Hello on Thursday Morning

Dear Friends,

My day went as planned. My friend and I played a quick nine holes, and I arrived home by 10:30 AM.

At 3 PM, I went off to help prepare and serve a pasta dinner for former student who is running for the Berkshire County Sheriff’s position. Some of stuff was already done by one of the members of the Polish Falcon organization. I saw that he wrapped the plastic utensils before our crew even arrived. I asked him how many place settings had he prepared. He said that he set up for 250 people. I asked him what happens if we have more than 250 people. He said that we could use the clubs stuff and he will replace what we use. Well, we served 275 + people. When the hall overflowed with people they had to go down stairs to be seated. The event was a huge success.
My UNICO buddy walks into the kitchen to help out with his UNICO shirt on. None of us in the kitchen had them on because UNICO is an apolitical Italian organization. Luckily they were selling shirts for the candidate who is running for sheriff.

While at the function, I ran into a whole bunch of people who I knew, and some whom I haven’t seen for a while. I met one guy from my days being on the Central Berkshire Labor Council. I started talking with this guy who was a member of the electricians’ union. I asked him how things were going, and if he was retired. I found out that he retired the same year that I did in 2004. He said that he wasn’t doing well because his wife passed away.
I ran into another friend who I met a couple of months ago who said that he was bored being retired. I asked him if he was still bored. His response was a resounding “Yes”.
I met another person whose husband was a former member of UNICO. He resigned from UNICO on an unhappy note, and wanted to return to UNICO, but his application was rejected. She didn’t bring this up so I asked how her husband as doing physically knowing that he has had some health issues related to his back and related to him carrying extra pounds. She said that he wasn’t good. He has started to have falls in and outside of the home. Yes, he and his wife our from the baby boomer age group.

I went back in the kitchen rather quickly to be with a bunch of more upbeat people. I wasn’t going to let the three situations mentioned above get me depressed.

Linda has less fun than I did for a good portion of the day. She was on the telephone dealing with people who will hopefully get our water damaged home back to normal. Yesterday, we had a contractor come to the house to get an idea of what has to be replaced and fixed. We have an adjuster coming today. Hopefully, we can agree to some reasonable numbers with the insurance company to get the renovation started.

By 6 PM, she was ready to get her mind off of the turmoil which currently exists in our home. She went off to Panera Bread to bond with a knitting group of 10 or 15 women who meet every Wednesday. She arrived home a little after 9 PM in a much happier mood that what she had earlier in the day.

I am teeing off at 8:40 AM to play another quick 9 holes with my friend. Linda will be waiting for an adjuster. I am not sure what is planned for the rest of the day. We didn’t talk much because I went to bed to watch the Red Sox since some of Linda’s favorite programs were on the family room television. My man cave is not in working order.

The Sox were behind by a score of 3 to 1 in the top of the 8th inning, and Tampa Bay started scoring run after run off of at least two Red Sox relievers. I turned the game off because I couldn’t bear to watch it. The Red Sox could have ended the evening in a first place tie with the Yankees if the Sox had won the game. Oh Darn!

The July Fourth weekend is almost here. There will be much fun and merriment before this long weekend is over. We were committed to one cookout on the Fourth of July, but got invited to two others. We might even have some illegal fireworks at the picnic which we are attending.
On July 5, we have our Pittsfield Fourth of July Parade which is supposed to last 2 hours and 15 minutes. I will be marching with my UNICO brothers and sisters. Our picnic this day will take place on the lawn at Tanglewood. This is the final day of a three day James Taylor concert. We will be with a group of at least 20 people.
The people who have tickets for the Fourth of July will be treated to a fireworks display after the concert, but not us on the 5th of July.

Politics / News – The first hurricane of the season has halted work at the oil spill site.
If a place is hit with a hurricane, you can always rebuild what was damaged. This oil spill disaster could have decades of lasting damage that can’t even be fixed.
Doesn’t it seem like every U.S. President has some war or natural disaster to deal with in his term(s) of office?

CNN reported that Mr. Gore, who got bored with marriage / wife after multiple years of being together, is making negative news again. He might have had some sexual hanky panky with his therapist.
For you Republicans who like the Republican talking heads, Rush Limbaugh got married again. While in the car the other day, I tried listening to him for a little while, I had to switch channels. I could never become a Republican.
Even we Liberal democrats turn a little more conservative as we mature, but I will never cross that line!

Have a great Thursday.
We have at least one more day before the heat and humidity starts to filter in.
Talk to you soon. The Curley Lad