GAS PRICES UP AGAIN

This morning, on my way home from 8:00 Mass at St. John the Evangelist in Pittston, I couldn't help noticing that all the local gas prices have been going up again. It's the first time this has happened in the past many months. Mary Anne called yesterday with all the latest news from New York. Steve, Sam, Mike & I are on each other's Facebook friends lists anyway so I can always keep up with them that way too. Uncle Frankie has been ill lately so we haven't seen him but my parents have been in touch with him on the phone. Amazingly, the W era will very soon be over. As of right now, we are only two weeks away from a new administration in the White House. I've been trying to cut down on junk food now that the Christmas & New Year's pig out time is over with. It's kind of a bit of a New Year's resolution. Usually I can be counted on to do quite a reasonably good job of avoiding going out of my way to get any food that isn't readily available. It's only when it's always there & I can't possibly avoid it, that I'm in big trouble. According to cousin Gary's daughter, Tina, today is La Befana, the very last day of the Christmas season. That's the name of the Italian celebration.

COLD BUT NICE

The weekend worked out well. I lectored at 10:00 Mass yesterday & went to the Holy Hour at 4:00. Amazingly I just got my second hit, on Wheresgeorge, from California. Usually I get stuck with only nearby states. My Facebook account has really been getting quite seriously hyperactive these days. Cousin Mark just joined. So far it's still full of mostly kin & St. Gabriel's people. This month, unfortunately, I shall have to get my car inspected. I made sure, over the weekend, that I opened my glove compartment to see if my registration & insurance cards are both still there. Without them I'd be in extremely seriously big trouble because they're both mandatory. Car troubles have always gotten me crazy. They make you stay in those places all day long surrounded by boring TV shows & periodicals, all about sports, which I've never enjoyed. Yesterday I made sure I read more of Shakespeare's "Cymbeline". It's extremely hard to figure out.

QUIET WEEKEND

Nothing much has been happening so far this weekend. I have to lector tomorrow at 10:00 Mass. Of course that may change by the time I get home. Lately there always seems to be someone trying to get me to cover at another Mass. My Facebook account has still been getting lots of mileage, especially from my Queens crowd. Ruthie just accepted my friends invitation. My parents are still quite busily cleaning up all the mess from the Christmas decorations. It's an extremely annoying chore because of all the boxes, decorations & other things that have to be put away again until next year. Lately I've been trying to see as many James Bond movies as possible. Yesterday I started watching "Die Another Day". It features Halle Berry as 007's love interest, Judy Dench as M, & Madonna sings the title song. The weather, so far, hasn't been so bad lately. Today, even early in the morning, it was quite clear & only as cold as it should be expected to be anyway. Yesterday was very cold but there wasn't any more rain or snow.

HAPPY 2009!

New Year's Eve & Day went quite well though they were both entirely too fattening. There was a really nice snowfall New Year's Eve but it didn't amount to anything bad. I didn't bother to do any partying this year. I just pigged out on a meal with my parents & Uncle Frankie. Of course, he showed up with quite a whole lot of candy & cookies. The next morning, before 10:00 Mass at O.L. Sorrows, as I was getting gas & the paper at the Shoemaker Ave. Unimart, I ran into him at the gas pumps. He seems to be recuperating quite well, so far, from his cold. Over the course of both days, unlike many people I didn't bother to watch any sports. I spent the time watching reruns of "The Twilight Zone" & "The Honeymooners". They've always been two of my very favorite shows. Of course, many of the inevitable phone calls. Aunt Lauren, Mary Anne, Fran, & Rose, among others called. Today we get to do the very first ever Friday dance of the new year.

BOND...JAMES BOND

Yesterday I saw the classic James Bond movie, "From Russia With Love". Sean Connery starred in it. In this Bond movie, the character of M was played by a man. In last year's "Casino Royale", Dame Judi Dench played the part. Uncle Frankie's sore throat seems to be lingering for a while. He's still at home ill & hasn't bothered to visit us lately. The price of the Citizen's Voice has gone back up to a half dollar so I now frequently get it at the machine instead of the store again. Tomorrow's New Year's Eve. I have no plans to do any partying. I enjoy a good party as much as anyone but don't really go crazy over things like that. My New Year's bash will more probably consist of watching reruns of "The Honeymooners" on that WGN channel 96. My parents spent all this morning cleaning the really disgusting oven & other things in the kitchen. That kind of chore has always been quite an absolute nightmare unfortunately. Very many years worth of dirt is hard to handle.

FIVE GOLD RINGS!

It's the Fifth Day of Christmas, as in the very famous carol. The weekend worked out quite well. Fran went home early yesterday as far as I know. Yesterday I finished "Romeo & Juliet" & started reading "Cymbeline" for the first time. Surprisingly I can't remember ever having read it before. I got a message from Cheryl on Saturday asking me to cover for her at 5:00 Mass but by the time I finally got back to her she had already asked Mary to do it. After Latin Mass yesterday in Pittston there were lots of new calendars there for 2009, reminding me that the new year is right around the corner. On Saturday, right after Mass, I went to Blockbusters in Pittston to take advantage of my gift card. I got a DVD Of Mel Gibson's "Apocalypto". I also ended up, to my chagrin, getting a pretty scary reminder of just exactly how slow & sluggish these Pa. drivers are. Everything was constant stop & go garbage.

QUIET AGAIN!

Now that the Christmas partying has ended things are back to being merely quietly dysfunctional around here again. Yesterday I made sure I took advantage of the Blockbusters gift card I got from the kids. I went to the store over at the Insalaco's shopping center in West Pittston & got a couple of James Bond movies, "From Russia With Love" & the much more recent "Casino Royale". It turns out that Lotte Lenya was a real person. I've always known of her as a character in "Mack the Knife" but she appeared in "From Russia With Love". "Casino Royale" was also the name of a late 1960's Bond parody starring David Niven. From now on, exactly because Christmas was so fattening, I'm really looking forward to cutting down on food for quite a while. New Year beckons. I don't usually bother to party for the new year in any significant way.

ON THE FEAST OF STEPHEN!

Today is the feast of St. Stephen, the Church's proto martyr, who has the distinction of being referred to in what is perhaps the only known song about a guy named Wenceslaus. Christmas worked out quite well this year. Unlike Bridget's incident last year, nobody was rushed to the hospital. Aunt Norma's been improving. As always it was entirely too fattening. On Christmas Eve, Uncle Frankie, Fran & Lisa visited us. On Christmas Day we visited them. Cathleen, as always, forgot to send me the California refrigerator magnet she got me last year. Last night we watched "Napoleon Dynamite" so today we can do the official Napoleon Dynamite dance as our Friday dance. Steve & I went to Dick's this morning to get some skiing clothes for Michael. The weather was an absolute nightmare on Christmas Eve but it's been getting better since then. There was a bitter cold rain & fog all day.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I'm especially happy this year to be able, for the very first time in many decades, to say a rousing merry Christmas to my St. Gabriel's friends, Dennis, & especially Earl. Earl & I were always the very best of friends as kids. We've all been exchanging lots of pictures, some recent & some quite seriously old. I found Gerard from those days too. My father & I went shopping this morning. The traffic, of course, was quite an absolute nightmare. At Foodtown in Kingston, they even have a stand outside where they sell all the fish. It's bitter cold out there unfortunately. Uncle Frankie came over for a while yesterday. I've finished "The Merchant of Venice" & started "Romeo & Juliet". Unfortunately Larry called yesterday. Aunt Norma will be needing lots of prayers.

COOKIES

The weather this past weekend was absolutely out of control. Snow & ice came down for most of Saturday & there was another snowfall for a couple of hours yesterday morning. Chet called to tell me the Latin Mass was cancelled. On my way home from 5:00 Mass on Saturday, the traffic was so congested it took me over ten minutes just to get a few hundred feet down Eighth Street. Fran, one of the old neighbors from Lindenhurst, called. It's good to keep up with the gossip from over there. Dennis has been showing me some old pictures from our St. Gabriel's days. There are a few of kids in our fourth grade class with Miss Elsie Petrocelli, our teacher that year. Amazingly, although it's been very many decades since then, I can still recoginze most of the faces. There are also a few pictures on the site of faculty & other classes. This morning one of the church ladies gave me a can of home baked cookies for Christmas. She does a lot of baking each Christmas for people.