WEEKEND PARTY FOR TINA

This Sunday is the big party for Tina's high school graduation. She'll be going to S.U.N.Y. Farmingdale. I hope, for everybody's sake, that none of my old teachers notice any connection between us. Jennifer sent out a few very nice looking pictures from the recent Fourth of July. Danny has a site but so far all the pictures on it are still from previous functions. I should suppose these things take a while. Yesterday I got my copy of the Tidings from my Lindenhurst KofC council. They're still keeping busy over there. Jim has passed the torch to Gene as grand knight. I see Cathleen from California is on her way to Bakersfield to visit her mother whose birthday is tomorrow. So is Ringo Starr's. Happy birthday to both of them. Yet another Russian looker has been sending me mail lately. They're quite a bunch of scam.meisters(mistresses, technically). Her name is Yulija.

FOGGY MORNING

This morning was awfully foggy. The weather out here lately has been driving me stark raging bananas. My father drove Bridget to her camp this morning & didn't seem to have any trouble getting back & forth. She seems to be having quite an enjoyable time over there. It's a holy roller camp & they're very strict about all sorts of things. I went there once & saw the outside of the place. In that area it's all mountainous. It's one of those kinds of places where they seem to think it's tres gauche to live within a thirty mile radius of a gas station. Uncle Frankie came over with (what in Sam Hill else is new?) candy last night. Pretty soon I shall most certainly have to get back to all my walking again. In a few more days we shall all be on our way back to Massapequa for Tina's big graduation party. It will be very nice for me to be able to see my old stomping grounds again. Yesterday, I watched an all_day

Twilight Zone

marathon. That's the really groovy thing about holidays. There always seems to be something interesting on.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY

Happy anniversary this week to Elaine & George, Karen & Tony, & Larry & Rose(today). My headache is finally gone. The weekend was quite swell. I got all sorts of invitations to visit the kinfolk. Joey & Liz's dogs took quite a whole lot of getting used to but they weren't all that dangerous or anything. Vinnie & Danielle rambled on quite incessantly about teaching, martial arts, police work etc. Vinnie kept showing people the proper use of a gun. Unfortunately, some vegetable puffs appear to have been recalled because of salmonella. None of us can recall having eaten any of them though. Yesterday I waited until Vinnie left before I did. Richie & his young uns, & Alan, Kim & David left this morning.

IT'S FINALLY OVER WITH

The long, hot, fattening weekend is finally over with. Right now I have an extremely seriously annoying headache. Anna Maria went to Perkins with Mark & Frankie & their families. Somehow when they all went into the restaurant, she didn't end up getting out of the car in time & got locked into it for about a half hour. That's the wildest story of the entire weekend. They went back to the parking lot & found her trying to get out. I stayed until after 3:00 p.m. today. As soon as Vinnie finally left, I got moving. He & I went to Perkins this morning & got pancakes for breakfast. Amazingly, unlike most years, I went away without significant sunburn this time around. Alan told me that he knows a guy from that sixties band that recorded the mellow hit, "Oh How Happy". Even now they tour all over the place. I've always really liked that song.

SACCO & VANZETTI

Last night, in Hilldale, we watched the Sacco & Vanzetti movie. My sister, Mary Anne, who's an expert on their case, appeared in it. The day went quite well. We spent all day & night pigging out. I was especially happy to see the Buffalo gang. Scott's quite the dead ringer for his Uncle Vinnie. A few people went to the casinos & won a little money. The power ball jackpot went to a couple from Oklahoma. Whoa, Don & Joyce!!! I wore shorts yesterday, having looked forward to a much nicer day. The weather was very nice but it was entirely too cold for shorts. Today I made quite sure a packed a pair of long pants. Of course, the conversation with Matt, Sean & all the other a.movers & a.shakers turned to current events, the election & all sorts of other veritable plethorae thereof of social upheavally thingies. I honestly couldn't possibly even so much as presume to try to tell you exactly what's the difference between Rochester N.Y.'s & Seattle, Wa.'s cultural climates. I couldn't believe my eyes today! I finally got one of my wheresgeorge bills to go west of the Mississippi. A guy named Ken, in Montana, got one I Georged in Lindenhurst. Now I'm finally & at last a real Georger.

BIG WEEKEND UNDER WAY

Last night I went over to Hilldale. Java & Nunziata were there. So were Mr. & Mrs. March 12 along with Robin, Mark, Shannon & their young uns. Richie & his young uns were there. Joey & Liz made it in too, with dogs on leashes. Matt & a very pregnant Brianne also showed up. As always, the conversation was about current events, reminiscences, trivia etc. Matt & I got mixed up with a rousing talk about accents. The other New Yorkers & etc. are coming in pretty soon too. I hear all sorts of plans about pictionary, the local yokel version of the Yankees & many other things too. So far nobody's gone into the pool but people will pile in sooner or later. They could even do the Friday dance in the water.

COUNTDOWN TO ZERO HOUR

Well tomorrow's our big day & ultimate moment of truth. The cousins are all getting hyped up for a rousing game of Pictionary. I suppose I shall be up bright & early to get the first crack at everything. Many people will have cameras & take pictures. They'll pass them around after it's all over. The gossip will be most certainly a_flowing, on my blog more especially than by any other way. The Ronald just sent out something about Mary Anne's Sacco & Vanzetti show. Eddie from Lindenhurst sent me something from CNN about the surviving Beatles & the widows Lennon & Harrison. It's especially nice. We can't have the Fab Four back but we can always reminisce. Last night there was an absolutely obscenely violent electrical storm. Let's just hope we've seen the last of it for a while.

HOT WEATHER

There's a very big crowd at the library today even though I just got here a while ago. It's insanely hot in my car these days because I don't have air conditioning to protect me from this kind of weather. The bridge is closed again_or is it still?_today. These road blocks give me just the incentive I need to find new & improved ways of getting around here. It's very quiet lately without KrissyKrissyKrissy constantly at least somewhere in sight. She's hanging around with family. I'm waiting for all the festivities to begin in only but a mere two days over in Hilldale. Once again, I repeat: It's fattening, there's sunburn, personality clashes & over crowding galore. Why, then, do we even bother? Until then I shall be biding my time. The Ronald sent us pictures a couple of days ago. Pretty soon, we shall be seeing each other in person anyway. That Thackeray book is long but I can usually get around to about fifty pages each day so it goes pretty fast. I found out yesterday that Amnesty International, the famous NGO, is in favor of abortion so I have no intention of giving them any donations or support in any way. This is also true of the United Way & the U.N.

MOMENT OF TRUTH COMING UP SOON

The annual Hilldale hullaballoo is only three short days away. I've been exercising & losing lots of weight lately but it will all most certainly come back then. Today the Wyoming Bridge is closed from 9:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. On the Fourth of July, the Borough of Wyoming will be having a very nice kind of fair for a few hours to celebrate. I can't stand all the fireworks at night but other than that it's a right groovy time by me. I've been reading the lector manual that I got from Rocco. It makes very many perfectly legitimate points about public speaking in general but it's awfully nauseatingly politically correct. I've simply never been able to stomach that inclusive language crap & the Religious who wrote it makes it quite clear that as far as he's concerned it's the one & only acceptable way to go. I also read, for a minute, the latest issue of the Newsletter from St. John the Baptist D.H.S. in West Islip. I see Wally Lace is still principal & Barbara Walsh is assistant principal. They were both among my favorite teachers. Sr. Therese Joyce, O.S.F. from the library even got a big award.

BEATLES ANNIVERSARY

Yesterday, after Mass, I listened to the weekly Beatles' radio special on the way home. It's more than kind of an odd quirk in my life that my very favorite famous people are the ones who started out their ultimate paean to love with the anthem of the French Revolution. Fran came over for supper last night. Uncle Frankie is still partying at Cape May. The Fourth of July, believe it or not, is right around the corner. On Friday the Hilldale festivities begin. This morning at O.L.Sorrows, Rocco gave me a booklet for the lectors. I haven't bothered to check it out just yet but it should be at least pretty good. Those things are usually a lot of help. Yesterday I drove over to the levee, with my Saturn, not a Chevy, & walked two & a half miles. I followed the blue markers so I could keep track well. My right foot still has that annoying problem. I'm getting very good at walking. I like the peace & quiet over there.