KIWIS

Now that December's here the weather's been getting a little on the cold side. Unfortunately winter approaches. It's now only nineteen days away. I got yet another headache at around 1:00 this morning. I took an Excedrin for it & it went away very soon. Somehow I keep getting headaches lately. Uncle Frankie came over for a while yesterday. He wanted to see something in Sunday's paper. My parents were gone grocery shopping when he first showed up. I'm still practicing my guitar each day. Yesterday I ate a kiwi. I've eaten a few pieces of kiwi before, every once in a while. This was the very first time, though, that I've ever picked one up & just eaten it from out of nowhere without someone's having previously sliced it up as part of a meal or something. Dave showed up for a while this morning. He was driving his mother's car. She's out of the hospital. I have to lector at 5:00 Mass on Saturday. Hunting season around here started on Monday. That's about a week later than it starts in New York.

HAPPY DECEMBER

I got yet another headache in the middle of the night. The last one was on the right. This one's on the left. It went away a little while ago. Bad things always seem to happen to me when the weather changes. It's very cold & rainy today. I completely forgot my wallet when I left to go to Mass. I was afraid I might get stopped by a policeman on the way home but nothing ever happened. My parents both were going nuts this morning trying to remember the names of all the Lennon Sisters from Lawrence Welk's old show. Today Dianne Lennon turns seventy years old. December is now upon us. Christmas is only a little over three weeks away. It gets me crazy that all the carols & decorations get started so soon because it takes a lot away from the way things are really supposed to be. Don't even get me started on all the liberal crap we shall be expected to put up with. I'm still reading "The Possessed".

BEATLE DEATH ANNIVERSARY

Yesterday was a bit quieter than the past few days. Unfortunately I woke up with a fairly violent headache. Pills didn't work. The weather's very bad today. I woke up to an annoying rainstorm. It's been cold, windy & foggy all day so far. I went to Pittston, to Child Jesus Church, for the 10:00 a.m. Mass yesterday. It was the first time I'd been there in a while. I spoke to my nephew Michael a little while ago on Facebook. He said he enjoyed that concert Saturday night. My parents started putting up the Christmas decorations early this morning. To do that they were forced to take down all the Thanksgiving decorations. Yesterday was the eighth anniversary of the death of Beatle George. The History Channel showed a special about the Beatles. Even though I've already seen those kinds of shows at least a billion times over by now, it was really interesting. Yesterday was Gino & Michelle's twelfth anniversary & her parents' fortieth.

THANKSGIVING WEEKEND

Mary Anne, Steve & the kids went home around 9:30 this morning. They made sure they left very early because Michael has tickets to see a band, Brand New, at 6:00. I don't bother to keep up with new music so it's all completely out of my league. Before they left we all took some boxes upstairs from the basement & put them in the back of the house. Sam's been reading Thoreau's "Walden". We were all watching a bunch of James Bond movies yesterday & last night on the SyFy Channel. For a while Steve was thinking of taking the kids out to a movie but it never happened. I ate entirely too much all weekend. Last night I even ate a few chestnuts. I can't remember the last time I even ate a chestnut. They're very plain. Today is Alyssa's birthday. She's Mike & Terri's daughter. Tomorrow will be Gino & Michelle's twelfth wedding anniversary. The first Sunday of Advent is this weekend. I don't have to lector at Mass this weekend so I shall just show up.

BLACK FRIDAY

Today is Black Friday. Do as big of a Friday dance as you want, maybe a turkey trot. Just think twice about going shopping. I absolutely dread the crowds people have to put up with at these times. Thanksgiving worked out quite well yesterday. Uncle Frankie & Fran both showed up. Mary Anne & family were here too. Today's my cousin Michelle's birthday. She's a bit younger than I. We ate quite a large meal yesterday, complete with dessert. As always I made the coffee. It was just entirely too fattening. Steve & I took a walk over the bridge yesterday although we didn't cross it completely. Nobody's ever liked that bridge. He wanted to see how all the construction work has been coming along for the new one. Amazingly that was the first time I've ever walked on it. As always, Steve, the boys & I've been playing guitar. All the kids are doing quite well. Steve & Mary Anne went out at 7:00 this morning to go shopping. My cousin Mary Ellen sent me a really nice card reminding me of all the nice times we used to have in Buffalo on Thanksgiving.

THANKSGIVING BECKONS

The weather's been a bit colder lately than I like it. Because of the rain & dampness, yesterday was miserable & today's pretty dreary so far too. I've been playing my guitar regularly, usually just a lot of scales & arpeggios lately. Last night I sort of figured out how to play a variation of "Liar Liar" by the Castaways. Today I got the exact sheet music on the Ultimate Guitar site. It always pays to cheat a little. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. As always there will be quite a crowd. Mary Anne & family will be coming in tomorrow because of all the traffic we shall be expecting tonight. I absolutely dread times like Black Friday. If there's any shopping to be done, I'm hoping to pass the buck with driving. I'm still reading "The Possessed". Recently I've gotten back into the habit of watching "Jeopardy". Somehow I stopped watching it for a while. I've also gotten into the habit of watching reruns of an old favorite of mine, "Cheers".

SHAKESPEARE

Thanksgiving is now only two days away. Mary Anne & family are supposed to show up either late tomorrow or Thursday. Once again, I shan't be going to Buffalo. I miss those days. Because of my insanely good long term memory, I have total recall of all sorts of obscure details from all those trips. I'm still reading "The Possessed". Surprisingly I can get through all the small print fairly easy. Dostoyevsky's books are overwhelmingly long & didactic. On Monday I watched Joseph Pearce's show about Shakespeare. It's a good refresher course on the Bard of Avon. I've been practicing the guitar too. My fingers get quite a workout each day. Uncle Frankie showed up for a while yesterday. As far as I know there's nothing going on with him lately. Yesterday I got yet another fund raising letter from St. John the Baptist. It's good to see that Wally Lace is still in charge.

JFK

The weekend went by quite well. I finished reading "Northanger Abbey" & started re_reading "The Possessed". I lectored at 10:30 Mass yesterday. On the way home from Mass I went over to Uncle Frankie's. Fran cooked a really nice meal. My parents got there a little while after I did. Gary called last night. A couple of hours later Larry & Rose called too. THe called my father to see how he is. Somehow I didn't end up getting a chance to talk to Larry & Rose but I spent around fifteen minutes on the phone with Gary. Yesterday was the forty sixth anniversary of the JFK assassination. That was the moment that set the 1960's into gear, like the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand & his wife Sofia brought on World War I. My nephew Michael's been picking my brain about philosohy yet again. He's taking an ethics class at Hofstra now. I took one at S.U.N.Y. Farmingdale a while ago. Marlene Groner taught the class I took. The weather today is cold but very nice. Yesterday was the forty sixth anniversary of JFK's assassination.

PA. DRIVERS

Yesterday I read more of "Northanger Abbey" & more of the essays & other things in that book about "The Waste Land". This morning I went to the Carmelite meeting in Wilkes_Barre. There were a half dozen of us in attendance. Besides attending to the usual details, we made preparations for upcoming events & decided to send a gift to Sr. Catherine, who is now convalescing in Cincinnati, Ohio. As I was going home on Wyoming Avenue, I was forced to bluff my way through the usual gang of Pa. idiots. A woman drove right in front of me from the southbound lane to get to the opposite side of the street to pull into a parking lot. A guy in a truck drove right into my lane from that lane, into oncoming traffic, for at least a few seconds. We say happy birthday today to Sarah in Michigan. She's cousin Leonard's granddaughter. Tomorrow I shall have to lector at 10:30 Mass. That's usually pretty easy for me.

CONSTRUCTION

I sent messages to some O.L.P.H. classmates on Facebook yesterday. So far only George has sent me an answer. He remembers me well. Uncle Frankie showed up for a while again yesterday. I'm still reading "Northanger Abbey" & "The Waste Land". Tomorrow morning I have to go to Wilkes_Barre for the Carmelite meeting. It's at 9:00 a.m. every third Saturday of the month at the Little Flower Manor on South Meade Street. Last night, fairly late, it started pouring out. I was already in bed by then but I couldn't help hearing all the violent noise. We really needed the rain. I was very surprised to see this morning that there was no construction work going on over in Pittston. Maybe they don't work on Fridays around here. I was very happy to see, in the Citizen's Voice this morning, that Oprah Winfrey will no longer be on TV starting in 2011. It can't possibly be soon enough for me.