The Self~Professed Lothario

Not counting the Itlo Club, Curly’s Bar is the pride and joy of Hilldale, Pennsylvania.  Hilldale, like most other boroughs in that part of Pennsylvania, is surrounded by the Pocono Mountains, the Susquehanna River,  and countless miles of Anfractuous roads, which Stretch out as far as the eye of man can see. 

 

 

One evening, at about Twilight, Elmer and Albert made their Customary trip to the local saloon.  All went reasonably well until Sadie, the local femme fatale, presumed to Sashay into view.  Albert, who’s always been smitten with her, was somewhat Tipsy by then.

 

 

He approached his ideal woman, Wine in hand, and asked her to Dance.  Having always fancied himself quite the Charming bloke, he never for a moment suspected that she could possibly have understood him to be anything but ever so delightfully Playful.

 

 

Unfortunately for him, the object of his affections assumed that he was just another annoying barfly, interested only in getting a few extra Shiggles to show for his time there. 

 

 

Thus were permanently ended his hopes for romance.

 

 

 

Here we have Wordle #125.  This week’s words are  anfractuous, stretch, bar, wine, sashay, tipsy, shiggles, dance, charming, playful, twilight, and customary

 

 

As always there’s an excessively cumbersome word among them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Annunci

The Knights Of Columbus

The Knights of Columbus are a Catholic men’s  charitable and fraternal organization, founded in 1882, in New Haven, Connecticut by Father Michael J. McGivney.  Father McGivney founded the organization in order to  fight against anti~Catholic discrimination.

 

 

I first joined the order in May, 1992, when my parish’s council, Our Lady of Perpetual Help Council 794 in Lindenhurst, New York, had a membership drive.   During the time I was there, I was involved with very many activities, including bingo, night at the races, and their bar.   I got the Fourth Degree while I was with them.

 

 

In April, 2006, I moved to northeastern Pennsylvania, where I joined Assumpta Council 3987 in Luzerne.  Unfortunately I never got significantly involved with them but I frequently went there to say hello.

 

 

During the end of December, 2013, I moved to Long Beach, New York, and soon joined Monsignor John Cass Council 2626.  Recently I became an inside guard, and then the recording secretary.

 

 

Membership in our order is restricted to Catholic men, but we have many activities for women, children, and teenagers.   In each council, members like to get entire families involved with activities that work to the advantage of both the Church and the community in general.

The order was named after Christopher Columbus, the controversial fifteenth century Genoan explorer, who has been the subject of many spurious claims against him.  He was chosen as the order’s patron because of his having played such a prominent part in the beginnings of the New World.

 

 

Here is my entry for  Your Daily Word Prompt.

 

 

 

The Train

It was a perfect autumn

afternoon in Pittston.  Elmer and Albert were taking their daily walk.  

“That freight train’s been passing through, precisely this time each day, since before World War I,” Albert said.

“Our parents, and grandparents, grew up with it.  It’s a legend.  Local folk even set their watches by it.

“That’s nice,” his friend said, “but I have a bit of a  problem with it.  We have no passenger trains, or other public transportation, anywhere near here.

“How is that bad?” Albert asked.

“For one thing,” Elmer moaned, ” I don’t have a car.”

Welcome back to https://rochellewisoff.com/ ‘s Friday Fictioneers.  This week, https://lingeringvisions.wordpress.com/

Dawn M. Miller provides our fab photo prompt.

Where All the Hep Cats Get to Go

 

“The Wyoming Free Library and Wyoming United Methodist Church often collaborate on book  sales,” Muriel told Gloria. “Everybody in Wyoming and West Wyoming votes at the library on Election Day too.”

 

 

“I’m happy with it too,” Gloria said.  “Every afternoon when I come here I get to meet all kinds of characters, from frazzled parents and children to Mormon missionaries.”

 

 

“Yeah,” the former opined.  Them city slickers think they’re in the center of all the action and adventure, but hey, we’re where it’s really at.”

 

 

“Besides that,” Gloria gushed, “We’re four miles from Pittston, the tomato capital of the world.”

 

 

Welcome back yet again to Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers.  Read her blog for all the interesting details.  Thank  Sandra Crook

for the swell photo prompt.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Major Adjustment

Clarence, recently widowed after sixty years of marriage, liked to reminisce about his wife Mabel.  A resident at Wilkes~Barre’s Little Flower Manor, he always played Kate Smith’s “When the Moon Comes Over the Mountain” when he felt nostalgic.

 

 

“That was our wedding song,” he cheerfully told visitors and friends.  Everyone noticed that he wasn’t handling things well but he never admitted it until he was alone in his room.

 

 

That was where he felt free to stare into space, in dead silence.  Until he admitted his problem, no one was able to help him.

 

 

Welcome back to Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers. Read all about it on her page.  This week’s photo was supplied by Gah Learner .

 

Northeastern Pennsylvania In History

It’s the Fourth of July in northeastern Pennsylvania.  Naturally I’m partying with kin in Hilldale.  A gang of cousins and I go to nearby Wilkes~Barre to see the historical exhibitions in the Square.

 

 

“Northeastern Pa.’s loaded with military history,”  Joe and Ron, our Viet Nam veteran cousins, remind us.  “Remember,” Ron said. “We have to leave soon to see Queen Esther’s Bloody Rock in Wyoming Borough.”

 

 

At the end of our day, we get to go to Jitty Joe’s, in Scranton, for ice cream.  That’s all so mundane, even with all the toppings, compared to what we see here. 

 

 

Yet again welcome back to Rochelle’s  Friday Fictioneers.  J. Hardy Carroll provides this week’s photograph.  For the information of those of you with an interest in northeastern PA/Wyoming Valley history, here’s a good link:    Queen Esther’s Bloody Rock

Blueberry Fields Forever

It’s the first weekend in July, 1988, so I’m visiting my father’s family in Hilldale, Pennsylvania.

 

The good news is, I’m still young and handsome. The bad news is, I do stupid things.

 

Some cousins and I go blueberry picking in the Poconos. I tire of their interest in Reaganomics so I wander off alone.

 

“Aaah, free at last!” I boast defiantly. No radical politics, no horrible music, no bad jokes!”

 

The catch was that 3:00 p.m soon became 8:00 p.m. with no sense of direction and no men’s room.

 

Next year  I’m going shopping for sure at Redner’s for blueberries.

 

Rochelle leads us weekly at Friday Fictioneers.

 

Bjorn Rudberg has supplied this week’s photo prompt.

Catholic Radio Ave Maria

J.M.J. 750 AM Catholic Radio Up until a few years ago, while still living in northeastern Pennsylvania, I worked as a volunteer at this exceptionally good Catholic Radio Station. Unfortunately I haven’t been in touch with them recently but at the time they were at the Oblates of St. Joseph Seminary on Route 315 in Pittston.

Bait and switch

“He never expected to find that at the hardware store.” Have you ever noticed that there are all sorts of circumstances and environments where one often can count on finding things he shouldn’t  expect to find there, or not finding things that should be there.

A perfect example is M.T.V. which,  during my youth, was a groundbreaking music video channel. Now it no longer has any connection whatsoever to music, though it still covers pop culture of other kinds.

 

I’ve always had quite a significant interest in the Catholic Church’s intellectual world. Although I no longer watch television~not counting reruns on Youtube~I’d always enjoyed, in the past, watching Catholic shows on television. When I lived in Lindenhurst, I tried watching Telicare, the Rockville Centre Diocese’s official Catholic network. To my chagrin, they never showed any Catholic shows. All I could find were panel discussions with psychotherapists, case workers, and social workers; old movies; local high school sports; and telethons.

 

To this very day I can still remember an incident, when I was growing up, when my parents, my younger sister, and I were on our  way to northeastern Pennsylvania to visit relatives. Somewhere during the course of the trip we stopped at a diner in which, the very name of the place advertised prominently that they sold chicken. When we asked for chicken, a dumbfounded employee explained that their menu included everything except chicken.

 

In yet another northeastern Pennsylvania moment, one day several years ago, I was trying to get home (which then was the Borough of Wyoming) from someplace in Wilkes~Barre. Because of my having been quite unfamiliar with my location, and lacking a G.P.S., I took it for granted that a sign I noticed, which said that Pittston, my mother’s hometown, was seven miles north of there, by way of that road, I attempted to follow the road.  Within only a few hundred feet, I was confronted with a dead end.

 

If ever I chance to find things like bubble  gum, livestock, and animal balloons, instead of hardware, at a hardware store, I’ll know very much better than to be even so much as the least bit surprised.Today’s Author

Beatles, kin, computer woes