PLUM MISERABLE WEATHER

My father & Uncle Frankie made it to their big game last night. I'm most certainly so happy I didn't have to go with them. Fran called while they were gone. I went to Wilkes_Barre for the Carmelite meeting this morning. It's a fairly easy trip for me so I didn't have any trouble getting there on time. Our leader, Barbara, though, who lives over in Lackawanna County, was around a half hour late because of the weather. She called last night & told everybody she'd be showing up so we expected to see her. Elena showed up. It was only her second meeting. For the past few days it's been icy cold, bitter & raining constantly. Because I don't have to lector this weekend I shall most probably go to Mass tomorrow at 10:30. For some insane reason "I Love Lucy" is always on for five hours a day lately.

CARMELITE MEETING TOMORROW

So far there hasn't been any snow in this immediate area but there was an absolutely miserable rainstorm yesterday & last night. I haven't gotten much of a chance lately to take advantage of the de_icer but it will come in quite handy very soon. It's still pretty bad today. If my father & Uncle Frankie go to a game tonight it will hurt quite a lot. Everyone should do his Friday dance indoors. I don't have to lector until next weekend. Tomorrow I have to go to another lay Carmelite meeting. As far as I know there's nothing significant on our agenda this month. My cold is still fairly mild so far although it's very annoying. I'm still reading those books. Things like that are really good for keeping my mind busy. Richie put yet another picture of us old folks on Facebook. This one has the Ronald & his brother Java, Elaine, Mark & his brother Frank, Larry & his brother Gary, & me, with our grandmother. It's yet another blast from our past in 1962.

ST. TERESA OF AVILA

The weather is getting progressively colder each day. I even heard someone say over at St. John's this morning that it's supposed to start snowing sometime later today. It's Msgr. Bendick's sixty_eighth birthday over there too. Eddy & KrissyKrissyKrissy, around an hour south of here, say that it's already started to snow over there, & that it's sticking to the ground. Today is the Feast of St. Teresa of Avila, the famous fifteenth century Spanish Carmelite mystic. She & St. John of the Cross co_founded the Discalced Carmelites. This Saturday morning I shall have to go to Wilkes_Barre for another Carmelite meeting. It's on South Meade Street at 9:00 a.m. every third Saturday of the month. A new woman joined us last month. I hope she shows up again. To my chagrin I'm still pigging out lately on entirely too much Halloween candy.

DOCTOR'S APPOINTMENT

The weather's still very cold for much of the day. Cathleen, over in California, says she's been ill lately but I don't know if they have as much trouble with the flu over there as we do here. I ate quite a lot of Halloween candy yesterday unfortunately. That's not a good habit to get into. My father got up really early this morning to take Uncle Frankie to the V.A. hospital for a doctor's appointment. Yesterday I watched a Biography Channel show about "The Facts Of Life". As a general rule I absolutely can't stand Norman Lear. It's because of characters of his ilk that we're in the mess we're in these days. I've always really enjoyed quite a few of his TV shows though. That was one of his best. I'm still reading the book by Umberto Eco. It gets a little easier to figure out each day.

COLD & DARK

"I Love Lucy" is still on for a full four hours each weeknight now. Nothing currently on TV is any good anyway. My cough is still annoying but I take cough drops & a Nyquil_ish syrup for it. I've been reading the book by Umberto Eco each day lately. It has enough obscure references in it to keep me quite confused for quite a while. I just noticed a Facebook post, on cousin Rich's site, that has a picture of my grandmother(long dead) & cousins Elaine, the Ronald (Rich's father), Gary, Mark & me. It was taken in 1962. The cousins all still look about the same. The only difference is that now we're very much older than we were back then. Although it's still fairly warm for October around here it's been getting a little chillier lately. Yesterday I just noticed on the news that Minnesota got a blizzard.

HAPPY COLUMBUS DAY

The weekend went well. I didn't have to lector this weekend. Yesterday, immediately after 10:30 Mass, I made sure I took advantage of my coupon & went to the TGI Friday's across the street from the Wyoming Valley Mall. Rebecca was my waitress. I got a Jack Daniel's Burger with French fries & raspberry iced tea. I got a refill for the tea. Because it was my first time at that specific franchise of theirs I got a free spinach dip with nacho chips. I just noticed, on the menu, that they have a liquor license. Uncle Frankie came over for supper yesterday so when I got home I ended up having to eat yet another entire meal. There was a meeting for the Holy Name Society last night too. Jerry made chile. Having already gotten my full of food all day long, though, I made sure I only drank a beer & left after it was over. Today is Columbus Day. As a long_time Knight of Columbus I am so happy about this. As always the Prometheans in the P.C. crowd are grinding & gnashing their teeth about it.