Hello on Wednesday

Dear Friends,

I hope that you all had a great St. Patrick's Day. Linda and I had a less than perfect one.
The start of the day went very well, but we had some difficulties along the way.

Linda bonded with the Warner Cable Repair guy for almost 8 hours while I was doing my thing. We were having some signal issues, and the repair guy changed multiple, out of date, Radio Shack cables throughout the basement where the main line comes into the house. Linda felt like a trapped animal living in a cage. She was also trying to order flight tickets on line so that we can take a trip to visit our grandchild in Kansas. For hours, she kept on getting kicked off line just as she was ready to hit the "submit" button.

The beginning of my day went very well. Some Sister City friends, musicians, and our Irish Sister City guest from Ireland went off to my old high to do a radio program, and guest lecture in a social studies classroom. This part of my day went very well.
I even booked in to do a radio program on Monday morning at 7:30 AM, and a 8:30 AM show at a neighboring commercial radio station. I will be discussing UNICO stuff and up coming events on both of these programs. I have to do a little homework for these two shows.

I then headed off to visit Mom in the Laurel Lake Rehab / Nursing Home. Mom was returning her chipper self. She ate lunch without any assistance from me. One of her two legs was swollen quite a bit, which the doctors, and nurses keep on saying is normal after the arterial surgery which she had.
After a pleasant visit, I headed home to take a nap so that I continue on with the St. Patrick's Day festivities into the wee hours of the morning.

Just as I was ready to go down for a nap, the telephone rings, and I answered the telephone. My sister tells me that they were taking Mom to the emergency room. The nurses at the Rehab Center didn't like the look of my mother's leg, and the stuff oozing for the place where the incision was made during the operation.
My sister, my father, and me headed off to the emergency room to wait for the arrival of dear old mom. The emergency room was so busy that mom was put into the emergency room corridor for over an hour until a slot opened up. While in the emergency room waiting area, I dosed off several times before I had to leave for our first St. Patrick's Day event.
Mom was eventually admitted to the hospital. She is back on the third floor once again.

We went off to the Italian American Club for a wonderful corned beef and cabbage dinner. The pasta and baked chicken were a good side dish idea. Everyone at the two tables, which we reserved, had a great time. The table full of Linda's Tuesday Mah Jongg friends, and their significant others had a great time. I am going to try and talk them into becoming honorary members of the club since these friends are not of Italian decent.
The kitchen crew at the Italian American Club were pictured in our local newspaper this morning. The kitchen crew were mostly members of UNICO.

Linda was so mentally exhausted from her day, and I was so sleep deprived that we just couldn't physically make it to the 9 PM house party. I am so embarrassed that I said that Linda and I would be attending the house party, and we failed to show up.
When we arrived home it was a little after 8 PM which was too early for the party. I fell asleep while trying to rally so that we could make it to the party.

Social Calendar -- I am going off to a 9 AM funeral service for a teacher friend who used to be the Mathematics Coordinator in the City of Pittsfield during my first few years of teaching.
I will then visit Mom in the hospital. The Church and the hospital are a quarter of a mile from one another.

Linda decided to let me represent the family at the funeral.
Do you seriously think that our day would end at noon time?

We are off to the Italian American Club for a Credit Union of the Berkshires (which used to be the Teachers' Credit Union) sit down dinner at 6 PM. There will be much fun and merriment at this annual dinner.

Because of the funeral, and the credit union dinner, I will not be able to help with transporting our Irish guest to Logan airport. We even missed saying "Goodbye" because we missed last evening's party.

Last evening was our third corned beef and cabbage dinner. We might have had enough corned beef until next year.
My sister took my dad out for a corned beef and cabbage for lunch yesterday while I was visiting Mom. My sister said that their corned beef lunch was "awful". I might have to crock pot a corned beef for dad with all the fixings within the next few days.

Speaking of "corned beef", I did a little research of what "corned beef" means. The "corned beef" refers two two things: The first is the cut of the meat which is called "the brisket". The "corns" refer to the coarse grains of salt used in the brine which the meat has been cured in.
Also, "corned beef" is not an Irish dish which I already knew. In Ireland, corned beef was used as a substitute for bacon because the brisket often has a high fat content.
One of my friends cooked a corned beef in his crock pot (with all the fixings) for his busy wife yesterday. She called Linda to say that the corned beef turned out to be wonderful. My e-mails may be a bit wordy, but you can actually learn something from the Curley Lad.

Politics -- Corporate welfare is turning out to be a financial disaster. 73 AIG executives received million dollar bonuses, and some don't even work for the firm anymore. Let us see if the the President and his advisers can right this wrong.

Well, I have to finish my morning routine, and select the proper attire for a funeral. The deceased died in Florida, and has already been cremated.
Is there a reception after the funeral? Oh no, not another party!
Have a great Wednesday.
Talk to you soon. The Curley Lad