HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

A big happy birthday goes out to Benjamin, who turns five today. He's Michelle & Doug's son. Anner(technically Anna), who was once my supervisor at Citicorp Retail Services in Melville, also has a birthday today. The weather's been consistently very nice lately though it was more than a little on the cold side last night & this morning. Last night, someone called again asking for that John Owens guy. I have no idea who in Sam Hill he could possibly be but we have the same phone number. Valentine's Day most certainly seems to be working out quite well so far. Appropriately when I got out of 7:30 Mass this morning at O.L.Mt. Carmel in Pittston, I couldn't help noticing that they were having a Pre_Cana meeting. That's quite the logically consistent approach to things. Unfortunately I keep finding out that people are getting very violently ill with the flu these days. So far I've managed to avoid anything worse than a scratchy throat.

FRIDAY THE 13

Today's the big day. There aren't too many of them over the course of the average year. Bad luck supposedly abounds but it's always just about average for me. The infamous Bill O'Reilly has just gotten into even more trouble lately with yet another bunch of left wing fruitcakes. This time it's because of his having made a supposedly unacceptable remark about extreme leftist journalist Helen Thomas. His last fiasco was when he made a supposedly racist slur against First Lady Michelle Obama. That gets me crazy when leftist individuals & organizations, with absolutely no legitimate authority whatsoever, presume to dictate to us about how they've decided we must behave & speak. Tomorrow is Valentine's Day & Benjamin's fifth birthday. He's Michelle & Doug's son. Now that I've finished "Emma", I've started re reading Flannery O'Connor's "The Violent Bear It Away". Recently I got a reminder that this year marks the two hundredth anniversary of the births of Charles Darwin & Abraham Lincoln, both yesterday, & Edgar Allan Poe, on January 19.

BAD WEATHER

The weather, after a brief respite from winter, got miserable last night. It was pouring out, very cold & very windy. On the radio this morning the announcer complained about objects flying through the air & hitting vehicles. Today because the Wyoming Library was supposed to open at 11:00 I spent a little while at the Hoyt in Kingston. It's nice & quiet over there. Tomorrow's Friday the 13th. I've never believed in that kind of thing anyway but it couldn't hurt to pay at least a little bit of attention to it. Unfortunately, yesterday the phone rang off the hook. That happens just about every day anyway but many of yesterday's calls were from relatives. Michael is just about on the verge of getting a really nice car so he's all aflutter lately. It should be quite a really interesting experience for him.

HECTIC TIME

All was going quite well yesterday until about 2:00 in the afternoon. It's a good thing my parents decided against going shopping. Uncle Frankie was around when it all happened. My father had another attack like the one on the Super Bowl weekend. From now on he's back to eating peanut butter in spite of the salmonella scare because that's all that seems to help him. Yesterday I read a lot more of "Emma". I've been getting really close to the end of it. Matt has started to get active on Facebook. He's most certainly in for quite a major trip with this bunch. I found a group that's about Jean Paul Sartre, & one about Simone de Beauvoir, who was romantically involved with him. I'm not an existentialist but I've always had quite an interest in all sorts of things like that. While looking through, & joining, Blotto's Facebook site, I couldn't help noticing that tomorrow would have been Charles Darwin's two hundredth birthday. Like de Beauvoir & Sartre, he came up with some pretty bad ideas but it doesn't hurt to keep track of him. This morning, before Mass, I took yet another walk up Church St. in Pittston. I couldn't help noticing that although Grablick's, who made the best ice cream around when I was a kid, doesn't exist anymore, their building is still there just taking up space.

BROKEN COFFEE CUP

This morning started out on a predictably annoying note. Upon having finished my second cup of coffee, Dunkin' Donuts brand, on top of that, I picked up my blanket to straighten it out. Unfortunately, upon my giving it too much of a pull, it flew into the cup I was using, knocked it onto the floor & broke it. It was a cup that celebrated the joys of chocolate. To my chagrin, I've never exactly been a news junkie. Yesterday, though, I made sure I watched Glenn Beck on Fox TV for a few minutes because Tom Woods, who is on my Facebook friends' list, appeared on it for a few minutes in order to tout his new book, "Meltdown". Before Mass at St. John's in Pittston this morning, I took a walk up one of the long & winding local side streets because I really need the exercise. The hill proved to be entirely too steep for me though & I got really wiped out. I spent around a half hour after that constantly coughing. I passed by St. Casimir's Church, which is closed, & St. Mary of the Assumption. After Mass the woman who sat next to me commented on how Fr. Walsh must not have been available because those are the only times I show up at Mass over there. Another woman, one of the people from the blood drive, told me in the parking lot a few minutes later that they got seventy five donors. Unfortunately many blood drives don't do that well

PHIL WAS WRONG

In spite of our Groundhog Day warning, the weather has been turning out awfully nice lately. Fr. Walsh has been gone since Friday so I go to St. John's in Pittston for Mass until he's back. Last night I went to a Holy Name Society meeting. Things go entirely out of control because of the parish closings. There are a lot of hard feelings as with any political troubles. Smiles wrote a big article about it in the local paper. The people of the Wyomings have always gotten along reasonably well but the church troubles have started wars. I've never been able to get used to that part of being in an organization. Uncle Frankie, Fran & Lisa came over Saturday & hung around for a few hours. Fran came back yesterday before she went home. Yesterday I gave blood at St. John's early in the morning. It was the easiest donation I've ever given. It only lasted around fifteen minutes with no pain or aggravation. I wasn't even kept waiting.