HAPPY 2010!~

The weather today is about the same as yesterday. Every day lately, as I drive past the Susquehanna, I can't help noticing that a lot of the water is frozen. There are large chunks of broken ice all over the place. Uncle Frankie showed up for a while yesterday. As soon as he left he went someplace on a big trip. I'm still reading the book by Cardinal Dulles. At the rate of at least fifty pages each day it goes pretty fast. It most certainly isn't easy to understand though. I made a bit of a mistake recently. Somehow I got the impression that I was supposed to go to a meeting tonight in Pittston. The next meeting is next Wednesday night. Tomorrow is New Year's Eve. As virtually always, I shall end up just hanging around lamenting the fact that it will be impossible for me to get any sleep with all that constant noise. I've forgotten the exact date but Fr. Hugh McGroarty's ninetieth birthday is this week. Everyone was congratulating him this morning. He's from St. John the Evangelist Church in Pittston. They gave him a really nice big party.

TIME FLIES

This morning's weather has been bitter cold & exceptionally windy. I can handle it though because there's no precipitation. It's a good thing my parents made sure they got all their really big food shopping over with yesterday. I'm still reading that book by Avery Cardinal Dulles. Although I've tried to keep up with developments in the Catholic world it's still way over my head. A lot of things he covers aren't even the least bit familiar to me. Tomorrow night I have to go to a meeting in Pittston, at O.L. Mt. Carmel. The things I've been learning in that book may come in handy there. The new year fast approaches. A while ago when I got my last haircut, Rose said she was stunned about how fast time flies. We're now already pert near finished with the first decade of the twenty first century. I have no plans for New Year's Eve. I've never been much of a party animal anyway so I don't care.

SAME MOVIES

Christmas went quite well & now we're all planning to get started on the new year. One of my Christmas presents was a gift card for Barnes & Noble. I made sure I went there yesterday. Practically as soon as I got there I noticed a copy of Avery Cardinal Dulles' "Church & Society" so I got it. I started reading it right away. Uncle Frankie came over a few times over the weekend. Fran left early. Steve, Sam, Michael & I spent a little while on Saturday helping her to move an old dresser out to the garage. On Saturday I lectored at 5:00 Mass to cover for Cheryl's daughter. This morning was Fr. Marchetti's last Mass at our parishes. Now we're in the same mess we were in six months ago when Fr. Walsh left us. On Saturday night I saw "The Maltese Falcon" & "A Man For All Seasons" yet again too. I got my annual Christmas card from Grace, Daren's mother. Daren died in September 2005. Birthday greetings go out to Kimbley. She & I worked together at Citicorp in Melville & Farmingdale. She seems to be doing well these days.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Christmas Eve is tomorrow. I can't come to the library so I have to send all my greetings out today. I only get two Christmas cards through the mail each year. All my other Christmas greetings come by way of the internet. Conveniently I even know a woman named Mistletoe. She lives in Finland. This morning when I first left it was very cold but the weather & visibility were good. As I got out of Mass at St. John's in Pittston I noticed that there was an extremely slight snowfall. There's no Mass today at either of the churches I normally attend. My parents got yet another gigantic order at the store yesterday. Christmas shopping literally never seems to end when there's a big crowd showing up. I recently got a merry Christmas e mail from Sen. John Thune, who represents South Dakota. I've never even been there so I'm more than a little confused about his reasoning.

BEATLE PAUL'S "LET EM IN":

quisque me ad cenam vocarit, valeat.    Please visit me at: http://eastelmhurst.blogspot.com http://www.xanga.com/itsmethelion

Posted via email from redhotrabbit's posterous

CHEERS

My father's appointment with his doctors yesterday went well. He should be back to normal slowly starting from today on, just in time to take my mother shopping yet again. Larry & Rose called him last night to say hello. Last night I went to confession at St. Joseph's. It was a penance service & a large crowd showed up. The priest I got was Fr. Rafferty. There were four other priests there, including Fr. Marchetti. I've been watching reruns of "Cheers" lately on a regular basis. There are entirely too many specials on about Christmas. By now it's gotten so boring I can't be bothered with them anymore. I've been practicing my guitar lately too. Most of the time I end up fixating on the A & A minor scales & arpeggios. One of these days I shall have to get the latest issue of "Acoustic Guitar" magazine. The bad weather seems to have died down lately but it's been awfully cold & windy.

SNOW

I watched "Into Great Silence" & "It Happened One Night" on Saturday night. I've seen them each a couple of times before. Unfortunately I ended up staying up until around midnight because "Into Great Silence" is so long. Christmas beckons. It's only four days away. Mary Anne & family won't be coming in unless the weather's nice enough. They called on the phone a few times over the weekend. Aunt Lauren & my mother went shopping yet again on Saturday. My father has a doctor's appointment at 1:30 this afternoon. Uncle Frankie's supposed to take him. He'll be allowed, in a couple of days, to get back to his normal routine. There was a big snowstorm on Saturday night but it didn't amount to much compared to what we were threatened with. I spent around five minutes outside shoveling yesterday. I pushed the snow off the cars' windows too. On Saturday, at Mass, Fr. Marchetti said he's leaving the parish next month because of health trouble. He's only been here since the summer.

CARMELITE MEETING:

The Carmelite meeting was short this morning.  Two new ladies were there. Several regulars couldn't show up. quisque me ad cenam vocarit, valeat.    Please visit me at: http://eastelmhurst.blogspot.com http://www.xanga.com/itsmethelion

Posted via email from redhotrabbit's posterous

OLD MOVIES

It's ice cold today. My mother & Aunt Lauren got the shopping trip over with yesterday. I went to the Carmelite meeting this morning. Another new woman showed up. Barbara wasn't available because of the dangerous weather. We're threatened with a blizzard & she lives in Scranton. Last night I stayed up until 10:30 watching "A Man For All Seasons" & "The Maltese Falcon". I don't usually like to stay up late but I managed to get away with it. I've seen each of them a few times by now. I don't have to lector tomorrow because I recently switched with Linnae. She's taking my turn. That's good because the weather might get me too crazy. I've heard that New York is expecting well over a foot of snow. My guitar playing continues. I'm hoping to get a little better each week from now on.

TRAFFIC

The weather's been getting bitter lately. This morning it was only nineteen degrees outside. Fortunately I found a pair of very thick gloves. They're forecasting lots of snow for New York. Yesterday I got both my Christmas cards out. I only end up having to send two each year. Everybody else gets an internet merry Christmas. This morning I took some mail to the post office for my parents. My mother went shopping with Aunt Lauren early this morning. I noticed this morning, on Eighth Street, that the traffic around here is an absolute nightmare these days. Tomorrow is the lay Carmelite meeting in Wilkes_Barre. We meet on the third Saturday morning of each month at 9:00 a.m. at the Little Flower Manor on S. Meade Street. It's time yet again for our weekly Friday dance.