HOLY THURSDAY

There was ice on the cars' windows this morning & the temperature was thirty degrees. It's absolutely unacceptable. I'm just about finished with that book on Marxism. I only have around sixteen pages to go. This weekend, being Easter, is going to be entirely too active for me but it will be quiet enjoyable too. There will be plenty of kin constantly hovering around. Lately all I've been doing is taking out garbage & going up & downstairs with laundry. It's boring but not bothering with it is even worse. Every time I turn on VH1 these days, they always seem to be showing their retrospective of one hit wonders of the 1980's. Unlike the crap that's on the radio now, the music from that era was usually pretty enjoyable. At its very best it was extremely good. New Wave was one of the best things to happen to pop music. Disco stunk & rap is pure poison. I can't handle all the grunge, etc. either.

WELCOME OLIVIA!

To my undying chagrin & insatiable disgust, it snowed for a little while this morning. Spring is here in name alone. Yesterday I went to Turkey Hill in Exeter for a full tank of gas & a half gallon_I got two quarts_of one per cent milk. I wanted two per cent but made a bit of a mistake. Gas prices have gone up a bit lately. After I left Turkey Hill I went over to the Dollar Store at the Midway in Wyoming to get some AA batteries. Jennifer's little daughter, Olivia Lynn, was born this morning. Congratulations to all the relevant kin. Now we are on the verge of the Paschal Triduum. Holy Thursday is tomorrow, followed by Good Friday, Holy Saturday & Easter. The Easter Season, starting Sunday, goes on for a full fifty days. I wish people would stop saying that "Happy Holidays" garbage. "Happy Easter" is absolutely the only acceptable thing to say. Today the library's parking lot was filled when I first showed up so I was forced to park in the Methodist church's parking lot next door.

THE NEVER ENDING WINTER

Easter is only five days away. It promises to be quite a busy time. After a while I get sick & tired of all the food. Other than that, though, it's nice. Later today I should go for gas. My tank is getting seriously low. My car registration fee is paid now even though it's not due until the end of next month. There was something on it I couldn't figure out at first. After a few minutes though, I looked it up on the back of the form & it turned out to be really easy. There simply can't possibly be any legitimate excuse whatsoever for this endless winter garbage. It's always ice cold around here. Lately it seems as if I've been continuously busy with boring things. All I do is take out garbage & wash clothes. I just found out from pro_life activist, Norma McCorvey-we're on each other's Facebook friends lists-that Obama, the abortion president, has gotten all those letters from the Red Envelope project. That's really good news.

BUSY WEEKEND

On Saturday I spent two hours, starting at around 10:00 a.m., helping with the spring cleaning at Child Jesus Church in Pittston. Yesterday, Palm Sunday, Uncle Frankie came over for supper. It was quite an active time both days. Today the weather is very bitter cold & raining. So far this spring stinks. It has given us significantly more very bad days than good. Maria called late yesterday afternoon. Mary Anne called last night too. The weekend was quite typical in that respect. I got a slight headache last night, the first in quite a while. I took a Motrin & it went away soon. Lately people have been putting up Easter decorations getting ready for the big day next Sunday. My father's big doctor's appointment is this morning over at the V.A. hospital. Lately I've been noticing that because of all the construction for the new bridge businesses in that little shopping center have been closing down. I may end up being forced to try to track down a new barber.

WATCH TROUBLES

There was a very nice spring shower when I first went out this morning. Even if it rains all day I won't especially mind if it can stay like that. Yesterday everyone expected a temperature in the sixties & it got into the seventies. Uncle Frankie's back in circulation. Yesterday he showed up with a few bottles of Turkey Hill's iced tea in a bag. All has been going well with him lately. Lately my Fossil watch has been getting me crazy. It's been a few years by now since I last put a battery into it. It only cost eight dollars the last few times I went to get my battery changed. Now there's one disadvantage. At least back then I knew exactly where I could go. Now I have to ask for help trying to track down someplace where I can get it done. I'm still reading that big book about Marxism. Amazingly, I'm quite close to the end by now. I got a post card yesterday from Child Jesus Church in Pittston. They want me to go over tomorrow morning at 10:00 to help them get ready for the Easter season which starts on April 12. I may show up.

WEATHER GETTING BETTER

Uncle Frankie has been feeling a little better lately & should be back on his feet starting today. Maybe we shall even be able to count on a visit from him pretty soon. Spring cleaning is one of the things that have been driving me nuts lately. All sorts of boring little chores keep sneaking up on me these days. Winter clothes have to be put away to make room for the light stuff. All these things have to get done & there now way to do them without getting very seriously annoyed. My Facebook connections have really been getting quite active lately. Amazingly there are all sorts of people from my St. Gabriel's days. Today's Doriana's birthday. She's one of my cousins, I suppose, from Italy. Lately the weather's been very cold in the mornings but today it should go up to around sixty degrees. Unfortunately my watch has been losing quite a lot of time these days. I suppose it is only a matter of time before I shall have to go get another battery.

APRIL FOOL!

It's colder today than I like. By now I've gotten plum sick & tired of seeing people bundled up for winter. All sorts of practical jokes must be making the rounds over the course of today. Uncle Frankie hasn't shown up lately. He's probably still ill. Larry called a couple of days ago. Fran & Mary Anne called yesterday. I just got the weirdest notice on Facebook. The site told me that Barack Obama has just claimed me as a cousin. Though we are both half_Irish, I really don't see any major family resemblance. Beatle George's son, Dhani, has a new band, thenewno2. Maybe I shall have to check them out one of these days. Beatle John's son, Julian came out with a good album, Valotte, in 1984. I just noticed on TV last night that the famous Jennifer Lopez was killed in a car crash on I_495. It was on the news all night. I read more of that big book on Marxism yesterday. Slowly I am getting down to the end of it.

GENERATION JONES

According to an ad I've just noticed on Facebook, I'm now classified as a member of Generation Jones. This group includes those of us Baby Boomers who, born between 1954_1964, are a bit too young to to have been active during the 1960's. Maybe all this nitpicking serves a purpose but I'm not the least bit impressed. Gael's birthday was yesterday. I hope it all worked out well for her. I went over to Price Chopper yesterday for a couple of things. As soon as I first got there I ran into Frank from O.L. Sorrows, who called me a bum. I've been called much worse so I thanked him for toning it down. I'm still reading that big book about Marxism. I can't help being really interested in things like that. The weather's still entirely too cold but at least it's not raining. Easter's only twelve days away so it would be very nice if things could warm up a bit by then.

MIGHTY BUSY WEEKEND

This past weekend was most certainly especially active for me. On Saturday I spent a large part of the day at the Oblates' Seminary in Lafflin at the men's day of recollection. Bishop Martino was there along with several other priests. Men from all over the eastern part of the state showed up. While I was there I got a couple of books. Jerome Gilmartin, the author of one of them, even signed a copy for me. Over the course of the time I was there, I helped with the sign_in cards & went to confession with Fr. Betts. There were even a couple of big heroes/hoagies for us. Robin, from Chicago, was in town for the weekend visiting the kin in Hilldale. They came over for a while during the time I was in Lafflin. I got a chance to say hello to her for a while after I got home. That was especially nice. Last night Fran came over with Dunkin' Donuts. Usually the fattening food is Uncle Frankie's specialty but he hasn't been available lately because he's ill. When it was time for her to go home, it started raining. Fortunately it wasn't all that bad a storm.

RAIN

Yesterday's weather was miserable but today seems to be better so far. Mary Anne called last night. She's been a little ill lately. I don't have to lector this weekend so that's a nice change. Unfortunately Fr. Walsh's sister_in_law recently died of cancer. She lived in Reading. She was only my age. There was a notice about it at O.L. Sorrows this morning. My mother called Dottie yesterday. She seems to be doing well these days. I'm still reading that big book on Marxism. At this rate I should be finished with it in about two weeks if I read the same number of pages each day. Once again, because it's a Friday, we're not allowed to eat any meat today. That's no big deal for me. I can always improvise with quite a whole lot of other kinds of food. I have an eclectic enough appetite that anything can keep me quite happy. I don't like to eat too much at any one time though. For some reason I've yet to bother to get that Old Forge pizza I ordered a few weeks ago from Tom.