DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY

Yesterday was Divine Mercy Sunday.  It was my turn to lector at 4:00 Mass on Saturday at O. L. Sorrows.  All went well.  The men's meeting in O. L. Sorrows' rectory on Saturday morning  went well too.   On Saturday, from 9:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. there was a really nice big book sale at the Methodist church right next door to the Wyoming Free Library on Wyoming Avenue.   The church & library worked together on it.   For only five dollars, I got quite a few very good books & plays.   I used to like the ones I attended at O.L.P.H. too.   I'm so happy to see that the spring weather is really getting started although it's often too  cold in the morning.   The campaign season continues.  Unfortunately Rick Santorum has dropped out of the race.   We can't afford another four years of Obama because our First Amendment rights are literally at stake.   Gas prices are obscenely high too.  By now even a gallon of regular gas, at any station, is already up to more than $4.00.   Lately I've been driving my father, quite frequently, to his doctor's appointments at the Veteran's Hospital in Wilkes~Barre.   It's  not usually too bad a trip but the traffic congestion in the parking lot is often annoying.   The centennial anniversary of the Titanic was yesterday so it's a major topic of conversation these days. 

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Christmas very fast approaches. It's time yet again for all the reminiscing & partying to begin in only a few days. Mary Anne & her family will be coming in on Friday. Fran will be here then too. Uncle Frankie went away to visit her for a while recently. Conveniently my father has been out of the hospital for a while & he's even allowed to drive now too. I sometimes have to take him to the hospital for check~ups. Over the course of the past week, ever since Friday, I've gotten three nightmarishly blinding headaches. As far as I know they may have been becaus of sinus trouble. The first one was on the day of St. Monica's Christmas party. I went to the party but I was miserable. The party was supposed to be in Fr. Leonard's honor but he wasn't available. Winter officially began yesterday. We have no snow but there's been a lot of rain. Ruthie complained about how odd that is. I went back to Frank's garage a while ago to find out about whether he can help me with my odometer in time for the inspection I have to get by next month. He took down all the information he needs. I got my annual Christmas card from Carole but so far I haven't gotten one from Grace, Daren's mother, yet. They're the only cards I get each year. I made sure I sent one to each of them. I also sent one to Lisa from my class in high school. She's been very ill. Unfortunately Burt Koza just sent out a Facebook notice recently telling us all that O.L.P.H. in Lindenhurst, after ninety~nine years, will also be closing down the school at the end of the school year.

BIG TRIP

Yesterday I went to Washington, D.C. I got up at around 3:10 a.m. My father took me to the Assumpta Council at 5:30. Mass started after 6:00. The bus ride was nightmarishly uncomfortable but it worked out really well. We walked around all day outside when we got there. To my surprise I saw a priest who was a dead ringer for an usher at O.L.P.H. in Lindenhurst. There were people there from the Diocese of Rockiville Centre but I didn't recognize any of them. On the way home we stopped at a really nice restaurant in Maryland. There were a lot of donuts, coffee & water on the buses too. The trip took four and a half hours each way. We got back to my council at around 10:30. I borrowed a cell phone from a guy in the Plymouth council so I could call my father to get me. The trip was extremely painful physically but at least my nerves didn't bother me. Of course I woke up with a bad headache in the middle of the night but it went away when I took an Excedrin. There was a little rain & snow in Maryland & Virginia on the way but Washington's weather was nice. It was so crowded that we couldn't get into the building where the spokesmen were appearing. During the trip we watched pro_life videos & the movie "The Bells Of St. Mary's" with Bing Crosby & Ingrid Bergman. Today it's time to say happy birthday to Brianne's husband Matt. Tomorrow's Jim's birthday. He & I were in the same homeroom in high school. Now we're back together on Facebook so happy birthday to him.

LINDENHURST FRIENDS

Uncle Frankie came over for a while. Yesterday I mistakenly said he didn't show up on Tuesday but he did. I must have forgotten. Mark, from my high school class at St. John the Baptist in West Islip, has joined my Facebook friends list. Ordinarily this wouldn't have been terribly newsworthy but I was checking out his friends list & couldn't help noticing that he's in touch with people from our class at O.L.P.H in Lindenhurst. Until now I'd never been able to track down people who were only in my class in O.L.P.H. I went to that school during the seventh & eighth grades. Construction work every day in Pittston is still getting me crazy. It's only bad during the day. Last night I went to the meeting at O.L. Mt. Carmel on William Street. Everyone except Lynn Marie showed up. Oddly I couldn't help overhearing the church's band playing "Kashimir" from Led Zeppelin's "Physical Graffiti" album.

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.