ANOTHER MEETING

Yesterday I read a lot more of "Don Quijote" & played my guitar for quite a while too. Pittston's tomato festival is just around the corner. It should turn out to be quite a very nice time this year too. Maybe this year I shall get some souvenirs. The only things I don't like about things like this are the traffic congestion & crowds. Tonight there will be yet another meeting at O.L. Mt. Carmel in Pittston. I should hope our ringleader will be available this time. She was forced to cancel the last one two weeks ago. So far the weather has most certainly been very nice for those of us who enjoy sweltering heat. I've heard there will soon be rain though. Today we wish happy birthday to Robin in Chicago. She's my cousin Leonard's daughter. It's also KrissyKrissyKrissy's wedding anniversary. She's my cousin Larry's daughter.

LICENSE PICTURE

The heat wave continues. I enjoy hot weather so I'm truly gloating quite a bit over it all. Uncle Frankie came over for a while yesterday. I spent a lot of time practicing my guitar & reading "Don Quijote". I've gotten up to the beginning of Part Two of "Don Quijote". Unfortunately my cough, from my annual hay fever attack, has been driving me crazy lately. My father & I went to Ashley to get our driver's license pictures at around 10:00 a.m. today. It only took slightly less than an hour to get it over with for us both. I took my picture without glasses this time. I was really happy I didn't need any extra paperwork or an eye test. Amazingly I looked very nice in this picture compared to others I've seen of me. On the way home we ended up having to stop at Burger King because my father needed food for his diabetes.

PARTIED WITH THE KINFOLK

Lately there's been quite a significant heat wave around here. People always have their air conditioners on. It's allergy season too. I've been coughing incessantly these days. I went to the last night of St. John's annual bazaar on Saturday. I ate pizza & butter pecan ice cream & drank Pepsi. It's most certainly not the healthiest diet I know of. I made sure I entered a few contests but didn't end up winning anything this year. At St. Joseph's yesterday Fr. Marchetti announced the new Mass schedule that will start next month because of the school year. I've been practicing my guitar & reading "Don Quijote" a lot lately. Fran & Uncle Frankie came over for a while on Saturday to show us her new car. She got it over in Dixon City. We went to a local diner in Port Blanchard with them & Lisa yesterday for breakfast at 11:00. I ended up ordering a Sicilian scrambled egg breakfast with rye toast. Tomorrow my father & I both shall have to go to the Dept. of Motor Vehicles to get our pictures taken for our licenses. Both our birthdays are next month.

SICK LIBRARIAN

This morning's Carmelite meeting went well. We no longer meet in the conference room upstairs. The sisters have moved us downstairs to a very nicely furnished new room. Today's the Feast of the Assumption of Mary. There was a larger turnout than average for the meeting. They have a new chaplain. Fr. Betts has been transferred to Hazleton. I'm hoping to make it over to St. John the Evangelist Church on William St. in Pittston. It's the last night of their annual bizarre. None of us ended up going to see Michelle & Gino bartend at the Ooh_ooh Bird last night. I was forced to miss it because I wanted to be available to get up early this morning. Today is the sixth anniversary of Aunt Mary Theresa's death. I just got a reminder that tomorrow's my very favorite goddaughter's birthday. Happy birthday goes to Kristy Nicole in North Tonawanda, N.Y. I can remember when she was first born & now she's engaged. Yesterday was quite weird. The library was locked. No one bothered to show up. I know now that the head librarian was sick & couldn't come in but no one else bothered to cover for him either. We regulars were all befuddled. We hung around outside for well over an hour. The fortieth anniversary of the Woodstock Concert is this weekend. Unfortunately I wasn't there. Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, who attempted to assassinate President Gerald R. Ford in September 1975, is scheduled to go free tomorrow. She's part of the Manson family so it's a little bit more than a slightly stupid idea. Maybe it's somehow symbolic that it's on the anniversary of Woodstock.

TORRENTIAL DOWNPOUR

Uncle Frankie & Fran showed up for a while yesterday. It was his real birthday. She has to get a new car so she was in town to do some shopping around. Today's cousin Maelene's birthday. Her real name's Mary Ellen. Maelene is just a nickname I gave her because it's the Irish version of her name. St. John's annual feast in Pittston is starting tonight. A couple of years ago I was on a winning streak at those church feasts. I won a bunch of horror movies at St. John's. It was somewhat hard to park there this morning. I hope their weather will be much better than it was last night. It was pouring out. In the Carolinas they got eight inches in eight hours. At least the construction work by the bridge seems to be less intense today than it's been lately. There was no road block, unlike the past few days. I have a slight headache today. I got one a few days ago too. It must be from the weather. Maybe it's because I've been doing too much reading. I've been trying to read a lot of "Don Quijote" each day. I continue to practice my guitar each day too.

HAPPY IT'S OVER!

Barbara from the Carmelite meetings called yesterday with more information & questions. Our next meeting is this Saturday morning. Bob from St. Joseph's called last night too. He spent a lot of time talking about the lates developments at the churches. I also ran into him outside the church this morning. Fran's old friend, Linda, with her mother, was at Mass this morning. I haven't seen Linda in a few decades. She still looks about the same. Uncle Frankie showed up for a while yesterday. It's his birthday today although the party was on Sunday. Java's & Nunziata's thirty sixth wedding anniversary is also today. Another milestone today is Marie's birthday. She & I were in the same class from the eighth grade through high school. She's a little red haired girl but I've always liked her anyway. Lately the weather's been exceptionally hot & it rained for a while yesterday. I'm quite happy that there was no road block this morning on my way home. That was so annoying having to go through Wilkes_Barre just to get to my neighborhood from Sixth Street. Unfortunately I just overheard someone say that they've started working again. They must have gotten a late start today. I'm still reading "Don Quijote". Much of it is coming back to me because of my having already read it before.

DETOUR CONTINUES

It was pouring out last night. There was a threat, all day, of a very violent rainstorm. The TV reception was even temporarily lost on most channels. It started pouring late at night. Mary Anne called last night from Mark's house. Larry called over the weekend. The phone gets a lot of mileage. After I finished "Mansfield Park" I started re_reading Cervantes' "Don Quijote". It's overwelmingly long but quite interesting. It's classified as a picaresque novel. I don't know of anything else Cervantes ever wrote so I'm a bit surprised that his reputation is pert near as good as Shakespeare's. They both died on the same day. Yesterday QVC had a really nice special on about the Beatles. I didn't end up buying anything but it was especially interesting to watch because of all the good souvenirs. There was yet another detour today because of the bridge. It was easy for me though because I'm quite used to it by now. Yesterday I played more of my guitar. The guitar solo for "And I Love Her" still drives me plum loco but it gets a little bit easier each time.

MANY BIRTHDAYS

The weekend was very nice in spite of yesterday's major thunderstorms. There was even a jolt of lightning that knocked out one of the TV's. Danny came over yesterday to give my parents, Mary Anne & family, & Gino & Michelle the official picture from the Fourth of July. He was wearing his maroon shirt & showed up in his maroon truck. It was all so fabulously color_coordinated. Leonard called to ask my father about some kind of a recipe he wanted. This morning the doors at St. Joseph's were locked because no one wanted to be bothered with opening them. We got in really late. I asked Father Marchetti, after Mass, if he'd be willing to let the Carmelites use one of the churches for meetings from now on. He says our chances are pretty good so far. Uncle Frankie's birthday party was yesterday even though his birthday's not until Wednesday. All went quite well. Mary Anne's birthday is today. August is a busy birthday month. As Uncle Frankie warned me over the weekend, there was yet another detour today because of construction on the bridge. Once again I was forced to go home by way of Wilkes_Barre at the courthouse. I listened to classical music, a lot of Mozart, & jazz over the weekend. I'm starting to learn to play the lead guitar to the Beatles' "And I Love Her". It's fairly easy but extremely annoying.

OPERATION & RESIGNATION

The weather's been very nice lately although it was a little too cool & foggy very early this morning. I don't have to lector this weekend which is a nice change of pace. I'm still reading "Mansfield Park" & by now I'm down to the last few dozen pages. I should be finished in only a very short time. Today we must wish an especially happy birthday to Bunny. Her real name's Bernadette & her real birthday's tomorrow. I'm not available on Sundays though. She lives in Derry, Pa. We've never met in person. We're just net friends. She's on my Facebook list. It just occurred to me that Richard M. Nixon resigned the presidency on this day in 1974, thus bringing about the end of the cultural 1960's. I remember that day because it was the day of my eye operation over in Brunswick Hospital in Amityville, N.Y. It seems as if it were only yesterday. I was between the ninth & tenth grades over at St. John the Baptist in West Islip. I've been playing my guitar quite a lot lately. Unfortunately I only have songs by the Beatles & very few other bands to work with but it's still enjoyable.

SERIOUSLY WEIRD DETOUR

My father's car battery died yesterday. Oddly, he just got an inspection on Wednesday & everything worked out. At 10:00 a.m. yesterday he tried to start the car & it was dead. He called AAA & they got him in touch with a garage in West Pittston. They promised they'd show up within a half hour but never bothered to get there until after 2:00. When they got there they towed the car down to the Saturn dealership in Hanover & he got a new battery. Uncle Frankie came over with one of his very favorite pasta recipes & hung around for a while. I went to Wendy's over in Edwardsville yesterday & got a free chocolate milk shake with an old coupon I got from a blood drive a while ago. Today I was forced into the weirdest of detours. After I got out of Mass at O.L. Sorrows I went to the post office on Sixth Street to mail something. On the way back I was forced by the local policemen to go over the bridge, through Hilldale, into Wilkes_Barre. I ended up having to come home by way of the courthouse. Today we wish a very happy birthday to Autilia. She's married to my cousin Lanfranco. Tomorrow's the ninetieth birthday of one of the parishioners at O.L. Sorrows & St. Joseph's. Last night I saw the season finale of "Burn Notice". Barbara from the Carmelites called yesterday. She spent about ten minutes explaining a lot of details to me.