It looks like Mother Nature is giving us a review of this past summer with a few more days of warm temperatures and that’s OK by me.
This time of the year is so enjoyable with moderate temperatures thrown in with some sunny days and, with the trees in the early stages of changing, it’s pretty spectacular.
Within the next few weeks, nature’s colors will be bursting against a deep blue sky and it really doesn’t get better then that in life.
Well, except for one thing: Even though it might warm up in the day, the nights reminds us it is autumn and dipping into the 40s is cold enough for me.
Aren’t we are all in that position of when is the right time to turn on the heat? Some people grapple with that action for a long time before breaking down and firing up the old stoker.
Usually in early fall, I may turn up the heat to get the chill out of the air in the house and then cut back during the day. The heating season is long enough and we don’t want those bills to be rising too fast too soon.
It’s also hard to believe the high school football regular season is slowly coming to a close.
In just three short weeks, the annual rivalry game between Pittston Area and Wyoming Area will take place on Oct. 24 at Jake Sobeski Field in West Pittston.
With both programs doing well this year, that last game, which is always unpredictable, will be a doozy.
Both teams will most likely have their seasons extended by getting into PIAA playoffs. Even though the rivalry game is bragging rights for Greater Pittston, once the playoffs start, I feel like its Greater Pittston against everyone else.
Since each school will be playing in different divisions, they won’t face off at any point, so we have to root on our teams from Greater Pittston.
This coming Thursday, Oct. 9, Shop with a Cop Gala and Auction will take place at The Banks Waterfront. This is a huge fundraiser for Shop with a Cop in order to provide cash for children to shop with police, ambulance and firefighters on Dec. 5.
Soon enough, Halloween will be upon us and the folks from West Pittston, aka Halloweentown, will be gearing up for what is always a massive Trick-or-Treat frenzy.
If you have never experienced Halloweentown, you have to get to the West Side to see the spooktacular. You won’t believe your eyes when you see that many people out in the streets, especially the 200 and 300 blocks of Delaware Avenue.
Before that, the City of Pittston will be holding Trick or Treat Main Street at the Lower Tomato Festival lot on Saturday, Oct. 25 starting at 4 p.m.
This is yet another spectacular with hundreds and hundreds of people parade along Main Street visiting merchants for sugary treats.
Also, and I believe this is the first time trying this, but there will be a movie at The Slope Amphitheater starting at 7:30 p.m. featuring John Carpenter’s “Halloween” (1978) movie. If you’re not familiar with The Slope, it’s behind the Pittston Memorial Library. Bring the blankets; it’s bound to be very chilly.
In addition to Shop with a Cop on Dec. 6, La Fest Di Natale Holiday Market will take place from 4 to 8 p.m. Friday, Dec. 5.
Also on Dec. 6 are the Toy Truck Parade and the arrival of Santa and Mrs. Claus and, of course, the City of Pittston official tree lighting. Don’t forget, there will be entertainment and live music. For everything Main Street, Pittston, go to www.downtownpittston.com.
Wait a minute, it looks like I forgot Thanksgiving, my favorite holiday!
This year, Thanksgiving falls on Thursday, Nov. 27, and rest assured, we all should have our heat on by then.
Speaking of heat, with these warmer temps this week, visit JFL What’s the Scoop? on Broad Street, Pittston for ice cream, Sno Balls, pastries, beverages or coffee.
The original What’s the Scoop? was created back in the 1990s by the late John Lombardo, who perished while fighting a fire on Main Street, Pittston.
His brother Robbie and sister Michelle recently decided to reopen the store rebranding it under the JFL What’s the Scoop? name in honor of their fallen brother.
I’m sure John was smiling down this past Tuesday when the family held a ribbon-cutting ceremony of the ice cream store on what would have been his 58th birthday.
Needless-to-say, there were a ton of Lombardos at the ceremony and it was great to see. Mayor Michael Lombardo, John, Robbie and Michelle’s brother, was out of town for a conference. When I got home from covering the job, I gave the mayor the photo of the ribbon cutting so he didn’t feel left out.
With most of the ice cream places closing or closed for the winter, JFL What’s the Scoop? will stay open all-year-round.
So now Greater Pittston has two sit-in places to enjoy an ice cream 12-months a year; JFL What’s the Scoop? on the East Side and Blue Ribbon Dairy on the West Side.
You don’t have to ask me to go for ice cream twice, good luck Rob and Michelle.
Quote of the Week
“Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting, and autumn a mosaic of them all.” — Stanley Horowitz
Thought of the Week
“For man, autumn is a time of harvest, of gathering together. For nature, it is a time of sowing, of scattering abroad.” — Edwin Way Teale
Bumper Sticker
“Every leaf speaks bliss to me, fluttering from the autumn tree.” — Emily Brontë
