R.I.P. FR. MCGROARTY

On this day in 1616, literary giants William Shakespeare & Miguel de Cervantes both died.  It was not on exactly the same day though, but it is recorded as such because of the difference in England's & Spain's calendars during their era.   The weather lately has been very bad.  There has been an icy cold rainstorm around here ever since early last evening.   Last week I got my very first ever ticket for a moving violation.  It was on Tenth Street in Wyoming.   The library & Methodist church next door will be having another book sale.  They have some very good prices on some very good books.   Uncle Frankie came over for a while yesterday to have supper with us.   The Carmelite meeting went well this past Saturday morning in Wilkes~Barre.  We have them every third Saturday of the month at 9:00 a.m. at the Little Flower Manor.  While I was there my parents went out for some Chinese food with Fran & Uncle Frankie.  Unfortunately Fr. McGroarty from St. John the Evangelist Church in Pittston died last week at about ninety~four years of age.  I went to his wake on Thursday afternoon.  There was also a Mass of Transferral on Thursday at 7:00 p.m. & a funeral Mass on Friday at 11:00 a.m.  I used to see him at St. John's quite frequently for Mass & confession.

HAPPY EASTER

This month's Carmelite meeting worked out quite well. It was Chris's reception day. Her husband & mother both showed up for the Mass. Yvonne & Judy were there too. The only catch is that whenever they attend a meeting it's always so mind~bogglingly long. Sr. Mary Robert, as always, was especially helpful. Easter was a very nice time too. The kin from West Wyoming showed up. Steve & all the kids were here too. Mary Anne wasn't available though because she wasn't feeling well. We had our big meal on Holy Saturday because it was the best thing to do for the people who had to travel. At around 8:00 that night Steve & I took the kids to Jitty Joe's for our mandatory ice cream jaunt. I ended up getting a cup of teaberry ice cream. There's still entirely too much candy & food left over. Aunt Lauren & Uncle Jim brought Benjamin over on Good Friday night. As always I ended up lectoring in church on Palm Sunday. Fr. McKernan even got me to have my foot washed. My cell phone works quite well though most of the mileage I get from it is from the Facebook app. I made sure I got a haircut from Rose Chairge a few days before Easter. I always have to call for an appointment. She recognizes my voice on the phone whenever I call. Among other birthdays this month, yesterday was KrissyKrissyKrissy's daughter Natalie's big day. She's three. I haven't gotten many headaches lately, just the occasional really slight one. The weather, finally & at last, has been getting very nice. Well it's about time. There's no weekday Mass at O.L. Sorrows this week so I go to St. John's in Pittston every morning. People are still working so hard to keep St. Gabriel's, over in East Elmhurst, from having to close down. I have an appointment to give blood this Friday.

WEATHER CHANGE

The bitter cold weather, at least for now, is over. I find it rather hard to believe that I went out without a coat today. The snow's melting. St. Gabriel's in East Elmhurst is planning a big reunion in June. Jo Anne said she may go. Tim, From California, will even go too. I just found out that Mary Anne's old friend, Steve from Copiague, is married to a woman who went to school there. I'm still reading quite voraciously lately. I try always to finish one book & then virtually immediately pick up another one. I've also been trying very conscientiously to practice my guitar each day. Uncle Frankie is supposed to visit Fran for a couple of days this weekend. I shall have to pick up his mail again. Fr. McKernan won't be available for a few days at St. Monica's so I shall have to go to St. John's in Pittston for a few weekdays. Recently I added a second teacher of mine to my Facebook friend list. Jerry Di Noto was my theology teacher in the tenth grade. I tracked him down a few days ago. Tomorrow I shall have to go to another lay Carmelite meeting in Wilkes_Barre. It's at 9:00 a.m. at the Little Flower on South Meade Street. We meet on the third Saturday morning of each month. There will be another day of recollection in Middletown, N.Y. this spring. I'm hoping to be able to show up. Mary Anne's family has been doing quite well. Michael just got a really nice new job & we're all happy for him.

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.

BEATLE JOHN

Today is the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, a major Feast day on the Catholic Church's liturgical calendar. It's a holy day of obligation. I shall have to go to 7:00 Mass tonight at O. L. Sorrows. I tried to go to Mass this Morning at St. John's in Pittston. I didn't know that their Mass would be only at 7:00 a.m. & other Masses later in the day. They don't have an 8:00 a.m. Mass today. Sadly, today also marks the thirtieth anniversary of the assassination of Beatle John Lennon by Mark David Chapman outside the Dakota building in Manhattan. It was a Monday night. I can still remember it as if it were only last night. Lennon's music, image & reputation, to this very day, are still a part of our cultural landscape. Even the very young, who hadn't even been born during the lifetime of the famed Swain of Liverpool, are quite smitten with him. Today's Tina's twenty~first birthday. She's cousin Gary's daughter. The weather lately has been very bitter cold but we don't get any snow beyond just the slightest dusting each day. So far there's no fog or icy rain either. Yesterday was especially cold. Buffalo has quite a bit of snow so I suppose we should all feel quite sorry for Maelene & her family.

OCTOBERFEST

A while ago I started using the discount card they have at Price Chopper. Not having had any idea which gas stations accepted it, I first took it to the Unimart in Exeter. The guy behind the counter mistakenly told me it was for Turkey Hill. The lady at Turkey Hill in Exeter told me it was for Sunoco. I took it to Sunoco on River Road in Plains & the guy there told me it was for only certain Sunocos. Eventually I found out that it's accepted at the Sunoco on Main Street in Pittston. Columbus Day & Octoberfest went by without any festivities. At least I didn't attend any. St. John the Baptist in West Islip, my high school, called me with a recording advertising their Homecoming Day. There must have been a nice time on Wellwood Avenue in Lindenhurst for Octoberfest. I always used to enjoy attending things like that. The St. Jude novena at St. Mary Help of Christians, on Main Street in Pittston Junction, has been going quite well so far. It lasts until Wednesday night, his feast day. So far I've gone there each day, or night. Last night it rained but it was a nice rain. the weather has been awfully unseasonably warm lately. When I was a kid Halloween was always bitter cold. We used to have to wear very heavy winter clothes under our costumes. This month's birthdays are Georgia, Nicolas, Tony Jr., Tammy & Joseph, among the relatives. For friends, there are Frank, Earl, Jim, Cathy, Brian. Uncle Frankie comes over once in a while lately but recently he went away to visit Fran at her new house. Fr. McKernan left this past weekend to go to India. He's visiting Mother Teresa's sisters for two weeks.

MIDDLETOWN TRIP

My big trip to Middletown, N.Y. is coming up. It's for the Carmelites' annual Marian day of recollection. I called Barbara & Ann yesterday to make sure I got all the arrangements right. To my undying chagrin Barbara is entirely too fond of the phone. She talks for an entirely unnecessarily long time. I'm supposed to meet Ann at her house in Pittston at around 6:45 a.m. on Saturday. We have to arrive at Middletown by 8:30. I went there once in 1995, when Fr. Mike Kissane was their vocation director, to see if I should become a friar. I still take the paper over to Uncle Frankie's house each day during the week. Fran is frequently home on weekends so I don't often have to be bothered then. My parents' anniversary party on Saturday went well until the end of the night when my mother got a bit ill. She was feeling very poorly on Sunday too. Mary Anne went back home, on the Martz bus, on Sunday morning. Fran took her to the bus station. Sam's induction into the National Honor Society was last week. Even though spring has been here for quite a long time already, we still have very cold days. It's very easy to get sick & tired of the bad weather.

BEATLE ANNIVERSARY

To my chagrin, I was forced to miss this past weekend's big reunion over at St. Gabriel's. It was for Sr. Bernadette's & Sr. Catherine's milestone anniversaries & St. Gabriel's seventieth anniversary. Jo Anne & her mother went. Jo Anne said that of all the people from our class only Mike & Margreen were there. I can't even remember Margreen. Of all the kids in our old crowd I can only remember a few dozen well. Today would have been Aunt Mary Theresa's birthday. Tomorrow Uncle Frankie, Fran, my mother & I shall be going to 8:00 a.m. Mass for her at St. John the Evangelist Church in Pittston. After Mass my father will be joining us for breakfast. Every morning for the past to weeks I have getting the Citizen's Voice for Uncle Frankie & taking it over to his house right after 8:00 Mass. This past Sunday I called Kelly Stuart to find out about the details for the Marian day of recollection for the Carmelites in Middletown, N.Y. in May. It will be on the third Saturday of the month so it will have to replace our usual meeting. Last weekend's meeting worked out well. The new people stayed after the meeting for their formation classes. This month marks the fortieth anniversary of the Beatles. Pope Benedict XVI recently released a statement commending their brilliant talent & forgiving them for all their checkered past. Of course Beatle Ringo's not all that impressed.

PITTSTON MEETING

The weather has been a little colder than I like it today but at least yesterday's brief snowfall didn't amount to anything. It was just annoying & frustrating. We're supposed to have quite a bitter cold spell within the next week. Bob called yesterday but I wasn't home so I called him back. We talked for a few minutes. Last night's meeting in Pittston turned out well. Everyone except Jonathan showed up. Fr. Jackson only stayed for a few minutes. When I first got there the doors were locked & Lynn Marie, who had the key, was in her van rambling on with someone on the phone. Fortunately she only kept me waiting a fairly short time. Because of conflicts in people's schedules the next meeting is supposed to be on a Thursday. No one showed up at Mass at St. John's this morning until the very last minute. There were only a few people there because of their friend's funeral today.

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.

BITTER COLD

Today's the coldest day of the year so far. At least it's not snowing. Yesterday I went to 2:00 p.m. Mass at St. Rocco's in Pittston. It was my very first time there ever. The Divine Mercy people were there. I messed up on a left turn I should have taken. I know exactly how to get there but one mistake & the trip turned into an absolute nightmare. The area is full of one_way streets so it's not easy to backtrack. There was a big blizzard & winds around thirty m.p.h. on top of that. On top of everything else, this morning I needed more anti_freeze in my car. Nobody from our crowd ended up ended up being able to show up at Benjamin's party either because everybody's entirely too sick. I'm still reading "Emma". Uncle Frankie & Fran came over for a few hours on Saturday night. My cousins' latest adventure is about e mail addresses. There are some new ones on the list. As always with that bunch, confusion reigns supreme. Lately everybody's all abuzz about November's big election. It should be quite an interesting time. The Democrats have gone all controversial on us. This weekend in church, everybody was asked to sign a petition, that will be mailed to our Congressmen, asking that they vote to pass the Pa. Marriage Protection Amendment to protect us from homosexual encroachment upon people's legitimate rights. Of course, I most certainly made sure I signed it. Today's the big blood drive over there but I already gave blood entirely too recently. I got my St. John the Baptist newsletter over the weekend. That's my high school in West Islip, N.Y. They're having a blood drive in April. The last time I gave blood in N.Y. it was there. While there, I ran into my favorite history teacher, Brian Clancy.

Monthly Carmelite Meeting

At 8:30 this morning I went to my monthly Lay Carmelite meeting on Meade St. in Wilkes_Barre at the Little Flower Manor. Unfortunately, Mary Anne & Rita both quit last month. Today, for a change of pace , I decided to go to another library. Pittston's internet is down so I'm in West Pittston. It's a really nice quiet place. Not much is new so far. Christmas fast approaches. Here's yet another Christmas no_no: People who send those nightmarishly annoying Christmas newsletters (now even e_letters) about their fabulous families' fabulous accomplishments, vacations, etc. Nobody's even the least bit interested in them anyway.

Nightmarishly Foggy Morning

Thursday, December 14, 2006: This morning was nightmarishly foggy. So far the rest of the day hasn't been anything to brag about either. It's an extremely significant Carmelite feast day, though_St. John of the Cross_so I made quite sure I got over to O.L. Mt. Carmel Church in Pittston for 7 a.m. Mass. I'm just about finished with Villette. Life has been going on so far, so well. Christmas beckons. One of these days I shall have to give you a nice big itemized check list about all the no_nos of Christmas.