THE BIG DAY APPROACHES

Stacy's & Mike's big day is just around the corner. I haven't gotten a chance to go to their neck of the woods in quite a while, so it should be quite an especially interesting trip for me. This morning, at 9:00 a.m. Mass at O.L.Sorrows, Rocco asked me if I could help him lector this Saturday night at 5:00 p.m. Mass. The girl who was scheduled to show up is not available. That happens at O.L.P.H. quite frequently, right, Eddie? Anyway, I was forced to tell him that I'm not available this weekend either. Last night & this morning it rained. It's damp & foggy. Fran & Uncle Frankie came over last night. They stuck around for a little while. She left a little while before he did. Even though Krissy KrissyKrissy's gone now, they're still among the regulars. I just finished reading a little book about, & mostly by Mother Theresa & her sisters. I'm also re_reading A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. It has a foreword by Walker Percy. It's a really good book & follows in the example, sort of, of Don Quijote.

HOT WEATHER

Summer is still on a very hot streak. Mike's & Stacy's wedding is just a smidge around the corner & at least we're finally over the suspense over exactly who will end up with coins 105 & 106. I haven't heard, just yet, of an official decision about Matt's & Brianne's baby's name. I'm not looking forward to the big trip with all the traffic but the wedding will most probably turn out to be quite a hoot. The library's been hysterically crowded lately. Yesterday I even got kicked out after only an hour. I finally took advantage of an excuse to go check out the library in Plains. The good news is that it's a really nice, quiet environment. The bad news is the computer_yes, folks, there's a grand total of exactly one_is obscenely slow. The library's located on a steep hill in the same shoe box of a building as a few government agencies & the fire department. Dave came over today. He's quite a good handyman. Tom also showed up with a veritable plethora of neighborhood gossip. I know him from the Holy Name Society. Fran will be turning fifty in a couple of weeks. That's bad news because she's a grand total of only around two years older than I_duh!

NICE DAY SO FAR

Today is the Feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. My kinfolk are rambling on lately because of Brianne's & Matt's little boy. Mike & Stacy get their turn to be the life of the party in a few days. I spent both nights of the weekend, Saturday & last night, at O.L.Mt. Carmel's annual feast. I only spent an hour_ish over there each night, but it was really nice. I got food & played with the money wheel. It was very crowded because it's a small parish. The traffic was pure hell. I most certainly seemed to have been cured of all my claustrophobia, anxiety attacks etc. If that kind of aggravation didn't drive me stark raging nuts, nothing ever will at this rate. There were left turns from hell. In New York I worked at St. John's & O.L.P.H.'s feasts. Over here I signed up for O.L.Sorrows one day feast. Saturday I thought I'd lost my library card but it was in another part of my wallet.

IT'S BASTILLE DAY & ORANGE DAY

Today is Bastille Day(1790) in France. July 12 is also the anniversary of Orangeman's Day in England. These are two very proud & happy days for anti_Catholics. I just got great news from the Ronald. Brianne & Matt are now the parents of our brand spankin' newest little kinfolk, no. 105. Mike, Stacy's hubby_to_be, will have to get the 106 spot. I went to Mass at O.L.Mt. Carmel this morning at 7:30. There was confusion all over because their parking lot is entirely spoken for because of the feast. It will last for a few days. My Carmelite meeting is for next week_I accidentally said yesterday that it would be today. I can't go, though, because Mike & Stacy are getting married in Royersford. For over a year, I've been a regular on Newblog. In all that time, I ended up with twenty one people on my friends list, only two of whom, Lotus & Cindi, ever really kept in touch. Lotus gave me at least one very friendly hello a week, & Cindi & I were constantly rambling on at each other. I happened to have mentioned to Cindi a couple of days ago that that struck me as a distinctive deal. Of course, she got a million other Newbloggers rambling on at me. Now I have to keep track of many people.

HAPPY FREAKY FRIDAY

Well, folks, welcome back to yet a whole nother Friday 13. I don't happen to think they're all that unlucky but alas, the day is still young. I gave the secretary at my church the form for the Harvest Festival in September. It's on my birthday this year. That should be really neat. Tomorrow I have to go to a Carmelite meeting at nine a.m. It should be really interesting because Mary Elizabeth & at least one of the others are supposed to be getting professed. I made sure I did all the stuff I was supposed to do for the homework they want. I even watched the EWTN special about St. Teresa of the Andes last night. I completely missed the first few episodes but I caught the fourth.

LADY BIRD FLIES AWAY

Alas, yet a whole nother significant 60's icon has bitten the dust. As with Gerald R. Ford, who was born the very same year as she, Lady Bird Johnson, wife of Landslide Lyndon, the thirty sixth U.S. president, she just never seemed to want to get it over with. Today I walked two & a half miles & cut the grass. It's a wonder I can still walk & chew gum at the same time after all that strain, but I am improving. Eddie's Beatle thingy doesn't work on my CD player so I shall have to ask the librarian for help. There was a crowd at the library when I first showed up today so I was kept waiting for a while. It's a very nice sunny day out today. Yesterday it was raining & miserable. My father & I went over to Aunt Ann's because she wanted to get rid of all Uncle Joe's old clothers. I'll say one thing for him. He was most certainly quite the dapper dresser. Java & Nunziata are still around.

MUGGY RAINY DAY

Today the weather is, so far, nothing to brag about. The sky is one humongous cloud. It will most probably start pouring sooner or later. I went over to Our Lady of Sorrows this morning & got my new schedule. I've never met more than a few of the people I shall be working with from now on. Bridget seems to have forgotten to give me back my dvd of "The Lord of the Rings". Of course, I've already seen it by now anyway. Tolkien feeds my obsessively pro.western culture side. He's one of the true greats but great Caesar's ghost none of his current fans appears to understand why. I get a good laugh at all those liberals just a_trudgin' over to the movie theatres & book stores to check out his stuff. Liberal Tolkien fan is like the ultimate in hyper oxymorons. His worldview is so anathema to theirs it's like insane_o. My bones, muscles, etc. are all sore these days but I reckon I can attribute that to a rough weekend.

THE TRIP IS FINALLY OVER WITH

The long, hot arduous trip is finally & at last over with. I've never liked traffic & heat but it all worked out quite well. Yesterday I spent the day working with Steve in his shed, even though all he really did was clean up & move tons of old stuff around. I pretty much ended up helping with only relatively little things. The weather then, as now, was unbearably hot. I took a walk for a while over into the direction of Rockville Centre & got as far as the Blockbuster on their main street. I considered going to the beach but the lights & traffic got me paranoid. Besides that, I made sure I checked my e mail & played the guitar. I was quite surprised a couple of days ago when I made sure I took a smidge of each of the different kinds of hooch. Sometimes I get nightmarishly violently sick from just a brewski or two, especially in all that heat. This time around, though, I did quite well & got absolutely no trouble whatsoever. Michael, Sam & Bridget have most certainly turned out to be quite an interesting bunch of characters. They've been really busy with friends, school(not now because it's summer) & everything else that goes with being a young un.

RIDE HOG & PICK UP CHICKS

My parents have gone over to our old stomping grounds to see their friends Dotty & Anne. Mary Anne's at work. Steve originally wanted to go out jogging but now he wants to wait a while because of the heat. He wants me to help him clean out the shed today. Michael's still fast asleep. It's nice & quiet around here & I'm taking every possible advantage of all this rare & fabulous concept known as peace & quiet. Bridget warned me this morning that it would be very warm today. Laura just sent me an email telling me about Sir Paul's "Chaos & Creation In the Backyard" special. This must be a quite major Beatle time for me.

BUSY NEW YORK TRIP

Today was the big party for Gary's & Maria's daughter Tina. She recently graduated from high school. This week is also Maria's birthday. There were food & hooch galore, but then what else is new? Dino & Roseanne, Joe Jag, Adrian & Josephine, as well as all the other predictable classic characters made their inevitable appearance. I've known many of them since around 1980. We got here yesterday. Bridget & I sat in the back of the car & spent most of the trip watching that Robin Williams movie, "Mrs. Doubtfire". I really enjoyed it. Bridget got many very nice souvenirs from that holy roller camp she attended. The weather has been very hot both days. Today, on the way over to the party, my father dropped me off at Eddie's house first. Eddie gave me a Beatles' CD. I most certainly got quite a kick out of seeing a few of my Lindenhurst connections again. It's impossible to believe, but Msgr. Hamilton, believe it or not, is no longer in charge at O.L.P.H. Father John is gone back to India. The old neighborhood still looks really nice. I go way back in that area & have many really nice memories over there. When I later told Gary about the Beatles' CD, he gave me a Beatles' DVD. I accidentally cut my hand on it, but Maria supplied the much needed first aid. Well, folks, shucks & wazoo but it's finally & at last the end of an insanely long & arduously confusing era of my life story. Our legendary KrissyKrissyKrissy has moved out. Oddly, I do believe I shall miss her never_endingly confusing antics. We wish all the very best of luck to her & big & little Eddies.