Sister Grace

The first thing Sister Grace said to me was, "How much did you pay for this place??? Wow - you got soaked!" We didn't get off to a good start. Now we are great friends. Sister Grace Vincent and her younger sister, Sister Bernadette Joseph, were recruited by a group of Franciscan nuns who visited their Sunday school back in the early 1960's. The girls were eager to get out from under the cows, as they describe it, and never looked back. Sister Grace is a home health aide for shut-ins in Utica. She is attached to the St. Elizabeth Hospital and lives in the convent there. Sister Bernadette teaches 5th grade Social Studies at the Catholic school in Waterville and lives in their convent. The two Sisters nailed on the roof which will be over my head, back when the barn extension was built before they left for the convent. Three nails in every sheet of metal, they tell me. Sister Bernadette was in charge of climbing the giant mound of hay in the mow to change the ceiling light bulbs every summer. Sister Grace is an avid gardener, and today she showed me what she planted and told me to pick what I need and like when it comes up. She's always sending over pies and canned goods from previous years of gardening. My dogs have been very distressing to her, wading through the garden and stepping on her plants. She has the patience of a saint in that regard. (St. Francis who loved all animals perhaps?) If I could catch them I would whip their behinds! When we move into the apt. we are putting in a door on the uphill side of the barn with a fenced in dog area. That should keep them in check, hopefully, and focus our living up there. Down here behind the silos we are much closer to the old farmhouse and the Kupris family. I was worried about this arrangement at first but it's working out fine. Their 40 ft. well has run dry and we are running a hose to them. Our well is 100 feet deep and water gushes from it. Typical of most farm families, the barn was taken better care of than the farmhouse.