Delved Again

Yesterday was an interesting, very busy day around the casa. Frist of all we had the beautiful Maine Musquetera in residence which meant I was assigned secondary status in all social interactions involving my Favorite Panamanian. I find this status soothing as I become less prone to get myself in trouble during these interludes. We also had contractors in the house all day long replacing some of the windows. They were a father and son team that worked really hard, if noisily. The deafening process of removing the existing windows drove my three person Latin Lady contingent out to pursue their chief aim in life – shopping. Left to my own devices, a situation always fraught with peril, I put in an extended time on the bike and then installed a roped off area around the new grass emerging next to the street. Some neighborhood kids and dog walkers have taken up the challenge of preventing that grass from growing in – hence the need for the obstacle. There was also the requirement to accomplish some actual work, but that was only the weekly zoom calls in the Man Cave which was far enough away from the cacophony going on upstairs.

The Two Musqueteras Last Night

The ladies had to grudgingly return from their happy hunting grounds in the late afternoon because I had my six month skin check with the dermatologist. I don’t pray a lot but when I do I usually includes a couple aimed at the dermatologist not finding any more spots to excavate. I’ve had six Mohs surgery sessions over the past few years and am not looking to increase that total. It’s all a result of the Army, in their infinite wisdom, sending a very Caucasian young man to some of the sunniest places on earth and then not making me wear sun screen. Okay, that last part is on me.

Windows Out of Old Master Bedroom

I was on an 18-month winning streak with these appointments which I hope continues. I joke with my Favorite Panamanian about these appointments bragging that I get an attractive young lady to run her hands all over my naked body. For some reason my wife doesn’t laugh at this and rightfully scoffs at any perceived ability to get myself in trouble. It kind of makes me feel old. My usual dermatologist is on leave so I had a new lady, actually two since one was in training, do the deed yesterday. Again, both young and very good looking, which in turn made me feel very old. I thought I had skated once again when I heard the feared expression, “Have you noticed this spot before?”. Since the spot in question was on the back of my elbow the answer was pretty obvious. I learned at that point that this is a part of your body only a contortionist can see.

New Windows in Dining Room

She asked the same question for two spots on my back but answered it herself when she saw my expression. They rolled out the prep tools for the three biopsies I qualified for. The nurse knows I’ve been through this more than a dozen times so we dispensed with the whole safety briefing (at last). So, three more excavations in the skin, which luckily I have way too much of anyways. She also froze off another spot on my ear. If this keeps up, I’m going to look like a cheese grater at some point. The good news is that now that I see the dermatologist every six months they’re finding these things before they develop into anything life threatening. A bit of advice to all you sun worshippers, make sure you see a dermatologist once you hit 50 so you can start paying for that beautiful tan. Use sun screen.

The final act of the day was gong to the movies to see the latest James Bond flick, No Time to Die. My Latin Ladies abandoned me again as soon as I returned from the doctor’s office. They assured me they would rendezvous with me at the appointed hour at the movie theater. If you read about my adventure a couple weeks ago with the exact same scenario, you can understand my concerns. I didn’t speak to my wife because, well, you’ve heard the expression, “Falling on deaf ears”, right? Timeliness is just not her thing. I spoke to my mother-in-law and the Maine Musquetera about the time they needed to be there and that if they weren’t, they could find me inside the theater. In other words, I wasn’t going to wait. My wife’s mother remembers the earlier incident and appears to still be capable of supervising her daughter. In a major, almost newsworthy development, they actually beat me to the theater and had already bought their popcorn when I arrived. Stunning.

Everyone knows this is Daniel Craig’s last foray as James Bond and it was a well-earned, epic send off. Craig’s Bond was always told on a more personal level and this final movie completes the arc that started with Casino Royale. Bond is led to question everyone in his life as he moves around the globe trying to unravel an insidious plot involving old friend Blofeld as well as his lady love. It is a very good story and I hardly noticed the nearly three hour running time because, in typical 007 fashion, you literally only a heartbeat away from the next stunning action sequence. It does raise the interesting question about how many times a guy can get nearly blown up without becoming a vegetable. I know we’re talking James Bond here but it’s good this was his last movie because we’re talking mouth drooling PTSD if not. There are some kick ass ladies who no longer serve as just window dressing in Bond movies. They are led by Ana De Armas who’s only on screen for a short time but dominates. Every plot thread from Craig’s story line is neatly and usually fatally tied off and there are some genuinely poignant odes to earlier movies, including predating Craig’s tenure. The only downer and it wasn’t a big one was the villain. Rami Malek plays the reptilian megalomaniac with too much nuance, if that’s even possible.  He gets kind of lost in the maelstrom of action and explosions as the movie careens towards the inevitable good bye. A great movie bringing all you expect from a Bond movie, raising the level and injecting more heart than has ever been permitted.

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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 3^rd 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