Patriotic Sunday

They're Back and They're Angry!

My son and Most Excellent Girlfriend sadly had to leave after attending church with us yesterday.  They did get to witness my wife’s uncanny ability to disappear into the crowd following Mass.  She always emerges unscathed talking with some random person or child.  Yesterday’s target was an acquaintance from down the road that we hadn’t talked to in four years.  They were conversing as if they were best friends and I could see my son beginning to worry if he would escape in time to see the Patriots game.  They finally got away with a promise to call when they arrived back home (apparently being in love prevents memory of such promises but I loved the reaction at 10pm when I called him).  The weather was perfect for football, first real touch of autumn in the air, and I settled into Couch Potato Position #1 to finally see something worthwhile involving a New England sports team.  I was a little concerned when the game began with Welker starting out the season just as he ended the last one, dropping a pass he should have caught.  The defense also looked a little suspect at the beginning with a frustrating inability to defend the passing game.  The secret to success in the NFL is making adjustments and Belichick is one of the best at that.  I really liked what I saw from the defense, which for the first time in a very long time looked like a Belichick defense – big, tough, and mean.  They absolutely stuffed one of the premiere running backs in the league.  Brady was Brady enough to generate the needed offense – even after getting kicked in the face.  Nice wake up call for the pretty boy – for me he’s always played better when he mixes it up a little and remembers he’s a football player and not Mr. Bundchen.  I am so glad there is something other to watch than the epic disaster being played out in the fens of Lansdowne Street.  I headed out to mow the lawn after the game and relished the crisp feel of the air.  I am completely ready for summer to end, ushering in my favorite time of year – autumn.  My wife has a completely different view of things – her morale drops with every degree we lose in outside temperature.  She was, however, fully and happily engrossed in coordinating a surprise 80^th birthday party for her mother back in Panama.  She made six or seven phone calls during the day culminating with a marathon Skype video chat with her entire family which was borderline hilarious.   While mowing the lawn I glanced up to discover a family of four standing in the driveway – real Children of the Corn moment.  It was a Latino family my wife met about six years ago whom we gave a bunch of old furniture to help out.  We ran into them for the first time since last week at the grocery store.  I don’t know what it is but I just got a bad vibe from them, especially the husband; something’s just not right there.  (I hope they don’t read this blog) We love having visitors but to just show up unannounced and then to have an eight year old son that doesn’t like – Buddy! Like I said, something’s amiss there.  In the ongoing drama of the newly paved road, the thunder storms which Buddy handled so adroitly Saturday night produced the expected result, confirmed by engineer son, and washed away most of the dirt next to the road in front of the house.  We did get a bright new yellow line over night – very cool.  As I was leaving this morning for work a town DPW truck was showing up with a new load of dirt, so it goes.

Yep, You're a Football Player - a Good Look

Just Where is all This Dirt Going?