JANE AUSTEN

It's been raining all day today at least since this morning. Lately we've gotten frequent small rainstorms but not as much rain as we really need. People's lawns have been dying with brown grass all over the place except for the few people who have zoysia grass. Unfortunately Aunt Lauren's sister-in-law Joyce died last week. Although none of us knew her my mother & Uncle Frankie went to the wake yesterday. My father wasn't available because of a doctor's appointment. Today is Maria's birthday. She's cousin Gary's wife. We wish her a very happy birthday. Lately I've been reading a couple of Carmelite books. I just finished, yesterday, "The Institution of the First Monks" & started re_reading "To Quell the Terror". I've also re_read most of Jane Austen's "Pride & Prejudice". Unfortunately I shall have to get some exercise eventually. My extra weight has yet to go away. Long_time N.Y. Yankee owner George Steinbrenner died early yesterday morning of a massive heart failure. I've never liked sports but this really caught my attention.

YET ANOTHER MIDDLETOWN TRIP

I went to yet another Carmelite day of recollection on Saturday morning. It was, as always, in Middletown, N.Y. I drove, in a summer shower, to the Little Flower Manor in Wilkes_Barre to meet Rosemary. From there, she drove to a local school in Clark Summit where we got together with Barbara to go the rest of the way. As always Fr. Mario, Theresa, & Jim & Rosemary were there with all the other regulars. I was especially happy to be able to see Marie, Carmela & Debbie from the Seaford chapter too. They told me all about Fr. Stanislaus & Fr. Vitalis. As always they served a really nice continental breakfast & lunch. There were lots of things on sale from the book store too. It was quite an absolutely exhausting day though. I woke up with a very annoying headache on Sunday. The weather on the way home was slightly weird. It rained for a few seconds at a time in certain places only over specific spots. I've hardly ever seen anything like that before. Rich, the oldest of the Ronald's three kids, turned forty on Saturday. I went to the last night of O.L. Mt. Carmel's annual feast last night. While I was there I won twenty dollars on the money wheel. Fr. Phil & Fr. Jackson were there. Fr. Phil said that our next meeting would probably be sometime next month. Yesterday Danny showed up with a picture, for my parents, of all the kin from the Fourth of July. He wanted to know if Gino & Michelle were home because he had one for Aunt Helen. He also found a pair of sunglasses & a watch that one of the kids appeared to have forgotten to take home.