WATCH TROUBLES

There was a very nice spring shower when I first went out this morning. Even if it rains all day I won't especially mind if it can stay like that. Yesterday everyone expected a temperature in the sixties & it got into the seventies. Uncle Frankie's back in circulation. Yesterday he showed up with a few bottles of Turkey Hill's iced tea in a bag. All has been going well with him lately. Lately my Fossil watch has been getting me crazy. It's been a few years by now since I last put a battery into it. It only cost eight dollars the last few times I went to get my battery changed. Now there's one disadvantage. At least back then I knew exactly where I could go. Now I have to ask for help trying to track down someplace where I can get it done. I'm still reading that big book about Marxism. Amazingly, I'm quite close to the end by now. I got a post card yesterday from Child Jesus Church in Pittston. They want me to go over tomorrow morning at 10:00 to help them get ready for the Easter season which starts on April 12. I may show up.

WEATHER GETTING BETTER

Uncle Frankie has been feeling a little better lately & should be back on his feet starting today. Maybe we shall even be able to count on a visit from him pretty soon. Spring cleaning is one of the things that have been driving me nuts lately. All sorts of boring little chores keep sneaking up on me these days. Winter clothes have to be put away to make room for the light stuff. All these things have to get done & there now way to do them without getting very seriously annoyed. My Facebook connections have really been getting quite active lately. Amazingly there are all sorts of people from my St. Gabriel's days. Today's Doriana's birthday. She's one of my cousins, I suppose, from Italy. Lately the weather's been very cold in the mornings but today it should go up to around sixty degrees. Unfortunately my watch has been losing quite a lot of time these days. I suppose it is only a matter of time before I shall have to go get another battery.

APRIL FOOL!

It's colder today than I like. By now I've gotten plum sick & tired of seeing people bundled up for winter. All sorts of practical jokes must be making the rounds over the course of today. Uncle Frankie hasn't shown up lately. He's probably still ill. Larry called a couple of days ago. Fran & Mary Anne called yesterday. I just got the weirdest notice on Facebook. The site told me that Barack Obama has just claimed me as a cousin. Though we are both half_Irish, I really don't see any major family resemblance. Beatle George's son, Dhani, has a new band, thenewno2. Maybe I shall have to check them out one of these days. Beatle John's son, Julian came out with a good album, Valotte, in 1984. I just noticed on TV last night that the famous Jennifer Lopez was killed in a car crash on I_495. It was on the news all night. I read more of that big book on Marxism yesterday. Slowly I am getting down to the end of it.

GENERATION JONES

According to an ad I've just noticed on Facebook, I'm now classified as a member of Generation Jones. This group includes those of us Baby Boomers who, born between 1954_1964, are a bit too young to to have been active during the 1960's. Maybe all this nitpicking serves a purpose but I'm not the least bit impressed. Gael's birthday was yesterday. I hope it all worked out well for her. I went over to Price Chopper yesterday for a couple of things. As soon as I first got there I ran into Frank from O.L. Sorrows, who called me a bum. I've been called much worse so I thanked him for toning it down. I'm still reading that big book about Marxism. I can't help being really interested in things like that. The weather's still entirely too cold but at least it's not raining. Easter's only twelve days away so it would be very nice if things could warm up a bit by then.

MIGHTY BUSY WEEKEND

This past weekend was most certainly especially active for me. On Saturday I spent a large part of the day at the Oblates' Seminary in Lafflin at the men's day of recollection. Bishop Martino was there along with several other priests. Men from all over the eastern part of the state showed up. While I was there I got a couple of books. Jerome Gilmartin, the author of one of them, even signed a copy for me. Over the course of the time I was there, I helped with the sign_in cards & went to confession with Fr. Betts. There were even a couple of big heroes/hoagies for us. Robin, from Chicago, was in town for the weekend visiting the kin in Hilldale. They came over for a while during the time I was in Lafflin. I got a chance to say hello to her for a while after I got home. That was especially nice. Last night Fran came over with Dunkin' Donuts. Usually the fattening food is Uncle Frankie's specialty but he hasn't been available lately because he's ill. When it was time for her to go home, it started raining. Fortunately it wasn't all that bad a storm.

RAIN

Yesterday's weather was miserable but today seems to be better so far. Mary Anne called last night. She's been a little ill lately. I don't have to lector this weekend so that's a nice change. Unfortunately Fr. Walsh's sister_in_law recently died of cancer. She lived in Reading. She was only my age. There was a notice about it at O.L. Sorrows this morning. My mother called Dottie yesterday. She seems to be doing well these days. I'm still reading that big book on Marxism. At this rate I should be finished with it in about two weeks if I read the same number of pages each day. Once again, because it's a Friday, we're not allowed to eat any meat today. That's no big deal for me. I can always improvise with quite a whole lot of other kinds of food. I have an eclectic enough appetite that anything can keep me quite happy. I don't like to eat too much at any one time though. For some reason I've yet to bother to get that Old Forge pizza I ordered a few weeks ago from Tom.

BAD MORNING

Uncle Frankie showed up for a while yesterday. As far as I know nothing of any significance has been going on with him lately. Of course, as usual he made sure he showed up with candy. Unfortunately it's quite seriously fattening, & bad in very many other ways. I made sure I ate it anyway. My Facebook compulsion has gotten entirely out of control lately. It's very good in some ways to be involved with this site, but it appeals to all sorts of extremely seriously weird interests of mine. The weather this morning wasn't very bad when I first left. It was just cold & cloudy. On my way home, though, it was raining. I hope it gets better later on in the day. I'm still reading the big book about Marxism. It gets progressively more interesting each time I pick it up. As always nothing much of note is on TV these days so I make sure I watch only a few game shows & short bits of certain shows.

FEAST OF ANNUNCIATION

Nothing much has been happening lately. A couple of days ago I got my notice that I have to renew my car's registration at the end of May. At least we know they can be most certainly counted on not to be a bunch of procrastinators at the DMV around here. As always the phone rang off the hook yesterday & last night. This is absolutely unacceptable. I've never been able to handle anything about the phone. Yesterday I read quite a bit more of that book about Marxism. It's not even the least bit easy to read, but it's quite interesting. Once again I went food shopping yesterday & did some laundry too. On top of that this morning I cleaned up a little & got the clothes out of the dryer. Unfortunately that's pretty much the veritable pinnacle of an exciting time around here. Pretty soon we shall have to bluff our way through April Fool's Day.

TOO COLD FOR SPRING

Officially spring is here, but lately the weather has been begrudging us any warmth although it's not raining or snowing. My father went to the doctor yesterday. His arthritis is out of control. As always lately the phone rang off the hook. Among others, Mary Anne & Aunt Lauren both called. For some reason, the Citizen's Voice machine over on Sixth Street was empty this morning. I usually like to get it over there instead of Unimart on Tuesdays & Thursdays. I went food shopping Sunday & yesterday. Yesterday, besides more food, I ended up getting a book of stamps because I needed one for my Knights of Columbus dues. On Sunday I inadvertently ended up getting a head of Savoy cabbage. It's one of the best kinds but it's more expensive than average cabbage. Yesterday I finished re_reading "Vile Bodies" & made sure I got back to the very large book I have about Marxism. I have to read books like that because I have a hard time keeping up with all my left wing egghead connections if I don't at least understand their currents of thought.

LECTORED YET AGAIN

I covered for Laura again on Saturday at 5:00 Mass. They seem to have all the same problems here as at O.L.P.H. Lately the weather's still been colder than I like it. Uncle Frankie showed up a few times over the weekend. As always he called to complain to my father yesterday about troubles he's been having with his cable TV. Bob called early in the morning yesterday about the meeting at the Oblates' Seminary next Saturday. Mary Anne called too. Robin will be showing up for a visit very soon. A lot of people went over to New York this past weekend for Jennifer's baby shower. I hope it worked out really well for one & all. Gary called last night too. He wanted to know how my father's been feeling lately. There was a blackout on Saturday morning. Those things are awfully aggravating. It affected all the general area of the Wyomings. It wasn't so bad. I've seen many that were much worse. I spent the day in Wilkes_Barre anyway so I didn't care.