GOD SPEED, MR. BRAIN

Our very close friend Brian lost his battle with cancer yesterday. He was an amazing person, full of life and love and wisdom. We shared many good times with his family over the years we've been in New Orleans. He and his wife were two of the first people we met when we became parishioners of Holy Name of Mary. The children at HNM school loved to hear his lectures on dinosaurs that he gave every year. He was a young man, cut down so abruptly! I will always remember fondly our Saturday bicycle rides around the city for exercise that always ended with cafe au lait and beignets at Cafe DuMonde. We will miss him.

Please join me in praying for his wife and family during this difficult time. May God rest his soul.

LOT(L) UPDATE

It’s been very difficult finding the time to post anything to LOT(L) lately. The daily routine is to get up, go to work, come home, open textbooks, read, highlight, go to bed, start over. Class is from 8am to 5pm on Saturdays, so Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon are normally time for relaxation. Unless, of course, there’s a diaconate discernment meeting such as there was this past Sunday, so Linda and I attended that from 1pm to 5pm.

Major Dad, DLG and family returned from their vacation to FLA. From all appearances it looks like a good time was had by all! While it was truly a much deserved holiday for them, we missed them greatly while they were gone.

Fr. Deo phoned yesterday evening. He's back in the States and will be in NOLA some time around July 14th for a few weeks. We're excited and anxious to see him! Should be a good opportunity for another family barbecue to make him feel welcome.


I would be terribly remiss if I didn't take this opportunity to say
to Ellie's mom, who was just sworn in as our families' newest United States Citizen! We are all so very proud of her!!


And speaking of Fr. Deo, it seems our Ugandan brethren at the seminary have been having too much time on their hands. So much so that apparently an altercation erupted between three of them, resulting in a visit by New Orleans' finest, and stitches to one of the participants. Conduct not so very becoming of future "men of God"! Only time will tell how the Archbishop of Tororo will respond. The Ugandan seminary program here in New Orleans seems to have taken quite a beating (no pun intended) in the last few years!

AND THE MEMORIES COME FLOODING BACK!!

The Deacon's Bench: Boston's diaconate ordination

MAY THEY REST IN PEACE

Linda's Uncle Stanley and Aunt Mildred Bednasz

Uncle Stanley - Born April 30, 1922, died June 14, 2008

Aunt Mildred - Born June 24, 1922, died June 16, 2008

Married May 17, 1947 ( 61 YEARS!!)

Two beautiful souls, now united once again with their daughter Mary. As we mourn their loss, our prayers go with them to our God in heaven, that He will welcome them into the glory of His Kingdom.

THE WEEKEND PAST

I've just completed the 3rd Saturday class of 5 for my Liturgy and Sacraments course at Our Lady of Holy Cross College. Now I'm sitting in the parking lot waiting for my ride. Isn't wi-fi a wonderful thing?

The preceding paragraph was written last Saturday. It is now Monday afternoon. What a busy weekend!! Saturday was class all day, then dinner in the evening with Fr. John. We went to a place near the lakefront in Metairie called Mr. Ed's. It's an Italian/seafood restaurant snuggled into a residential neighborhood. The service was very good, as was the food. Linda and Fr. John each had pannéed trout, while I tried the veal parmegian. We started off with fried eggplant and fried mushrooms as appetizers. Both were excellent!

Sunday, after Mass those who were available went to Outback for a MOST pleasant Father's Day dinner. H1/DIL1 and KenEllie joined Linda and I. While at the restaurant they presented me with some beautiful cards and gifts, which I will treasure! Sadly, H1/DIL1 had to return to Houston immediately after dinner, but they arrived safe and sound, and the visit was wonderful, albeit short.

Major Dad, DLG and the kids left early Saturday for Walt Disney World and a much needed (and well-deserved) vacation. I hope they have a great time! We miss them already.

H2/H2GF had to work Sunday so weren't in attendance for dinner. Still, we didn't even talk bad about them, which is really uncharacteristic for us. Usually those "in absentia" are open targets at family gatherings.

When I got home from dinner I was told to check the garage (new, big, automatic door, very nice!!). Inside was a new air compressor with a big blue bow on it! It'll really come in handy for inflating tires that tend to get soft every now and again. Thanks, guys (that's a non-gender specific "guys", by the way).

Sunday night H2/H2GF went to see "The Happening" by M Night Shyamalan. It got grave reviews. I guess we'll be skipping that one.

We're hoping to nail down the dates for our 2009 family get together so that those who need to can put in for the time off early. I think S2 is in charge, so I defer to her. The only glitch is working around my class schedule. I'll be checking to see what kind of break there is between the two summer sessions and maybe we can plan the trip around that. I hope we're able to pull it off, as many of the NOLA folks are really excited about getting together with the rest of the clan!!

That's about it for now. I'm pretty much drained of anything new and interesting. Wishing you all the best. God's blessings be yours!!

TEARS ON MY PILLOW

Here's a picture of BB dancing to "Pillow Talk" in what is probably her last dance recital. It looks like she won't be taking dance next year.

Congrats, BB!! We love you! You were terrific!

MEA CULPA, MEA CULPA, MEA MAXIMA CULPA!

I forgot H1/DIL1's anniversary! I am truly sorry! I hope it was wonderful and wish you many, many more.

ANOTHER UPDATE FROM LOT(L)

Here’s what’s been going on in NOLA recently…

I resumed my pursuit of that elusive Master of Theology degree. I’ll be taking two classes this summer, on Saturdays from 8 am until 5 pm., and two classes each semester through the fall of 2009. My first class on Liturgy and Sacraments began last Saturday. To prepare for this “reading intensive” class, our instructor sent out the course syllabus 5 weeks in advance to everyone who had pre-registered last semester. This was to provide ample time to read the assignments. Guess what? Since I didn’t attend last semester, and I only registered a week before class started, I didn’t get the syllabus until 6 days before class started, putting me a full 4 weeks behind everyone else!!

Every evening last week was spent trying to complete the assigned readings for the first class. By 1 am Saturday morning I was still short, but decided to bite the bullet and get some sleep. I hit the sheets at 1:15, only to be roused out of bed at 1:30 by footsteps running up and down our alley between ours and the neighbor’s house, and a loud voice shouting, “Come out with your hands up!!”.

Turns out the creep who’s been burglarizing garages throughout Algiers for the past several months decided to hit our back shed but was seen and reported by one of our neighbors. The police quickly responded and found him coming down the alley with my chain saw in hand. Apparently he dropped the chain saw and ducked under the house.

Anyway, to make a long story short, the police blanketed the neighborhood and scoured our yard and those of our neighbors but never caught the “perp”. They finally left our street at 4:30 am. So now I had about 1 ½ hours to get some sleep before having to get up and get ready for class. Let me tell you right now, I’m WAY TOO OLD for that sh_t!! I think I pretty much drifted through the day (although I never fell asleep, thank God!).

When I got home at 5:30 you can bet I was ready for bed. BUT… we had already RSVP’d to attend the 50th birthday celebration for the wife of a good friend Saturday evening, so off we went. I finally made it to bed around 11 pm Saturday night. Geez, I’m getting tired just reliving this as I write it down!

Switching gears, the garage is essentially finished! The automatic door was installed last Thursday and works great. There’s a minor issue with the concrete lip that helps to seal the door when closed, but that shouldn’t be any problem.

We also bit the bullet and had the pool drained, cleaned and refilled. Of course, just like the last time it now has a leak. You can’t win for losing where that pool is concerned. Still, we’ve been keeping it “topped off” and KenEllie, Linda, DLG and the kids have been enjoying it.

H2/H2GF are visiting H1/DIL1. They left NOLA Friday evening and return tomorrow. We’re busy missing them and can’t wait for their return.

And speaking of KenEllie, Ellie is recovering nicely from surgery to correct a carpal tunnel problem. We’re happy to see her sans cast.

Fr. John Capuci has returned to Boston after 7 years in the Big Easy as shepherd of the flock at The Center of Jesus the Lord. We will certainly miss him, but eagerly await the appointment of a replacement.

That’s about it for now. Take care, God bless!!