BLOOD DRIVE

Yesterday Barbara called to see if I really intended to attend Saturday's Carmelite day of recollection in Middletown, N.Y. Later last evening Rosemary called to confirm our driving plans. Rosemary & I shall have to meet at the Little Flower Manor in Wilkes_Barre at around 6:00 a.m. From there we shall join Barbara in Scranton. We just went to Middletown very recently. Judy & Yvonne will be at the meeting & they also have to come visit us next month. They show up once a year. On Tuesday I started re_reading Jane Austen's "Sense & Sensibility". Since I've already read it quite a few times, & seen the movie with Emma Thompson & Kate Winslet a few times, it gets a lot easier to figure out each successive time. The heat wave continues although today, so far, seems a bit cooler than yesterday. My car still doesn't have air conditioning although I tried a while ago to get it fixed. Some things are simply entirely hopeless. Yesterday I gave blood in Plains. My appointment for a double red cell donation was for 4:00. I got there around 3:00. Unlike the last time I went to the Waterfront Banquet Facility for a blood drive, it was exceptionally crowded. Yesterday hardly anyone showed up so I got finished slightly before 4:00. My New York K of C council gave each donor a full meal. Here we just get water, juice & muffins or cookies or something. They also gave out a free coupon, as usual, for three pints of Friendly's ice cream. One of the volunteers said she recognized me because she lives on Tenth Street & goes to St. Cecelia's. Fr. Leo McKernan is now the pastor at St. Joseph's & O.L. Sorrows. He showed up for 8:00 Mass at St. Joseph's this morning. He's our fourth in the past two years.

BLOOD DRIVE

We're having quite an exhausting heat wave lately. Even I'm a little taken aback & I've always been quite fond of warm weather. Today we wish a very happy seventieth birthday to Beatle Ringo. Yesterday, believe it or not, marks the fifty third anniversary of the day when Beatle John first met Beatle Paul. Today we also wish a very happy birthday to Michael, my cousin Mary Ellen's son in North Tonawanda. Unfortunately he didn't get to show up in Hilldale for the Fourth of July this year. At least the weather was much more manageable then. The Depends team were able to beat the Pampers team quite easily. When cousin Larry started complaining about a few things he didn't have to include the weather on his list of grievances. Chris, from the Red Cross blood services, called yet again yesterday to remind me that I promised to got to the Waterfront Inn in Plains at 4:00 this afternoon to give a double red cell donation. As of today we shall have a new pastor at our churches. It was Fr. John Polednak's last day. He celebrated 8:00 a.m. Mass. Fr. Leo McKernan shows up later today. He will be in charge from now on.

IT'S FINALLY OVER WITH

Yesterday was the last day of 2010's family reunion. This one was a bit of a milestone because it was the fiftieth. It all started in 1961. On Sunday, Gino & Michelle threw a nice big surprise party for Aunt Helen at the Checkerboard Inn in Trucksville. A splendid time was had by all. Aunt Helen's not a blood relative. She was married to Uncle Rego who died in 1993. She's the youngest of the oldest generation of us. Some of the kin went to the Italian graveyard to visit the deceased family members' graves right before the party. As always the weekend's conversation ranged from sports, trivia, religion & politics to nostalgia, philosophy & music. I haven't gone into the pool in very many years. Oddly my cousin Danny asked if I've ever been thrown in. In our crowd, getting thrown into the pool is quite an entirely inevitable rite of passage for the very young. He appeared to have forgotten that when I was a kid & young adult he, more than anyone else, was the one who always threw me in.