Trip to Appleton August 2012 - Day Three

St. Francis courtyard outside St. Joseph's church

I was up early as usual.  Lynne and Meg slept in quite late and I was just able to tell Meg a sleepy "Good Morning" before I left for the 10:00 am Mass at St. Joseph's Parish, a nice 20 minute walk from the house.  On the way I stopped at the Starbucks for some oatmeal and coffee and a quick review of the NY Times digital edition on my phone.  The parish has been staffed by the Capuchins (Franciscans) since 1877.  the church was nicely full and the presider was effective and affirming.  I was especially impressed with the quality and extent of the congregational singing.

The homily was given by a Servite brother as part of an annual mission appeal.  He spoke of the order's work in Zululand, a region of South Africa.  This brought back memories of our time in Denver where we were part of the Servite parish, Assumption.  I especially remember Fr. Frank Christie, OSM, who came to the parish while we were there.  He had spent several years working among the Zulus.

Lynne, George, and Jim on a tour of Appleton

After Mass I returned to the house.  Lynne and Meg both had roller derby league meetings on Sunday; Lynne's was in the afternoon and Meg's, the evening.  But the exciting event was the visit of George and his partner Jim.  George is a friend of Lynne's from Second Life, a virtual on-line community.  It is an interesting site in which nothing is real but everything is created by real people.  George had created a Universalist-Unitarian Church and Lynne joined.  Their friendship got started and continues there as well as Facebook, but they had never met face-to-face.  Lynne prepared a delicious meal of brats, beans, and corn on the cob. When Meg went to her meeting, the four of us went on a tour of Appleton.  We saw many of the places I had already been but several I had never been to as well.  Also i learned more about the ones I had been to already.  Lynne is fountain of information.  We had a great time and topped it off with a visit to Acocoa, a coffee house cum ice cream.

Lynne plays while Jim listens.

When we got back home, Lynne showed Jim, a trumpet player and music teacher in Columbus schools, her vintage trumpets including the one from 1869 which she plays in a Civil War era band.  They had a great time, playing a bit and talking a lot about these instruments.

I guess you never know how these things will work out but George and Jim were just delightful and added so much to my experience.  I know it was special for Lynne and I was happy to see how well it was for all concerned.

You can see photos of our tour of Appleton in this album.