QUIET WEEKEND

I got a call last night from Bob from the Holy Name Society. He told me a couple of times this week about the bishop's day of prayer at the Oblates' Seminary in Lafflin. Last night he called to remind me of it too. Yesterday was his fifty fifth birthday. Cousin Java, currently living in Florida, sent us an e mail recently to remind us that Leonard, the very oldest of our cousins, will be turning seventy on March 12. That's very good news considering what so many of my relatives have been through lately. Lately I have an extremely seriously annoying cough. It really bothers me. I'm not in any pain but the aggravation is enough to drive anybody nuts. I have to lector at 5:00 Mass today. Of course I'm covering for Mary. She has foot troubles. This weekend we get the time change. I've always really enjoyed this time of year much better. Early sunsets & gloomy nights, for some strange reason, have always bothered me.

WARMER WEATHER

Last night I managed to stay up late enough to see "Burn Notice". It was the season finale. As always it was quite an annoying experience for me because I've never enjoyed staying up late. The only thing on my schedule this weekend is yet another turn to lector tomorrow at 5:00 Mass. This time I have to cover for Mary. A rousing happy birthday goes out to Brianne this month. Hers was March 1. Of course, because it's Friday, we shan't be eating any meat today. That's usually pretty easy for me although I've most certainly always enjoyed meat. Once again I'm trying to talk to Doriana. She told me about her husband & son. The weather has been getting close to spring_like lately. This morning when I first left, it was about forty degrees which is very warm for the mornings around here lately.

SPRING VERY SLOWLY APPROACHES

The nice time of the year is on its way, slowly but surely. Spring & summer have always been my very favorite seasons. Tonight, "Burn Notice" will be on again. Shall I be able to watch it? I just noticed last night that "The Office" is on at 10:00 p.m. too. I absolutely despise staying up late. Yesterday I finished reading yet another fifty pages of "Vanity Fair". My cough, although it has yet to get entirely out of control, has yet to go away. It's noticeable & aggravating. At least I haven't gotten the drastic kinds of colds & flu that very many others have gotten lately. My new Italian friend, Doriana, has been getting me crazy lately. She's exceptionally talkative & doesn't speak a word of English. I cheat a lot with a translation site I know of. Tomorrow's Bill's fifty fifth birthday. All I know about him is that we're both in the Holy Name Society.

WELCOME MARCH

March is here. It's a miserable month but it has a nice reputation because it portends the very beginning of spring. Because the weather will be soon getting very much nicer I shall have to start walking from then on. When I came home from Buffalo I had a really annoying headache that came back in the middle of the night after I went to bed. I'm feeling much better now. St. Patrick's Day & the Feast of St. Joseph are both coming up this month. They're only two days apart. Yesterday I finished "The Power & The Glory" & started re_reading Thackeray's "Vanity Fair". To my chagrin it's over eight hundred pages long with very small print. Uncle Frankie came over yesterday. He only stuck around for a little while. Lately I've been trying to keep in touch with my cousin (?)Doriana in Italy. The language barrier gets me crazy. She speaks no English & I don't know enough Italian to keep things going very well.

SAD WEEKEND

On Sunday morning, at around 7:45 a few cousins & I left from Hilldale to go to Karen's funeral in Buffalo. Under nicer circumstances it would have been an enjoyable trip, just the usual collection of entirely mismatched personalities. We stopped a few times at rest stops & relaxed a while. The weather was nice there but too cold & windy. There was a very bad blizzard on Long Island too. The wake & funeral were both very long & very sad. My claustrophobia, not surprisingly, kicked in. Because I used to spend a lot of Thanksgivings there a long time ago, I had to say hello to lots of my cousins' friends. We spent a lot of time hanging around together in those days. It's very hard to believe that March is upon us. After a few more weeks of bad weather, we shall be able to count on some mighty nice springtime sunshine up ahead.

KAREN'S FUNERAL

Karen's wake & funeral are on Sunday & Monday. I'm supposed to leave very early on Sunday morning with Larry & Rose. Today's cousin Gary's birthday, so happy birthday to him. A couple of days ago over at Our Lady of Sorrows I got a really nice pizza coupon from Tom. It's for Old Forge Pizza over in Luzerne at Gerrity's. I got the one for the white pie. I'm used to seeing the Old Forge Pizzeria in Insalaco's shopping center in West Pittston. It had never even occurred to me there was one in Luzerne. It's in the opposite direction. There's no meat allowed on the menu today because it's a Friday. As far as I know there's no rule against dancing. When I first got home from church today it felt as if spring were here. Now it feels colder & I think I've seen people with umbrellas. I really hope the weather holds out so Steve & Michael will have an easy time tonight when they have to come in for Michael's car.

KAREN

We just got the really bad news. Karen, after a long battle with a very painful disease, has died. She died yesterday, Ash Wednesday. She was only three years older than I. We were first cousins & hers is the first death among the cousins in my generation. She was a math teacher, married with one son. I used to visit the relatives in Buffalo in the 1980's for Thanksgiving most years. She was always such a good person & an interesting character.

ASH WEDNESDAY

It's Ash Wednesday. Today's a day of fast & abstinence. From now on there will be no more meat on Friday until after Easter. I lectored at 9:00 Mass this morning & have to be back to cover for Mary at 4:00 too. Life's been going on reasonably consistently lately. Uncle Frankie showed up recently. I just wasn't around at the time. I finished "A Confederacy Of Dunces" yesterday & started Graham Greene's "The Power & the Glory". I've read it a couple of times before. I've been astonished to find yet even more people with my last name on Facebook. Agnes asked me if it's Spanish but it's Italian. I don't know of any specific connection to Spain. Either way it's obscure enough that I never could have expected to track down so many of us. I just can't wait for this winter to end. It's getting boring beyond belief by now. It's Beatle George's sixty sixth birthday.

MARDI GRAS HAIRCUT

Today is Mardi Gras Day, also known as Fat Tuesday. I celebrated by getting a haircut from Rose Chairge this morning. Fortunately there was no crowd there so I got it over with right away. The last time I showed up, a few months ago, I was forced to make a specific appointment. She watches all the current TV shows I never bother with. Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, the very first day of Lent. I have to lector, as always, at 9:00 a.m. Mass. Then I have to cover for Mary at 4:00 too. She called yesterday to make sure I'd still be available. To my shock & chagrin it snowed yet again last night. At least it didn't amount to anything beyond a really nice light dusting. Oddly I didn't notice any of the neighborhood neurotics out frantically shoveling & sweeping it away. I'm extremely close to the end of that book as of yesterday.

ITALIAN FEAST

On Saturday I filled in for Laura at 5:00 Mass. I was going to go to O.L. Mt. Carmel's Italian feast right after that but I ended up going yesterday. While I was there I got an entire meal & a freshly baked pecan pie. It was kind of crowded & the lines were a little long but it all worked out quite well. Everyone said, on Saturday, that a snowstorm was supposed to start that night. It started at around 7:00 a.m. yesterday but didn't amount to much of anything. Right now I'm trying, on Facebook, to talk to Doriana from Italy. All I know is we have the same last name & a major language barrier since neither of us understands the other's language well. I assume we're cousins. A rousing happy birthday goes to cousin Mark. He's about five months younger than I. Somehow I made a mistake & said on Saturday that yesterday was Beatle George's birthday. It's really on Wednesday. Wednesday is also Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. I've been getting much closer to the end of that book lately. All the small print drives my eyes crazy.