CARMELITE MEETING TOMORROW

Today's weather is much nicer than yesterday's so we can count on quite an especially easy Friday dance this week. Uncle Frankie came over again yesterday with the usual gossip about current events & the olden days. For supper yesterday I ate corned beef & cabbage. Until further notice, this morning was my last day at St. John's. As far as I know Fr. Walsh will be back as of this weekend. I'm pretty sure Aunt Lauren's birthday is this month too but I'm not absolutely positive of when it is so happy birthday to her. I'm still reading a lot of different Carmelite books lately. Tomorrow is our big monthly meeting at the Little Flower Manor in Wilkes_Barre. It always pays to be as knowledgeable as possible about things that are relevant to the circumstances.

PA HAS THE WORST DRIVERS

The weather so far today has been an absolute nightmare. It's a bitter, damp, cold, rainy day. I was the lector at 8:00 Mass at St. John's in Pittston. Uncle Frankie showed up yesterday for a while. As always it was a relatively uneventful visit. Another thing I noticed yesterday was that no one appeared to call on the phone for a very long period of time. Of course, after a while it rang too much but for just that very brief instant there was nothing going on with the phone. Of course over the course of my lifetime I've always noticed that PA. seems to have the single largest percentage of losers & undesirables than any other state but this morning really clinched it. As I was driving to Pittston, at the intersection by the Sunoco station, a car just shot right over from the opposite lane into the gas station's parking lot as if this blithering idiot owned the road. A couple of minutes later at a red light, another clown in an SUV went right through the light, apparently under the distinct impression that traffic laws didn't apply to him either.

BARNES & NOBLE

Yesterday was a big day for my cousin Vinnie, & Helene. It was their birthday. I surely hope all went quite well for them both. I went over to the Barnes & Noble next door to the Wyoming Valley Mall in Wilkes_Barre yesterday. The exercise is really good for me. I made sure I walked a few laps around the store. While I was there I got a copy of the Ingmar Bergman movie, "Wild Strawberries". They have a nice foreign films section in the back of the store. I've been trying to see as wide a variety of movies as I can. Over the course of the past few years I've really spent quite a while on Rte. 309 & the other roads around here. Oddly, I just got a notice, on Facebook, about a guy whose last name is the same as mine & his first name's Thomas. I've never heard of him before. This morning, on my way home from 8:00 Mass at St. John's in Pittston, I stopped at Turkey Hill in Exeter for the Citizen's Voice & a half gallon of 2% milk.

McDONALD'S COUPON

It's been a very nice quiet week so far. The weather's a little chillier than I like it in the morning but it warms up over the course of the day. Yesterday I started a diet, at least in the sense that I fully intend to cut down on my eating from now on. I also have to wise up & start exercising again. I have an exercise chair I can use. I can walk a lot too. Today I got a message from one of the sites I use, telling me that Mike, an old friend from high school, had left a comment at my profile picture. It was really good getting in touch with him again. This morning I decided to take advantage of the McDonald's coupon I got the last time I gave blood. I went over to the Wyoming McDonald's on Wyoming Avenue. As soon as I got there I noticed Uncle Frankie was there, reading the paper. I tried to say hello but he was too engrossed in it. Later on a woman he knows said hello to him. As soon as he looked up he noticed me so we ended up sitting together for a while. Some women, who are cousins of his, were also there.

NICE WEEKEND SO FAR

Mary Anne & Bridget got here yesterday afternoon. Steve & the boys are unavailable. Fran will be showing up sometime pretty soon. Last night Bridget practiced her flute for a while. I think I recognized the theme from "The Magnificent Seven" somewhere among her greatest hits. Mary Anne, Bridget & my mother went shopping at Bon Ton early this morning. They always have especially nice sales. It's in the Midway. I've been reading more of that book by St. Teresa of Avila lately. Because of my connection to her order, it's all quite familiar to me by now. Alas, I have to say yet another happy fiftieth birthday this weekend to an old friend of mine. Diane, a homeroom classmate from St. John the Baptist High School, gets her big day tomorrow. To my chagrin, we're all getting up there. Surprisingly I've spent the past couple of days without any pain. I have no idea why I keep getting all these troubles but at least lately I haven't gotten any headaches or significant pain on my left side.

MOTHER'S DAY BECKONS!

This weekend will be Mother's Day. Kudos are in order for all the women who qualify. Yesterday I got a few slight headaches but they all went away. It's getting weird but at least my left side hasn't hurt lately. By now I need yet another haircut. I get pretty sloppy looking when it's long. Yesterday I started a book by St. Teresa of Avila. I just found out from Michael's wife, Terry, that today is their son Anthony's twenty first birthday. I hope he has a really happy one. They live over in New Jersey. My nephew Michael will turn twenty one in August. Unfortunately this year is full of milestone birthdays for all us old timers too. Uncle Frankie showed up for a while yesterday. He & my parents spent a lot of time hanging around together as usual. They spent much of the time reminiscing. Mary Anne & Bridget will be showing up this weekend but Steve & the boys aren't available.

BATTERY FOR MY WATCH

Last night I went to that meeting at O.L. Mt. Carmel Church. Because I was told it was a young adult group I assumed I was too old. It didn't make a difference. Another mistake I made was that it's not a social thing. Father Johnson(his first name) spends all the time at the meetings talking about different religions, their history, beliefs, etc. We at some pizza from a local pizzeria. It had tomato slices on top of the tomato paste. It was round. I've never seen round pizza around here. There was also red wine. It was very powerful stuff. It rained early in the day & at night. Because of the strong hooch I was cringing in my car all the way home. One woman lives in Dallas so she was really in big trouble. Finally & at last I have gotten a battery for my watch. My Fossil watch was driving me bananas lately constantly losing time. Instead of bothering to get a new battery for it, though, I decided, as a change of pace, to get one for my Peugeot watch. The store I went to was once on 8th Street by the bridge. It's now on Wyoming Avenue. The battery was about three dollars less than the ones I used to get over in New York. The blood drive was also at the same church. I was early for my appointment. I got a headache early in the day & took some non_aspirin pills for it & it went away. I woke up in the middle of the night, though & it was back so I took some Motrins.

BLOOD DRIVE

The weather this morning is cold, damp & rainy. Our miserable spring, really a borderline winter, never ends. I just got the biggest shock this morning in O.L. Sorrows parking lot. After Mass, a woman who's one of the regulars came over to me in the parking lot & asked me to join O.L. Mt. Carmel's young adult group. I'm most certainly not exactly among the youngest of adults. I was in O.L.P.H's young adult group in the middle of the 1980's. Their meeting is 7:00 tonight. She said I could pass for my early forties. I'll most probably end up going over to see what it's like. At 4:00 this afternoon I have to go to O.L. Mt. Carmel for the blood drive. It's one of very many in our general area this month. Uncle Frankie came over for a while yesterday. While he was there, Fran called. Mary Anne called too. Right now my arm doesn't hurt so much but I have a little bit of a headache.

FIFTY THREE YEARS!

The weather seem to be showing some promise today of being consistently nice. For a while on Sunday & yesterday it rained. Lately my left arm still hurts. One broken limb can really get a guy crazy after a while. Today is my parents' fifty third wedding anniversary. Most marriages can't be expected to last that long. It's also Cinco de Mayo, an occasion of much interest to my Hispanic connections. I made sure I sent an e mail to Mary, whom I knew in O.L.P.H. & St. John's, to say buenos dias. She teaches Spanish. I'm still reading those Carmelite books. They're pretty deep but by now I've gotten used to all the obscure references. Last night I ate blueberry cereal. I've always really liked those kinds of cereals that are good for the health. As virtually always my TV watching habits have been restricted lately to the usual three game shows & old shows.

NICE WEEKEND

Tomorrow will be my parent's fifty third wedding anniversary. In our current toleranter_than_thou culture, that's considered quite an oddity. Yesterday Uncle Frankie came over for supper. On Saturday afternoon he & my father went to a game. Somehow, when I first overheard them talk about it I seemed to have gotten the impression that the game would be on Friday. I thought I may have gotten yet another break from having to lector this weekend but alas, I should most certainly have known better. Of course, Cheryl called at the last minute & asked me to cover for her. That truly rankles me like crazy. I just found out by way of CNN & the BBC that there's a university over in England that's offering a master's degree in the Beatles. For all these past very many decades I've been delving into the further adventures of John, Paul, George & Ringo on an enirely unofficial level anyway.