Chicken McFann

My dear Fiona Margaret,
Remember the time you turned 17? What great memories... esp. the immodest ice-cream cones, St. Paddy's Day dinner at the Nell Thorn Pub & Restaurant, rosemary salt loaves with cheese, Italian sodas- I swear we did more than just eat amazing food, didn't we? We've definitely lost a few pounds since then, wouldn't you say?! What do you think of the name Sr. Hermes of the Apocalypse? Hahaha!
Yesterday when me and some sistahs went to the beach in the morning there were two adorable families there. One had six kids and the other had five, and they were all under age seven probably. One family had a set of triplet girls! Their mom brought this big pile of bathing suits and all the little girls just picked whichever one they wanted. It was so cute! They had really good names too; we caught several: Ava, Cora, Annie, Elsa, Nathan, Jackson, Alex, and Julian. Wow. :) I look forward to the day that you go to the beach with your 17 children all under the age of 18. Haha!
How about a nice sonnet by Willy Shakespeare.

CXXVIII. (128)

How oft, when thou, my music, music play'st,
Upon that blessed wood whose motion sounds
With thy sweet fingers, when thou gently sway'st
The wiry concord that mine ear confounds,
Do I envy those jacks that nimble leap
To kiss the tender inward of thy hand,
Whilst my poor lips, which should that harvest reap,
At the wood's boldness by thee blushing stand!
To be so tickled, they would change their state
And situation with those dancing chips,
O'er whom thy fingers walk with gentle gait,
Making dead wood more blest than living lips.
Since saucy jacks so happy are in this,
Give them thy fingers, me thy lips to kiss.

(I also considered 54 and 60.)

Love, Claire Bridget

It's official!

I'm GETTING MARRIED!!!!

j/k j/k

Actually, I'm heading north in a short two weeks! Deirdre, Andrew and I will be IN WASHINGTON from August 2-August 9. Anyone interested in hosting a Bernhoft or two, feel free to do so. Currently, I have no plans really set down, and therefore you may start claiming me. I'm so excited to see you all!

That's about it for now. Try to arrange for some nice rain that week...

love,
Bingie

Beware- Friday the Thirteenth!

Greetings-
Today is the seventh day of the annual novena to Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. My family and I have been going to Mass every day at the monastery in Shoreline. We've been going to that our whole lives. (I actually met Michelle Kuenstle there when she was one and I was 6 months old!) In fact, my parents met at the monastery and are literally a match made in heaven since they both prayed for a spouse that fateful year. *sigh* How romantic. :) Today is the feast of the great Carmelite saint, St. Teresa of the Andes. "And if my prayers are worth anything, you can count on them for the rest of my life;because every day I have you with me at Communion time." She died in 1920 at about age 20, and is a great patron saint for young people.

The other day Hermes and I played dress-up for a couple of hours. It was perfectly amazing! We took turns choosing one-another's outfits, and they were mostly just hideous. We also took 42 pictures! If you are looking for some summer fun indoors when it's too bloody hot to go outside, I suggest a game of good old-fashioned dress-up!

Today my aunt and uncle are moving to Arkansas. Please pray for them to have a safe journey and for their future life in "the Natural state." (The word Arkansas comes from the Quapaw Indian term for "downstream people.")

Remember people to mark your calendars for the July 23rd feast of St. Bridget of Sweden, my confirmation saint!

Dear Frog,

How are you? I'm fine. Happy Canada Day! We should go up to visit the Browns and celebrate with them.

How are your little violin students doing? I haven't touched my clarinet in two weeks. Maybe I'll get around to that sometime, maybe soon. :)

This summer so far I've gone to MI camp, had very little sleep, watched several amusing movies, including this really old one called, "Life with Father," that has a plethora of ridiculously quotable lines; I've made some chocolate chip cookies, gotten some new clothes, had an orange-mango Italian soda (from the Red Twig in Edmonds), barely gotten a tan, gotten a new and beautiful phone, purchased a Madeleine Peyroux CD with Hermes for some summer relaxation, and I just don't know what else. Nothing too spectacular. I'm also waiting/hoping to hear back from either Jo-Ann's or Life Uniform (which sells scrubs) that they want to hire me for the summer.

If I come visit you this summer we should get our ears pierced together... that is, we can pretend to, since amphibians like us don't actually have ear lobes to pierce.

I love you.

TOAD