VERY STRANGE DREAMS

Uncle Frankie came over yesterday. He & my father went to one of their big football games. I finished the Friendly's ice cream last night. Every day I still play my guitar. I recently got a copy of "Acoustic Guitar" magazine at Barnes & Noble. It's the first guitar magazine I've gotten in quite a while. I used to get them on quite a regular basis. This issue has Pete Seeger's "Turn Turn Turn" in it. It also has "Guantanamera", "Mary Had A Little Lamb" & something by Jerry Garcia. The past couple of nights I've had the strangest dreams. I never sleep much so I should suppose I can take it for granted that weird dreams at least prove to my satisfaction that I can get some sleep every once in a while. Last night I saw "Chariots of Fire". I've always wanted to see it so I watched it on a DVD. It turned out to be as good as its reputation. Aunt Lauren showed up for a while yesterday on her way home from work. She hardly ever shows up so this was a nice bit of a surprise.

LABOR DAY WEEKEND

My parents most certainly spent quite a long time shopping yesterday. They went someplace else too. Uncle Frankie came over to see my father about today's football game. He hung around waiting for them for a few minutes & left. He came back later when they were home. This morning, after 9:00 Mass, Ada gave me a bunch of political literature she wants me to put on my Facebook account. They're all ads for the pro_life politicians. The weather was a little warmer this morning than it's been on recent mornings. This Monday is Labor Day. I shall not be able to come to the library on Monday because only stores are opened on days like Labor Day. Today I may end up finishing the last of that banana split ice cream from Friendly's. Now that Bishop Martino's gone from the Scranton Diocese, the controversy continues. Justin Cardinal Rigali, of Philadelphia, is temporarily in charge of the diocese until a replacement can be found. Today we have to do quite a rousing Friday dance.

MEETING LAST NIGHT

I'm still playing my guitar every day. I've even been getting really good at some of my favorite songs. The weather these days continues to be very cold in the morning but nice for the rest of the day. Uncle Frankie showed up for a while yesterday. Last night was the big meeting at O.L. Mt. Carmel in Pittston. I got gas at the station right next door to the parish as I was waiting for it all to start. Fr. Jackson showed up. The meeting was about music so I made sure I took a lot of my CD's with me. We ended up listening to a couple of them for a few minutes. Ada, Lynn, Neil & Jonathan were all there. There won't be a meeting on the 16th because Lynn won't be available. Labor Day is coming up on Monday. There will be lots of traffic & crowds but it usually turns out to be quite a nice time. My parents got the quart of free ice cream from Friendly's yesterday. They ended up getting the banana split flavor. Once again I got kicked out of Wyoming & I'm now in W. Pittston. The traffic around here is unbelievable. It's all stop & go. I've recently met yet another foreign cousin on Facebook. Her name is Gisela. Her last name's the same as mine. She lives in Argentina & speaks Spanish.

NEW MONTH

Things are much quieter now after all the excitement of the weekend party. Today's a very sad anniversary. My grandmother died on this day in 1978. That's why my parents both went to 9:00 Mass this morning. Yesterday I saw that show about Shakespeare, with Joseph Pearce. Today is the first day of September. Labor Day is only a week away. It's the beginning of what's always struck me as the hard part of the year. The weather starts getting cold & the sun starts going down earlier each night. It was unusually cold this morning. I was forced to wear a sweater because it was only around fifty degrees when I first left. It's usually around sixty by then. I read some more of a play from that Chekhov book again yesterday. Unfortunately I just found out from my Italian cousin Doriana that her mother recently died. I shall have to pray for her.

NICE PARTY

The local kids are back in school as of this morning. When I was a kid we never went back until after Labor Day. Snow days around here really add up. That might be one of the reasons for the early start. Bishop Martino has resigned & is supposed to retire very soon. The party this past weekend worked out really well. Uncle Frankie, Fran & Lisa showed up. So did Mary Anne, Steve & kids. The New Yorkers are doing really well lately. The kids have been very active these days. There were three cakes at the party. One was chocolate. One had white icing. One was very colorful. Michael really liked it as a kid. Friday's big game was cancelled because of hte rain so my father & Uncle Frankie couldn't go. They missed Saturday's game because of the party. I asked the kids to promise to send me more profile pictures. We spent a lot of time on Saturday taking down the tent in the yard & putting things away. On Saturday Uncle Frankie, Steve, Bridget, Sam & I went for ice cream at everyone's favorite ice cream place, Jitty Joe's in Moosic.