THE YEAR WINDS DOWN

Christmas went quite well. Mary Anne, Steve & all the kids showed up. So did the West Wyoming kin. If Aunt Lauren & her family could have shown up all the northeastern Pa. relatives would have been here. There were all the usual minor irritations. The kids were somewhat ill & the food was entirely too fattening. Mary Anne & family were forced to go home early yesterday because of the big blizzard. Fortunatley it didn't amount to anything of any significance around here, other than slight snow & lots of wind. In New York, though, all the major airports were closed. I went to 8:00 Mass this morning at St. John the Evangelist in Pittston, with only insanely intense winds & somewhat slippery roads to bother me. Mike Aquilina, from EWTN, & his friend were there. Of course I got my annual card from Grace, Daren's mother, a few days ago. I'm still reading Cervantes' "Don Quixote". In only four more days, 2010 will be over. I still have to pay my K of C dues. It's just a matter of getting the money ready & sending it out to Wayne at my council.

CLASSIC LITERATURE

My fifty first birthday is tomorrow. Hay fever's been getting me crazy for the past quite a few weeks. I haven't had any bad headaches lately except for one a couple of weeks ago. Uncle Frankie & Fran came over for a while one night last weekend. She's been doing quite well with getting settled into her newly purchased house lately. I've been doing a lot of reading these days. Besides classic poetry, I recently re_read Emily Bronte's "Wuthering Heights" & Lewis Carroll's "Through the Looking Glass" & "Alice In Wonderland". The Beatles & their musical contemporaries were all greatly influenced by Carroll's work, & by classic literature in general. Glenn Yanik showed up last Saturday morning, at O.L. Sorrows for a meeting of his men's group. Fr. Leo was there too. We shall be meeting at the Oblates' seminary on 315, on October 2 for a meeting with Bishop Bambera. Mike Aquilina, a Catholic apologist from EWTN, who was raised in Pittston, will be there. I lectored at 11:00 a.m. Mass last Sunday. The new schedule is now official. Michael called last week. He's home from Costa Rica. All went well for him & his friends over there. Although it was during the time when Hurricane Earl struck nothing bad happened anywhere near them. To my chagrin the summer will very soon be over. The weather lately always seems to be very cold, & frequently foggy, in the mornings. It gets very nice during the main part of the day though. There were a couple of thunderstorms a couple of days ago. We really need the rain so I didn't complain much.