Good morning everyone, I hope all is well with everybody. Today is Friday April 16, 2021. It is too early for me to see the weather outside the window but they say if is clear out, we’ll see what happens.

I belong to a group called ‘Things that are not there Anymore’. The thing not there anymore is Visco’s Sporting Goods. I stood in front of that store for 4 years everyday while I waited for the bus to carry me home. I however did not like sports but the equipment in the window always amazed me. The bats, gloves, helmets. One thing that I really liked was the letterman sweaters I wanted one of those badly but you had to excel at a sport to get one. I used to think what an honor that was, especially when I saw them worn around school when the rest of us had to wear a jacket and tie. Little did I know then that I would marry the perfect girl and this store. Yes, when you married a Visco girl you also married the business, they were part of each other.

The Visco brothers were a strong force to deal with. Here were two brothers from the first ward of Newark who started a multi million dollar business and as they used to like to say with a bat and a ball. And that was their life, it all revolves around the business. They both were graced with two daughters The Two Marylou’s, and neither of them was athletic. To play tennis with them owas sheer torture once I almost put my head through the fence they would not move unless the ball came to them, so our tennis career was short lived. Frank and Abalu were very good baseball players hence the bat and ball. Abalu even tried out for the Chicago White Sox.

Why is this important to me now, this weekend starts Rocco’s baseball career. Amanda was given a list of the equipment he needed, in the past he could have come to the store and Bebop or Grandpa Frank would have fitted him with everything he needed and more. That would have been a great experience for all. Mark and Danny, you know who you are loved that experience every year at the start of baseball season. Uncle Justin expressed his wish to take him for supplies so they went off to Dick’s. Qui Gots Dick’s I wanted him to go to Visco’s but that is something of the past. When they got home Rocco had more equipment than Joe DiMaggio ever had. When he put it all on it was really a little too emotional for me but I quickly recovered and let him show me everything.

So the great Visco tradition will continue this weekend. Maybe someday if god wants we will see him in the World Series, but I do know that Rocco will have his own Angels in the Outfied this weekend and every time he’s up at bat.

Now today starts the weekend, so let’s start planning for the two day’s ahead. Teachers you really need it. So let’s do something fun and enjoyable. No matter what it is as long as it makes you happy that’s what’s important. Talk soon Til Tomorrow!

Good morning everyone, today is already Thursday April 15, 2021, the weather again is threatening clouds and rrain. I don’t know we will just have to wait mother Nature has been promising that all week.

Yesterday’s got a new book and it talks about food and the expectations we put on ourselves to make it correct but that is not always necessary, you can do it any way you please , to your individual taste, that’s the most important thing if it pleases you and your palate. I agree with this in food. However I was brought up I think with different expectations as most of you were. Even when I started to write these posts and blog I had an expectation that was to be able to talk to people that I so desperately needed. I opened my life and shared it with everyone something I would never have been expected to do but why? Because we were taught keep your mouth shut no one wants to hear your business it’s yours . But I don’t see it that way I see it as a connection to people, to go on a journey of relatable experiences that we have all shared, our own memories and traditions can somehow bring to joy to our lives. Sometimes Facebook and the like get a bad rap but to me a basically newcomer to the internet it is a marvel, almost like a wonder of the world, you get to share with thousands of people you know and don’t know ( being careful of course) all across the globe.

Now I have always had very high expectations whether they were put on me or I was given them as a child. And sometimes I have these same expectations of other people, I expect people to act a certain way, not my way but the decent way . The way people should treat each other with respect and kindness, the way they act in public, their demeanor, the way they dress (clean and neat not special just presentable). These are basic rules I set for myself and I expect them from others. Now believe me I have been with my wife for 50 years and she has always taken the opportunity to show me my faults, without her maybe I would be an out of control rebel force. But she grounds me and tells me maybe you expect to much not everyone believes the way you do. When I think about she might have a point.

Growing up I just was expected to do certain things, maybe you call them choirs, on Saturday before I went out to play I had things I must do, things today are almost unheard of I would have to wash all the woodwork in the house, today when I say that everyone looks at me like I’m nuts. So I just do it myself.

I don’t think expectations are a bad thing I look at them as a way rto strive for something. I believe they are part of life and we should set them high maybe we would act better toward each other.
Have a great day, if it rains plan something good or cook something good inside. Til Tomorrow!

Good morning everyone, today is Wednesday, hump day already, April 14, 2021. Today the Titanic sunk in the North Atlantic in 1912, 108 years ago, this goes to prove nothing is fail safe something could always go wrong, that’s why we need to be vigilant and watch what we are doing, sure accidents can happen and they often do but a lot of them could be prevented if we keep a watchful eye. So many poor souls lost out of negligence.

I know Sibling Day is over but I so enjoyed seeing all the photos posted especially the people my age and the ones with big families. I have always had strong ideas about siblings the way I do about a mother child relationship. I have always said a mother and child have a strong bond because they are literally part of each other. I sort of feel siblings share that same bond, they come from the same mother so their bloodline is basically the same. Yes they often disagree or fight and can go years without seeing each other but in their mind they know someone out there shares the same background and DNA.
When you think of the first siblings Cain and Abel, and Cain killing Abel out of jealousy you wonder if the idea of jealousy was given by god like original sin. Throughout history jealousy has always played a part in sibling rivalry. Joseph being sold by his brothers because they jealous he was Jacobs favorite , but Joseph eventually forgave them. Or all the royal houses of Europe who were all siblings and waged war and destruction on each other over jealousy. So the adage jealousy is the root of all evil is true. Don’t covet thy neighbors goods..

So siblings are a complex relationship, no matter what, there is love there and most times anything can be forgiven. The point is try not to get to that point. Be lucky you have someone to share your past with be vigilant and watch stupid things don’t escalate to a problem. I’m not saying be best friend s and some do that beautifuly just be friends they were your first friend remember that, you learned from each other, and at a certain age we need to stop vying for your mothers attention. That only creates problems.

The way I look at it now, I will use this example my grandmother had 15 children 10 were step and 5 were hers. The 5 were all girls, they were siblings but they all had children and their children had children and we all played and grew together and now we are scattered all over the country but we all share the same bloodline as my grandmother and I think to myself how happy she would be there are so many decedents from her.

So siblings are a wonderful thing let’s enjoy that. Now today I don t know what the weather will bring but whatever we will make the best of it and enjoy life. We will talk soon Til Tomorrow!

Good morning everyone, today is Tuesday April 13, 2021. The weather says it’s going to be sunny today but not 70 degrees, only in the 50’s. So we take what we get. I trust everyone is well and all who went back to school yesterday made out okay.

I’m sure there was a certain amount of fear involved. Why shouldn’t there be , it is our way of life now. Fear by definition is an unpleasant feeling caused by sometthing real or imagined. We can develop a fear about anything. As a child you seem to be fearless and will do just about anything, that’s what youth is for. But then the realities of life set in and along with it it brings its friend fear. We start by being afraid of not doing well in school. We start to be afraid of doing new things. As a new parent you develop a fear of everything concerning the baby and how you will support them. I know I always refer back to the first immigrants here, I can only imagine what that was like, you didn’t speak the language, you looked different, you didn’t have a job or home but you had a family to support, imagine the fear they felt but they were resilient and took any job they could dug ditches to support their family , they couldn’t give into fear. The older you get you fear for your health , retirement a million things but we learn to overcome them or you can’t survive.

Now our world is bathed in fear, fear of places of people, travel, even the vaccine to help us we are afraid of what’s in it. Children are no longer fearless, they to fear people and if they are going to make them sick. But now is the time we have to put our trust in god, he had given us doctors, technology and A million other safeguards for us to be safe. So as things begin to reopen we just need to be smart and follow all the guidelines and we will get through this because we to are resilient.

Many months ago I told you about when I was an altar boy. In those days The Monstrance was placed on the altar in church ( The Holy Eucharist ) and someone needed to dtay with it. As a little guy I was the altar boy assigned, I was about 7 or 8 they forgot me there because the other boys never showed up for there time slot. I was too afraid to leave it alone for hours until my mother finally found me. Yesterday I visited the church to see the host again. I again was all alone in the church but of course I was no longer afraid. I was in peace and comfort, it seems I have a new relationship with god. After all he has given me. I was able to thank him for what he is doing to help us through this nightmare and especially prayed for the children that someday this will just be a memory to them.

So I will close today wishing you the best. Again take time today to make yourself happy, we live with enough misery. Make yourself have some enjoyment. We will talk again, Til Tomorrow! By the way the sun is coming out take advantage.

Good morning everyone, I hope that this Sunday finds everyone well. Today is April 11, 2021. I looked up the weather and it said cloudy all day but that is what it said for yesterday and then it turned out to be a great day. So we will just have to wait and see about today

When God created the universe it took him 6 days but there are 7 days in a week. He gave us that 7th day to rest and enjoy the life he gave us with friends and family. Until recently that’s what it always was, a family day but now not so true anymore stores are all open so people have to work, kids play a million sports and Sunday is a main day for that. People go shopping including myself, I am a big offender of doing things on Sunday. However, As I talk to people I’m starting to see a shift back to family time, no not dinners that started at 1 in the afternoon and ended around 4, 4:30. But time where the family eats dinner together and enjoy each other with extended family. No I think the time of all the aunts and uncles and hundreds of cousins may be a thing of the past but at least there is a spark so there is hope families can still be together. That’s why this new term Family Gravy emerged people want that old tradition, they want to really relive the past where we were all together. Growing up we did not call it Sunday Gravy it I was just what we ate on Sunday , we waited all week for it and you better be there, no one really was allowed to miss it. It was so important that a cousin came up with the phrase The Almighty Mac ( macaroni ). Notice it is called gravy not sauce. Today I have fallen victim to The Almighty Mac and have decided to make The Sunday Gravy. So again yesterday I went to the butcher to buy brecioles, you really need them for a good gravy. While I was there I realized how much I enjoy this experience. There are mostly men picking up orders or buying the same things you are and there is a lot of conversations going on. I told Marylou it’s like I stepped back in time and I am a youth again. I could feel the presence of my father in law and Abalu on one side and my own father on the other. Maybe it’s the aroma of all the meats and cheeses or that I’m following the same pattern as they did. As he made the brecioles I could see my own father pounding the meat seasoning it and tying it. Or was it the fact that I was going to be happy to make this feast for my family out of love , just like I learned from the Visco brothers whatever it is I like the feeling.

So today that’s what I will be doing, no time for me to go out today. My enjoyment will be right here in the house. The last time I made gravy Rocco had two plates of macs so I will do anything for him if he enjoyed it that much. And Dario devoured the meatballs. After all, what is a grandfather ( Nonno grand Pere, abuelo, avo) role in life if not to teach , love and do for our grandchildren, if I didn’t do these things I feel I would disgrace myself with former generations.

So today enjoy yourself, have fun, maybe do some family time if you can. But remember God gave you this day so use it to your benefit. We’ll talk soon Til Tomorrow! PS we are having Ravioli instead of macaroni, that has always been my special go to dinner, so today must be special.