ST JUDE NOVENA

I plum forgot all about the annual novena to St. Jude over in Pittston but I can still go for the last few days. This morning when I showed up at 7:30 Mass in Pittston, there was a priest laid out in his coffin for his funeral. The first time I ever noticed anything like that when I was a kid over in East Elmhurst, at St. Gabriel's, my first time as an altar boy. The only other thing I remember about that time was that Lisa Sollazzo's brother was there too. After Mass I made sure I stopped for gas, as usual &, as always, the Citizen's Voice. This morning it's damp & raining but it's much nicer than recent rainy mornings, that have been very bitter, foggy & cold. My father & Uncle Frankie, as usual went to their big high school game last night. Yesterday I finished "Hamlet" & started re_reading "Troilus & Cressida". I hope I can finish it this time. I keep playing my guitar. Yesterday I cracked open my Eric Clapton books again.

HAPPY FRIDAY

The week is winding down. It's time once again for our traditional Friday dance. A few days ago we got our new lector schedules for church. I have to lector again tomorrow at 5:00 Mass. Uncle Frankie came over for a while last night. He & my father are supposed to go to yet another game tonight. Recently I found out that the World Series this year is between Pa.'s very own Phillies & the Tampa Bay Rays. Never having even heard of the Rays before, I was a little confused at first. Because of my never having enjoyed sports I'm bound to get more than a little frustrated while the whole thing's going on. I made sure I sent my cousin Karen a Halloween card. Unfortunately she's in a hospice. My guitar playing has been still going reasonably well. Yesterday I tried playing Eric Clapton's "Let it Rain" from 1970. There's a part of it that Robert Cray used for "Smoking Gun" in 1985. A lot of musicians borrow. That's a very common practice in blues & folk music. I tried a bit of "Lay Down Sally" & "Knocking on Heaven's Door" too.

GETTING COLDER

The weather is colder than I like it these days. Every morning, including this morning, I have to scrape a lot of ice off all my windows. At least it wasn't raining this morning. As far as I know, Uncle Frankie didn't show up yesterday. Sometimes he comes over when I'm not around so it's very hard to tell. We're getting very close to the end of the month. Halloween beckons. I got a call from the American Red Cross last night. They asked me to give a double red cell donation again. This time it's back over at the Hanover Industrial Complex. My appointment is on Halloween, next Friday, so I should hope it will be easy to remember. I just hope I can have a much easier time getting there this time around. November has never struck me as an interesting time. I got gas today at Turkey Hill in Exeter. Local gas stations these days, even the Citgo on Wyoming Ave. which is usually the most expensive of all, are only charging around $3.79.9 a gallon. I have no idea why but when I first put it on this morning my watch was around ten minutes fast.

NICE PARTY

Last night's party at St. Joseph's worked out quite well. Father Walsh showed up & gave a short speech before it began. Unlike the ones I used to go to at St. John's & O.L.P.H., I hardly knew anybody at this one. It's technically not even really my parish but we have the same pastor. They served pizza, chicken, pasta & lots of other good food with strawberry cake with white icing for dessert. They had Pepsi & coffee to drink. After it was all over, I ended up getting drafted into helping them clean up the mess. Unfortunately the majority of the conversation revolved around the big shakedown in the Scranton Diocese. As with any other combination of groups, people from O.L.Sorrows & people from St. Joseph's have a very hard time getting along, especially under stressful circumstances. Alas, today's weather so far has been a repeat performance of yesterday's. I read more of "Hamlet" this morning. All those obscure references, as always, grate on my nerves. I'm just happy to have all the footnotes available.

BEATLE RINGO

Alas, Beatle Ringo, because of all sorts of aggravation with fans' requests for autographs, has flatly refused to sign any more autographs after October 20. In January, the Fab Four's drummer angered fellow Liverpudlians by saying he didn't miss his hometown. Even at sixty eight years old, a Beatle can still ruffle feathers. Uncle Frankie came over for a while yesterday. The weather so far today has been extremely bitter cold, cloudy & raining. I'm still reading "Hamlet". It gets easier as I keep going further & further through it. It's the one with the classic "To be or not to be..." soliloquy & Polonius' advice to Laertes. Everybody is at least somewhat familiar with both those passages. Tonight at St. Joseph's they'll be having their annual thank_you party for the Harvest Festival workers. I always used to enjoy those things over at O.L.P.H. & St. John the Baptist. I'm sure St. John's must have already had their homecoming game by now. It was really nice when I used to be able to get to show up every year. I've never liked sports but I used to enjoy the breakfast & picking on a few of my old teachers.

NICE WEEKEND

I didn't end up lectoring this weekend. We went over to Uncle Frankie's yesterday to eat. Fran was home until last night. She works over an hour away from here so it's very hard for her to get back to this area a lot. Everything was really good but it was so fattening & spicy. I had an interesting time catching up with all their gossip. When I finished "King Lear" yesterday, I started "Hamlet". I haven't read it in quite a while but I can still remember a lot about it. The weather is getting colder lately. For all the nice scenery, the ice on my car in the mornings still gets me nuts. Lately I've been watching other TV shows besides the ones I'm used to. A couple of days ago I watched an episode of "Everybody Loves Raymond" & yesterday I watched "Third Rock From the Sun". I know they were both cancelled a few years ago & are in reruns now but that entirely in keeping with my approach to things anyway.