IT'S ONE OF LARRY'S FAVORITE DAYS OF THE YEAR

Larry's cold is as good as over by now although he's been going absolutely crazy with a persistent cough that just won't go away. He doesn't have any of his medicine left but he can still go to the drug store for a refill. The weather has been getting nicer lately now that February is gone. All the raging blizzards & thunderstorms appear to be behind us. Uncle Frankie comes over lately every once in a while. Larry has a seemingly compulsive habit of always locking the door when he comes inside & Uncle Frankie isn't the least bit fond of this so he always whines about it. He has a key anyway though so Larry doesn't care. Cousins Mark's & Gary's birthdays were at the end of last month. Larry wished each of them a happy day. Beatle George would have been sixty eight years old at the end of last month. Larry enjoyed listening to all his good music. One of the big upcoming events in Larry's world is the reunion, this June, at St. Gabriel's. He'd very much like to be able to go. It turns out that Mary Anne's friend Steve, from Lindenhurst, is now married to an alumna of their old school. Larry really enjoys keeping in touch with people from those days. There's a Carmelite day of recollection coming up, in Middletown, N.Y., next month. Larry really wants to go. Last Friday at O.L. Sorrows, St. Monica's held a Night at the Races. Larry really wanted to go. He even made sure he got a ticket. Oddly, though, he plum forgot exactly which night it was supposed to be held. He assumed it was supposed to be on Saturday or Sunday & missed it. Larry's tenth grade theology teacher just sent him a Facebook message explaining that he's on the far left wing. Of the two teacher's of his on his friend list they're both extreme liberals. The reason Larry has written today's entire blog in the third person is because today is National Talk in the Third Person Day. On days like this Larry is reminded of Elaine's boyfriend Jimmy on a certain episode of "Seinfeld".

WEATHER CHANGE

The bitter cold weather, at least for now, is over. I find it rather hard to believe that I went out without a coat today. The snow's melting. St. Gabriel's in East Elmhurst is planning a big reunion in June. Jo Anne said she may go. Tim, From California, will even go too. I just found out that Mary Anne's old friend, Steve from Copiague, is married to a woman who went to school there. I'm still reading quite voraciously lately. I try always to finish one book & then virtually immediately pick up another one. I've also been trying very conscientiously to practice my guitar each day. Uncle Frankie is supposed to visit Fran for a couple of days this weekend. I shall have to pick up his mail again. Fr. McKernan won't be available for a few days at St. Monica's so I shall have to go to St. John's in Pittston for a few weekdays. Recently I added a second teacher of mine to my Facebook friend list. Jerry Di Noto was my theology teacher in the tenth grade. I tracked him down a few days ago. Tomorrow I shall have to go to another lay Carmelite meeting in Wilkes_Barre. It's at 9:00 a.m. at the Little Flower on South Meade Street. We meet on the third Saturday morning of each month. There will be another day of recollection in Middletown, N.Y. this spring. I'm hoping to be able to show up. Mary Anne's family has been doing quite well. Michael just got a really nice new job & we're all happy for him.

BUSY & COLD

Tomorrow is the big Super Bowl. Until recently it had always been at the end of January on the weekend closest to my mother's birthday. The weather lately is still an absolute nightmare. I got my car stuck in the ice in front of the house one day after a particularly bad storm. I spoke to Bob, at O.L. Sorrows, on Thursday night. He said he couldn't go to Washington, D.C. because some woman's pipes had burst because of the weather. He was forced to help her. Phil, the groundhog, saw his shadow on Groundhog Day though so supposedly we shall be seeing an end to it all very soon. Uncle Frankie, after a brief spell with some kind of sickness, is back on his feet again. Fran was supposed to stay at his house this weekend for the big game but she was forced to go home yesterday because of the weather. Aunt Lauren finally & at last showed up yesterday to get Benjamin's Christmas present. If she would have left it for another week & a half it could have been his birthday present. Today she's coming over with some pizza from her church. Donna, the ex~nun, called last night. She wants me to lector for her later today at 4:00 Mass & she can take my turn tomorrow at 11:00 Mass. My flu is gone but it lasted throughout all of January with all sorts of aches & pains to the very end. I still have a slight cough.

ROE V. WADE

Unfortunately I ended up having to miss out on Monday's trip to Washington, D.C. for the annual pro~life march, although I'd already paid for a ticket. I went to bed insanely early on Sunday night, as always, in order to make sure I could count on getting up in time. When I got up, though, the temperatures in this part of Pa. were significantly below zero degrees. That gave me the distinct impression that I may have been taking on entirely too much of a risk because I knew that I should have to spend all day long outside in the bitter cold. Although Dr. Radzwilka said I should be allowed to go, I wasn't anticipating that much of a cold spell. A couple of days before the trip Bob called & said he'd be going. He wanted me to call him on Monday morning to wake him up so I called him at 5:00 a.m. His wife answered & said he couldn't go. Maybe his reasoning was the same as mine. Uncle Frankie's been very ill lately with something like the flu. Aunt Lauren came over yesterday. Today is Noreen's birthday. The Super Bowl is only two weekends away. Life around here is much easier at this time of year than it was in New York when we all used to have to go to Levittown's American Legion post with my father to see the game over there. I could never handle all the food, crowds & cigarettes. Since I've never enjoyed sports anyway it was quite a major chore for me.

BUSY TIME

The night before New Year's Eve I got a very violent attack of the flu. I was at O.L. Sorrows lectoring at 7:00 p.m. Mass when my voice started getting hoarse & I started getting very weak. I spent the next few days in bed with a violent headache & cough, besides all sorts of other aches & pains. Eventually I made an appointment to see Dr. Radzwilka in West Pittston. He prescribed a couple of kinds of medication before I made the appointment. The syrup gave me violent headaches so I gave up on it. When I went to the appointment I got him to do some blood work too. So far I have gotten no results. When I started feeling better I made sure I called Chris Calore, in Wilkes_Barre to see about getting onto a bus for the trip to Washington, D.C. next Monday for the annual pro_life March. He was forced to put me on a waiting list but he eventually called & said I get to go. I went last year & all worked out quite well for me even though it was too strenuous. Nothing gets me so crazy as haveing to be restricted like that all day long. I have to get my car inspected in January each year. This Saturday I noticed at the last minute that I desperately needed an oil change. I went to De Leo's gas station on Wyoming Avenue in Wyoming because it's the closest to me. He also does inspections so I made an appointment, for yesterday, to get my inspection. It was a long boring day for me but ultimately I got my usual expensive repairs done & I'm now set until next March. He says I now get a two~month grace period. This past Saturday was our monthly lay Carmelite meeting on S. Meade Street in Wilkes_Barre. Barbara & Rosemary were the only regulars who couldn't show up. Sr. Mary Robert spent the morning with us though & she was very helpful. The weather lately has been very violently cold with entirely too much snow & ice. There have been so many birthdays this month. We wish a very happy birthday to my mother, several cousins & , among the non~relatives, Tim, Lisa & Laura.

THE YEAR WINDS DOWN

Christmas went quite well. Mary Anne, Steve & all the kids showed up. So did the West Wyoming kin. If Aunt Lauren & her family could have shown up all the northeastern Pa. relatives would have been here. There were all the usual minor irritations. The kids were somewhat ill & the food was entirely too fattening. Mary Anne & family were forced to go home early yesterday because of the big blizzard. Fortunatley it didn't amount to anything of any significance around here, other than slight snow & lots of wind. In New York, though, all the major airports were closed. I went to 8:00 Mass this morning at St. John the Evangelist in Pittston, with only insanely intense winds & somewhat slippery roads to bother me. Mike Aquilina, from EWTN, & his friend were there. Of course I got my annual card from Grace, Daren's mother, a few days ago. I'm still reading Cervantes' "Don Quixote". In only four more days, 2010 will be over. I still have to pay my K of C dues. It's just a matter of getting the money ready & sending it out to Wayne at my council.

CHRISTMAS TIME IS HERE AGAIN...O~U~T SPELLS OUT

Yesterday cousin Larry's daughter Jennifer gave birth to a baby boy. He's now the tenth Joseph among our relatives. I got a haircut at Rose Chairge's new barber shop in West Pittston yesterday too. It's right inside her husband's comic book store. It was a little hard for me to track it down but I got there eventually with no trouble. Aunt Lauren came over last night for a while when I was at confession at O.L. Sorrows. A few weeks ago Tom sold me a St. Monica's sweatshirt. I picked it up last night. I've been re~reading Cervantes' "Don Quijote", the classic picaresque novel. It's long & the small print gets me crazy but it's always been quite a favorite of mine. My nephew Michael just graduated from Hofstra University this past weekend so he's been quite excited lately. It's still insanely cold but I can handle it as long as the snow doesn't get any worse. Last week, from Monday until Wednesday, there was no priest at our church so I went to Mass each day at St. John the Evangelist in Pittston. This year is very fast coming to its end. We should most certainly hope that 2011 will bring us much better times.

CHRISTMAS BECKONS

Today is December 17, so Advent is coming to a close & Christmas Eve is exactly a week away. So far I've yet to get a haircut from Rose Chairge in West Pittston but I've kept track of her phone number so I can make an appointment for the upcoming week. Tonight, at 7:00, is a party over at O.L. Sorrows in honor of Fr. Leonard Butcavage. I'm taking chicken. He spent a few months with us recently & often returns for parties & special occasions. The weather has been very bitter cold recently but there haven't been any significant snowstorms, only a few that were slightly aggravating. Unfortunately the rest of the country has very bad blizzards. I got a Christmas card from Carole, my old supervisor from Citicorp, a few days ago. I've yet to get one from Grace, Daren's mother. I sent out a card to each of them two days ago. Of course we've been getting inundated with all sorts of left~wing manipulations of language & symbolism these days, as always, pretending that it's just another holiday season. Liberals always claim they have the right to control us for the sake of not offending the supposedly maligned minorities & other special interest groups. Yet another dark side of Christmas is the inevitable greeting card from at least one relative or acquaintance, always a tangential character, who appears to be harboring the very definitely mistaken impression that people are impressed by, or interested in, his, & his family's escapades from the past year. There's one of those in each crowd. These cards always seem to be filled with references to promotions, scholarships & glamorous vacations. They're more boring than offensive. Unfortunately there was just an extremely bad accident over by the Midway Shopping Center's parking lot this morning. I heard that a car was cut in half. That's quite a dangerous intersection. A couple of days ago I took advantage of some coupons for Dunkin' Donuts. I got a half dozen donuts & a hot latte'.

BEATLE JOHN

Today is the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, a major Feast day on the Catholic Church's liturgical calendar. It's a holy day of obligation. I shall have to go to 7:00 Mass tonight at O. L. Sorrows. I tried to go to Mass this Morning at St. John's in Pittston. I didn't know that their Mass would be only at 7:00 a.m. & other Masses later in the day. They don't have an 8:00 a.m. Mass today. Sadly, today also marks the thirtieth anniversary of the assassination of Beatle John Lennon by Mark David Chapman outside the Dakota building in Manhattan. It was a Monday night. I can still remember it as if it were only last night. Lennon's music, image & reputation, to this very day, are still a part of our cultural landscape. Even the very young, who hadn't even been born during the lifetime of the famed Swain of Liverpool, are quite smitten with him. Today's Tina's twenty~first birthday. She's cousin Gary's daughter. The weather lately has been very bitter cold but we don't get any snow beyond just the slightest dusting each day. So far there's no fog or icy rain either. Yesterday was especially cold. Buffalo has quite a bit of snow so I suppose we should all feel quite sorry for Maelene & her family.

TWO DOLLARS

Uncle Frankie's home from Fran's house. Aunt Lauren is visiting Noreen. Advent yet again beckons. As of today we have only three weeks until Christmas. Besides the slight snowfall on Thanksgiving we got some more last night & this morning. The weather's been very bitter cold but not unbearable. Tomorrow I shall have to lector at 11:00 a.m. Mass at O.L. Sorrows/St. Monica's. I need a haircut. I should suppose I could track down Rose Chairge's new place over on Luzerne Avenue in West Pittston but so far I haven't bothered. There are several other places that are much closer. A few days ago when I went to a neighborhood stationery to get the Citizen's Voice, they guy in the store gave me two two dollar bills for change from a five. Two dollar bills have been around since I was a kid in the eleventh grade & I don't usually get to see them in circulation. Unfortunately four days from now will mark the thirtieth anniversary of the murder of Beatle John Lennon in Manhattan by Mark David Chapman. It still seems as if it were only last night. So far I have yet to see an entire episode of the show "House". I've seen half of each of a few episodes though. It's not so bad so maybe I shall continue watching it. Vinnie & Michael like "Burn Notice". I like it too but it's not on until 10:00 at night. Perhaps I shall watch the reruns. They're on much earlier at a time when civilized human beings can see them.