Everybody loves a parade. Mineola will have our best in the last 100 years with the Centennial Parade of Oct. 1. There will be fire department and police department units, Portuguese, Irish and Italian society contingents, the Shinnecock Indians have been invited, there will be horses, floats and antique cars with the Kiwanis, Chamber, Rotary and Lions all participating. Hundreds will march. After the parade there will be fireworks at Wilson Park. The Centennial Ball will be held at Jericho Terrace on Nov. 17. Candia Maia has sold 150 tickets already. If you aren't wearing your Centennial pin you can get one at the Village Hall.

Those good-looking young women at the pool's Leisure Pass Office are Kim Servat, the supervisor, Diana Mobyed and Beth Basile.

Talk about jumping ship, how about jumping pools. Kyle Teemsma, formerly assistant manager of the Mineola pool, is now the manager of the Williston Park pool. Good going, Kyle.

Eileen Leone is doing well after the bad fall she took during a visit to Virginia. She fell down a flight of wooden stairs. Doctors said if they had been cement stairs she would not have survived. Eileen lives on Mineola Blvd.

Theresa Richards has been president of the Mineola Teacher's Association for the past six years. Her parents, Mario and Immaculata Perrotta, are longtime residents of this area.

Had some phone trouble last week and called Verizon. The robot asked me my phone and area code, which I gave. The robot then repeated it back, but had it wrong. I said, "You have it wrong."

Robot: "Give me your phone and area code."

I repeated the number. Again the machine had it wrong.

Robot: "You do not know your number?"

Me: Yelling now. "I know my number, but you keep getting it wrong." I guess when I shouted it brought on a real human being. I told her, Donna, the live person, my "conversation" with the robot. Donna said she was sorry and that a lot of people have the same experience. By the way do you call the robot she or it?

Bob Small of Mineola has worked a long time for Mr. Jay. He and his wife, Elaine, live on Foch Blvd. Their son, Christopher, serves in the airforce and has seen action in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

Carlos Mendes of Mineola plays for the Metro Stars. His parents are Joseph and Fatima.

Mineola has only one independent pharmacy. We used to have Knott, Asher, Sosler, Birchwood, Medicine Shop, Decker, Kuhl and Roberts Pharmacy. Now, just one is left, Franwin.

Mildred Berg of Beebe Road and Louise Ghetti of Andrews Road enjoyed lunch at the Jericho Diner.

Chairman of the pool and recreation board is Jay Monaco of Elderberry Road. He and his wife, Cheryl, live next door to Peter and Karen Smith and two doors from Lou Santosus and family. Jay works for a printer in the city called Color by Pergament. The Monacos have two kids, Jaime and Jessica.

Enjoying a recent baseball game were Leonard Rothengast and sister-in-law Tina of Roslyn Road.

Christina Gagliano and Mark Curtiss will be wed July 15 and soon after move to their first home on Beebe Road.

The Feast of Corpus Christi was celebrated with Father James Bowman, the pastor, Msgr. Edward Tarrant, Msgr. Eugene Murphy, Father James Maltese and Deacons Brian Mannix and John Reinhart. The Mass was celebrated in English and Portuguese with readings in both languages. The Portuguese songs were beautiful. Hundreds then marched carrying the Blessed Sacrament.

A lot of people from Mineola shop at King Kullen. On a recent trip, Grace and I met Ann Calaci, Thomasina Gueli, Sally Paterson, Diane Cassidy and Ed and Jeri Solosky.

You don't have to be Irish to like Patrick's East Side Grille. Grace and I have had dinner there twice and Sunday brunch once and enjoyed it very much. Friendly service and owned by local people and the bartender is Dennis Bussert of Brown Street.

Early baseball in 1850 could be thought of as a battle between hitters and fielders. The pitcher was of no importance at that time. His job was to lob up a fat pitch for the batters so that they could challenge the fielders. Boy, things sure have changed.