Family Bearing Up

I came home yesterday to a phone message from my next door neighbor.  She reported that a huge black bear ran between our two houses yesterday morning.  Luckily her two small children and dogs were not out at the time.  He ambled into the wood line behind our house.  I took it as a signal the Bruins are starting to ramp up for another run at Lord Stanley.  I’m glad Buddy wasn’t around to acquaint himself with the ursine intruder but if he stays true to form he probably would have run in the other direction.  Buddy is not blessed with an excessive amount of courage.

New Neighbor

I reported the incursion to the wife during our evening phone conversation and she was not pleased with this latest invasion by Mother Nature.  That makes a bear, a bobcat, several coyotes this year to go along with the rabbits, squirrels and turkeys that frequent the yard.  I think we live in the country.  I think its kind of cool but don’t tell the wife I said that.   

My wife also reported that her father was progressing in his recovery.  At the frequent urging of his children he’s getting up and walking around more each day.  They did have to replace his nasal feeding tube which was not a pleasant or well received event.  The entire staff has kind of adopted him and all are calling him “abuelo” which is grandfather in Spanish.  Everybody has also learned my wife’s hated (by her) nickname, “Pito”.  My wife was less than pleased with her father about that. 

I finished up another Brad Thor Thriller yesterday, The Path of the Assassin. It has the same lead character from his first book and he is once again the lone sane and eminently capable operative tracking down a deadly terrorist.  Thor once again grants the bad guys way too much capability but that only makes his hero, Scot Horvath, more impressive.  I’m really enjoying this newly discovered, for me, thriller author.  He’s also a fairly prolific writer which means I’ve got plenty of material to wade through, a very good thing.  

Despite the stark lack of a date last night I kept the tradition up and went to see The Family.  This was billed as a dark comedy directed by Luc Besson and stars Robert Deniro and Michelle Pfeiffer as a mobster and family in the witness protection program in France, of all places.  It was pretty uneven except for the two stars who were their usual other worldly selves.  The French do not fare very well in this which makes it even more watchable.  Overall not a very good flick which couldn’t decide between comedy or drama.