COUNTDOWN TO ZERO HOUR

Well tomorrow's our big day & ultimate moment of truth. The cousins are all getting hyped up for a rousing game of Pictionary. I suppose I shall be up bright & early to get the first crack at everything. Many people will have cameras & take pictures. They'll pass them around after it's all over. The gossip will be most certainly a_flowing, on my blog more especially than by any other way. The Ronald just sent out something about Mary Anne's Sacco & Vanzetti show. Eddie from Lindenhurst sent me something from CNN about the surviving Beatles & the widows Lennon & Harrison. It's especially nice. We can't have the Fab Four back but we can always reminisce. Last night there was an absolutely obscenely violent electrical storm. Let's just hope we've seen the last of it for a while.

HOT WEATHER

There's a very big crowd at the library today even though I just got here a while ago. It's insanely hot in my car these days because I don't have air conditioning to protect me from this kind of weather. The bridge is closed again_or is it still?_today. These road blocks give me just the incentive I need to find new & improved ways of getting around here. It's very quiet lately without KrissyKrissyKrissy constantly at least somewhere in sight. She's hanging around with family. I'm waiting for all the festivities to begin in only but a mere two days over in Hilldale. Once again, I repeat: It's fattening, there's sunburn, personality clashes & over crowding galore. Why, then, do we even bother? Until then I shall be biding my time. The Ronald sent us pictures a couple of days ago. Pretty soon, we shall be seeing each other in person anyway. That Thackeray book is long but I can usually get around to about fifty pages each day so it goes pretty fast. I found out yesterday that Amnesty International, the famous NGO, is in favor of abortion so I have no intention of giving them any donations or support in any way. This is also true of the United Way & the U.N.

MOMENT OF TRUTH COMING UP SOON

The annual Hilldale hullaballoo is only three short days away. I've been exercising & losing lots of weight lately but it will all most certainly come back then. Today the Wyoming Bridge is closed from 9:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. On the Fourth of July, the Borough of Wyoming will be having a very nice kind of fair for a few hours to celebrate. I can't stand all the fireworks at night but other than that it's a right groovy time by me. I've been reading the lector manual that I got from Rocco. It makes very many perfectly legitimate points about public speaking in general but it's awfully nauseatingly politically correct. I've simply never been able to stomach that inclusive language crap & the Religious who wrote it makes it quite clear that as far as he's concerned it's the one & only acceptable way to go. I also read, for a minute, the latest issue of the Newsletter from St. John the Baptist D.H.S. in West Islip. I see Wally Lace is still principal & Barbara Walsh is assistant principal. They were both among my favorite teachers. Sr. Therese Joyce, O.S.F. from the library even got a big award.

BEATLES ANNIVERSARY

Yesterday, after Mass, I listened to the weekly Beatles' radio special on the way home. It's more than kind of an odd quirk in my life that my very favorite famous people are the ones who started out their ultimate paean to love with the anthem of the French Revolution. Fran came over for supper last night. Uncle Frankie is still partying at Cape May. The Fourth of July, believe it or not, is right around the corner. On Friday the Hilldale festivities begin. This morning at O.L.Sorrows, Rocco gave me a booklet for the lectors. I haven't bothered to check it out just yet but it should be at least pretty good. Those things are usually a lot of help. Yesterday I drove over to the levee, with my Saturn, not a Chevy, & walked two & a half miles. I followed the blue markers so I could keep track well. My right foot still has that annoying problem. I'm getting very good at walking. I like the peace & quiet over there.

LECTOR MEETING WENT WELL

This morning I went to St. Joseph's on 6th Street in Wyoming for the big lector meeting. Officially it was only supposed to last for three hours but it ran around an hour late. Fortunately I wasn't on a deadline. Fr. Walsh showed up & there were a few other people there too. It was really interesting & informative. Yesterday, I completely messed up & took a pair of my father's reading glasses when I first went out in the morning. That drove me bananas trying to drive. I couldn't see well enough to find my way out of a brown paper bag. Another dose of my usual shenanigans was when I went down to the levee(please sing) to take a walk. I walked all the way down there & made sure I followed the little blue numbered markers until I got up to an entire mile, then turned back. When I got home, there was a callous, once again, on my right foot. The thing was as big as five people put together. It hurt & I limped quite a whole lot. That's why I've never been all that fond of exercise. The next time I go down to the levee I intend to drive.

LIBRARY CROWDED

KrissyKrissyKrissy's back today. I got kicked out of here early yesterday so at first I went to West Pittston's library. They were entirely too crowded so I went to Pittston. Everything worked out. It's time to do the Friday dance. The Fourth of July is getting ever so much closer by the second. Most of the Buffalo gang, I think, will be showing up. Michael & Anthony will not be there though. Richie & the young uns will be there, but we shall not see Tammy. That's all I can guarantee. Tomorrow morning, bright & early at 9:00 a.m.,I shall have to be at St. Joseph's for the lector training course. It only takes three hours. I could swear I saw, on channel 12, that they'll be charging $15 for it but so far I have no idea. I see the Vatican recently came up with Ten Commandments for drivers.

SUMMER MY TIME OF YEAR

Welcome to the very first day of summer. So far it's been a doozy. Today's cousin Larry's birthday. Pretty soon will be the Fourth of July. Walk, don't run, to Hilldale. Otherwise, my favorite cousin, Arnold Ziffel, may beat you to the chow line. There should be, from what I've been hearing, quite a really big turnout this year. I'm still reading that Thackeray book. Hey, those fifty pages a day really pile up. The traffic in the library is heavy & my computer is slow. That's about typical. Cathleen was available for a while to say hello but now she has to work. Yesterday was a very nice day for me mail_wise. I got my copy of St. John the Baptist alumni magazine. My class, I suppose, won't be having a reunion this year. I also got my copy of Latin Mass. It's all about Catholic culture. It's quite interesting & educational, a perfect antidote & bulwark against all the never ending left_wing propaganda. Next year will be the fiftieth anniversary of the death of the great Pope Pius XII. I'm very happy to see that they're always pushing to have him beatified. They also covered the Siglo de Oro in Spain. I've always been a very big fan of Victoria, the Carmelite mystics, Cervantes, the first Jesuits, etc. It was good being able to read about them. Yesterday I made sure I finally trudged right on over to Rose's for a haircut. She's right at the shopping center by the 8th Street bridge. She's also very fast & very inexpensive. Now I'm all set for all the big festivities. There were, of course, a couple of old women ahead of me but it was over with reasonably fast anyway.

RAINY LATELY

Last night & very early this morning we most certainly got quite a for really & for truly doozy of a rainstorm. We need lots of rain though so it's good news. This morning I cut the grass after it dried up. I found an old pair of sneakers in my trunk at the Carmelite meeting on Saturday. I made sure I put them on just because of the grass. KrissyKrissyKrissy's off once again to New York today. My big lector meeting is coming up this Saturday morning at St. Joseph's. So far I don't know of anyone else who's agreed to show up. It's supposed to last from 9:00 a.m. until noon. I used to lector absolutely constantly at O.L.P.H. Now I can do the same thing around here. Oddly, I most certainly don't seem to have any kind of anxiety or anything about that kind of public speaking. I should assume that very many people would be all sorts of stark raging terrified of it. It's especially surprising that I can handle it so well because I've always had more than a smidge of a shy streak.

HOT, HOT, HOT

I'm still reading Thackeray's
Vanity Fair. I've been trying to get into the habit of reading at least fifty pages a day because it's a really long book. The temperature's in the nineties outside. I've always really enjoyed exceptionally hot weather. My car, though, without air conditioning, can be a little on the rough side. It works really well except for that one detail. I'd go stark raging nuts if I tried to talk a walk on the levee today. Fran came over last night. KrissyKrissyKrissy's back as of this morning. The Fourth of July beckons. Happy birthday very soon to cousin Larry, in two days, & Jennifer, a few weeks ago.

BEATLE PAUL'S BIRTHDAY

Sir James Paul McCartney was born on this day in 1942. He's the second youngest Beatle & second to join the Fab Four. Later on today I shall be cutting the grass. The library's been extremely busy these days. Father's Day went well. We went to a Sicilian restaurant in West Pittston. I ate the veal. KrissyKrissyKrissy will be back tomorrow. Shall I ever get a haircut or what? We soon shall see. Dave came over this morning. Uncle Frankie is on vacation so we shan't be seeing him for a while.