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. 

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.