SPRING HAS SPRUNG

Nothing nauseates me quite the way a long winter does. Today marks the very beginning of spring. This morning I showed up at the Carmelite meeting in Wilkes_Barre. Unfortunately Sister Catherine is still ill but at least she has been recuperating quite well so far. She's a diabetic & has asthma. My father has been having trouble with diabetes lately too. We covered all the usual things at the meeting. A few people weren't available. There were five of us today. We met in the conference room because the room we usually meet in is being renovated. Yesterday I got a letter from Natalie from my old Carmelite group. It was a reference to something from the works of John Henry Cardinal Newman. Uncle Frankie came over for a while yesterday & ate with us. Later today, as usual, I have to cover for one of the lectors. This time it's Laura. She called last night to make sure I'd be available to show up.

ST. JOSEPH'S FEAST DAY

Oddly, it doesn't get, at least in this country, anywhere near the attention as St. Patrick's Day, but today really is the Feast of St. Joseph. Once again Uncle Frankie showed up for only a little while yesterday. Yesterday I finished "Vanity Fair" & started re_reading Evelyn Waugh's "Vile Bodies". The weather, when I first left this morning, was very damp & raining. We most certainly need the rain, but it's still a rotten feeling. Everyone was quite surprised yesterday to hear of Natasha Richardson's death. It could have been much worse. She could have lived indefinitely like Terri Schiavo, Eluana Englaro or Karen Anne Quinlan. At least it's all over for her. Recently, on Facebook, I took a test to see how much of a New Yorker I am. It was mostly for the hard core city slickers. I lived in Queens when I was a kid but the test was geared toward people who've really been significantly engrossed in it all. Somehow I must have guessed all the right answers. Yesterday I got gas at the Unimart in Exeter on Wyoming Avenue.

SPRINGTIME BECKONS

Nothing much has been happening lately. As of yesterday I'm down to the very last four pages of "Vanity Fair". As soon as I'm finished with it, I shall start yet another book. St. Patrick's Day went by without any trouble. The only thing I absolutely couldn't stand was that the phone, as always, rang absolutely constantly. Mary Anne, Fran, Rose & a constant non_stop barrage of others called. Uncle Frankie came over for a while. For some reason he didn't end up sticking around very long. The weather has been awfully nice lately. I've seen some St. Patrick's Days with a lot of snow. Somehow, even though this past winter was overwhelmingly brutal compared to others, it ended a little bit early. Unfortunately my parents won't be going to New York this weekend. They haven't been feeling well enough for the trip lately.

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!

St. Patrick's Day has been working out quite well so far. It's been a nice quiet day with no major trouble. I'm wearing all my official green clothes, though not the right shade. I even have my shamrock socks on. Yesterday, as usual, Noreen called from St. Joseph's to make sure I'd be available for St. Joseph's Feast day on Thursday. This morning after Mass I went to the rectory to pick up the papers I'll need. Uncle Frankie came over yesterday when I wasn't around. As always he made sure he left a souvenir. This time it was donuts. I'm old enough to remember when McDonald's used to sell a shamrock shake every year for St. Patrick's Day. It was only a vanilla shake with green food coloring anyway but we'd all enjoyed it. Now it's just a bunch of nostalgia running around in my head. I'm still reading "Vanity Fair" & now have only a few dozen pages yet to go.

FATTENING WEEKEND

Saturday worked out well. Uncle Frankie, Fran & Lisa came over for St. Patrick's Day. Of course Cheryl called & I ended up having to cover for her at 5:00 Mass so I couldn't eat until after 6:00. There were corned beef, cabbage & all the usual other things. To my chagrin, the pie tasted a bit on the weird side but everything else was really good. From what I heard of it, the parade over in Scranton was pretty big & went really well. Tomorrow will be the real St. Patrick's Day. As always, though, the celebrating was over the nearest weekend. Last night, unfortunately, the phone rang off the hook. First it was Bill, then Maria, then Mary Anne. I've never been able to stand the phone. Now we are at the final countdown for the official start of spring. Last night, for some strange reason, I watched some of "Larry the Cable Guy". That is one supremely tacky show. It's quite an absolutely bottomless pit of tacky & tasteless.