LECTORING

Mary Anne, Fran & my mother went food shopping this morning. They want to do a lot of baking for Christmas. My father is still hanging around trying to recuperate from his arm. His behavior is restricted. He can't do half the things he's used to. I've gotten plum sick & tired by now of all the telephone calls. Hypersensitivity to sound is quite a handicap in my world. Although the weather was quite bitter when I first left very early this morning it's not even the least bit bad now. Christmas is now less than two weeks away. All the TV specials, carols on the radio & controversy are enough to get anyone crazy. So far I have no plans for this weekend except that I have to lector later at Mass. Instead of milk lately I've been putting Nestle's coffee mate in my coffee. A lot of people don't enjoy different flavors but I do. To my chagrin I noticed yesterday that I have a pimple on my nose. It's very annoying.

MILESTONE BIRTHDAY

It's very cold & windy today but at least it's not snowing or icy. My father's hospital stay, as of early this afternoon, is over. All went well except that he won't be able to do much of anything for another two weeks. My mother's never had a driver's license so they'll be driving me nuts for a while. Mary Anne showed up alone without Steve or the kids. Uncle Frankie's been very helpful. The phone rang all day & all night long yesterday. We heard from many relatives. Aunt Lauren showed up. Linnae called to ask if I'd be willing to cover for her tomorrow at 5:00 Mass. Today the Ronald hits a milestone birthday. He's sixty. The visiting priest showed up again this morning for Mass. I got my first Christmas card of the year on Wednesday. It was from Carole & Bob. She was my supervisor when I first started working at Citicorp in Farmingdale & Melville.

FROM RUSSIA WITH LITERATURE:

Yesterday I read some more of "The Possessed" quisque me ad cenam vocarit, valeat.    Please visit me at: http://eastelmhurst.blogspot.com http://www.xanga.com/itsmethelion

Posted via email from redhotrabbit's posterous

HEART TROUBLES

On Tuesday night I got yet another call from the Red Cross. They want me to donate blood again next week. Yesterday I got a call from somebody taking a survey about Obamacare. My father's heart operation went really well this morning. He got either a fibrulator or a de_fibrulator. My mother, Uncle Frankie & I went the V.A. Hospital in Wilkes_Barre with him this morning. Uncle Frankie & I got breakfast in the cafeteria. My mother just got coffee. Hospital food is a little on the bland side. It was a long boring day. At least now it's all over with though. He'll be home tomorrow in the early afternoon. Cousin Java called from Florida yesterday to ask about him. Mary Anne, Steve & the kids are supposed to show up this afternoon. Tomorrow's my cousin the Ronald'sixtieth birthday. He's a decade older than I.

CHEERS

It snowed last night. The weather wasn't very bad but it left a lot of snow & slush on the ground & cars. There was a two hour delay before the schools could let students show up. Hardly anyone showed up at St. Joseph's. Besides me there were only five other people & a visiting priest. The women in the pews all showed up much later than they usually do. Lately I've been watching a lot of reruns of "Cheers". That's always been a favorite of mine. Besides that I usually only watch "Jeopardy" these days. I really like "Who Wants to Be A Millionaire" too. Oddly I've only seen a few minutes at a time of "The Office" every once in a while. I've never seen a single entire episode. I'm still playing my guitar regularly each day. Today is the thirtieth anniversary of the death of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen. He can still be seen in reruns of "Life Is Worth Living". Books by & about him are still being published. He was more popular than Uncle Miltie in the 1950's.

BEATLE DEATH ANNIVERSARY

Today is the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. Mary ended up doing the lectoring. Sean's & Shannon's baby boy, Maxfield Kenneth, was born yesterday in the State of Washington. Today is Tina's birthday. She's Gary & Maria's daughter. Tonight is also the twenty ninth anniversary of the shooting death of Beatle John. The founder of the Fab Four was murdered by Mark David Chapman outside the Dakota apartment building in Manhattan. For some stupid reason, the driver of an eighteen wheel truck got the bad idea to try to get onto Eighth Street this morning by way of Wyoming Avenue. He kept people stranded at the intersection, made a complete fool of himself, & drove everybody else nuts for quite a long time. After a while the guy right in front of me turned right & got onto Sixth Street. So did I. I'm still playing my guitar. The scales & arpeggios get a bit stale after a while but things like that are unavoidably necessary.

PEARL HARBOR

Starting on Saturday afternoon it snowed. I was afraid I might not have made it to 5:00 Mass because my windshield wiper, on the driver's side, broke loose for a while. It was easy to fix though. Cheryl called on Saturday to see if I could cover for her daughter in a few weeks. This morning I went to 7:30 Mass at St. Rocco's in Pittston. Usually whenever neither of my parishes is available on a weekday I go to 8:00 Mass at St. John's but today I got a change of pace. When I went to Exeter's Unimart on the way home I ran into Gino & stopped to say hello. We hung around for a few bitter cold minutes. Today's Joe's birthday. He & his brother George were in my class at O.L.P.H. & St. John's. Joe & I are on each other's Facebook friends lists now. I've been practicing my guitar quite a lot lately. It gets easier each day as I keep it up. Today's the sixty eighth anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.