NICE SPRING SO FAR

Lately the weather's been getting better. Let's just hope spring keeps going like this. As long as it's not raining I'm happy. Snow now would be completely insane. I made sure I sent Karen a card this morning. She needs lots of encouragement these days considering her circumstances. There's been no news from Uncle Frankie or Fran lately. As far as I know they've been doing well. I found out in church that that lady who got sick a couple of days ago has been recuperating quite well lately. Gary, one of my Newblog & Netpotion connections, just had a heart attack. It took him three days to figure out what was really going on. He's only forty one years old. He's in a hospital somewhere over in Missouri. He always really likes to listen to KTOZ_FM, the radio station that's known over there as Alice955. Everybody's been sending them e mails wishing him a nice speedy recovery. He's a neat guy who, at least when healthy, always seems to have a spunky streak. Let's just hope it sticks with him. Yesterday I finished reading "Pride & Prejudice" & got started on "Sense & Sensibility". Lately Obama, Hillary Clinton & McCain are all over the place. I've really never been all that especially interested in keeping track of things like this, unfortunately, but it's a necessary evil. Soon W. will be out the door, put to pasture. I really can't say I expect any of them to be the least bit better unfortunately.

SPRING DAY

Today the weather's been especially nice, but a little on the cool side, so far. Marian, one of the church ladies, got very violently sick right at the very end of 9:00 a.m. Mass yesterday. She didn't show up today so I'm assuming she's still unable to get out. I put the site for Steve's jazz band on my netpotion website & they've been most certainly getting quite a very favorable response so far from all my connections. I also asked the netpotion people about what they thought of the word "ain't". It occurred to me yesterday that there really isn't any other legitimately available alternative for how to say the contraction of "am not". I've always been compulsively articulate so it gets me more than slightly miffed when someone tries to excuse inappropriate use of the English language. I'm down to my last few dozen pages of the Jane Austen book I've been reading. Frequently it goes epistolary on me. I have to read all the fine print in the letters written by certain characters. All the tiny little print gets me crazy. Yesterday I made sure I called the local Catholic radio station to get reservations to see Fr. Donald Calloway, M.I.C. He's a priest with the Congregation of Marians. I met him twice when I visited them at their scholasticate in Washington D.C. during the 1990's. I spent a few days there each time. That was when Fr. Larry Dunn & Fr. David Lord were their vocation directors.

A VISIT TO KRISSYKRISSYKRISSY'S

Everybody made the trip except me. Having spent much of Saturday & some of yesterday with a bad headache, I blew my chance to go to Jim Thorpe to see KrissyKrissyKrissy. I made sure I finished the dvd of "The Guardian" which she lent me a few months ago. My parents gave it back to her when they & other kinfolk spent the day visiting her. My mother went down there with some relatives & My father & Uncle Frankie went down right after the big game. Unfortunately the latest news story around here is about anti.Semitic vandalism against a Wilkes_Barre synagogue. Two teenaged girls, members of a Nazi cult, put anti.Semitic graffiti on Congregation Ohav Zedek. We can't let this garbage go on. Wilkes_Barre's already a bad enough area anyway. The weather's been very nice lately but a smidge colder than I'd like it. We just got some e mails from Mary Ellen & Vinnie about Karen's latest circumstances. We shall all have to keep in touch with her. My brother in law, Steve, has a jazz band & a Myspace site. I should most certainly hope everybody listens to them. Their username is Spectrumjazzco. Yesterday I was looking through a book I have about the Beatles. It was really interesting to get a reminder of exactly who wrote their songs & how things were done in those days.

ICY COLD RAINY DAY

Nothing much has been happening these days. April has been more bad weather than good so far. Today is very damp & raining. Uncle Frankie came over for a while yesterday. He & my father have been making plans lately to go see the local yokel version of the Yankees. The famed Bronx Bombers have a stadium somewhere between here & Scranton for their minor league team. Yesterday I made sure I read over fifty more pages of that Jane Austen book. I've always considered myself a reasonably well_read literate sort of guy. Lately, though, I've been going through librarything & shelfari & finding out the hard way that there are all sorts of books, plays, novels, etc. that I just haven't gotten around to so far. There are even very many I've literally never even heard of. I'm trying to get my nephew Michael to check out their philosophy groups. He's been taking a philosophy class this semester. Today's the fortieth anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. I remember those days. I was at RFK's last St. Patrick's day parade that year. Shortly after King, he ended up dying the same way. Of course, I was only a young un in elementary school way back then.

INTERNET BACK

For the first time this week, Wyoming's internet is back. The Hoyt Library's really a nice place too but this is the one I've gotten used to & I don't like change. It's also just plain closer. Yesterday I took a ride over to the Wyoming Valley Mall. It's a good place to walk around in for the sake of exercise. As always I found a nice easy space in the parking lot. The weather was really nice. On the way home I ended up taking Rte 81. That road's quite an absolute panic. I'm not used to it so it still gets my nerves a bit frazzled but it seems to get a bit easier each time with practice. I really have to floor it because even though the official speed limit is 65 m.p.h. the reality of it all is much faster. Uncle Frankie came over for a while yesterday. He ate with us. I started reading "Pride & Prejudice" yesterday. I read it quite a while ago & decided I wanted to check it out again. I found out that Barack Obama, of the Democratic Party's ultra pro abortion presidential candidates, doesn't want either of his daughters to be punished with a baby. This remark goes to show, as far as I'm concerned, the Left Wing's true face & colors. Since the weather's been getting nice lately, I've been hoping to get started on walking again over by the Midway. I most certainly need exercise.

APRIL, FOOL

Once again, I'm stranded over at Kingston's library. The Wyoming librarian told me that the internet is still down over there. It's annoying & frustrating but not all that bad a deal. Amazingly, there were snow flurries this morning, April or no April. I'm absolutely sick & tired of it all. Lately I've been reading the poetry of Auden, Yeats & Blake. I've also been reading "The Iliad" & a few books about the Catholic Church. Each one only gets a little at a time, of course, or I'll end up way over my head. Mary Anne called yesterday. All most certainly appears to be going well so far over there. Uncle Frankie came over for a while yesterday. Because there was an electrical storm that started a little after 7:00 p.m., though, he ended up having to rush right back on home to take care of the dog. April Fool's Day went quite well with all the predictably obnoxious behavior. It's sort of a miniature Halloween. I think there's even a bit of a traditional connection between them, folklore_wise, too. Yesterday Hillary Clinton & Barack Obama were both in Wilkes_Barre. I don't like either of them. John McCain, to my chagrin, is no peach either. I'm most certainly not looking forward to the big day in November because there's just no right answer.

PORK CHOPS & APPLE SAUCE....& MAYONNAISE

It's an especially nice spring day. The weekend was nice. Sunday was Divine Mercy Sunday. I went, after the Latin Mass, to Mass at the Oblates' seminary. It was crowded but all went well. Yesterday was icy bitter cold & pouring. I gave blood at the ambulance place on Maffett St. in Plains. Nicole was the phlebotomist who took it from me. There was no crowd & I had a 4:00 appointment so unlike most times, I was in & out surprisingly fast. Instead of my N.Y. KofC council's full meal, all I got here were cupcakes & cherry Kool.Aid & Egg McMuffin coupon. I couldn't give a double red cell donation because my iron count was too low. That's happened before. They gave me my druthers among different colors of bandages & I took red. The internet's been down in Wyoming's library ever since yesterday. I'm at the Hoyt Library in Kingston today. For the past couple of nights, I've had weird dreams. Last night I dreamed I got into an accident in a truck, which is weird because I've never driven a truck. It happened in a NY City like place which is weird because I don't go there much. It was because I put a cover over the windshield which is weird because I wouldn't dare even think of doing that. Two nights ago, I dreamed I was in a public place, trying to play a nice twelve.string acoustic guitar. I noticed that the two lowest strings were missing. Before I knew what hit me, some woman came by & took it from me, claiming that it was hers. Uncle Frankie came over yesterday for a while. We ate pork chops & latkes. I put apple sauce & mayonnaise on mine. On Saturday night, I finished watching "Lost Horizon". My mother went to the doctor for tests today. The last time I heard, Bridget's tests were taking a while.

COLD MORNING

It's been very cold but very nice so far this morning. I haven't been able to help noticing that spring or no spring, the trees don't have any leaves yet. I heard the Bangles' version of Simon & Garfunkel's "Hazy Shade of Winter" on my car radio this morning. In a way, it's still appropriate. We haven't seen Uncle Frankie lately. He seems to go on streaks. Last night I went to St. Anthony of Padua for the Divine Mercy novena. I heard from Step by Step about a job. The woman I spoke to said exactly was I expected anyway. She wanted me to fill out my application & take it to their place on Kidder St. in Wilkes_Barre. She says it's by the mall & Toys R'Us. I made sure I checked out their official website. Bridget's big doctor appointment was a couple of days ago. All seems to be going quite well with her so far, especially considering how she felt on Christmas. Yesterday I read in the paper that Johnny Crawford, who played Chuck Connors' son on "The Rifleman", is now a really big name in big_band era music. He's also engaged to Kim Darby, the nerd girl from "True Grit". That's our official trivia thingy for this weekend.

VERY COLD & RAINY

Today, it's a miserable day so far, though it may get better later on. The rain is very cold & anything but spring_like. So far the weekend doesn't seem to have anything distinctive in store for us, though I have to lector tomorrow, with Laura, at 5:00 p.m. Mass. So far, I've gotten only two answers from my resumes at the job fair. They're both for places that help the handicapped. Today's the day for our legendary Friday dance. Limber up the gams & let's get hoofing. I'm still reading "The Iliad". It's more than a little thick & tough on my brain cells. The references are obscure. I try to read at least thirty pages a day but it's hard because it's not an easy style to handle. I'm still putting as many of my books as possible on Shelfari & Librarything. The high school football season has started up again. I overheard my father & Uncle Frankie say recently that they'll be back to their Friday night jaunts pretty soon. I've never liked sports so I'm always exempt from things like that. Fran is still recuperating from her broken gam. All is still about the same as ever.

NICE DAY SO FAR

The weather today is nice but fairly cold. Last night I read more of "The Iliad". Uncle Frankie came over for a while. I went to 7:00 Mass at St. Anthony of Padua. It was just a typical night. After Mass, I stopped at CVS on Wyoming Ave. for 2% milk & bread. I only ended up being able to get a gallon of milk. It cost around $3.50. On top of that the lady at the counter insisted that because it was Gerrity's brand & they don't sell Gerrity's_well then why in Sam Hill did they have it there, duh!_I'd have to put it back & take another. I did. There was no bread. That forced me to go to Turkey Hill down the road apiece. I spent around another $3.50 for rye bread. It was either that or twelve.grain. Their selection absolutely stunk. I just noticed, on Netpotion, that Rainee & I both live in the same general area. She was quite stunned to find out that one of her connections could possibly live in the same area as she. Unlike the past few days, there was 9:00 Mass at St. Joseph's this morning. I went to confession right before Mass.