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.

BIRTHDAY EARTHQUAKE

Two weeks ago I went to the annual Bazaar at St. John the Evangelist Church in Pittston.   It was a really nice time even though it was violently hot & crowded.  The traffic was so bad that even though I got there fifteen minutes after it started I was still forced to park around a quarter of a mile away.  I gave them my usual five dollars to buy some contest tickets.   I won a twenty five dollar gift certificate to a nice Italian restaurant in Forty Fort.   Last week was Pittston's annual Tomato Festival.  I went there for a little while one day too.  The guy whow was in charge of the San Cataldo Society's basket of cheer reminded me that he recognized me from last year.  We see each other over there every year.   A couple of days later my mother, Fran & I went there to check it out.  I got a falafel at the middle eastern food stand.  Fran got something too.  We took something home for my father.  We also got t~shirts as souvenirs.   Unfortunately for two nights in a row I got extremely violent headaches a while ago.   I'm still supposed to water those really nice flowers whenever it doesn't rain.  Lately, though, it seems to rain so frequently that I hardly ever bother even to think twice about them.   Yesterday was my nephew (& godson) Michael's twenty~third birthday.   Amazingly it was also, for most people I know, our very first ever experience with an earthquake.  Although it occurred somewhere over in Virginia, because it registered at 5.8 on the Richter scale it affected the entire eastern seaboard.   I happened to have been looking at my Facebook account at the time so I was able to get  reactions & comments from friends, relatives & former classmates & teachers of mine in many different parts of the country.   When it first happened the woman sitting right next to me made a comment about how maybe it was from the truck that was passing by.  We then realized, though, that that couldn't have been it because the building shook violently & it lasted for about ten seconds.   There are very many birthdays in August so happy day to all who qualify. 

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.

CHRISTMAS TIME IS HERE AGAIN...O~U~T SPELLS OUT

Yesterday cousin Larry's daughter Jennifer gave birth to a baby boy. He's now the tenth Joseph among our relatives. I got a haircut at Rose Chairge's new barber shop in West Pittston yesterday too. It's right inside her husband's comic book store. It was a little hard for me to track it down but I got there eventually with no trouble. Aunt Lauren came over last night for a while when I was at confession at O.L. Sorrows. A few weeks ago Tom sold me a St. Monica's sweatshirt. I picked it up last night. I've been re~reading Cervantes' "Don Quijote", the classic picaresque novel. It's long & the small print gets me crazy but it's always been quite a favorite of mine. My nephew Michael just graduated from Hofstra University this past weekend so he's been quite excited lately. It's still insanely cold but I can handle it as long as the snow doesn't get any worse. Last week, from Monday until Wednesday, there was no priest at our church so I went to Mass each day at St. John the Evangelist in Pittston. This year is very fast coming to its end. We should most certainly hope that 2011 will bring us much better times.

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.

BIRTHDAYS

Today's the infamous Friday the 13. There have been a lot of birthdays lately. Mary Anne's birthday was three days ago. Uncle Frankie's was yesterday. He, my parents & I went to the Pittston Diner by the Pittston Bypass to get something to eat. Today is my cousin Maelene's(Mary Ellen) birthday. She lives around Buffalo. July 21 would have been Daren's birthday. She died in 2005. Her mother, Grace, sent me a card. Yesterday was also cousin Java & Nunziata's thirty seventh wedding anniversary. The annual bazaar for St. John the Evangelist Church in Pittston started yesterday & will last until Saturday. They never let it go until Sunday. I didn't go yesterday because it was such a rainy day & those things have all their main attractions outside. I shall hope to go later today. It starts at 5:30 each day. Pittston's world_renowned annual Tomato Festival begins very soon. It goes from Thursday, August 19th to Sunday, August 22th this year. Be there or be square. Lately I've been reading a lot, including Carmelite books & classic poetry. I've also been listening to my usual bottomless pit of old music, ranging mostly from the 1960's to the early 1980's.

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.

ST. TERESA OF AVILA

The weather is getting progressively colder each day. I even heard someone say over at St. John's this morning that it's supposed to start snowing sometime later today. It's Msgr. Bendick's sixty_eighth birthday over there too. Eddy & KrissyKrissyKrissy, around an hour south of here, say that it's already started to snow over there, & that it's sticking to the ground. Today is the Feast of St. Teresa of Avila, the famous fifteenth century Spanish Carmelite mystic. She & St. John of the Cross co_founded the Discalced Carmelites. This Saturday morning I shall have to go to Wilkes_Barre for another Carmelite meeting. It's on South Meade Street at 9:00 a.m. every third Saturday of the month. A new woman joined us last month. I hope she shows up again. To my chagrin I'm still pigging out lately on entirely too much Halloween candy.