Some happy thoughts at the end of a tough week.

First – When baseball is in trouble, people step up to the plate.

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Second – The heartwarming story of a lost ring and the epic quest to find it. No hobbits were hurt in this nice story.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., June 15 (UPI) — An 88-year-old Florida woman who lost her wedding ring in a patch of overgrown grass said the ring
was returned to her by a local metal detecting enthusiast.

Mary Marzec said she flew into a panic after her wedding ring fell from her finger while she was pushing the grass away from her knees at a bus stop in St. Petersburg, the St. Petersburg Times reported Monday.

“My husband said, ‘Come on, let’s go home. I’ll buy you another one,'” Marzec recalled. “I said, ‘I’m not going until I find my ring!'”

The sight of an elderly woman sifting through the overgrown grass caught the attention of a sheriff’s deputy, who was carrying a card for treasure hunting enthusiast and metal detector owner George Kollmer, 75.

Marzec, who has been married to her husband, Ed, since 1937, said she was convinced to take the bus back to her Port Richey home while an attendant at a nearby Chevron station waited for Kollmer to arrive.

Kollmer said the attendant directed him to the bus stop and then it was only a matter of time before the ring was unearthed.

“Within 10 minutes,” he said, “I had it in my hand.”

Kollmer said he called Marzec and headed straight for her home, where he traded the ring for his $50 service fee. Marzec, who was in tears after receiving her ring back, said it symbolized the powerful bond she has with her husband.

“If you promise yourself to someone,” she said, “that’s for life.”

And last but not least, these dizzy dames were told to get on their brooms and get lost and to take their flying monkeys with them.

Sandra Davis – High Priestess at the Crystal Cauldron – had reserved Our Lady’s Social Club in Shaw Heath, Stockport for her Pagan group’s Annual Witches’ Ball.

But when she rang to make payment arrangements she was told the event could not be held there and – despite already having printed tickets – another venue must be found.

The Diocese of Shrewsbury have since confirmed witches are not ‘compatible with the Catholic ethos’.

Heartwarming stories all.

Oh, by the way. Something that struck me funny. The Telegraph lists as a related story to this “Carla Bruni criticises Pope Benedict XVI”

Question, is the relation establish by Catholicism or Witches? I’m just askin’.