2012 SO FAR

Last month's Carmelite meeting went well. Sister Mary Robert gave each of us a Christmas present. We went through all the usual necessary business & agreed to start reading a new book. This month's meeting, though, scheduled for last Saturday morning, was cancelled because of the snow. Mary Elizabeth called me & explained that because a few of the ladies live in Lackawanna County they might have had a rough time getting through all the snow we were expecting. It snowed that day but the weather didn't stay bad. Within a few days it was melted. I really wanted to go to Washington, D.C. this past Tuesday for the annual March for Life. Unfortunately, though, I ended up not going. It rained that day so the trip would have gotten me crazy anyway. My parents have both been sick lately. My mother's birthday is this coming Saturday & we all hope she will be feeling well enough to be able to enjoy it. There are lots of relatives' birthdays this month. Today we wish a very happy birthday to cousin Larry's wife Rose. Over the past few months, a few people in my class in high school have died. My classmates & I are all so sorry about them & shall pray for their souls. Last week my car's battery died so I went to Frank Gubbiotti's garage in Plains to get it fixed. Frank & His partner were both ill with the flu so their secretary got Sam to put a new battery in for me. Sam said that I should need a new starter to go with the rest of my troubles. My inspection is coming up soon, no later than March, so I shall get it done within only a very short time. Last year at this time I was violently sick for a long time but so far this year the I've gotten has been a few days worth of a very bad headache a while ago. Besides that I get slight headaches every time the weather changes. Lately I've been watching old TV shows like "Alfred Hitchcock Presents", "Bachelor Father", "The Time Tunnel" & "The Mothers~In~Law".

ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI

September 16 was my birthday & the 25 was my father's. All went well. As always Uncle Frankie & kin came over from West Wyoming. They stayed for a few hours & we all had a really nice time. The only trouble was that Mary Anne & her family couldn't come in because they were all too sick. I got a surprise on my birthday from my old friend Jim. He said he was in Baghdad with the Air Force. Fr. McKernan's birthday was the 17 so he & I went to breakfast the morning of mine at the Colonial Pancake House on Wyoming Avenue in Wyoming. It was a really nice time. The week after that Walter & his wife, after 8:30 Mass at St. Joseph's, invited me to go to breakfast with them at the Avenue diner on Wyoming Avenue in West Wyoming. While we were there I noticed a lot of other people were there from St. Monica's too. Unfortunately Fr. McKernan got into a very bad accident on Rte. 309 in Wilkes_Barre last Thursday. His car was totalled & he was slightly hurt when an old woman ran a stop sign & hit him. Unfortunately because of the recent flood there have been all sorts of troubles around here. I went to the St. Therese novena for five of the nine days over this past week. Her feast day was this past Saturday. It was insanely hard to get home though because the northbound lane of River Road is closed down. It was severly damaged in the flood. One day I made the very definite mistake of trying to go home by way of the detour. It didn't work out well. I was afraid that Rose wouldn't be available to cut my hair because West Pittston was especially badly hit. I asked Michelle about her though & she told me to go to her Facebook site. When I sent her a message there she said that nothing bad had happened to her. I can make an appointment to go to her barber shop now. Today is the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi. We wish a happy day to all Franciscans.

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. 

CARMELITE MEETING

A couple of weeks ago the Catholic radio people tracked me down again. This time it was to get me to help with addressing envelopes for them. There were fewer than twenty to write out. I delivered two directly to the people who were supposed to get them. The recent Carmelite meeting worked out well too. As always our attendance was nothing to brag about but it ran rather smoothly. We meet every third Saturday morning of the month at the Little Flower Manor on South Meade Street in Wilkes_Barre. We are always trying to find new members. Lately I only get very mild headaches every once in a while. Now that I no longer seem to have an allergy to caffeine, a change of weather always seems to get me crazy. Three days ago was my brother~in~law Steve's birthday. Yesterday was cousin Gino's. Bridget's is this coming Friday. Fran & Uncle Frankie came over for a visit last Saturday night. It was really nice. She only gets to show up once in a while. Mother's Day & my parents' fifty~fifth wedding anniversary~Cinco de Mayo~both went off without any trouble too. To celebrate we went out to Perkins to get a nice meal & to St. John the Evangelist's graveyard to visit all the deceased kin. Yesterday I went to a local jewelry store on Wyoming Avenue in West Wyoming to get the batteries replaced for my watch & my father's remote control for his car. There seems to be yet no end to the torrential downpour lately. I heard someone say on the radio a little over a week ago that this year had seen, so far, the fifth wettest spring in history.

IT'S ONE OF LARRY'S FAVORITE DAYS OF THE YEAR

Larry's cold is as good as over by now although he's been going absolutely crazy with a persistent cough that just won't go away. He doesn't have any of his medicine left but he can still go to the drug store for a refill. The weather has been getting nicer lately now that February is gone. All the raging blizzards & thunderstorms appear to be behind us. Uncle Frankie comes over lately every once in a while. Larry has a seemingly compulsive habit of always locking the door when he comes inside & Uncle Frankie isn't the least bit fond of this so he always whines about it. He has a key anyway though so Larry doesn't care. Cousins Mark's & Gary's birthdays were at the end of last month. Larry wished each of them a happy day. Beatle George would have been sixty eight years old at the end of last month. Larry enjoyed listening to all his good music. One of the big upcoming events in Larry's world is the reunion, this June, at St. Gabriel's. He'd very much like to be able to go. It turns out that Mary Anne's friend Steve, from Lindenhurst, is now married to an alumna of their old school. Larry really enjoys keeping in touch with people from those days. There's a Carmelite day of recollection coming up, in Middletown, N.Y., next month. Larry really wants to go. Last Friday at O.L. Sorrows, St. Monica's held a Night at the Races. Larry really wanted to go. He even made sure he got a ticket. Oddly, though, he plum forgot exactly which night it was supposed to be held. He assumed it was supposed to be on Saturday or Sunday & missed it. Larry's tenth grade theology teacher just sent him a Facebook message explaining that he's on the far left wing. Of the two teacher's of his on his friend list they're both extreme liberals. The reason Larry has written today's entire blog in the third person is because today is National Talk in the Third Person Day. On days like this Larry is reminded of Elaine's boyfriend Jimmy on a certain episode of "Seinfeld".

BUSY & COLD

Tomorrow is the big Super Bowl. Until recently it had always been at the end of January on the weekend closest to my mother's birthday. The weather lately is still an absolute nightmare. I got my car stuck in the ice in front of the house one day after a particularly bad storm. I spoke to Bob, at O.L. Sorrows, on Thursday night. He said he couldn't go to Washington, D.C. because some woman's pipes had burst because of the weather. He was forced to help her. Phil, the groundhog, saw his shadow on Groundhog Day though so supposedly we shall be seeing an end to it all very soon. Uncle Frankie, after a brief spell with some kind of sickness, is back on his feet again. Fran was supposed to stay at his house this weekend for the big game but she was forced to go home yesterday because of the weather. Aunt Lauren finally & at last showed up yesterday to get Benjamin's Christmas present. If she would have left it for another week & a half it could have been his birthday present. Today she's coming over with some pizza from her church. Donna, the ex~nun, called last night. She wants me to lector for her later today at 4:00 Mass & she can take my turn tomorrow at 11:00 Mass. My flu is gone but it lasted throughout all of January with all sorts of aches & pains to the very end. I still have a slight cough.

ROE V. WADE

Unfortunately I ended up having to miss out on Monday's trip to Washington, D.C. for the annual pro~life march, although I'd already paid for a ticket. I went to bed insanely early on Sunday night, as always, in order to make sure I could count on getting up in time. When I got up, though, the temperatures in this part of Pa. were significantly below zero degrees. That gave me the distinct impression that I may have been taking on entirely too much of a risk because I knew that I should have to spend all day long outside in the bitter cold. Although Dr. Radzwilka said I should be allowed to go, I wasn't anticipating that much of a cold spell. A couple of days before the trip Bob called & said he'd be going. He wanted me to call him on Monday morning to wake him up so I called him at 5:00 a.m. His wife answered & said he couldn't go. Maybe his reasoning was the same as mine. Uncle Frankie's been very ill lately with something like the flu. Aunt Lauren came over yesterday. Today is Noreen's birthday. The Super Bowl is only two weekends away. Life around here is much easier at this time of year than it was in New York when we all used to have to go to Levittown's American Legion post with my father to see the game over there. I could never handle all the food, crowds & cigarettes. Since I've never enjoyed sports anyway it was quite a major chore for me.

BUSY TIME

The night before New Year's Eve I got a very violent attack of the flu. I was at O.L. Sorrows lectoring at 7:00 p.m. Mass when my voice started getting hoarse & I started getting very weak. I spent the next few days in bed with a violent headache & cough, besides all sorts of other aches & pains. Eventually I made an appointment to see Dr. Radzwilka in West Pittston. He prescribed a couple of kinds of medication before I made the appointment. The syrup gave me violent headaches so I gave up on it. When I went to the appointment I got him to do some blood work too. So far I have gotten no results. When I started feeling better I made sure I called Chris Calore, in Wilkes_Barre to see about getting onto a bus for the trip to Washington, D.C. next Monday for the annual pro_life March. He was forced to put me on a waiting list but he eventually called & said I get to go. I went last year & all worked out quite well for me even though it was too strenuous. Nothing gets me so crazy as haveing to be restricted like that all day long. I have to get my car inspected in January each year. This Saturday I noticed at the last minute that I desperately needed an oil change. I went to De Leo's gas station on Wyoming Avenue in Wyoming because it's the closest to me. He also does inspections so I made an appointment, for yesterday, to get my inspection. It was a long boring day for me but ultimately I got my usual expensive repairs done & I'm now set until next March. He says I now get a two~month grace period. This past Saturday was our monthly lay Carmelite meeting on S. Meade Street in Wilkes_Barre. Barbara & Rosemary were the only regulars who couldn't show up. Sr. Mary Robert spent the morning with us though & she was very helpful. The weather lately has been very violently cold with entirely too much snow & ice. There have been so many birthdays this month. We wish a very happy birthday to my mother, several cousins & , among the non~relatives, Tim, Lisa & Laura.

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.

CATHOLIC RADIO

My father's seventy seventh birthday on Saturday started out as an absolute mess. My mother got violently sick around 1:00 a.m. & that led to nothing but trouble. By Sunday though she got better so we went out, with Uncle Frankie, to the Outback Steakhouse in the Hub in Wilkes_Barre. All ultimately ended up working out quite well. I even ended up getting a coupon for another free visit to show for it. My birthday went well too. Mary Anne & family called. I wasn't home when Michael called but I showed up in time for Mary Anne. Two Saturdays ago the owner of the local Catholic radio station, JMJ750 am, stopped me in the parking after 8:00 a.m. Mass at the Oblates' Seminary. He asked if I should be willing to do some volunteer work for him & his wife from now on. Their names are Ed & Carol. Ed told me to show up at 1:30 on Monday. I got there a bit early & was kept waiting because no one else showed up until quite a bit after that. I started working with Bob the engineer, who showed me a lot of things I shall have to get to know how to do. Lynn Marie, from our young adult group, was being interviewed by Carol & two other women, Arlene & Anne Marie. I called Lynn Marie last week to see if the young adult group was still in existence. It's still advertised in the Catholic Light. She said it's gone until further notice. Fr. McKernan's bible study group at O.L. Sorrows has been doing quite well so far. Happy birthdays this monthish also go out to Jo Anne from Queens, Maria's cousin Roseanna (Dino's wife), my old pal Henry from S.U.N.Y. Farmingdale's mail room & the postal service in Melville, Mike from high school & cousin Mike, as well as to Eddie & Jessica, two of the cousins' kids. I've probably already mentioned a couple of them. By now we have gotten through most of the annual novena to St. Therese of Lisieux at the Maronite church of St. Anthony & St. George in Wilkes_Barre. As usual I missed a few days. I got a cake & cupcakes at their bake sale. Most of the times I go through that neighborhood I see policemen constantly pulling people over. There's a high crime rate in that part of the city.

IT'S FINALLY OVER WITH

Yesterday was the last day of 2010's family reunion. This one was a bit of a milestone because it was the fiftieth. It all started in 1961. On Sunday, Gino & Michelle threw a nice big surprise party for Aunt Helen at the Checkerboard Inn in Trucksville. A splendid time was had by all. Aunt Helen's not a blood relative. She was married to Uncle Rego who died in 1993. She's the youngest of the oldest generation of us. Some of the kin went to the Italian graveyard to visit the deceased family members' graves right before the party. As always the weekend's conversation ranged from sports, trivia, religion & politics to nostalgia, philosophy & music. I haven't gone into the pool in very many years. Oddly my cousin Danny asked if I've ever been thrown in. In our crowd, getting thrown into the pool is quite an entirely inevitable rite of passage for the very young. He appeared to have forgotten that when I was a kid & young adult he, more than anyone else, was the one who always threw me in.

MANY SPECIAL OCCASIONS

Yesterday I went on one of my typical jaunts to the Barnes & Noble by the Wyoming Valley Mall. While I was walking around KrissyKrissyKrissy came over to me & said hello. She & Ed were in town visiting his parents. They recently went to Jason's wedding. Jennifer's birthday is today so we shall all say happy birthday to her. Sam's birthday went well yesterday. My parents made sure they called to wish him a happy birthday. He wasn't home but later he called back. Mary Anne's & Steve's twenty second wedding anniversary was June 4. Amazingly I can still remember their big day as if it were only yesterday. Finally & at last, Brianne gave birth recently to her little daughter, Nina Genesee. This kid really took her time. Brianne & Matt are quite happy. So far I haven't done much walking in spite of the conveniently warm weather. Yesterday, though, I made sure I walked for a few minutes outside. I truly should try to get back into the habit from now on. I've been doing a lot of reading these days. I've been reading the autobiograpy of Bl. John XXIII & poems by Emily Dickinson, William Butler Yeats & John Milton, among other things.

ODOMETER

Yesterday my parents & I went to see Uncle Frankie, Fran & Lisa. It was for my mother's birthday party. All went quite well. Today is Noreen's birthday. She's my cousin. This morning I went to AA in Exeter to get my odometer put into my car. It's been raining since yesterday afternoon but it's only a spring shower today with temperatures over fifty the last time I checked. That's why I didn't mind the trip. It all took only a little under & hour & was very inexpensive. Now I can count on having no more car troubles for quite a while. While I was there I hung around & looked through the store. I should get some of the car cleaners they have. My steering wheel needs a new cover too. I'm still playing my guitar quite regularly & I seem to be getting a little better. Unfortunately I haven't gotten any new magazines or anything lately to be able to play from.