COLD WEATHER

Thanksgiving worked out quite well. Uncle Frankie, Fran & Lisa showed up. So did Mary Anne, Steve & all the kids. Sam's & Bridget's braces are finally gone. Michael & I got into our inevitable debates about theology & philosophy. It was a fattening time for one & all. To my chagrin there are still leftovers even now. Mary Anne & family only stayed from Wednesday until Saturday because Steve's band, Spectrum, had to play at a concert in Long Beach on Saturday night. I recently finished reading a biography of John Henry Cardinal (now Blessed) Newman, by Fr. Ian T. Ker, & have started re~reading Virgil's "Aeneid". Lately on TV I've been watching old shows like "Peter Gunn", "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" & "Daniel Boone". I used to like "Daniel Boone" & "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" when I was in grammar school but can't remember "Peter Gunn" except by reputation, except for the really famous instrumental, by Duane Eddy, that's the theme song. Herschel Bernardi was in it. I remember him from "Arnie". I also watch a lot of old movies on channel 72. After a long spell of exceptionally inexplicably nice weather we've gotten lots of cold & rain lately. It even snowed a bit on Thanksgiving. My headaches really kick in when the weather changes. Uncle Frankie's been visiting Fran yet again for the past few days. That means I'm back to picking up his mail each day. Wayne, from my Knights of Columbus council in Luzerne, recently sent me a notice about my dues. I shall have to get them paid soon.

ALLELUIA!

Easter most certainly went quite well. We all went to Mass at noon at St. Mary of the Isle in Long Beach. It was in the hall next door to the church. The place was absolutely packed. My claustrophobia most certainly kicked in. A very large number of the people were Hispanic, Filipino & Korean. To my chagrin, the cantor couldn't sing her way out of a brown paper bag. After we got home, we spent the entire remainder of the day pigging out. We ate pork, lamb, Brussels sprouts & baked potatoes among other things. There were also all sorts of candy & pastries. Steve & I went to the boardwalk between six & seven o'clock. He jogged & I walked. It was a bit on the cold, windy side for me but I really enjoyed it. It's sort of like the levee over by the Midway in Wyoming. Michael has been taking philosophy courses lately. He & I got into a nice intense debate. We talked about the nature of reality, the right relationship of faith & reason & all sorts of other artsy_fartsy kinds of things. Many thanks to Profs. Friel, Phelan, Groner & Soupios who all dared to try to teach me philosophy. If there's one class I could really be counted on to go entirely overboard in, it's philosophy. Because I haven't taken any classes lately, I was really forced to dust off that section of my brain cells. I try to keep up with things like this by reading books, periodicals, etc. that deal with this kind of subject matter.