ARM HURTS

Lately things have not been terribly eventful. Uncle Frankie came over for a while yesterday. The weather is a bit cooler today than it's been lately but still very nice. May Day is just around the corner. I can't wait for all the really interesting things up ahead of us once we eventually get moving during the warm months. For some strange reason my left arm has been in extremely bad pain ever since the middle of the night. I shall assume that it's because of the humid weather we've been having lately. Even this is much better than a headache. I'm still reading those books by & about St. John of the Cross. Yesterday the Mayor of Wyoming came to the door advertising for a new fund raiser. In Lindenhurst I got a chance to meet three people who've been mayor. That's because over there the mayor always seems to turn out to be somebody who goes to O.L.P.H.

HEAT WAVE

I'm still reading those books by & about St. John of the Cross. They're entirely too politically correct for me & it really gets on my nerves. They're ultimately legitimate though. I just have to cut through all the useless things to get to the gist of everything. I have been checking out my Facebook connections on quite a regular basis lately. The Queens people seem a little on the quiet side as a general rule but my kin can usually be counted on to get quite involved with things these days. Mary Anne called last night. Nothing seems to be new out there. My mother's friend Dottie called her over the weekend. Lately I've been noticing that Spongebob Squarepants is absolutely constantly on Channel 47. So far the weather recently has been getting consistently hotter & hotter. A lot of people don't like it. My only complaint is that I don't have any air conditioning in my car. The contest for National Pro_Life T.Shirt Week starts today & lasts until May 4. Please get involved starting right now.

AND THEN THERE'S...RIGHT ON, MAUDE!

This weekend was quite nice. I didn't end up lectoring in church. I wasn't already on the schedule & oddly enough, no one bothered to nudge me into anything. Uncle Frankie, Fran & Lisa came over on Saturday & we ate with them yesterday. Unfortunately I ate entirely too much each time. I've been noticing that I've been gaining more than a little bit of weight lately. Over the course of the past few days, I've been re_reading some books I have by & about St. John of the Cross. In order to become as knowledgeable as possible about the Carmelites, it always helps to keep up with all the San Juanist literature. Last night, after all was over with, I was so wiped out I went to bed with a bit of a headache. Lately I haven't gotten any headaches so it was a bit of a disappointment. I took a chance & didn't bother to take a pill for it. Conveniently it went away overnight. My parents went to Bon Ton, in the Midway, this morning to take advantage of a big sale there. Unfortunately Beatrice Arthur died over the weekend. Her Norman Lear_ish approach to things got me nuts but she was a really big talent.

WARM WEATHER ROCKS!

The library was closed yesterday because John, the librarian, was unavoidably forced to go someplace work related. The Hoyt Library was closed too because of something that's going on with a new extension to their grounds. I went to Barnes & Noble. That's always been one of my very favorite places. Borders is even better but it's way over in Scranton. Today we wish a very happy first birthday to Natalie, Krissykrissykrissy's daughter. Woody Allen's movies have always been among my very favorites. Yesterday I saw "Bananas" again. I couldn't help noticing a lot of familiar faces who were in it. I just noticed that Pp. Benedict XVI will be canonizing my fellow Carmelite, Bl. Nuno Alvares Pereira (1360_1431) tomorrow. The Portuguese Religious will be among several blesseds who will be canonized in tomorrow's consistory. The temperature should be in the eighties today & I shall really be looking forward to it. Yesterday I got three letters from the blood drive people. On May 6, 7 & 8 there will be blood drives in the area. I get my pick this time. Two are in Pittston & one in Exeter.

NICER WEATHER

Not much has been happening lately around here. Mary Anne called last night with all the latest news from New York. Fortunately I've noticed lately that I haven't been getting any headaches these days. Yesterday I took a short Spanish quiz on the foreign language site, Livemocha. Amazingly I got most of the questions right. Last night I ate an apple. I have no idea why. I've most certainly not, recently anyway, been in the habit of eating fruit. I must have gotten stricken by an impulse from out of nowhere. Cathleen just told me that the weather in California is 96 degrees today. I heard on the Weather Channel yesterday that the western U.S. has been going through quite a warm spell these days. Today's weather is quite nice but yesterday's was one of our entirely too frequent miserable days. Yesterday I started re_reading "The Living Flame Of Love" by St. John of the Cross. That could come in quite handy at the Carmelite meetings one of these days.

RAINY DAYS & MONDAYS ALWAYS GET ME DOWN

It was a very nice weekend. The Carmelite meeting was quite uneventful. Unfortunately Sister Catherine is no longer with us. She has been transferred & we may have to think of moving somewhere else from now on. The library was closed so immediately after the meeting I went to Barnes & Noble at the Hub in Wilkes_Barre. I got a copy of Woody Allen's "Vicky Christina Barcelona" & a book by a famous cardinal. Yesterday was Divine Mercy Sunday so the churches were all very busy all over the world. Uncle Frankie showed up a few times over the course of the weekend. I lectored at 5:00 Mass on Saturday. In the Citizen's Voice on Saturday I noticed that some black guy had been picked up in Amityville, N.Y. for having committed murder in Plains a while ago. Last night's Holy Name Society meeting went as well as usual. Nothing distinctive happened. Unfortunately today is the tenth anniversary of the Columbine Massacre. It was primarily an attack on Christians, a symptom of the main obsessive priority of our times. The weather absolutely stinks to day. So far it's been very cold & raining although it's been very nice lately.

CARMELITE MEETING TOMORROW

I just found out this past week that tomorrow is Laura's birthday though I've conveniently forgotten exactly which one. She's cousin Mark's wife. Unfortunately they live over in New York so I hardly ever get a chance to see them. While I'm on the subject, happy birthday this month to Sean, Angus Italo, Aunt Norma, Liz & Tony too. Uncle Frankie showed up yesterday but I wasn't around at the time. As far as I know everything worked out as well as ever. As always, I'm still pigging out on Easter candy. It's getting quite seriously annoying by now. Cousin Noreen recently went to a wine tasting at Martini Beach. I don't know if the name of the place was intentionally chosen that way or not. Tomorrow, I have to lector at 5:00 Mass. The new schedules were in the rectory last weekend so I made sure I got mine. At least the weather is still gradually improving. Today seems, so far, to be quite a nice day.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, POPE BENEDICT XVI!

My parents have been going crazy lately trying to do as much spring cleaning as possible. The weather, a little at a time, is getting somewhat better. It's usually at its very best during the afternoon each day. The show about Shakespeare was on EWTN again yesterday so I made sure I watched it. As a compulsive bookworm, I've always been really interested in those kinds of things. We're back at the churches of the Wyomings from now on but Fr. Walsh wasn't available this morning so Fr. McDonnell, O.S.J., ended up covering for him. Bob called me last night at 10:00. I've always liked going to bed early & I've always despised the phone. At least the conversation turned out to be reasonably interesting though. I truly wish people would keep the phone on a nice short leash. This month's Carmelite meeting will be on this coming Saturday morning. Most probably the attendance won't be anything to brag about.

DISGUSTING WEATHER!

Uncle Frankie came over for only a little while yesterday. Of course, he showed up with candy. By now the miserable weather has gotten disgusting beyond human comprehension. Today is the last day at St. John's for Mass. Fr. Walsh is supposed to be back tomorrow. When I go to Pittston in the morning, I make sure I stop at the Turkey Hill each day, in Exeter, to get the paper. Lately washing the laundry seems to be taking up quite an awfully large share of my day. It's a lot like taking out the garbage. Neither one appears to take so much time until you realize how many separate times each one inevitably has to be taken care of. I just noticed today that cousin Mary Ellen has recently joined Facebook. It should be quite interesting having her among us. We have lots of relatives with us now. Lately there's still nothing on TV but I usually watch "Jeopardy" & "Who Wants to Be A Millionaire".

GAS PRICES GOING UP

Today, for the second day in a row, I ended up having to go to St. John's in Pittston for 8:00 Mass. There's a lot of traffic congestion in that area so at times it can be quite an effort getting through it all. While I was out I couldn't help noticing that gas prices have been going up a few cents at a time these days. This morning I got started on that site that teaches foreign languages. I have very many Italian & Hispanic connections these days. Because the Italians are awfully talkative I made sure I started with the Italian lessons. The first lesson so far is about groceries. It's all about things like broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage asparagus & other food that can be found in a grocery store. It also covers things like bags, shopping carts & everything else from that environment. Now that Easter weekend's over, we have all been getting back to the usual grind. I'm having an impossible time trying to handle all the leftover food & candy.