Bricking on Rapp

Quandary day at work yesterday when I was presented with a fairly serious ethical dilemma that I swore I wouldn’t talk about so I won’t.  I’ve found civilian life brings a larger amount of these type issues but at least the civilians are pretty upfront about being less than honorable.  The same type thing happened in the military but the perpetrators were forced further underground because of the stigma attached to honorable challenged behavior.  Tough day.

The day certainly brightened when I returned home to my favorite Panamanian.  She’s a great sounding board and the only one I could share the dilemma with.  Last night was date night number two as well.  We went to see Brick Mansions which is the last movie Paul Walker had completed before his untimely death. 

I think this movie would have gone directly to DVD instead of the theaters if not for his death.  It’s a Luc Besson (whom I love) product so there was a lot of action as well as French speaking actors trying unsuccessfully to hide their accents as Detroit politicians.  Since this was set in the future maybe the Québécois migrated south to fill the vacuum that is Detroit since the Americans gave up on it.

The nasty bits of Detroit are surrounded by a huge wall and the action involves Walker as a driven cop assisted by a parkour dude trying to take down RZA (who seems to be channeling Elmer Fudd with a pronounced lisp) who stumbled upon a neutron bomb (because those are just lying around).  The plot is more than silly and boasts a fairly high unintentional comedy level but is rescued by David Belle.  The movie is worth seeing just to see this guy bouncing all over the urban landscape with incredible parkour moves.  It’s always a stretch for Walker to play a tough guy as it is here but Belle is mesmerizing to watch.  It was like Cirque de Soleil on amphetamines cross bred with martial arts.  It was also Besson so the action just rocked while not making a lot of sense, I loved it.

I also finished off my latest Vince Flynn book, Kill Shot, featuring one of my new favorite heroes, Mitch Rapp.  I blew through this in typical Thor-Flynn mode and found it very entertaining.  Rapp is set up during a Pairs assassination assignment and spends the book trying to figure out who to trust.  You do not want to be a guy he decides not to trust. 

I learned the Flynn wrote this book as well as the first one I read, American Assassin, after he’d published a whole slew of books featuring Rapp.  These first two books take place earlier, chronologically speaking, in Rapp’s career and provide some background on the established character.  I think I’m lucky having discovered Rapp and Flynn after he completed this arc.  I am intensely grateful to the friend who clued me in on Vince Flynn.

For those of you concerned about Buddy's collision yesterday, he has rebounded nicely.  He conducted another squirrel interdiction mission this morning with a great deal more success. Success being measured by lack of full speed contact with metal poles if not capture of the actual rodent.

Chick Flicks and Imbecilic Squirrel Pursuit

My Keene Friend and I have an inside joke (is it still an inside joke if I tell you guys?) concerning my wife and her fairly puritanical views on movie selection.  In an effort to get her to see a movie through her fairly rigorous moral filter I always claim the movie is a “love story set in….”.  This led to some comical renderings.  Scarface as a love story set in an immigrants struggle for recognition, The Godfather a love story set in a son’s effort to keep a family business in operation or the classic - The Ghosts of Mars as a love story set during a spiritual revival on Mars.  None of this ever worked of course but it’s an interesting exercise; however, yesterday I may have pulled off the ultimate score.

I got my wife to watch Warm Bodies which is a romantic comedy set in a zombie apocalypse.  The funny thing is this was not one of my credulity stretching efforts described above (although I did minimize the brain eating parts).  It really is a romantic comedy, the Romeo-Juliet story with Romeo as “R” the flesh eating zombie.  If you haven’t seen this yet, you should, evidenced by my wife’s reaction who despite her reservations thoroughly enjoyed it.

So Funny

Two movies out this week to see so we expanded date night to include Monday night and went to see (huge surprise – another rom-com) The Other Woman.  I was the only attendee with a Y-chromosome and it seemed like a movie straight off the Lifetime (the evil men) Channel.  The evil man here was Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) himself who’s married to Leslie Mann but sneaking off for affairs with Cameron Diaz and Kate Upton.  The ladies discover each other and plot their revenge on the evil man.

There were some really funny moments, all of them involving Mann and Diaz.  I think Mann maybe the funniest actress in movies right now and Diaz has always had great comedic timing.  Upton absolutely destroys a white bikini (I think I was the only one in the audience who truly appreciated that) but her talents definitely do not lie in acting.  Nicky Minaj was also in this for some unexplained reason and was predictably terrible.  The evil man gets his comeuppance, the ladies triumph and although you could see that coming throughout the movie this was still a lot of fun to watch, mainly for Mann and Diaz (and the white bikini).

Buddy’s squirrel hunting credentials took a serious hit this morning.  We were making breakfast together when he alerted me to the presence of one of his rodent tormentors pilfering from a bird feeder.  He requested permission to engage the transgressor and we planned a devastating ambush.  I opened the door and Buddy achieved target lock, launching like a black missile towards the unsuspected infiltrator.  Everything was going well until Buddy, so fixated on the squirrel, forgot about the metal pole the bird feeder was hung from.  The collision was semi-spectacular.  I think the squirrel has prior experience with the Wonder Pooch because he didn’t even seem that surprised as he leisurely departed the area while Buddy tried to recover his senses.  The pole now has a Buddy level bend.  Thankfully nothing appears injured other than his pride.

The Aftermath of Buddy's Failed Attack

It’s hard to avoid the controversy surrounding the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers lately and we shouldn't.  It goes to show that money cannot buy common sense or even a modicum of clear thinking.  I no longer watch the NBA due to a game that has devolved to glorified one on one with rules that don’t apply to the superstars.  Sterling apparently took that to mean the rules of common decency didn’t apply to him even when more than 80% of his highest paid employees are African-American.  I grew up in a very “vanilla” childhood and didn’t interact with minorities to any great degree until I joined the Army.  I learned there the importance of judging a person by the content of his/her character and not the color of his/her skin (where have we heard that before – some of us were listening).  I like the fact this has come out and not just because I despise the NBA.  Racism equals idiocy and idiocy can never thrive when it’s exposed to public view.  My very wise sister posted this picture yesterday – ‘nuff said.

Confirming Insights

I confirmed a number of things yesterday.  First of all I am more than ready for spring to actually arrive seeing as how it is now nearly a month overdue.  Seeing my breath in the morning a couple days before May is just flat wrong, on a number of levels. 

I also confirmed that my wife is a very serious catholic (not a fanatic mind you).  She extremely excited about the canonization of the two popes yesterday and insured I programmed the 3am ceremony into her DVR in our bedroom.  So I’ve got that to fall asleep to for the next few weeks.

I also confirmed that a visiting Chinese catholic priest combined with not one but two baptisms was a recipe for extended pew time for yours truly.  I’m not saying that I don’t need the extra time in the Big Guy’s house but I would at least like to understand what is being said. 

My Wife with the Confirmee

The day was rescued when we journeyed into Worcester for a dinner celebrating the First Communion of one of the Panamanian Mafia’s granddaughters.  My wife shares a special bond with this young lady as she was her dancing instructor (along with her sister) for Panamanian Folklorico dancing last year.  This is always a fun group to hang out with and yesterday was no exception.

And the Confirmee's Sister

The dinner was in the middle of Green Hill Park which is extremely well hidden in the middle of Worcester.  It offers some great views and it’s hard to believe it is completely surrounded by the city. Worcester does that to you, just when you’re ready to dismiss it as one of the ugliest urban sprawls around, it lifts its skirts a little to show you something like Green Hill Park. The wind was really cooking so the herd of children did most of their stampeding inside but I carefully placed myself out of trampling range. 

Green Hill Park

We didn’t attend the confirmation service itself since seating was limited (I was able to overcome my intense disappointment).  One of the guys complained that the service went almost an hour and half.  I trumped him with my Chinese baptismal fiasco which lasted even longer.

The Mafia Ladies

I’m into my second week of the Bruins playoff beard which proved deathly for the Detroit Red Wings with the hated Montreal Canadiens up next.  This is the promised weekly photo update.  Both my wife and Cantankerous Friend were complaining about the amount of gray involved in my beard so my wife attempted a Hellenic recipe to reduce that.  I’ve come by the gray honestly, earned over a long period of time, so I insisted most of the gray remain.

Bruins Beard Week 2

Vegetative State

My wife and I planned all week for a day working outside in the yard yesterday.  There’s dozens of small projects a New England winter inflicts on any yard and combine that with my wife’s fertile imagination when it comes to creating projects, I had a full day planned.  Then New England weather descended, again.  The rain that was supposed to come through on Friday night decided it liked the area and hung around all day long.

The Soggy Backyard Yesterday
At Least It's Turning Green

I spent a good deal of my adult life in the infantry “working” outside in the rain and one of the promises I made to myself when I became a civilian was to avoid such nonsense.  I think being cold, wet, and tired is about the lowest state of existence.  We were therefore reduced to inside the house projects which were already in fairly good shape from my wife’s earlier chronicled predations. 

Buddy Claiming Couch Position #1

Buddy was a little territorial when I tried to claim desired seating in Couch Potato Position #1.  Through some fairly tough negotiation and bacon laced mediation we arrived at a compromise which allowed me in.  We polished off the DVR backlog (Hannibal is one severely twisted dude!) in time for the Sox north of the border.

The Comprise We Reached

The Red Sox looked to have fallen into another funk with a disastrous start to their game until Buchholz finally remembered how to pitch while the Toronto starter became allergic to the strike zone.  Our normal samurai Japanese relievers pitched more like ronin but the Sox held on for the second straight win.

The best part of the afternoon was watching the Bruins manhandle the Red Wings to eliminate them from the playoffs.  My wife even deigned to become a hockey fan for the afternoon although a good part of the game was spent surfing the internet for shoes.  I scared the hell out of her when the Bruins scored the decisive goal. 

Hell, Yeah!

In a landmark decision my wife declared that the dress she bought three weeks ago was in fact the one she was going to wear to the wedding this summer.  Anyone who’s been around her the last few weeks (and was asked to volunteer their opinion) knows this was not an easy task. 

I felt like an underachiever but everyone needs a break and I was seriously “vegging out” yesterday.  Strangely I had been looking forward to getting outside for the day.  The rain had other ideas which, other than turning everything an appropriate green, were not welcome.  I’m left with a bit of cabin fever, thank God for the Sox, the Bruins, and a certain Panamanian.

Nightly Assembly

Yesterday was about as boring a day at work that I can recall which is not to be critical because an exciting work day is probably not going the way you want it to.  Worcester’s ecological museum, the Ecotarium, apparently got their dates mixed up because they celebrated Earth Day yesterday instead of earlier in the week with the rest of us (they were probably busy hugging trees or something).  We sent an electric bus up there as part of our contribution to the “greening” of Worcester.  It’s nice to see that the environment is still important to some people beyond the endless debate on global warming which has become so political.

My Excellent Boss (L) and Operations Manager in Front of Our Bus at Ecotarium

My excellent boss was in serious need of a First Friday celebration after a couple of heated episodes with the politicos this week.  The operations manager and I have decided to call these sessions his “decompression periods” instead of First Fridays.  The operations manager only worked a half day yesterday so he was at Brew City a little after 3pm.  Since there was absolutely nothing going on at work I joined him shortly thereafter. 

My boss called around 3:30 to sheepishly report he was going to Brew City then instead of the scheduled 4pm.  He asked what time I was going. I told him I was monitoring operations on Route 15 (which conveniently runs right by Brew City).  He was a little mystified and laughed uncontrollably when I revealed my monitoring location.  It was a great time with some serious decompression going on.

I was sound asleep on the couch (the boss was not the only one decompressing) when my wife returned from yoga class and reported we were being joined at our Friday Zorba date by a contingent of the Worcester Chapter of the Panamanian Mafia.  Atypically she didn’t ask where I had been or why I was asking her to drive to Zorba’s.  She even got a little miffed when I engaged my rapier wit to comment on the tardiness of the mafia.  She finally figured out this morning that I was well lubricated before my Friday ripostes were flying.

The Mafia Gathered at Zorba's
Wife and I at the Far End

The gang finally did show up and were typically entertaining.  They even brought one of their mothers along to share in our enthusiasm.  The MEF will be upset to learn that the spousal ban on Ronnie’s Ice Cream is still in effect and since I was incapable of driving the vehicle she had jurisdiction in that area.  I contented myself with chocolate cake heaped with ice cream.  I considered myself assuaged. 

I finished off a book yesterday recommended by a friend that consisted of three novellas set in a world first imagined early in the 20^th century by another author.  John C. Wright’s, Awake in the Night Land, sets his stories in that world created in a novel by William Hope Hodgson, first published in 1912.  The Night Land is earth millions of years in the future with a dead sun where the remnants of humanity have retreated into a huge pyramid structure to wait out their fate while besieged by nightmare creatures bent on their final destruction.

This work was definitely outside of my usual light fare and was incredibly dense. This wasn’t something that could be burned through rapidly because there was so much descriptive imagery involved.   There were no soaring themes other than survival and a deep examination of the human condition when confronted by the end of times which I guess is a fairly elevated subject in and of itself.  I enjoyed the read immensely.

Scaring Myself

Yesterday I just flat out scared the living bejesus out of myself.  It will be a day I remember for the earth shaking relevance of a truly momentous occasion.  The event – I actually admired Hillary Clinton for a brief moment.  I have a well-known and chronicled disdain for her husband – mainly dealing with failed potential and a complete lack of personal integrity.  I’ve always found her a tad bit less self-serving than her husband but not a lot.

It was a huge surprise when I heard her taking her most potent enablers – the press – to task yesterday.  She was quoted as saying:  “I think journalism has changed quite a bit in a way that is not good for the country and not good for journalism,” Clinton said, venting about her concern that a more ratings-driven approach to television has led to theatrics over facts. “A lot of serious news reporting has become more entertainment-driven and more opinion-driven, as opposed to factual. People book onto the shows political figures, commentators who will be controversial, who will be provocative, because it’s a good show. You may not learn anything, but you might be entertained.”

Bravo Hillary, I couldn’t agree with you more on this.  Do yourself a favor tonight and watch any national nightly news show and grade out the news as follows:  how much is fact based and how much is opinion/conjecture or entertainment/celebrity focused.  There used to be a journalistic culture that prided itself on the reporting the news which is completely missing in the biased and managed “news” we are presented with today.  It’s pretty sad when one of the lead stories on a national news program is that a spoiled Canadian “singer” ( and I do use the term lightly) was detained at LAX for additional screening.   

As for Ms. Clinton, I just wish it signaled more than a transparent attempt at saying something that will ring true with the vast percentage of Americans while still not distancing herself too far from the cloying press she receives and revels in.  She follows the well-worn Clinton credo of telling us what she thinks we want to hear versus what she really thinks.  I find myself hoping against hope she embraces the role of grandmother over president because the country needs leadership and not another phase of Clinton gridlock.

Back at home yesterday I adroitly finished off my Mother’s Day shopping despite a full work day and no Amazon time whatsoever.  The secret to my success – I was not involved in it whatsoever.  My wife went on a shopping road trip to Eastern Massachusetts with other members of the Panamanian mafia.  I was just settling in to watch the Bruins playoff game last night when she returned and announced I had been a complete success in getting her exactly what she wanted for Mother’s Day.  I nodded sagely at Buddy.

The beard seems to be performing it’s hoped for magic as the Bruins rallied for a stirring overtime win in Detroit. You could actually see the smaller, faster Red Wings wilt under the size and strength of the Bruins after a couple periods.  It also raises an important point – how the hell did we ever watch televised hockey before High Def?  As for the Sox – too painful to even consider recounting – I think it appropriate for them to defect to Canada at this point.  But hey – it is, (wait for it) – THE FIRST FRIDAY OF THE WEEK!!!

Sticky Night

I know this will send the Cantankerous Friend into one of his patented fits of indignant apologist mode since he’s added the hated Yankees to his protected species list along with Presidents Carter, Putin, and Obama but justice was finally served last night at Fenway.  I was watching the game with the wife and a slightly disinterested Buddy the Wonder Pooch when she asked why the cameras kept focusing on Yankee pitcher Pineda’s hands.  I explained about his blatant use of pine tar in his last start which significantly improved his control of pitches.

He wasn’t using it in the first inning and was typically wild and tagged for two runs.  He came out in the second inning with a generous gob of the stuff applied to his neck and showed vastly improved control with a lot better bite on his slider.  I know virtually every pitcher (including the Red Sox) uses something to help with their grip but this was easy to see and obviously provided him with a competitive advantage.

Farrell finally went out to ask the umpires to check and although everybody in the stands and watching on TV could see the smear he did his best to avoid finding it until the last moment.  Pineda was rightfully ejected and embarrassed the proud Yankees with his inept childishness.

I know it seems like I’m an old codger complaining about the younguns again but there is a feeling of entitlement in professional athletes today that the rules don’t apply to them.  While this is most evident in the crime blotter festooned with their antics, last night was a case where a guy was specifically warned to knock it off and chose to ignore the warnings.  Maybe he can use the upcoming suspension time to figure out how to wear his baseball cap straight so he doesn’t look like a thug. 

This was one of the few times as a Red Sox fan that I actually felt some sympathy for the Yankees.  Whatever else they are they always seemed to try to honor baseball traditions and play honorably (well except for A-Roid but he’s a case unto himself – just ask him).  That’s one of the things I love about baseball.  They obviously have a better team than the Red Sox this year (boy it hurt to write that) but Pineda is flawed if he can be dominant with pine tar.  Someone might want to mention to him that the playoffs are played in cold weather as well.  

Since that whole conversation about my beloved game of baseball was kind of a downer, here’s a lift.  Someone posted this on Facebook today – no truer words have been said.  I’m sure the Cantankerous One is trying to figure out how to be a cat person just so he can object: 

Transcendent Passage of Time

Last night, being date night, saw a foray to the local theater to see the sci fi opus Transcendence, featuring Captain Jack himself Johnny Depp.  This film has a fascinating concept involving the relationship of technology to humanity but misses the mark on a number of fronts.  Depp totally mails in his performance which dooms the movie since the plot revolves around his humanity.  He plays the world’s foremost AI scientist who’s loaded into a computer when tragically assassinated.

There were some really cool effects but plot holes you could drive a well-stocked semi through make it seem kind of silly.  The movie is told through flashback as we see the results of the climax before anything happens.  That plot device only works if getting there makes sense which this doesn’t.  Rebecca Hall does a great job as Depp’s devoted wife but she’s fighting a losing battle with his lack of presence.  Morgan Freeman and Kate Mara are criminally underused in supporting roles.  Instead of being a soaring statement about the possibilities and dangers of technology, it comes across as something trite; ploddingly so.

I had an interesting day at work yesterday when I was called upon to host a bunch of students from my daughter’s alma mater, Boston University.  They are sophomores working on their big research project (something she’ll fondly remember).  They wanted to learn about our use of technology and electric buses.  They were full of energy and had a million questions so it wasn’t the dreaded waste of time I anticipated beforehand.  It was kind of scary to see how impossibly young they all seemed.

(L-R) Jim, Fred, and I at the Fort Amador Causeway 1981

Speaking of young, while searching for the picture of my son and his spruce tree for yesterday’s blog post I ran across a picture from my own youth.  It was taken when I was a young lieutenant in Panama with two of my buddies (Jim and Fred) at our favorite Sunday afternoon hangout, the Fort Amador causeway.  We would park our cars next to the ocean to nurse hangovers and continue our pursuit of any Panamanian ladies that survived the crucibles of Friday night at the Albrook O-Club and Saturday night at one of our BOQ bohio parties.  It caught my eye because so much has changed since that picture was taken.  Whne we visit Panama we usually go to a huge restraint that’s been built near where this picture was taken. The open area directly behind us has been filled in with a fairly large hotel and the entire causeway has been significantly upgraded since the Panamanians took over.  It still brought back some great memories, pursuits being what they were at the time. (BOQ = Bachelor Officer Quarters)

The Causeway Nowadays
The Earlier Picture was Taken from the Far Right Side of this Picture
Looking Back Towards Where the Hotel is

Easter Outage

Okay, thanks to my cable company you were all spared a day of my (at times) suspect rantings.  Frail Deeds was off the net yesterday even though I had the day off to bask in the reflected glory of Patriots’ Day commemorating the legendary stand on Concord Bridge and the shot heard round the world on Lexington Green.  My internet connection apparently believed it was due a day off as well which was frustrating but you were all the winners, avoiding a full day free of nonsense from this sector.  I suspect a certain sorcerous personage in Rhode Island contracted to have the connection taken down to avoid all the embarrassing pictures I have of her to be published.

Easter was a hell of a lot of fun (is that sacrilegious?).  My son and the MEF showed up Sunday morning and for a few hours we had all four of what we now consider “our kids” with us.  I cooked a turkey to take down to my sister’s house in Rhode Island and all was going well until I spilled nearly a quart of turkey grease all over the hardwood floor in the kitchen.  Buddy immediately volunteered for the cleanup crew and had to be dragged physically from the scene to prevent future technicolor yawns.

Wife and I on Easter

Bowed but not broken we tardily departed for Rhode Island for a fun Easter dinner that’s becoming something of a tradition.  Heretofore we’d always gone to my sister’s mother in law’s (the fabulous Miss Louise) home.  Since Miss Louise was watching her first Easter from heaven with Mr. Pete the dinner was moved to my sister’s house.  My sister insisted Buddy accompany us which allowed my daughter the full “Buddy’s hot breath over her shoulder” experience for the drive down.

Buddy spent a couple weeks at my sister’s house in January and got into the habit of walking on top of her frozen swimming pool to voice his displeasure with the neighborhood squirrels.  Buddy, never to be confused with a brain surgeon, thought this was still possible and was shortly fully immersed in the winter’s worth of debris filled water on top of my sister’s pool.  My nephew dragged him out and he missed most to the meal due to his fetid state.

Easter Dinner - My Sister and Bro in Law at Head of Table
The Sorceress Hiding from View to my Sister's Right

It was a great afternoon of the usual shared camaraderie with these superb people.  The sorcerous sister in law immediately campaigned to have photography forbidden leading me to suspect her involvement in yesterday’s outage.  It's a common belief photography will rob a sorceress of her mystical powers (I might have just made that up).  I think a future post will devote entirely to the exhaustive historical footage I have of her.

Most of the crowd snuck in viewings on the Bruins playoff game which was worth checking into as the Bruins rediscovered their mojo.  My playoff beard in support of the Bruins is now one week old and survives with wifely approval so far (the same could not be said of my sister).  I haven’t revealed to my spousal unit that if the Bruins are successful the beard may last until June.  That’s a conversation for another day.

Bruins Playoff Beard Week 1

One of the cool things about visiting my sister’s house are the memories associated with it.  Throughout the years of our vagabond military life we would always come there to visit.  On one of those visits my very young son planted a sprig of pine he’d gotten at school.  The idea was to plant it and watch it grow over the years.  Since we didn’t have a home we’d be in for any length of time he planted it in my sister’s front yard.  It was still winter at the time so we didn’t expect it to survive but somehow it did.  From the attached photo you can see both have grown exponentially.

My Son and Daughter When they Planted the Tree
(The Small Green Sprig Next to My Son's Foot)

Both are a Little Bigger Now

Easter unfortunately had to end as the son- MEF team departed for New Hampshire while we put our son in law on a train for New York City from Providence.  We did glean another full day with the daughter which allowed some shared Game of Thrones viewing and critique.  She was a great sport about yesterday’s cable outages but the inevitable drive through Connecticut to her train loomed large throughout the day.  It was very tough to say good-bye (as always).

At that Damned Train Station Again - So Tough

The house seemed so much emptier last night as even Buddy seemed lethargic.  I think that was due more to the Sunday swim and excessive snacks from my sister more than anything else.  When even the cable TV abandoned us last night I did have a fallback position of over a thousand movies to watch which helped blunt the depressing lack of children in the house.

Even Better Saturday

Happiest of Easters to everybody.  I hope you are as lucky as I am to spend the day with the people you love.  A number of different friends posted this video this week – totally appropriate.

The Three Compadres at the Museum

I wrote yesterday about what an exceptional Good Friday happened due in main to the arrival of my favorite daughter and son in law.  Sometimes the best of days emerge from the misty region of the unplanned.  We had not planned anything special for the day and were discussing that lack of foresight over breakfast at the Cracker Barrel when my daughter suggested a visit to the Worcester Art Museum.

Daughter and Son in Law in Museum

I drive by the museum literally very day but even though I’ve lived near and worked in Worcester for nine years I have yet to cross its threshold.  That was remedied yesterday with a truly enjoyable afternoon with Rembrandt, Matisse, Monet, Pollock, Gainsborough, and too many others that I can readily recall.  I never realized what a wealth of art I was driving by each day.

Wife and Daughter in Modern Art

Roman Floor

Armored Knight

Two Forms of Panamanian Gold

Wife and I at the Museum

There was also a display of medieval armor from the recently closed Higgins Armor Museum including some truly kick ass swords and strangely the Batman costume from the first Batman movie.  The bottom floor was interesting with relics from ancient Rome and even a complete room from a medieval French monastery.  We were wandering through an ancient Mayan display when my wife was inexorably (and typically) drawn towards a display of golden jewelry.  It is justifiable coincidence that the display came from prehistorical Panama!

Bancroft Tower

Daughter and Son in Law in the Tower

After the museum we took a brief side trip to see the Bancroft Tower which I discovered a few years ago while out jogging from work.  It’s this huge stone tower on a small hill overlooking and providing sweeping views of Worcester.  A rich son created the tower as a legacy to his father around the turn of the 20^th century. 

Walking up to the Tower

We stopped by a pub on the way home so my son in law could add some beers to his burgeoning chronicle.  We were at the brewery that produces Wormtown Brews and enjoyed a great time with the Red Sox on display as well as some appetizers.

Wormtown Brews

Great Time

Returning home for the first barbecue of the season completed a very thorough thrashing of the daylight hours.  Again, nothing planned ahead of time and sometimes that turns out to offer opportunity where its least expected.  My wife and daughter spent some time further tenchnifying my wife which I’m not sure the world is ready for but we’ll see.

Get Ready World - My Wife is Figuring It Out

I didn’t want to let go of the day and the time spent hanging out with these three people so I concocted a need for the first bonfire of the season as well.  I soon had a huge blaze out on the deck with Buddy nervously watching his beloved wood being fed into the conflagration.  My wife said she would only come out for a few moments because it was kind of chilly and didn’t want smoky hair for Easter.  We had such a good time that she forgot about her reservations and stayed until the wood played out. So much better to spend time around a fire under the stars with great people than watching the boob tube.  Just a great day and testimony to how lucky I am to be surrounded by such quality people. 

Ending the Day Around the Fire

Buddy and I at the Fire