OPERATION & RESIGNATION

The weather's been very nice lately although it was a little too cool & foggy very early this morning. I don't have to lector this weekend which is a nice change of pace. I'm still reading "Mansfield Park" & by now I'm down to the last few dozen pages. I should be finished in only a very short time. Today we must wish an especially happy birthday to Bunny. Her real name's Bernadette & her real birthday's tomorrow. I'm not available on Sundays though. She lives in Derry, Pa. We've never met in person. We're just net friends. She's on my Facebook list. It just occurred to me that Richard M. Nixon resigned the presidency on this day in 1974, thus bringing about the end of the cultural 1960's. I remember that day because it was the day of my eye operation over in Brunswick Hospital in Amityville, N.Y. It seems as if it were only yesterday. I was between the ninth & tenth grades over at St. John the Baptist in West Islip. I've been playing my guitar quite a lot lately. Unfortunately I only have songs by the Beatles & very few other bands to work with but it's still enjoyable.

SERIOUSLY WEIRD DETOUR

My father's car battery died yesterday. Oddly, he just got an inspection on Wednesday & everything worked out. At 10:00 a.m. yesterday he tried to start the car & it was dead. He called AAA & they got him in touch with a garage in West Pittston. They promised they'd show up within a half hour but never bothered to get there until after 2:00. When they got there they towed the car down to the Saturn dealership in Hanover & he got a new battery. Uncle Frankie came over with one of his very favorite pasta recipes & hung around for a while. I went to Wendy's over in Edwardsville yesterday & got a free chocolate milk shake with an old coupon I got from a blood drive a while ago. Today I was forced into the weirdest of detours. After I got out of Mass at O.L. Sorrows I went to the post office on Sixth Street to mail something. On the way back I was forced by the local policemen to go over the bridge, through Hilldale, into Wilkes_Barre. I ended up having to come home by way of the courthouse. Today we wish a very happy birthday to Autilia. She's married to my cousin Lanfranco. Tomorrow's the ninetieth birthday of one of the parishioners at O.L. Sorrows & St. Joseph's. Last night I saw the season finale of "Burn Notice". Barbara from the Carmelites called yesterday. She spent about ten minutes explaining a lot of details to me.

GARY'S & MARIA'S ANNIVERSARY

I got a call from Lynn from O.L. Mt. Carmel's meeting yesterday. She wasn't available so the meeting was cancelled. I watched the show about Shakespeare as is my usual Wednesday habit. It was a rerun but it's always interesting. Around the end of my night I listened to some of my Thelonius Monk CD. I played the guitar too for a while. Uncle Frankie showed up for a while yesterday. For some strange reason there was even more disgustingly sloppy chicken, this time from KFC, yesterday. after a while it gets nauseatingly boring. Today is Gary's & Maria's anniversary. They were married in 1983. He's my slightly older cousin in Massapequa. I can still remember their wedding as if it were only yesterday. I was in the party.

THERE'S A MEETING HERE TONIGHT

Lately the big murder, last week over in Exeter is still the conversation piece all over town. I listened to some of my Ramsey Lewis CD last night. I have his "Finest Hour" CD. I ended up getting through around half of it. There are a lot of classics on it including "The In Crowd" & a couple of Beatle songs, "Day Tripper" & "A Hard Day's Night". Yesterday I ate chicken for supper. It ws reasonably good but entirely too sticky. That always gets on my nerves when I have to spend more time cleaning up from the mess than eating in the first place. I'm still reading "Mansfield Park". Today at 6:30 that show about Shakespeare will be on again. I hope I shall be able to remember to watch it. Tonight I shall be attending the next meeting over at O.L. Mt. Carmel in Pittston.

DAVE'S NAME TROUBLES

For a change of pace this morning I ended up going to the Unimart on Shoemaker Avenue for the paper. Gas prices have been consistently going up lately. Uncle Frankie showed up yesterday, zucchini in hand. He only stuck around for a little while. My parents spent a few hours food shopping. Dave said hello to me this morning as I first left. For some odd reason he's always called me Leonard. I read a lot more of "Mansfield Park" yesterday. Since I've already read it a few times before, it's been coming back to me. I recognize a lot of it from the last times. My guitar playing has been coming along quite well lately. I practiced a few songs yesterday, especially the inevitable "Do You Want to Know A Secret?". Jim, in California, recently put a bunch of nice pictures about Cathy's high school class reunion. Everybody from their crowd went. The bad news is that she now has to spend three weeks on jury duty.

WEIRD LITTLE RAINSTORM

The weekend went by quite nicely. Of course Cheryl called, as always, to see if I'd be willing to cover for her. I wasn't home at the time. I didn't end up covering for her. I lectored yesterday at 10:00 Mass. There was a big murder in Exeter on Saturday afternoon. Everyone heard a bunch of sirens on Wyoming Avenue for quite a while. It turns out that some guy burned down a house over around the neighborhood of Gubbiotti's funeral home. On Saturday night I saw the old 1960's Swedish movie "I Am Curious Yellow". Amazingly I can still remember having heard of it when it first came out. It was exactly what I fully expected, all left.wing socialism & smut. Martin Luther King, Jr. & Yevgeny Yevtuschenko both appeared in it. Franco was still in charge over in Spain. Last night I saw "Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid". It included Robert Redford, Paul Newman & very many other familiar names & faces from the 1960's. Saturday I finished "The Possessed" & started re_reading Jane Austen's "Mansfield Park". The oddest thing happened yesterday. There was a very violent little rainstorm only in Wyoming. Uncle Frankie, in West Wyoming, didn't get a drop. He & my father went to the game with no trouble. Over the weekend I played my guitar conscientiously, practicing for a while each day.

VERY BUSY BIRTHDAY WEEKEND

Yesterday, for much of the day, it was plum pouring out. Today's much nicer so far though. I have to lector at 10:00 Mass tomorrow. Unfortunately Cheryl is on the schedule for 5:00 today. I should most certainly hope she doesn't try to switch again. That's entirely too annoying. Last week she was on vacation. Yesterday & this morning I played my guitar & read part of "The Possessed". Last night I also listened to some jazz on my Duke Ellington & Dizzy Gillespie CD's. Uncle Frankie & my father are supposed to go to yet another game tomorrow. Usually their games are spaced further apart but weather considerations make things crazy. Today's an especially big important day for Liverpudlians. It's officially Beatle George Day over in the Fabs' hometown. Today is also my cousing Jamie's birthday. He's my cousin Alan's son & lives over in Michigan. Tomorrow is two cousins' birthday. We shall have to wish happy birthday to Elaine & Fran, both in Pennsylvania. Besides that, it's also Swiss National Day. It was inspired by the mention of early August in the Charter of 1291.

MISERABLE WEATHER

My father & Uncle Frankie went to a game yesterday. It started at 1:00. It was because of a cancellation of a previous game they were supposed to attend. They're going to go to another game tomorrow too. Uncle Frankie hung around for a while after the game. Mary Anne called yesterday. I suppose it was about all the latest gossip from New York. I read some more of "The Possessed" last night & this morning. Fortunately I've been getting very close to the end. Last night I also listened to a part of the "Carmelite Dialogues" CD I have. It's a famous opera by Poulenc. I didn't bother to watch "Burn Notice" last night but I made sure I recorded it. I was quite careful to keep track of it so I could be positive that it worked out. The weather today is quite dismal. It's been pouring out for most of the day. We shall have to settle for a dreary Friday dance. Lately I have been quite conscientious about playing my guitar. Each day I try to set aside quite a lot of time for practice although the self discipline has been getting me quite crazy.

RAINY NIGHT

I mistakenly thought there was a meeting at O.L. Mt. Carmel last night. I appeared to have gotten my Wednesdays all mixed up. On the way home I made sure I took advantage by stopping at a local Turkey Hill for gas. It's been going up lately. I just noticed on a website dedicated to Beatle George that August 1 has been designated George Harrison day in the Dark Horse's native Liverpool. There's a really nice big concert tribute to him over there. Last night there was yet another major rainstorm in the area. Lately there are always bulletins on TV about flooding in the local counties. My father says West Pittston was completely flooded. Last night I read some more of the encyclical "Evangelium Vitae" & played my guitar for a while. I didn't see Uncle Frankie yesterday. As far as I know he may have shown up when I wasn't around. My parents went food shopping & plum forgot to get coffee.

MEETING TONIGHT

The sky is very cloudy so far today. It's been raining. Last night I watched "E.T.: The Extra_Terrestrial". It's the early 1980's movie. As far as I know it seems to have been sort of the basis for the idea for a favorite TV show of mine, "ALF". Henry Thomas, Dee Wallace, Erica Eleniak, Drew Barrymore & Peter Coyote were in it. Last night I also listened to my Eubie Blake CD for a while. He's another one whose music makes me feel as if I've gotten stranded in a silent movie. I ate more of the Chinese trail mix yesterday. I played my guitar last night. "After Midnight" & "Cocaine" by Eric Clapton are getting a little easier to handle lately. Tonight there's a meeting at O.L. Mt. Carmel in Pittston. A couple of weeks ago we met at the Victory Pig & miniature golf course. This week's just a normal meeting. So far we don't have very many people in our group. With a little more advertising, though, that may change eventually. The leader has been hearing from interested people.