There’s a few posts I’ve been meaning to write, the following one for 3 months now. Since I’ve got some energy tonight, let’s roll:

Our Florida Trip – November 2006

In November the family and I took a trip to Florida to visit my sister and her husband. We went over the Veteran’s Day weekend.

We scheduled the trip pretty far in advance, and took the dates/times because I had gobs of U.S. Airways frequent flyer miles built-up.

It was an absolutely great trip. My sister and her husband rolled out the red carpet. We had no worries, no car to rent, no room to check into, no meals to worry about. Simply the best.

My sister has a beautiful house in a gated community in Land ‘O Lakes (Greater Tampa) right on a golf course. The house has a lanai with a pool. Florida living at its best.

We set up a schedule for the three days we were there. Sunday was Church, swimming, and hanging out. Monday was Busch Gardens, Tuesday hanging out, shopping, and our flight back.

We started off Sunday with a light breakfast and we headed off to Holy Mass at St. Mary’s PNCC in St. Petersburg. It was about a 40 minute drive from my sister’s house. When we arrived we found that the schedule had changed and that Holy Mass wouldn’t be offered until 11am. Since we had about two hours to kill we headed over to a beach on the bay. The kids had a great time beach combing and watching the birds. There was a pelican that was great entertainment.

We headed back to the church after getting a grand tour of the area. The pastor at St. Mary’s is the Rev. Dr. John Sielchan. He greeted us warmly and introduced us to his parish family. On the plus side the parish is practically bay-side. On the down side it’s a bit removed from most parishioners who appear to live toward the Tarpon Springs area. We met a parishioner that travels about two hours every week from Orlando to attend Holy Mass – fantastic dedication.

After Holy Mass we headed over to Frenchy’s Rockaway Grill and Beach Club. The restaurant/bar is right on Clearwater Beach. The place is consistently packed and I can see why. Great food and a great atmosphere. We had a lot of fun and headed down to the beach after lunch.

It was a little cool that afternoon, but the kids, auntie, and I had a change to plant our feet in the bay.

As we headed back to the car we stumbled upon an Evangelical Community Church (you can’t help but trip over them everywhere in Florida) with this out front:

It’s a turtle angel. What a hoot! The very people who accuse Catholics of worshiping Mary and statues have a statue of a turtle angel in their front yard. What’s next, Mary on the half-shell? A kneeler and a few votive candles and they’ll have a shrine.

We headed back to my sister’s house for an afternoon of swimming and relaxing before dinner.

For dinner my sister introduced us to Lee Roy Selmon’s – BBQ and nothing but BBQ. I was in heaven.

Back at my sister’s we enjoyed a bottle or two from her great selection of wine. I’ve never been so relaxed on a vacation. I even slept great.

On Monday we went to Busch Gardens. My sister and I had been there when it was a fairly new park back in the early 1970’s. Whet I remember from that trip was that the park was impeccably clean, there were animals, and beer (I too young at the time :().

The place was amazing. Still tidy and with the perfect mix of entertainment, nature, and fun. Best of all the place was empty. There were no lines and there was no waiting. We were on the three top notch coasters as soon as we reached the cars. Of all the coasters the SheiKra drop coaster was the best. The Montu was ok, but a little rough (don’t try that one if you have back/neck problems). My youngest at 4 years old went on the Gwazi wooden coaster. She was the daredevil, my son was a little more reticent.

Other highlights included the Rhino Rally and of course the BrewMasters Club at the Hospitality House. The Clydesdale’s were a hit for the kids as were the other animals and the kiddy rides.

We were there from opening to closing – an absolutely fantastic time.

My sister took us to a great Cuban restaurant for dinner. I can’t remember the name right now, but it was fantastic. An ultra small place in a plaza – but a favorite of the locals.

On Tuesday we headed over to International Plaza and Bay Street for shopping and lunch before our departure.

In conclusion a big shout out to my sister Andrea and her husband Ken. Thank you, thank you. It was great!

One of my cousin’s cousins from the Kolek side of the family, Stasia Czarnik Owczarczak presented me with a lovely gift after the funeral. It is a CD copy of two albums which were recorded by the Czarnik Quartet.

The Czarnik Quartet consisted of Stasia’s mother Victoria and her three daughters, Stasia, Jania (Jane), and Maria.

The two albums, which I have on vinyl, were recently transferred to CD. Glenn Gramigna of the Am-Pol Eagle featured the re-release in Czarnik Quartet re-releases Koledy, Ave Maria

It was over 40 years ago when Victoria Czarnik along with her three daughters, Stasia, Jania, and Maria, became singing sensations in the Buffalo area, performing many traditional Polish songs in the Polish language. Starting out at their own parish, SS. Peter and Paul, the Czarnik Quartet went on to entertain audiences on WXRL radio, at St. Stanislaus Church, and on the Father Justin Rosary Hour, among many other prestigious venues.

“It was at that time that we made two albums,” recalls Stasia Owczarczak, one of the quartet. “They were ‘Ave Maria’ and ‘Koledy.’

Now these two collections have been re-released on one CD which is for sale at Ruda’s Record Shop, 2445 William St., in Cheektowaga. We are very excited about this and hope that all of those who liked our singing in the past will take advantage of this opportunity to enjoy it once again after so many years.”

This 30-song collection includes all of the renditions which made the Czarnik Quartet a favorite of local audiences in the past.

“Among the songs that our fans can hear on this CD are ‘Cicha Noc’ or ‘Silent Night’ sung in Polish, of course,” Stasia said. “Others include the popular religious song, ‘Jezus Nalusienki’ or ‘Tiny Jesus’ and ‘Lullaby to Baby Jesus’ or ‘Lulajze Jezuniu’ in Polish. I know that hearing us sing these songs again will bring back a lot of wonderful memories for many people. I know that it has for us.”

Of course, the Czarniks had never set out to become singing stars. They had started out singing strictly for the sheer love of doing it as well as because of their strong religious faith…

My mother’s family were parishioners of SS. Peter and Paul. That parish was established as an outpost mission of Buffalo Polonia’s Mother Church, St. Stanislaus. My grandparents were among the founding families.

My mother and Stasia Czarnik went to school together and sang together in various stage plays at SS. Peter and Paul.

I still have an original program from the play Stryjek Fonsio, (an operatic farce in two acts written by Stefania Tucholkowa) which was presented by the Holy Apostles Drama Club on February 27, 1949. My mother and Stasia were ‘guests’ in the play and made up part of the chorus. Each had a soprano solo as well.

Interestingly, the part of Stryjek* Fonsio was played by Daniel J. Myszka, the now Rev. Msgr. Daniel Myszka of the Buffalo, New York Roman Catholic Diocese.

*Stryjek is ‘old Polish’ meaning paternal uncle. Wujek was one’s maternal uncle. Wujek is current standard usage for all uncles.

I arrived home late yesterday.

The drive home was miserable from a weather perspective. It was made better by my iPod and good thoughts.

The funeral went as expected. I appreciate the generosity of the Rev. Robert Wardenski of Immaculate Conception R.C. Church in East Aurora, NY who allowed me to sit in the sanctuary for the funeral liturgy. My cousin’s family appreciated me being there and participating in that way.

My cousin’s friend Eleanor did indeed pass while still at the funeral home. I was blessed to be with her to pray and give her a blessing in her last moments. Her husband subsequently asked me if I gave her last rites. I was factually honest with him and told him that as a deacon I could not do that, but that I did what was in my authority. He was comforted by this.

Regarding Immaculate Conception R.C. Church, the most interesting thing I observed was – prominently displayed in the sacristy and apparently ready for use, an Altar card containing the Canon in Latin, pre-Vatican II.

Besides the normal sadness at wakes, and the normal greeting of people, family members who are only seen at such events, an unexpected tragedy occurred at my cousin’s wake today. A woman who stood up for my cousins at their wedding passed out, and may have died.

The funeral director handled everything pretty well. The police and paramedics were there within 5 minutes. Everyone was moved to another room. While we waited for the emergency crew, I stayed with the woman, her husband, and another of the mourners who was a retired nurse practioner. I held her hand, prayed for her, and blessed her. Once the paramedics arrived I went into the next room and led family and friends in prayer for this woman, Eleanor.

Eleanor’s husband then asked that I go back and stay with her. Things did not look good. It was tragedy upon tragedy for my cousin’s family. Please keep them and Eleanor’s family in your prayers.