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".

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.

THANKSGIVING AND ADVENT

Thanksgiving worked out reasonably well. Mary Anne & family couldn't come in but the relatives from West Wyoming were here. Fran got here for a little while. The food, as always, was entirely too fattening. The only disadvantage was that at the end of the night I went to bed with a very bad headache. I took an Excedrin migraine pill, though, & it soon went away. A lot of relatives called to say hello. Gary called. He & I spent quite a long time on the phone. The Ronald & Linda even showed up from Washington State to visit Hilldale. They showed up for a couple of hours a few nights ago. Recently I went to a Lay Carmelite meeting in Wilkes_Barre & a men's group meeting at St. Monica's. Those meetings really keep me busy. Recently I saw Alfred Hitchcock's "The Wrong Man" & the famous Humphrey Bogart movie, "The Maltese Falcon". Now that my father's home from the hospital he has to go to the V.A. hospital in Wilkes_Barre frequently. He can't drive for now so I have to drive him there. I also have to do the grocery shopping. That's a major advantage because I always use my Price Chopper card to make sure I get credit for gas for my car. This past Sunday the Church started using the new translation for the Mass. It's a little hard to handle at first because of such an old habit but it should be very easy after a while. It's the same translation as the one they used when I was a kid. I went to a meeting a while ago at St. Monica's where a visiting monsignor explained all about it for us. Advent has begun. Christmas will soon be upon us. Unfortunately today marks the tenth anniversary of the death of Beatle George.

FOURTH OF JULY SHINDIG

This past weekend, starting pretty much on Friday morning, my father's relatives got together for their fifty~first annual overcrowded feeding frenzy in Hilldale.   They call it a family reunion.  Richie's, Sean's & Jamie's families were all missing.  Michael, Tony Sr. & Junior & Scott from Buffalo weren't there either,  but most of the others managed to make it.   Michael even took Erin with him.   I made sure I wore a hat most days & didn't a headache or sunburn.   Yesterday I forgot though, & I woke up very early this morning with a headache.  Because I always made sure I stayed only until around 8:00 each night I never got too worn out.    As always it was a mixture of sports, gossip, intellectual debate, religion & politics,  & picture taking.   My camera & video camera got a lot of mileage.  The food was entirely too fattening so I shall have to spend the next few weeks toning my appetite down.   Mary Anne, Robin & a few others even went shopping for hooch.  I put in a share of the price & got a few swigs to show for it over the course of the weekend.  Most probably I shall not have another drop until the next especially big occasion.   Unfortunately the only thing missing this year was music.  Most years lately we always seem to have an ad~hoc band made up of anyone who can play his way out of a brown paper bag.    There was some bad news on Saturday since the insanely violent electrical storm, that started at about 4:00 a.m., lasted all day & drove us all plum crazy.  It's been raining like crazy for quite a while this past spring & summer.   A few weeks ago Vinnie, Steve & I got the idea to go to Jitty Joe's  for ice cream but somehow we didn't end up going.    Several people only stayed for a day or two so it was hard to keep track of everyone.

BIG PARADE

Uncle Frankie & Fran came over for dinner two weekends ago. Mary Anne, Steve & Bridget came in last weekend. Michael & Sam stayed home because they were too busy. This past weekend was fairly quiet. Uncle Frankie was visiting Fran. I checked his mailbox on Saturday but he didn't get anything. Now that I get channel 72 again, I've been watching a lot of old movies. That channel has all the really interesting classics including even the very old silent movies. Veteran's Day passed by a few days ago without any significant milestones. There were no really noticeable festivities around here. The weather lately has been unseasonably warm although the mornings can be cold & icy. Yesterday was the Feast of All Carmelite Saints. Today is the Feast of All Carmelite Souls. This weekend was St. Joseph's & Our Lady of Sorrows' parishes' last weekend in existence. As of next Sunday our new parish's name will be St. Monica's. I lectored at O.L. Sorrows' last Mass yesterday. I covered for Linnae. Fr. McKernan was gone for a couple of weeks to India recently. There were visiting priests while he was gone. I gave a double red cell donation last Monday at O.L. Mt. Carmel in West Pittston. Unfortunately I got a very bad headache on Tuesday & another one on Thursday. When I used to work at Citicorp in Farmingdale & Melville, around twenty years ago, Carole, who was then my supervisor, always complained that every time I gave blood I got a violent headache the next day. Unfortunately it still happens. Yesterday I went to Barnes & Noble in Wilkes_Barre. It was one of my usual trips over there. When I went to Price Chopper at the Midway, to get the papers & a loaf of French bread, there were a bunch of fire trucks & police cars there to help the local high school celebrate their having one the biggest game of the year. They led a big procession up Wyoming Avenue. Thanksgiving is now only ten days away. Recently I got my dues notice from Wayne at the Luzerne council of the Knights of Columbus. It's that time of year again.

YET ANOTHER MIDDLETOWN TRIP

I went to yet another Carmelite day of recollection on Saturday morning. It was, as always, in Middletown, N.Y. I drove, in a summer shower, to the Little Flower Manor in Wilkes_Barre to meet Rosemary. From there, she drove to a local school in Clark Summit where we got together with Barbara to go the rest of the way. As always Fr. Mario, Theresa, & Jim & Rosemary were there with all the other regulars. I was especially happy to be able to see Marie, Carmela & Debbie from the Seaford chapter too. They told me all about Fr. Stanislaus & Fr. Vitalis. As always they served a really nice continental breakfast & lunch. There were lots of things on sale from the book store too. It was quite an absolutely exhausting day though. I woke up with a very annoying headache on Sunday. The weather on the way home was slightly weird. It rained for a few seconds at a time in certain places only over specific spots. I've hardly ever seen anything like that before. Rich, the oldest of the Ronald's three kids, turned forty on Saturday. I went to the last night of O.L. Mt. Carmel's annual feast last night. While I was there I won twenty dollars on the money wheel. Fr. Phil & Fr. Jackson were there. Fr. Phil said that our next meeting would probably be sometime next month. Yesterday Danny showed up with a picture, for my parents, of all the kin from the Fourth of July. He wanted to know if Gino & Michelle were home because he had one for Aunt Helen. He also found a pair of sunglasses & a watch that one of the kids appeared to have forgotten to take home.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY

This past Saturday morning I went to the monthly Carmelite meeting in Wilkes_Barre. Seven people showed up. After the meeting Sr. Mary Robert opened up the gift shop for us. I promised Barbara that I shall be going back to Middletown, N.Y. again on July 10 for another day of recollection. Now I know exactly how to get there really easily. Father's Day went really well this past Sunday. My parents & I went out with Uncle Frankie & Fran. We went to a Chinese restaurant in one of the malls in Wilkes_Barre. It's one of those all-you-can-eat places & we all really overdid it. I've never really liked Chinese food but nobody ever bothers to listen to me. After we left Uncle Frankie, Fran & my mother went to Wegmann's for a while. My father & I went straight home. Mary Anne & the kids all called up to say happy Father's Day. I got a very violent headache at night after I went to bed. I lectored at 5:00 Mass on Saturday. Starting on July 7, Fr. Leo McKernan will be our new pastor. As of November we shall even have a new name for the parish. From then on it will be named St. Monica's. Yesterday was cousin Larry's birthday so I made sure I sent him a happy birthday e mail. The July 4 weekend is coming up very soon so many of my relatives will be getting ready for a big time. It's the fiftieth anniversary this year.

NICE DAY

Today, so far, is turning out to be a truly nice day. I didn't get a headache last night so I woke up in about as good a mood as I'm usually in anyway. It's time now for the last Friday dance of the month. June starts on Sunday. Lately I've had this extremely seriously annoying cough. It gets me more than a little aggravated. I assume that it's just a hay fever thing. Of course I made sure I watched "I Love Lucy" & "Who Wants to Be A Millionaire" yesterday. Everybody else always rambles on about those trendy shows. I can't be bothered with any of them though. I'm about the single least hep guy on the planet & I quite enjoy it that way. Cathleen's back from her Mexican vacation. She says it was quite enjoyable. Of course the closest I've ever come to visiting a foreign country was Canada. I've been there a few times. I ate pizza yesterday for supper. Sizzle Pie is everybody's favorite pizzeria around here. I drank coffee very much later than I ever should have. 7:00 p.m. coffee isn't quite the mark of such an exceptionally good idea. Of course I never have been able to control my addiction to the demon brew. Yesterday was my eighth grade history teacher's birthday. Happy birthday, Burt Koza. John F. Kennedy, thirty fifth president, would have been ninety one years old yesterday if he could have lived until now.

Holy Saturday

All has been working out quite well so far. Fran came over for a few minutes today. I've gone for my second day in a row headache_free. It's ice cold but not raining, snowing or otherwise bad weather_wise. I got a card from Daren's mother. I'll be looking forward to all the cute as a bug's ear decorations, food etc. but I dread overdoing the food. Hey, I see even Jo Anne, one of the little red haired girls, has gotten back to sending e mail lately. Lots of times she's too busy. Although I've never particularly enjoyed shaving, neither have I ever especially relished the thought of having to traipse around looking like a derelict or bum, so I've been trying to get into the habit of shaving every day. Lately I have been doing quite well. My appearance, since I've never been able to grow a decent mustache, beard etc. is much better clean shaven.