Well, Halloween is over and I had no songs, no poems, and no jokes told to me by the little Halloweeners like you do in Wyoming Valley. I wish I could get a video tape of that tradition to show my friends here in Colorado. It's just so entertaining... As you can see, we have some hearty Halloweeners in Colorado! It's been snowing here for 4 days and it's still around 20F! That's SNOW on the brim of this young man's hat!

I've posted the Citizen's Voice picture that appeared in the newspaper as well as 19 more pictures from Karen Leonardi in the section of the 2002 reunion pictures. Go down to the bottom to see it.

Thanks again everyone for your support. It's very helpful in times like these to know we have people out there like you ready to offer such wonderful emotional support.

I miss PA now with all the beautiful fall colors and mild weather. We got back in CO Sunday night and it's been cold and snowing ever since. Right now it's only 18F out and yesterday we set a record for the coldest October 30th ever. I don't know what it's going to be like for the Halloweeners tonight. I only hope they can fit some warm clothing under their costumes!

Sorry to take so long in changing the headliners. I figured I'd keep Tom Crossin up there until I heard back from him, but so far, no luck. Maybe I'll swap out Brian Judge with someone else in the meantime. I got some more reunion pictures from Karen and will be adding them to the photo section soon.

When it is a cold beer in the valley - where else is there but possibly Main Street in Luzerne -- seriously, I am not that "fluent" in Valley spots - I normally tag along with my younger sisters - the spots they go to are either "Hops and Barley" or Boylan's (which I assume will be very very crowded as it is a big gathering spot for WVW people). I am open to wherever - but would think the west side of the river would be better and somewhere in the Swoyersville/Luzerne/Dallas/Kingston area

Hello alumni. This message is for Lee, I and possibly others have noticed that there have not been any changes to this Weblog since October 5th, no excuses are needed as we all know you've been busy with important family matters, but any clue as to how much longer we'll all have to keep seeing Tom Crossin and Brian Judge each time this page opens up, no offense to Tom or Brian, they are both wonderful people but we've been staring at their faces for close to a month now, let's at least see you and give Terri a chance at being up there, it's just a thought. Looks like the Day after Thanksgiving is looking good for everyone to get together, Jay mentioned that was "a good day to kick back with friends and a nice cold beer", I and others tend to agree with this quote Jay, so now that the date is set Jay, where's the place??? If anyone else has ideas let me know, I'll try to reserve it.

Hey Doc! Friday night, the 29th is the night! You said that you'll be in town. Let's see if we can get some of our party animal friends to join us, wherever... This is an open invite. All ideas of where to meet are welcome!

Hi all! The traditions in St. Lucia sound wonderful, but I don't know that I would eat those things. I'm not one to try new things when it comes to food. As far as the school uniform goes, I passed mine down to my nieces, who also attended O'Reilly. There is talk of a get-together around the Thanksgiving holiday. Am looking forward to it--really hope that I can make it!!

It's wonderful to hear about all the people that went to the wake to give Lee and Terri support. God bless all of you!

Dorothy, my uniform was gone as soon as we graduated. Why in the world would anyone want to keep any school uniform???? *laughter* I can only surmize that the person that asked that question must see the unity and love we share for our school and classmates. I myself found it odd that other classes from our school have not held regular reunions. I thank God for the blessings of love and togetherness He has bestowed on our class.

Lee I want to thank you for the recipe for the dough for the pierogies. I never liked my mother's Lithiuaian recipe. Mainly it consisted of water, eggs, milk, flour and salt. About 15 years ago, the citizen's voice had a recipie for the dough that was the exact same as your Dad's. I have been using it ever since. I find that the sour cream makes a huge difference in the dough. The texture and flavor are much better. As I have been moving from country to country, I have lost the original recipe and now make the dough by touch. My daughters have learned to do the same--but it's difficult to guage how many pierogies I will get out of one. Now I can use your Dad's with better measurements!

I am also looking for a recipe for nut roll dough. It uses the same concept of sour cream, along with eggs, flour, sugar, yeast, salt ect.. I have searched the web, but can't find one even similar. I got this recipe out of the Citizen's Voice about 16 years ago. I still make my nutroll, but am never happy with the dough.

The other recipe I am looking for is for Italian cookies. But Italian cookies that take the following in ingredients: 1.) 1 doz eggs, 2.) 12 teaspoons of vanilla, 3.) sugar I have no idea, 4.) 12 teaspoons of baking powder, then salt ect...if someone has this recipe please post it for me or mail me at ammk@hotmail.com
The other recipes I am looking for is molasses cookies that had a hint of ginger that my Mom used to make. She would make them about 3 weeks before Christmas and also ice them. By Christmas they would be lovely and soft.
I have some great cookie recipes that I have added if anyone is interested. I am also thinking of trying to make fresh kielbossi this year. I've never done it before, so if anyone has a good Lithuaian recipie for fresh kielbossi, please send it.

Today is called Jeoynel Creowle here in St. Lucia. It is a day to observe all the old traditions and cook all the foods from a 100 years ago. Today, Patois (creole as some you of may know it) is spoken all day. For breakfast we are have saltfish, floats, and cucumber salad. Dinner is bar-b-qued pig tails (don't knock it until you try it!), salted rib with dumpling, sopa (a type of potatoe), red beans and rice and salad. The weather has been awful here this week. It has rained and poured since last Monday. Normally we would have gone to a celebration (what we call at home a fair), where people dress in creole coustums and cook over fires etc...but as I said the rain is holding us back. You know when I first came here and I heard people say "the rain is falling" I thought they were using improper English. Let me tell you all, the rain actually does fall here! Have a blessed day everyone.

It was nice to see so many people at Lee's mom's wake. It was great of John Usefara to come all the way from Virginia. I guess we all are pretty close after all!

hello to all reading this-thought I would send a note about something I read in the Times Leader the other day. to those who do'nt live in the valley any more, there is a section in the paper called the say-so where people can call in comments about various things and they don't have to leave their name. It was a comment about our reunion picture that someone submitted. The person wanted to know why we didn't have our school uniforms on in the picture. What I would like to know is does any girl in our class even know what they did with that ugly rag they made us wear?
Any comments on what anyone you did with your lovely blue ensamble? Peace-------------

Lee and Terri,
You both have been in my prayers and thoughts since I heard a few days ago. I am not going to even imagine how you feel - I like the others have lost a parent, but still I cannot imagine what is going through you right now. The comfort I offer is that with the Lord, hopefully you will find peace and comfort, and know that your Mother has eternal salvation

I'm glad that several of you will be attending Mary Devlin's wake. I will be there a little later. Ann Marie, I read your message to Lee, and I couldn't have said it better myself. After losing my Mom, the only thing that keeps me going is my faith that she is at peace and no longer suffering. She was sick for several years and was in a wheelchair after having a leg amputated. I hope Lee and Terri will find comfort in hearing from us.

Lee and Terri
I am so very sorry for your loss. You are in my thoughts and prayers. I lost my dad six years ago today, and it is the wonderful memories of the times we shared that keep me going. God bless you during this difficult time and always.

Lee; I too would like to send my prayers to you and you family. I can relate to the loss. I lost both my parents within two years of each other when I was in college and even now a day does not go by that I don't think of them. The things that will be conforting now will be the memories of the times you had together and the solice that those memories will bring you. My best to you and Terri at this difficult time.
xoxoxoxo

Lee, You have my heartfelt sympathy and promise of many prayers for your mom. I'll have her added to our church prayer network. If there's anything that I can do, don't hesitate to call, e-mail, or whatever.

Thanks everyone for your kind thoughts and words. We brought my mom out to Colorado in March, 2000, because she was in poor health and had suffered a number of falls. She needed to be watched 24 hours a day. She had broken her knees 3 times over the past 20 years and was very unsteady on her feet even with a walker.

My mom was older than most parents. In fact, she was the same age as I am now (43) when she had me. She was born in 1916 in Ireland, emigrated to England as a teenager and lived there for 17 years before coming to the United States in 1953.

We'll be flying her back to Pennsylvania for the funeral and to be buried beside my dad and sister. We were lucky to have spent time with her over the past few years, although it was very difficult to see her gradually lose her physical strength and mental awareness. She had been confined to a wheelchair for about the past 18 months. She was very small and light so I was able to pick her up and take her out and have her over for weekend visits. I had put together an online photo album of her that I have been sharing with her many relatives scattered all over the US and in Ireland. We'll really miss her, but trust that she is in a peaceful place and in the company of many dear friends and family members.

Hi everyone. I have been reading the entries everyday but don't really have a lot to say. So Helen, yes I am still here, and thank you for asking!
Lee and Terri this is a difficult time. I pray that you will feel God's strength, peace, and love during the next few days, weeks and months. May God's light shine upon you both with wonderful memories of your Mom Lee. I pray these memories will help you to laugh and smile and to fill a void that comes with the loss of a loved one.
God bless.
xoxoxoxoxoxo

Hi Everyone! To those of you who did not know, Lee Devlin's Mom passed away over the weekend. Karen was kind enough to let me know, but that's how Karen is! Lee and Terri, you are both in our thoughts and prayers, and our sympathies go out to you and your family. If I can do anything, please don't hesitate to call. You know where to find me.

Good Morning, everyone! Just a short note to tell you all that you are still in my thoughts. I'm on my way out to church now, so I'll kep you all in my prayers as well. Have a great day, my friends...

Hi Jay! We're all still here and checking out the blog entries with alarming regularlity. I have the website statistics, and I can confirm that our classmates have intense interest in this blog. I've noticed that we are 1776 days away from our next reunion and so it seems like an eternity, but in reality, it's only 5 years. For those of you paying attention, you'll find that the years are coming at us much faster than they did in 1977. My goal is to make sure we get 'back on schedule' and have regular reunions, that is, once every 5 years so we can live up to the reputation we've established for ourselves. You heard it firsthand at this most recent reunion, that our class was 'special' and so that means that we need to maintain a constant schedule of these great reunions and not let ourselves fall victim to entropy, like so many other classes have. We had some great teachers who attended this reunion, most of whom have not attended any other reunions other than ours, because they remembered us as a special class and we need to continue to live up to that reputation.

I need to send out some CDs to the folks who had put down deposits but were unable to attend. I'm sure they've gotten their Memory Books already, since Arlene was in charge of that and she's just so efficient. I promise to get these in the mail this week.

It's 10:17pm on October 17th... Do you know where your classmates are?

It is my pleasure, Dot... I will keep you posted as to any new music I run across. Helen, I have some octavos that I got at convention the past few years. I was wondering if you would want them to peruse through. You can do what you want with them afterward. Let me know where I can send them, or if I can drop them when I'm in town again.

Doc, I'm in Hunkie Heaven! Pierogi Pizza! I'm definitely coming to your place this summer. We can indulge, man!

Jay; Thanks for the sweet mention-its been a long time since I was told I was one of the best in anything!! There is a recipe for pierogis called American Pierogis-its basically mashed potatoes-baked with onion and cheddar cheese-somewhat like a cassarole. I haven't had it in a long time-but I remember it being pretty good. I catered a party a few years back and its one of the things that they requested. It went over well but the true Slovak cooks did'nt like it. There is something to be said for authenticity.
Haven't wrote for a while-hope everyone is well. With all the craziness going on lately I've been thinking about Bee an John U in Virginia. Stay extra safe!!!! Jay, just a note-Ninarose was thrilled to get the music-I think she's going to try to use some stuff for X-Mas. Thanks again for thinking of us. Take care

Tahnks for the pierogi makings - whne Jay mentione dthe pierogi lasagna - there is a place in Pittsburgh which makes a pierogi pizza - one of these days we might try it

Another note that I forgot to mention... Those have to be the three best looking Church Ladies I ever saw! Let's see... It's HOTC,ROTC, and DOTC! Hmmmmmm........

My mom has a recipe for what she calls "fake" pierogi. it's Kind of like a pierogi lasagna. It's great! I'll see if I can pry it out of her.

I was hoping that some of our church ladies would have posted a recipe for pierogies by now, but so far, no dice. We were cleaning out some cabinets today and found my father's recipe, which he got from his mother. We made these a few years ago, and they turned out pretty well and beat Mrs. T's by a mile .

Welcome again to Richard Hometchko, our resident ephemeral contributor. I always enjoy your humor, I just wish your posts lasted longer .

A few days ago I mentioned that my blog postings always seem to revolve around two topics, Victory Pig Pizza and Rush. One of the projects I worked on most recently at HP was the de100c Digital Entertainment Center. I loved this product, but it didn't sell too well and so it was cancelled .

I began participating in a de100c Yahoo user group and started a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) web page which has proven to be quite popular with the users. Well, being me, I couldn't help but mention Rush while describing a new feature that allows you to convert your precious vinyl recordings into CDs. I used a Rush as an example of one of the albums I converted from vinyl to CD. Then one participants in the forum sent me an email asking, 'You like Rush? Well maybe you like Yes too.' Of course I do. Who doesn't like Yes? It's part of my upbringing to like Yes. Well to make a long story short, this guy is Yes' manager and he sent me their latest 5-CD box set called 'In a Word, Yes' which is an absolutely phenomenal collection of their work from 1969 to the present. He also threw in a DVD video which is called Yes Symphonic Live and their latest album, Magnification.

Helping people on the Internet is a way to build up your karma, because you will most likely not be rewarded for it in this lifetime, but this was most certainly an exception to that rule .

Hello to Helen and everyone else. I'm glad that Helen appreciates my advice and gets my sense of humor. Lee invited me to this weblog and so now I can post messages. Up until now, I've only been reading these messages, and with great amusement I might add. All of you sure turned out better than any of us nuns would have expected and are a credit to your fine Catholic education. Love, Sister Heloise

Doc, That sounds like it might be doable. I'll keep you posted, buddy!

Welcome Sue! Good to hear from you again. I guess all this talk of VP makes you crave the stuff. Last Friday hubbie & I stopped at VP for a few pieces. Got talking with one of the waitresses and grilled her about the ingredients, etc. The cheese is mild white cheddar & they have changed the type of oil they use to prepare the pizza. Seems to be less greasy than what I remembered as a kid. It was weird though, it was Friday nite at 9:30 and there were only 2 other people in the place besides us. Is this normal? Since I wasn't able to make the ice breaker on Friday this was the first time I had their pizza in probably 20 yrs. Kinda crazy when it's right in your back yard and you don't take advantage of it and people in Colorado are trying to duplicate it. Marylil - sounds like you survived the fair. Didn't get down this year. Been extremely busy with work and home - and to top it off - my mom fell and broke her foot. Now I get to try and run two households. I need a vacation!!!!!! either that or the bridge!

The weather is turning cooler although its been an extremely warm fall. In Sept. we had temps in the 90's. Global warming???? Today is more seasonal - 63. Have to dig out my halloween decorations - most people around here have had their decorations up for weeks now. I'm still trying to hang on to summer and people keep talking about Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc. I hate rushing the seasons. Speaking of Rush, Lee, they were here- right in our little valley during the summer and played at Montage Mt. -missed that one since we were away on vacation that week.

Ann Marie, are you still with us?

Is Sister Heloise on retreat? I truly enjoy reading her advise - or at least it's a break in a very hetic day - a bit of comic relief - if you will. Thank you Sister Heloise - whoever you are!

Hi Sue Klecha O'Donnell! It's great to see you jumped on board. Sorry that I didn't get to see you on Saturday night. The talk of Victory Pig is reminding me of the fun we had that night. It was really good to see everyone again. With all the ugly things going on in the world, it is so very nice to enjoy the finer things in life. We are all so blessed to have such wonderful FRIENDS, family and health. As far as I'm concerned, that is life. If you have those things, you have everything! Anyway enough of that. Victory Pig talk stirs some memories of my brother coming home smelling (stinking actually) of fried peanut oil every Wed, Fri, and Saturday night for many years. Yes! He was employed by the Lovely Ceccoli family at VP for years. Needless to say, they were not the easiest folks to work for--as demonstrated by our waitress's distress on that fateful Friday night when we turned VP upside down. It's funny but my brother Mike couldn't eat a piece of VP pizza then and still can't to this day!! I personally think that it goes great with a few cold beers and friends. That's LIFE!!!!
Off to volunteer in my son, Mitchell's classroom. Have a truly wonderful day. It is a gorgeous,brisk Fall day in rural Bloomsburg!!!!

Jay - sorry - our next scheduled visit to the valley is Thanksgiving weekend -- I am more than open to a meeting place on Fri or Sat night -for the past 2 -3 years, my wife and I have tagged along with my younger sisters (they are 30 and 32) to meet their WVW classmates at one of the "establishments" on Main Street in Luzerne or at Boylan's in Swoyersville -- although I have come to know many of these people, and enjoy seeing them - it would be great to have a mini-reunion somewhere with my comrades. Any one interested in trying to arrange something to wash down left over turkey with a Yuengling or two?

Welcome Sue Klecha O'Donnell! It's always great to find a new participant in the blog. How appropriate that you would join just after Jay was asking about you. Here's something from the 'small world' category. I got an email from someone in Colorado Springs the other day thanking me for the Victory Pig recipe. Mind you, the *only* place I've ever talked about the recipe is in this blog, but somehow it's been picked up by a search engine and I have gotten several comments from former Wyoming Valley people who were very excited to find it. Anyway, the guy's wife responded to me that she also attended BOR. It was Ann Ducey, the daughter of our school nurse! I know that you guys probably get a little tired of me talking about VP pizza and Rush but each time I do, I seem to jar loose some cosmic karma. I'll have to tell you about what happened to me as a result of talking about Rush. Maybe tomorrow....

Anybody gonna be around on October 18th? I'm gonna be in town for a King's College Alumni Men's Chorus rehearsal at 6pm. After that, who knows?

Hi everyone - Lee sent me an e-mail to join the blogger. Heard I was in demand!!!!! Since I have been back home in Rhode Island, things have been crazy, to say the least. Hope all is well with everyone and I miss you all. Had a BLAST at the reunion. I know I don't make it into Pa. too often, but I'll try and post it when I do so that maybe we could get together. -Sue

Oh Man!!!!!!!! I miss all of you guys!!!!!!!!! Maybe we'll be able to step all over each others' feet for one or two! Let me know the deadline.. Sue Klecha.......... are you out there???????

I'm sure someone in the crowd will request a polka, Jay. Those old folks can't live without them.
Maybe Doc can have all of us over for the holidays! Sounds like he knows how to handle the
crowds. We usually have about 21 at our house for Christmas Eve and that's plenty for us.

Yeah Doc, Yo go!!!!!!!! Pizza, wings, beer... The holidaytime meal of champions! Peace...... Arlene, I'll keep it in mind. Maybe they'll have a band that plays POLKAS!!!!!!!! AGHHHH!!!!!!!

Boy - at $30 per head for music, food and beer - I am almost thinking of dragging the tribe across the state for the HT shindig! However - we generally spend Christmas/New Years in our house - last year, we had C Eve for my wife's side (about 30 total people), C Day for mine (and some of my wife's - had total of about 25 that day) and then day after had a thing for assorted human beings (about 30 people) -- the recycle people loved us with our 3 bins full of bottles. Before you feel sorry for my bride - believe it or not, I did all the cooking - C Eve was stuffed Cornish hens, C day was Prime rib -- we "cheated" for Boxing Day (26 Dec) - and ate leftovers, pizza and wings!

Hi! I'm still here, too, Jay. I have an idea for getting together if anyone is interested. Holy Trinity in Swoyersville is having
a New Year's Eve party with DJ Tom Sadge. They had one last year and it was a big success, even though I didn't go. If we
could get a gang together, I think that would be great. Last year the tickets ran $30 per person, and they are going to try
and keep it at that price again this year. They provide the food, music, and mixers, and beer. You just have to bring your own
liquor. Let me know if anyone would be interested. For those of you who are waiting, I got the memory books from Karen and
will be mailing them out this weekend. Thanks for your patience.

I noticed that Sister Heloise answered a question tonight on the topic of dreams so I thought I'd post the lyrics to the song 'Nocturne' from the latest Rush CD "Vapor Trails" to the weblog since it's highly relevant to the subject of dreams. It's one of my favorites and I thought that some of you (OK, maybe just Joe Petrasek) would like it too.

Nocturne
--------

Did I have a dream?
Or did the dream have me?

Set off on a night-sea journey
Without memory or desire
Drifting through lost latitudes
With no compass and no chart

Flying through hallucination
Distant voices, signal fires
Lighting up my unconscious
And the secret places of the heart

Dream - temporary madness
Dream - a voice in the wilderness
Dream - unconscious revelations
The morning says, the answer is yes

Floating through a darkened mirror
Deep reflections in disguise
Soaring through lost altitudes
Without wonder, without fear

Symbols on a field of visions
Behind the curtain of sleeping eyes
On the instant of waking
Another world of dreams appears

Dream - temporary madness
Dream - a walk in the wilderness
Dream - unconscious recreation
The morning says the answer is yes

- Lyrics by Neil Peart

Well, here I am... It's getting kind of lonely out here! OK, maybe I can light a fire here... Does anybody have any good Sister Bertilla, Sister Delphina, or Sister Anecita stories they'd like to share. I, personally never had the pleasure, but I'm sure that you veterans are out there. While you're all at it, say a prayer that I don't kill Mark Hession when we play golf the next time I come in.