is really cool.   The bus will, of course, bring us back     on Sunday evening.   She is considering coffee and bagels or scones     on the bus.     If interested let me or Veronica know.    I am     definitely going to do this.   I need to figure out how to get to     Milwaukee but that is OK.   Give me feedback, Please.   I can't tell     you how impressive IBAM is.

The final request that I have for EVERYBODY is also from Veronica.       She runs the Literary Tent at Milwaukee Irish Fest and is asking if     CWI would be willing to man the Tent for one day during the fest.        We would need two people for each shift and a maximum of 12     bodies.   I would like to help with this and wonder if we can get     enough interest in our members to do it.  We have quite some time to     think about it but let me know if it sounds good.

I think my "novel" is finished.   Hope I haven't bored you.    I     hope I have stimulated you actually.    

Dia Dhuit

Mary Kunert

920-893-5139