Hello on Sunday Morning

Dear Friends,



Another day in Curleyworld went as planned.



After reading the local newspaper at a rather early hour of the morning on Saturday, I decided that I needed a quiet activity which wouldn’t wake up the Queen.

I thought that baking a couple of soda breads wouldn’t generate much noise. I whipped up a couple more loaves of the Curley Lad’s Irish Soda Bread. Yes, I did have a cup and one half of raises swimming in Irish Whiskey. Even though these raisins soaked for just 24 hours, they were very happy little devils as I put them in my batter.



Yes, I did squeeze in an afternoon nap on Saturday.



Speaking of Irish Soda Bread, I brought two loaves to the Irish American Club Corned Beef & Cabbage Dinner last evening. I brought my cutting board, and knife, and cut them up right at our table of 10 people. The guests at our table had first crack at the soda bread before Linda put the tray on the dessert table. Sometimes it is a good idea to find out where the Curley’s are sitting at a function like this.



Kevin Cahill, his officers, and assigned personnel did a wonderful job setting up the Elk’s Club Hall, coordinating the raffle, enlisting a guest speaker, securing an band to play Irish songs, performing the ceremony for passing on the cane to Father James Joyce, who was this year’s person of the year.

The corned beef and cabbage dinner was wonderful including a dish of ice-cream for dessert.

Ann Doyle made her famous Shamrock Shaped Cookies which went on the table next to the soda bread. I believe another person brought a soda bread too.



Linda won a 12 pack of Lillian’s Irish Red Beer. The woman who donated the 12 pack said that she put the beer in her garage, and taped a note to the 12 pack. The note was aimed toward her adult son. The note said that the beer was off limits.



The one person whom I felt sad for was the young gentleman on the bagpipes. One of his jobs was to play the bagpipes as the Irish Person of the year is marched around the room with the officers of the Irish American Club. Well, his bagpipe sprung a leak, just as the procession was about to start. Oh Darn! The procession took place without the music. The gentleman did solve the leaky bagpipe problem. He got it to work just as Father Joyce was exiting the Elk’s Club Hall.



A contingent from Pittsfield, including Mary Kelly and Carmel Murphy, did march in the Albany, New York St. Patrick’s Day Parade. While it was raining “cats and dogs” in Pittsfield, the parade route remained pretty much rain free. One of the marchers told me that he was a bit embarrassed by the number of people who seemed to be over medicated with alcoholic beverages. The parade didn’t start until 2 PM. This leaves too much time for people to over indulge!



As we left the Elk’s Club, our car had a layer of wet slushy snow on it. The temperature dropped enough while we were at the Elk’s Club to change from rain to snow. We picked up a couple of inches of the slushy snow in Pittsfield. I am betting that they picked up several inches of snow in the hill towns.



Today’s agenda with our Irish guests is very light. I think that Mary and Carmel will be doing a little recreational shopping. They might even try and see a movie in 3 D at the Beacon Cinema. They have to do all this before our 3rd and final covered dish affair at Andy Kelly’s home on Peck’s road which starts at 5 PM. This is a farewell party for Mary and Carmel. I am taking a nap for sure today. I have a feeling that this might be a long night. If the party does end early at the Andy’s place, we could continue it at my man cave on Winesap road. It is sort of a tradition to party in our basement for at least one of the evenings when we have guests from Ballina. I can’t say that this is going to happen since Linda is still fighting the sniffles. I feel great!



Before composing this report, I skimmed the Berkshire Eagle. Besides the usual murder and mayhem articles, there were two positive things that jumped right off the pages. The first is the Lee High Wildcat’s girl’s basketball team won the State Championship for their particular division. This victory brings such warmness to my heart since I graduated from Lee High School in the middle 60’s. I tell people that you “can’t take the Lee out of any boy or girl” no matter what part of the country or the world you decide to settle down in. You are a Wildcat for life!



The other interesting article featured my UNICO brother Retired Family Court Judge Rudy Sacco. He has written a book. This book contains memoirs of his life, and the many years which he spent on the bench. For those people who don’t know Rudy, he is an accomplished poet too. Rudy was in attendance at last night’s Irish American Club event. He is such a friend of both the Italian and Irish Community. He attends many of our Irish Sister City and Irish American Club functions. Even though he is a full blooded Italian, we in the Irish Community have adopted him as one of our own. He has taught the Curley Lad so much, and helped me when I was President of UNICO. He told me that none of us should ever forget our heritage, our roots, and all the struggles our ancestors went through to get us the good life which we enjoy today.

The title of Rudolph Sacco’s book is “A Life of Good Judgment.” Details of where you can pick up a copy of the book are in the newspaper article.



Note – The Curley Lad is ¾ Italian and ¼ Irish. This means that I wear many hats.



Well, in a little less than an hour, Kevin Cahill will be hosting the Sunday Sounds of Ireland on WBRK at 8:30 AM.

Rudy Sacco does an Italian American Hour on Pittsfield Community Television at least once a month.

As you see, the Irish and Italian Communities are very well represented in Berkshire County.



On a final note, the radio talk show host Bill Surgeon and his wife whom he lovingly calls, “The Polish Princess”, sat at our table last evening (I call my wife the Queen). I wanted to publicly thank Bill for announcing all the Italian and Irish events on his three hour Monday through Friday radio talk program. He also has invited many of us on his daily program. Bill, with the guidance of his wife, has been a plus for the community since he has been on the radio. I may not agree with his staunch conservative views, but he is still a good friend and a good listener!



Have a great Sunday!

Talk to you soon. The Curley Lad



P.S. Please note that the last daily report will be Monday morning. I hope that you have enjoyed my updates!

Our guests depart on Monday. Pat Gormalley and Ann Murphy will be taking Mary and Carmel back to Boston at some point tomorrow for their evening flight back to Ireland.