CARMELITE MEETING

This morning's Carmelite meeting most certainly appeared to have gone quite well even though hardly anybody showed up. Sister Catherine, Rita, Rosemary, Barbara & I were there. Anne showed up just in time for Mass. Dana is moving to Florida to be with his parents. Surprising, at the home they were having the parking lot paved this morning so I was forced to park in the other lot. It only threw me off for around a minute or two. Sister Catherine got us looking through a bunch of old books to see if there were any available that we'd be able to take advantage of. While she was looking, she broke a chair. The woman I invited, I met her at O.L. Mt. Carmel's feast last weekend, never showed up. Last night my parents told me that Aunt Helen, Gino's mother, was supposed to visit them late this morning. Her birthday was early this month. This was the very first time she's ever visited them so I was surprised to hear about it. Last night there was yet another electrical storm. It didn't amount to much of anything but it was very loud & annoying. Uncle Frankie came over for a while yesterday. On top of everything else I won a basket of bath & shower gels & lotions from a chance I took over at O.L. Mt. Carmel last weekend. I most certainly don't usually win much of anything at those functions so it was quite a really nice surprise. Later today I have to lector at 5:00 Mass.

READ & PRACTICE

Yesterday since it was the Feast of O.L. Mt. Carmel, I made sure I took advantage by reading books about Sts. John of the Cross & Therese of Lisieux. On top of everything else, I'll be that much more prepared for Saturday morning's Carmelite meeting. Besides that, I also made sure I did quite a whole lot of practicing on my guitar. To my chagrin, I haven't taken a good long walk in somewhere around a week by now. Around here there's not a whole lot of anything else to do except exercise in a place like this. So far there haven't been any pictures sent out by the relatives from the Fourth of July by way of e mail but I see Cousin Danny, from Hilldale, has a bunch of them on his official site. I haven't managed to find any acceptable pictures of me though. Those candid shots can really work to a guy's major disadvantage, if you get my drift. I watched "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" & "I Love Lucy" yesterday. There's still nothing on that's good these days other than old stuff & a few game shows. Uncle Frankie didn't come over yesterday as far as I know. Maybe he showed up when I wasn't even around. Knowing him it's entirely possible. I'm thinking he's been entirely too busy lately. KrissyKrissyKrissy hasn't sent any e mails about the christening so far but we're awaiting the big news any time now.

O.L. MT CARMEL FEAST DAY

Today is the Feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. Yesterday & last night were somewhat busy for us. My father needed help with getting some paperwork done. Michelle (Gino's wife, not the blood cousin) & her mother showed up. So did Uncle Frankie. Mary Anne even called, though I don't think there was any connection. KrissyKrissyKrissy called. She wanted to make sure she told us about the plans for Natalie's christening. It's supposed to be very early next month. Unfortunately, I got some really bad news from Dave, the neighborhood handyman, this morning, when I first left to go to Mass. He told me that someone had stolen his gas can, which was full. My parents reminded me later on that it wasn't such a particularly bright idea of him to have left it out in the wide open in the first place. That's a whole nother story of its own though. Dave's more than a bit hard to explain. There's most certainly no shortage of neighborhood characters around here, shall we say? I sent a card out this morning to Grace, Daren's mother. Daren died in 2005 & Monday, the 21st, would have been her birthday. Yesterday I made sure I practiced my guitar & read some more of a book I have about St. Therese of Lisieux. We haven't seen hide or hair of Fran in quite a while. I assume she's been very busy lately. There hasn't been any rain or otherwise bad weather lately so I'm quite happy with it all these days.

QUIET DAY

Lately nothing much has been happening to me, which is good news. Yesterday I arranged very many books of mine into a reasonably decentish kind of order on some shelves. I have more books than I can be expected to handle easily so it pays to keep after them & avoid too much of a mess. I read more of that book about Marxism yesterday too. It gets more interesting for me as I keep going through it. For certain extremely obvious reasons, I've never been able to see what could possibly possess people to be so smitten with this kind of worldview but it most certainly has quite a fan club. I read some more from those Carmelite books too. Yesterday I also did quite a bit more practicing on my guitar. My lazy musical period seems to have ended a little while ago. I've gotten into the habit of going back & forth between scales & Beatle songs. It gets a bit stale after a while but it gets the job done. Once again yesterday there was still no sign of Uncle Frankie. Maybe he's been entirely too busy for us lately. Although it's hay fever season, so far my allergy troubles seem to be restricted to the occasional sneezing & runny nose & eyes. For that I am quite happy.

O.L. MT. CARMEL ANNUAL FEAST

O.L. Mt. Carmel's annual family feast was this weekend. I didn't remember until Saturday morning. It was pouring out last night so I never botherd to go but I showed up for a while on Saturday night. It was really nice. Besides entering a few contests, I also ate French fries & drank a cup of Pepsi. My father asked me to get him some funnel cake so I got him the next best available thing, a pizza frita. When I went over to the statue of O.L. Mt. Carmel, I ran into a young woman who's one of the regulars in the parish. Her name's Jean & she said she'd be interested in showing up at our lay Carmelite meeting next Saturday morning. We need new people. On Saturday I got a call from Laura. She said she wouldn't be available at 5:00 so I'd have to do the lectoring alone. There was another visitin priest like last weekend. This one was a really familiar face but I can't remember his name. Last weekend we got Fr. Jim Price from the Passionists in Scranton. I first met him when he was their vocation director. Danny came over with the big picture from the Fourth of July yesterday. I wasn't even in it because they kept postponing it. They only decided they were good & ready to take it when I wasn't available. Without me, what in Sam Hill good is it? Of course, as always, I made sure I put in a lot of time reading & playing my guitar over the weekend. Uncle Frankie didn't show up yesterday. That happens every once in a while.

COOLER THAN AVERAGE

Today's weather is slightly cooler than it's been lately but I still worked up quite a sweat on my walk this morning. At least it wasn't raining. Once again I walked practically all the way to the Midway. I need all the exercise I can get. Uncle Frankie never showed up yesterday but he called fairly late last night. Fran got them some tickets to see the Yankees. Mary Anne also called. All has been going well so far with them. I've been reading more of those Carmelite books lately. I've also been reading that book about Marxism. I just noticed that the drum that was used on the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper" album cover picture was recently sold for $1.1 million. People never seem to outgrow the Fab Four & they never become an anachronism. Speaking of them, I've been regularly plowing my way through their songs on my guitar lately. Today it's time for yet another Friday dance. I haven't gotten any headaches lately & that's always a major advantage. For the past few days I've been eating coffee yogurt. It's weird but believe it or not there really is at least one company out there that's just plum weird enough to make yogurt that's flavored like coffee. It's bitter but oddly, it tastes somehow just like the real thing. Amazingly I've eaten very many even weirder things over the course of my lifetime by now.

BOOK ABOUT MARXISM

Because I've always been quite seriously interested in the intellectual movements that have influenced the world, I started reading, yesterday, Lezsek Kolakowski's "Main Currents of Marxism". It's three volumes compiled into one. Mary Anne, a few years ago, complained about my having presumed to complain about Marxism even though I've never been even the least bit knowledgeable about it. From now on I shall have something to say from an informed point of view. Last night I watched a special about St. Teresa of Jesus of the Andes, a Carmelite from Chile. Her feast day is on July 13 which is also her birthday. July 9 was the feast of Bl. Jane Scopelli, also a Carmelite. Uncle Frankie came over for a while yesterday. Later on he & my father went over to visit Gino, Michelle & Jamie. I got kicked out of the library early yesterday so I took advantage by going to Barnes & Noble for a while. It rained a little but it was just a slight spring shower. It rained a while one day in Hilldale last week too, just long enough to get my guitars all wet. This time no damage was done. This morning I took a nice long walk over to the monument on Wyoming Avenue, past Susquehanna Avenue, on the way to the levee. I worked up quite a sweat but I need the exercise.

BEATLE RINGO'S BIG DAY

At precisely high noon today, Beatle Ringo Starr, whose sixty eighth birthday is today, wants everyone to flash the peace sign (Churchill's victory sign) & say "Peace & love". The forty eighth annual family shindig over in Hilldale went quite well this year. Oddly, in spite of all our entirely irreconcilable personality conflicts, there were no major wars to show for this year's festivities. According to sources in the know, eighty six people showed up. It was good to see Anthony, KrissyKrissyKrissy, & the gang from Buffalo among other favorites. It was as interesting as it was confusing to try to keep track of all the new boy_/girlfriends & recently born young_uns. To my chagrin, I ate & drank entirely too much for my own good. I also stayed up entirely too late. Cousin Larry's softball game (Pampers V. Depends) was a smash hit. My nephew Sam was the MVP. We played "Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader?" too. Michael, from Buffalo, & I went to Latin Mass on Sunday morning in Wilkes_Barre. His sense of direction could use a little work. My nephew Michael & I went to the music store, once with Eddie from New York. It was closed both times. Steve & Bridget stuck around today so he could help with some things around the house & she could play with some kids in Hilldale. I've been trying to get started on some of the Carmelite books from Mary Ann's husband. They're very complicated but very interesting.

MARY ANNE AND BRIDGET

Mary Anne & Bridget showed up last night sometime after I went to bed. Steve, Sam & Michael will soon follow, I should suppose. The main bulk of the crowd will show up starting tomorrow afternoon. We shall have around four days of fattening food, sunburn, personality clashes and all sorts of other fun things up ahead of us. Bridget was telling me this morning that she has no intention of going back to the Christian(Protestant) camp she went to last summer. So far, she's been thinking of going to a soccer camp. It was a little on the foggy side when I first left this morning but after only a little while the weather started turning out really nice. Let's just hope we can count on it to last all week. The guy who's sitting right next to me is nothing but trouble. Knowing only too perfectly well that they have a rule against cell phones in here, this anti.social character does nothing but ramble on, at the very top of his lungs on top of everything else, on his cell phone all day. On top of that he rambles on about private personal things of a very serious nature that nobody else should have to hear about. Of course he's a New Yorker. As if Pa. doesn't already have more than its share of supreme ignoramuses(ignorami?)anyway, we really have so much to gain by bringing them in from New York too. I have absolutely no patience whatsoever with a big mouth & this guy overdoes it.

WELCOME TO JULY

Welcome to the month in which, each year, England's butt gets kicked twice over. I found out from one of my Canadian connections(on Myspace, etc.) that today is Canada Day. Tomorrow all the kinfolk will start trickling in for the Fourth of July. Thursday is the official beginning of it all. This morning, while getting the paper at Turkey Hill, I ran into Rose, the barber. She was standing right behind me on line wearing dark glasses. We didn't recognize each other at first because of our glasses. Lately I've been seeing on TV that Mr. Bill's been making a comeback. Alf has his moments too. There's been no word from Max Headroom these days though. Happy Anniversary to Cousin Larry(& Rose). Edie, one of my Myspace connections, has a birthday the same day too. Uncle Frankie, for the past few days, went to his family's big reunion. I watched a little, last night, of an old movie with Joseph Cotten, Jennifer Jones & Claudette Colbert. I just found out that because I am between 41 & 52 years old, I fit into Generation Jones, the largest adult generation in the U.S. I'd always thought that I was a baby boomer, having been born between 1946_1964. It turns out that it's been narrowed down a bit more than that.