Queenly Departure

I’m not sure why this qualifies as big a news story as the media is presenting this, especially here in the USA. British Queen Elizabeth the Second died yesterday. (Note to royal family – Elizabeth is a great name for future royal progeny, at least based on the first two) I thought we got rid of these guys back in the late 1700s. Still, we owe our cultural founding to Great Britain and as the predominant Anglo-Saxon in this household I guess I should be more devastated. I’ve always sneakily liked Queen Elizabeth, even during the whole Princess Diana episode(s). She seemed to have a really good heart and certainly embraced her role as the longest serving English monarch.

R.I.P.

I’ve always been a bit of an Anglophile; English girls played a major role in my earlier single phase (but that’s a story for another day). I’ve loved hanging out with Brits except for their devotion to a rigid class structure, so very un-American. As Elizabeth hung around for so long, I felt a little bad for Charles who was groomed to replace her but had to wait until he was in his seventies. I don’t think he minded waiting, another indication of what a great person the Queen must have been. To all my English friends, whom I haven‘t seen in decades (which borders on high treason), my sincere sympathies, even though I remain a scruffy colonial.

Two movies fell in my A-Z effort, both keepers, Bad Teacher (Cameron Diaz, comedic genius – not kidding) and Bad Times at the El Royale (much better movie than you heard).

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RECURRING CHARACTERS:                                        

ABFA – Amazing Best Family Athlete - my daughter in law; BR3 – Blog Reader #3 – granddaughter #3; BRS - Blog Reader the Sequel - second granddaughter; Cantankerous Friend – friend since grade school who likes to argue about everything, poses as radical leftist to attract women; Curbside Girls – close friends of my daughter acquired during her single days in Brooklyn; Deckzilla – our backyard deck which grew to monstrous dimensions once my wife got involved in planning; Favorite Panamanian - the wife (of course); FBR - First Blog Reader - first granddaughter; First Friday – celebrations to mark the First Friday of the Week; Great Aunt - my elder sister; Keene Friends 1 & 2 – friends since high school from my home town of Keene, NH; Kindergarten Friend – friend since kindergarten whom I reunited with after many years; Maine and Virginia Musqueteras – two close friends of my wife – her US sisters, my wife is the 3^rd Musquetera (musketeer); Namesake Nephew – son of Great Aunt and Soxfather named after me; Neighborhood Mafioso - wife's close friend and Panamanian mafia member; 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; Pittsburgh College Roommate– high school friend, also a “Minor Celebrity” in Pittsburgh; Riggins - also known as the Grandpuppy, son's dog; Soxfather - my brother in law; Tia Loca – wife’s younger sister; Wingman – my son in law; Wingmom – Wingman’s mom, of course