Thank you for all the emails and calls regarding my health. I seem to be fine yesterday and this morning.

More important is my grandson Robert. He did a number on his right leg. Thirty stitches. Three levels of sewing. He will be down for a while.

He spent yesterday on the couch. I joined Lisa for the day. Robert is on pain killers. He was in and out all day. Lies there quietly. Occasionally cries it hurts. You don’t dare move him even slightly. He screams in pain.

He will be ok, also. Time is his healer.

Robert is a trooper. We played fish. All of us. Including Ally after she returned from school. Playing cards made him forget.

Ally brought home from school a get well card. Robert’s class had made for him. About 3 x 4 feet. Made Robert happy. Ally scotch taped it on the living room wall opposite the couch so Robert could see it.

The weather continues to amaze me. So good! Low 90s again yesterday. Each day there is less humidity. My friends up north tell me it is cold. Mid 40s into the 50s. I do not miss it. Though I must admit that I enjoyed Fall a bit. The trees colored red and gold and the crispiness in the air.

You will recall I did not play bocce thursday evening because I was not feeling well. Our team won all three games! Big! We are now 9-3 in the standings. Obviously, my talents were not required. More interesting, our best player Frankie was in Cancun and Erika in Tampa. We won all three with three of our best players not present.

Could this be the year?

I have not run into any of my tream mates yet, but I  am sure the cry will be…..Who needs you!

I have remained at home the past few nights. Now that I am feeling better, I want to get out. I need to get out. Tonight my evening will start at the Chart Room and I don’t know where afterwards.

Back in the third century in what today would be described as old Turkey, lived two physicians. Brothers. Twin brothers. Their names Cosmas and Damian.

Being Catholic was not too popular in those days. The brothers were killed for their religious beliefs in 287 AD. Hung on crosses, beaten and then beheaded.

They are regarded as Saints by the Catholic Church.

Our family Chuch in Utica where I grew up was St. Anthony. Each year late in September,  St. Anthony sponsored a street feast honoring these two saints. I have never figured out why. Our parish was overwhelmingly Italian. The saints were Turks. To find a person of Turkish descent was like looking for a needle in a hay stack.

In any event, the feast was a big deal in my youth. I would compare it to Fantasy Fest. The streets packed. People came in from as far as Canada on buses and in cars to celebrate the feast. It was religious with street music and great Italian food. I compare it to Fantasy Fest only as to the crowds. No other similarity.

My grandmother Albina, my father’s mother, carried a three foot long thick candle in the big religious procession on sunday morning. She walked the route barfefoot. I proudly walked next to her for many years, carrying a small candle. She did the religious march and did it barefoot to thank God for saving my grandfather Louis. In 1918, there occurred a world wide flu epedemic. Many died. My grandfather got the flu. My grandmother prayed and promised God she would march in the procession thusly every year if my grandfather was saved.

He lived to be 94!

I mention the feast of Saints Cosmas and Damian because this is the weekend for the feast in Utica. Not as big, not as flamboyant, not as crowded…..but still ongoing.

I miss the feast. I miss especially my grandmother and our walk together.

Enjoy your day!