We kicked off the Labor Day weekend with a lively First Friday call starring the granddaughters. They seem to take the antics of their grandparents and parents, as well as Great Aunt and Soxfather in stride. All were able to see just how voracious BR3 can be as my Favorite Son had trouble keeping up with her as he cut her pizza up. He was in a very good frame of mind because BR3 finally got around to saying “Dada” for the first time this week. Every time he fell behind, BR3 let him know it in no uncertain terms. The FBR was excited as she and my daughter were planning a shopping expedition on Saturday to prepare for the FBR’s first day in kindergarten next Thursday.
My
Favorite Panamanian decreed another shopping foray was needed in my tax-free
hometown. I greeted this with my usual surge of excitement because this meant I
got the opportunity to hang out with some of my high school buddies. The victim
this time out was my Kindergarten Friend. Both Keene Friend and the Cantankerous
One were out of town so we chose to meet up at Kindergarten Friend’s home, which
I had never visited. There was the added bonus of spending some time with
Albus, his black lab that is a doppelganger for the dearly departed Buddy the Wonder
Pooch. He shares both physical and attitude traits with Buddy, with more energy
than sense.
BR3 During the First Friday Call
Kindergarten
Friend showed me around his neighborhood which is one of the few places in
Keene I had never seen or realized was up that way. We primed our respective
pumps on his back deck while Albus entertained us and, just like Buddy, decided
he is a 70-pound lap dog. It was a great opportunity for an extended conversation about our respective lives. I think they call it "catching up". It also offered me a glimpse into what life might have been like if I hadn't pursued a military career and returned to Keene. When I drove through town on my way to his house, I noticed
the downtown sidewalks were jammed with people and musicians as a music festival
was going on. This was not exceptionally welcome as we figured it would impact
on the availability of bar space. We decided to test our luck with old favorite,
Cobblestone and were rewarded with seats at the bar. We watched the Red Sox
game as well as the newly arrived crop of collegians that have started their annual
swarm of Keene. Kindergarten Friend knew practically everyone in the bar and we
struck up a conversation with a guy as we enjoyed the game and complained only
as fellow Red Sox fans can. I texted Soxfather about some of the questionable,
to us, tactics used by the Sox manager. It was a very good time.
Kindergarten Friend and Albus
We
pulled up stakes and moved over to Penuche’s Ale House which just so happens to
be across the street from where he and I first met in kindergarten sixty years
ago. Yikes!! We watched the exciting end of the Sox game there with another
group of fans and college gals. It seems the uniform of the day for the latter was
halter top. Neither of us were complaining. It was a great day with a peek into
the life of the friend I’ve known for the longest time and ending, somewhat appropriately,
across the street from Wheelock School. I’m still wondering about the planning
that went into having a bar across the street form an elementary school but,
again, no complaints. I eventually received my eviction notice when my Favorite
Panamanian pulled up outside and dragged me home. As usual I left my hometown with
another deep sense of having been “home” and owe a big debt of gratitude to
Kindergarten Friend who let me descend on what should have been a tranquil
Saturday afternoon.
At Penuche's
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RECURRING CHARACTERS
BR3 – granddaughter #3, BRS - Blog Reader the Sequel - second granddaughter; FBR - First Blog Reader - first
granddaughter, ABFA – Amazing Best
Family Athlete = my daughter in law; Wingman – my son in law; Wingmom – Wingman’s mom, of course; Keene Friends 1 & 2 – friends since
high school from my home town of Keene, NH; Soxfather - my brother in law; Great
Aunt - my elder sister; Cantankerous Friend – friend since grade school who likes to argue
about everything, poses as radical leftist to attract women; Kindergarten Friend – friend since kindergarten
whom I reunited with after many years; Pittsburgh
College Roommate– high school friend, also a “Minor Celebrity” in
Pittsburgh; Deckzilla – our backyard
deck which grew to monstrous dimensions once my wife got involved in planning; Maine and Virginia Musqueteras – two
close friends of my wife – her US sisters, my wife is the 3rd musquetera
(musketeer); Riggins - also known as
the Grandpuppy, son's dog; PanaGals
– female relatives /friends of my wife from Panama; Panamanian/Latin Mafia – inevitable group of Latino friends my wife
accumulates wherever we have lived & their spouses; Neighborhood Mafioso - wife's close friend and Panamanian mafia
member, Favorite Panamanian - the
wife (of course); First Friday –
celebrations to mark the First Friday of the Week; Curbside Girls – close friends of my daughter acquired during her
single days in Brooklyn
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