GIORNO FELICE DEL PATRICK SANTO!

It was a cold and rainy Saturday afternoon, as Kevin and Dennis sat at the bar next to each other in Patty O’Casey’s pub in Dublin.

Kevin: “Where you be from, Lad?’

Dennis: “From Mulberry Street” he replied.

Kevin: “Well now, I’m from Mulberry Street too!”

Dennis: “What do you do for a trade?” he asked.

Kevin: “I bake bread for O’Keefe’s Bakery.”

Dennis: “Well now Laddie, I work for O’Keefe’s Bakery bejesus!”

Kevin: “And what be your football preference?”

Dennis: “St. Patrick’s Athletic.”

Kevin: “Cheers, so do I!”

Just then the phone rang and the barkeeper Patty answered:

“Good afternoon this is Paddy. Oh-nothing much, very quiet, no one here except the O’Brien brothers, drunk as usual!”

La parte superiore della mattina a voi ragazzi e lassies!

Yes indeed, ‘tis a great day to be Irish!

Now let us break out in song lads and lassies: Tula di luula della La di tuu, bugia di lalula di tuu, Tula di lalaula di tuu, 'tis una ninnananna irlandese!

Indeed it does me heart grand to wish me Irish brothers and sisters the top of the day and bejesus, a happy St. Paddy’s Day!

To TLW (The Little Woman) may the saints be with you, and to all me in-laws: may the luck of the Irish be with you!

To my half Irish kids: Meh.

Only kidding folks, it is a great race of people with some great traditions and contributions who helped put the idea of great in these Great United States of America!

So go out and lift one for the grand ole sod and your day be filled with joy, laughter and tradition.

http://www.ahrcsuffolk.org/

LOOKING FOR GREAT GIFT IDEAS FOR YOUR CHILDREN OR GRANDCHILDREN?

http://www.ebeanstalk.com/?store=42

http://www.mountaintoptoys.com/

Address: 1231 Taft Hwy, Signal Mountain, TN 37377

Phone:(423) 886-6943

Hours: Open today · 10:00 am – 6:00 pm

DO YOU WATCH THE BIG BANG THEORY?

You should, it will keep you sober!

http://forgotten-ny.com/

http://www.nicolegregory.com/

TIME OUT

A guy comes home from a bar drunk at 4am in the morning. His wife is sleeping and he tries to sneak into bed. He's lying in bed for a few minutes and suddenly lets rip a fart.

His wife wakes up and asks, "What in the world was that?"

He replies, "Touchdown, I'm up 7 nothing."

She thinks to herself, "I'm gonna fix him." and she lets one loose.

He yells at her, "What was that?"

She replies "Touchdown, tied score!”

Now he thinks, "I'm gonna fix her." So for about 10 minutes he’s trying to work one up. He tries so hard he craps the bed!

The wife asks, "Now what in the world was that?"

He replies, "Half time, switch sides."

Too much football even for me, since I spent half a day watching the various bowl games on New Year’s Day!  Your body can metamorphous into many forms of vegetation and even animal, from a potato to a lizard as the light in the room changes, so do you.

Many years ago when we were first married, TLW (The Little Woman) would hate it when I watched football, preferring me to pay attention to her as she took care of the cooking for the first time. I figured she was so busy in the kitchen if I gave her a story she would think my time spent in front of the TV was being well spent.

“Are you watching football again this Sunday?”

“No, I’m watching the NFL instead.”

“The NFL? What’s that?”

“The National Federation of Lawyers”

“Oh! OK.”

I got away with this for maybe a quarter of the game when she became suspicious of my cursing at the TV. Then when we had children, she would just surrender and go to her mother’s for the afternoon with the kids.

Yes, I was a low-life lying fink, but that was a guilt free ¼ of a game. I have since mended my sinful ways and tell her the truth. I did play with my kids, come home every night and we did talk, so that was the worst thing I did.

It was at a halftime that I once switched a channel and found this show about surrogate parents and illegitimate children. The host asked a theoretical question: “What would you say if some child showed up at your door and said: ‘Hi, I’m your spouse’s child!” This got me thinking so I called in TLW and asked her the question. After a moment she responded: I would excuse myself for a moment and return to say: I’m sorry, your father is dead!”

 

http://www.ahrcsuffolk.org/

LOOKING FOR GREAT GIFT IDEAS FOR YOUR CHILDREN OR GRANDCHILDREN?

http://www.ebeanstalk.com/?store=42

http://www.mountaintoptoys.com/

Address: 1231 Taft Hwy, Signal Mountain, TN 37377

Phone:(423) 886-6943

Hours: Open today · 10:00 am – 6:00 pm

DO YOU WATCH THE BIG BANG THEORY?

You should, my grandma says you can’t watch football all day long!

THE STRAINS OF CHRISTMAS PAST…

Or what have you done for me lately.

Every post-Christmas day, my kids would gravitate to their new toys and play for a while and then start to look elsewhere for their amusement. TLW (The Little Woman) in her robe and I in my undershirt would feed them their breakfast while we chomped down on homemade buttered walnut bread, toasted would commiserate over the day before.

When we looked again, #1 Son would be off playing with his new toys and we would be happy. Then once the shine wore off, you’d see some of the old favorites re-appear as it they were the only toys he owned. I guess loyalty went a long way in those days. I can remember as a child finding my old toys and re-discovering them too a few days after Christmas.

The Holidays left us all as adults tired of eating and vowing to diet, the thought of eating ANYTHING almost seemed repulsive. Not only were we tired of eating, we were tired of talking, sitting for hours eating and drinking and chatting, did wear you out, and you kind of wished the decorations were down and put away, and that there were no leftovers.

The college football season was almost over with the bowl games and the Super Bowl seemed just around the corner, and the thought of only hockey or basketball looming for the rest of the winter was sad.

Then by February 1^st, you were missing a holiday, looking forward to Spring and Easter, it seemed that we thought only a few more weeks till Spring training. But you looked once more and it was Labor Day and the holidays seemed to be bunching up and right on top of you.

The funny thing is we as a nation are doers, wanting to make change for change sake, yet the holidays and all the rituals and traditions stay in place, and in some cases the children are embracing them even more so. The idea of: What have you done for me lately then becomes; Let’s do it again!

http://www.ahrcsuffolk.org/

LOOKING FOR GREAT GIFT IDEAS FOR YOUR CHILDREN OR GRANDCHILDREN?

http://www.ebeanstalk.com/?store=42

http://www.mountaintoptoys.com/

Address: 1231 Taft Hwy, Signal Mountain, TN 37377

Phone:(423) 886-6943

Hours: Open today · 10:00 am – 6:00 pm

DO YOU WATCH THE BIG BANG THEORY?

 

My Daddy & Dr. Sheldon Cooper think you should!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

From the Del Bloggolo clan to you and yours, may the peace of the season, the spirit that resides in all of us and the power of love be in your hearts today.

These past few days prior to Christmas Day have been beautiful, my little granddaughter Darby Shea has seen to that! She shyly smiles and then takes the house by storm: smiling at everyone and making us all feel so great. She is the spirit of the season. It is with that feeling I hope you have and share with those you love.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

 

IT’S CHRISTMAS EVE! AGAIN!

It is hard to believe that it is Christmas Eve again, or as you non-believers say: “December 24^th.” It seems like only yesterday I had said that but it was 2013.

This year is interesting in that there is nothing to say about it except before you know it, it will be Christmas Eve, 2015, or as you non-believers say: “December 24^th, 2015”!

Years ago this was a day for self-recrimination on my part. Santa was coming, and suddenly all those things I thought were fun were coming to haunt me, as Santa would have the last laugh. It was then that I turned to God, promising a better person in the coming year, more attention to Mom and Dad, and less torturing of my sisters. The hope was that God would intercede on my behalf and sway jolly old St. Nick to laugh it off and give the kid a break.

Mom was in total command, giving me orders and I faithfully carrying them out, avoiding my sisters where possible and throwing out the garbage without being asked. I even took the live eel heads that were eating through the brown paper bag down to the trash can two flights down!

Dad had an inside connection with Santa, he seemed to have conversations with him that had uncertainties to them, saying things like: “I spoke to Santa today, he asked if you were a good boy, I had to tell him the truth, you can’t lie to Santa!” He never told me what the truth was, but it played in my head as a disappointing morning of my siblings getting toys and me coal, coal to be put in my stocking, even though we didn’t have stocking hanging.

I would start to feel sorry for myself, look at my sister and think: “Why did I do that? She had it coming, I’m sorry God, I won’t do it again if Santa comes tomorrow for me and I get my train set.”

Somehow, Santa did come for me too, every year, and left me toys, and no coal. While Mom went to church, I would go to Dad while he was in bed and thank him for talking to Santa for me. This was not a good idea since Mom had gone to mid-night Mass!

FROM ME TO YOU...

HAVE A WONDERFUL AND MERRY CHRISTMAS!

 

 

http://www.ahrcsuffolk.org/

LOOKING FOR SMART GIFT IDEAS FOR YOUR CHILDREN OR GRANDCHILDREN?

http://www.ebeanstalk.com/?store=42

http://www.mountaintoptoys.com/

Address: 1231 Taft Hwy, Signal Mountain, TN 37377

Phone:(423) 886-6943

Hours: Open today · 10:00 am – 6:00 pm

DO YOU WATCH THE BIG BANG THEORY?

Watch Wolowitz try to earn his doctorates!

SANTA GRANDPA IS COMING TO TOWN

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For many, many years I have been playing the part of Santa Clause for people with developmental disabilities, and I love it. I go to a Christmas dance they have and play Santa and I go to one of the residences. The dance has a great number of people who attend and they want a picture of Santa with them, so I gladly do it.

The residence is a smaller quieter affair for about 8 people, all adults that can’t speak or function too well, and this is a labor of love for me beyond question, it is a wonderful half hour, I take a picture or two, hand out presents and leave. Usually staff brings their children and I take pictures with them too.

I usually return the costume a few days before Christmas and often wish I had a grandchild I could wear the suit for, and this year the wish has come true. I am a happy grandpa! Beautiful Darby is coming around the 19^th, and I will use the Santa Costume at some point to get a picture of her with Santa. I did it last year for a niece and a nephew, and so I will for beautiful Darby.

Since little Darby Shea is coming for Christmas, I am busy getting the house ready for her. It has to be a magical place where she can amuse herself, wonder and be happy: it’s my job to see she does. I have never been so happy, especially this year without Mom who passed in June.  Darby is a bigger gift than I imagined.

I’ve decided Darby can do anything, she is so bright I hope she doesn’t out-smart me. She will have me as her assistant and we will learn some songs, maybe a lullaby or two, and maybe I’ll teach her some things that any baby who has Italian blood in her should know. There will be a lot of camera time, and a lot of playtime for her and Grandpa. It will be the best Christmas I will ever have until the next one.

http://www.ahrcsuffolk.org/

http://www.ebeanstalk.com/?store=42

http://www.mountaintoptoys.com/

Address: 1231 Taft Hwy, Signal Mountain, TN 37377

Phone:(423) 886-6943

Hours: Open today · 10:00 am – 6:00 pm

DO YOU WATCH THE BIG BANG THEORY?

You should

A DAY OF THANKS

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Or… what the Hell am I doing in this store?

Q: Why did the turkey cross the road?
A: It was the chicken's day off. 

Our national holiday is an interesting one in that it is the harbinger of Christmas and New Year and Hanukah, we call it Thanksgiving and it did have something to do with Pilgrims, Native Americans (Indians) and Chinese take-out once. Now of course we commercialize the heck out of it, just like all our traditional holidays!

Like Christmas, if you live alone in this world you might go to the movies on the holiday of Thanks, and if not, you will stuff yourself, be too tired to think about going to work the next day and you will be all footballed and chatted out until Christmas Day, New Years Day with the bowl games.

As a child I remember the holiday for one thing and one thing only: turkey. It went into Mom’s special turkey pot, which she covered in butter and other spices and occasionally took the bird out to baste it in its own juices. We only ate turkey once a year and when we did we ate a ton of other stuff along with it.

One year in Brooklyn, nestled in our dining room, amid the fake fireplace and my favorite guests, my Mom’s baby sister Aunt Marie and her husband, my idol Uncle Frank, we all sat around the table and it was always sunny. The window would cast a beautiful golden glow across the room from the open ally way next to us on our third floor walk up. We wore a tie on that day, it was special.

There was everything on that table that as a little boy you would want. Mom started off with the usual Sunday dinner meal which was macaroni, the different meats and then the turkey and the cranberry sauce, which I hated but ate anyway because the Pilgrims must have had a hard time making it for us. But the thing I loved and still do was the Italian sausage stuffing, something Grandma Frances taught Mom and she carried it on throughout her life, and we make now ourselves.

The leftovers the next day, Friday was the best when we got older, and had Friday off. Mom would take out the turkey or what was left of it and cut it into pieces for turkey sandwiches, along with a nice pile of stuffing and a glass of red wine, and life was good, very good! It would turn into another holiday, as we sat with the left over company and chatted, finishing off the day with chestnuts, wall nuts and pumpkin pie. In fact it was the day I asked TLW (The Little Woman) to marry me in 1970.

This year will be different… Mom has passed and so has the tradition: as I knew it. I will eat at home today, enjoy my day with a parade, football and food, we will talk about my little munchkin in California and dream for Christmas when she will arrive with her Daddy and beautiful Mommy, and life will be good again.

So everybody, 

HAVE A GREAT THANKSGIVING. IF YOU ARE FREE, 

DROP BY FOR SOME DESSERT TOO!

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http://www.ahrcsuffolk.org/

http://www.ebeanstalk.com/?store=42

http://www.mountaintoptoys.com/

Address: 1231 Taft Hwy, Signal Mountain, TN 37377

Phone:(423) 886-6943

Hours: Open today · 10:00 am – 6:00 pm

DO YOU WATCH THE BIG BANG THEORY?

You should!

HAPPY 4TH!

What ghost haunted King George III?
The spirit of '76!

Pretty sad that I have to resort to bad jokes on the big day, but then, why not? It is a day to be sober, respectful and reminded that the holiday should be one the whole world should celebrate.

Just think about it, what would have been this world if there were NO USA? Would Hitler’s plan still be in effect, would Tojo’s descendants be running the California Freeways? Would we have a place to worship freely? Would God even be in the equation, and would you be free to read this?

When I was a kid, fireworks were all over the neighborhood, and I enjoyed watching them and waiting for them to explode with fear-filled anticipation that sent shudders through me.

When I got older I got a hold of some fireworks and had a grand time setting them off then when I reached the age of maturity, I resented the noise.

But the holiday signifies the burst for freedom men wanted living in subjugated colonies, it wrote two great flawless documents: the Constitution of the United States and the piece of paper that declared our freedom, the Declaration of Independence. Both documents still hold up today almost 250 years later. It is preserved in Washington DC as a sacred relic, comparable to anything you might find in Vatican City in Rome in reverence.

Enjoy the holiday, think of the parades to celebrate and the food to cook and friends to enjoy it with, then if you are not too happy about the noisy fireworks, go to bed, close your windows and drown out the noise with your air-conditioner.

As the visitor said as he left the Statue of Liberty:
"Keep in torch!"

ST PATRICK WAS CHINESE!

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And his parents came from Japan.

No? Italian? No! How about Scottish? Yup, and his parents were Scottish and rich. How is that for a combination, with the Scott’s reputation for being thrifty?

You must be asking: “What the HELL does this got to do with the price of Italian sausage, DelBloggolo???” Well first of all let me say, watch your language! Secondly, last week there was some debate about what St. Patrick was, was he Italian or French or British or what?

The tradition of St. Patrick Day, like Columbus Day is what America is all about, our ethnic pride, our roots and our values. It troubles me that we would think to infringe upon the Irish, or say someone else discovered America, or Steuben was really a Pole, because it isn’t the person so much as the pride in being Irish or Italian.

Watching the St. Patrick Day parade, I see a lot of happy, smiling faces, waving at the camera, and that is just the faces! They also are waving their arms and hands, and what it says to me is: here is a direct descendant of a man or woman or both, and took a challenge from America, to establish themselves and make a go of it in the greatest country in the world. But it doesn’t have to be Irish, or Italian: it could be Spanish or Puerto Rican, Polish or Chinese and Japanese.

Maybe it is time to have a ‘Ethnic Awareness Day’, where we all march in our ethnic colors in the same parade, maybe it is time to let go of the distinctions we make about each other and embrace the fact that we are all Americans first, like our ancestors who first came here, hoped.

TOP OF THE EVENING TO YOU!

You had your St. Patrick’s Day, now let’s celebrate St. Joseph’s Day, a day that every March 19^th, I got cream puffs made especially for me because my name is Joseph. The tradition in the old neighborhood in Brooklyn for Italians was to celebrate the day with St. Joseph Cream Puffs, and if you were named Joseph, you got a dollar.

Being a saintly man, I miss the cream puffs and the dollar: in fact I miss Brooklyn days of the 1950’s.

Joseph (Hebrew יוֹסֵף, Yosef; Syriac: ܝܘܤܦ Yosip; Greek: Ἰωσήφ, Ioseph) is how they say it. Biblically, there were many Josephs, but not all saints like me. Four sisters qualify me for sainthood automatically.

The first appearance of Joseph is in the gospels of Matthew and Luke. Each contains a genealogy of Jesus tracing his ancestry back to King David, but the two are from different sons of David! But, royalty is royalty. I descend from Regina Francesca, queen of pasta and pepperoni, truly a queen. She is also known as Grandma Frances.

The REAL St. Joseph

And so today, eat something Italian, drink some wine and celebrate the day. The color is green just like Patrick, but with a red side to it. (sauce) We refrain from parades because we don’t want to get into that gay marching controversy that plague St. Patrick Day parades every year. Instead, we march to the refrigerator and avoid the winds of March and the street garbage of New York City.

TOP O THE MORN, BEJESUS

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And a Happy St. Patrick’s Day to you lads and lassies.

Not being Irish I don't get too excited about the day, but I do cook corned beef and cabbage and make my own Irish soda bread.

Now not to brag, but elderly Irish mammas have raved about my soda bread and TLW (The Little Woman) has taken it into the Wanna-Be-Bank & Truss Co. my soda bread where little Irish girls and boys claim it was better than what they got at home from their Irish mammas!

Of course I make it for TLW because she is the love of my life, so everything should be perfect for her. My children are half Irish or half of my children are Irish, I’m not sure which, but there is the Irish element in it somewhere.

Actually I’m married to a Leprechaun, a wee creature in Irish mythology, who really exists in my life. She is always on the go, doing things and keeping Amazon.com afloat.

Her Dad Jim was from the old sod, a true Irishman if ever there was one. Opinionated, crotchety, he actually corrected the Sunday NY Times, then sent in the newspaper with his corrections.

The Irish are a fascinating people in this country in the early 50’s and into the early 70’s. They had the same values as Italians, family loyalty was important to them, self-respect and morality played a big part of their makeup, but most importantly, family. I was lucky in that I could feel at home with TLW’s family, they were so like my own, they were Americans first.

But recently I have been referring to TLW as the leprechaun, my leprechaun because she is always about, telling me what she thinks, lending her good advice to me, making my like easier and certainly more beautiful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8EXDtoGfrs

God bless the Irish, they have done so much to build America, protect it and help make it grow into what it is today, they deserve to celebrate their existence and we should al be proud of them.

May the road rise to meet you,
may the wind be ever at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
and the rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
may God hold you in the palm of his hand.

THE END

NEW BEGINNINGS

Happy New Year to you all! I hope you are not too sober from last night, or how will you read this blogue?

Since my New Year’s resolution is set in stone, there is no reason to get excited or worked up. No resolutions are the best kind in my book. There is a lot to get excited about this year, the next new season will be spring, baseball starts up in February with spring training, but the most important thing to happen will be the arrival of my new Granddaughter, who is already a princess!

When I was born, Dad looked at me and said to Mom: “Good luck with that!”

As the new year begins, it is also another year, a year to add to the past years and remind myself that there is still a lot I need to see and do, so I can pass on my observations to you. Being I love to write, I plan to write my memories with the intent of publishing them in some kind of memorial.

Also I have a need to express what I think in words about what I see, and who I know. This I hope will be with humor and good taste. (Good taste from me comes with the words ‘I hope’.

Anyway, Let’s all have a wonderful New Year, with old differences set aside and forgotten, that parents with sick children all over the world find them healed. That parents who were estranged from their children are reunited, and contentious relationships brokered into peaceful ones, that no one losses a job, or a loved one, that there is nothing but prosperity for all, happiness and enough love to spread around the world twice over.

HAPPY NEW YEAR, I LOVE YOU ALL, AND THANK YOU FOR READING.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

There’s not much to say except: MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I hope that this year is filled with a lot of good moments that transform into happy memories of a lifetime, and that until next Holiday season: you are all well and prosper.

For me I will enjoy the day and eat as much as I like, drink as much as I want and hope my doctor doesn’t call.

Love, Joe & Ellen