I find it hard to countenance that we are on the cusp of June. Where the hell did May go?! It seems like last week I was mentioning how quickly the month of May had rolled around and now here we are, ready to launch into June. I guess this is what happens when you fill your time with a little too much fun. You throw in a month filled with granddaughters, family, and friends and this is what happens. The last couple days are a perfect example of what I am trying to understand.
On Monday we celebrated the birthday of
the Neighborhood Mafioso’s husband, that Friday night stalwart of dancing and karaoke
singing from the Legion Hall. Our Friday night crew was there to celebrate as
the birthday boy fired up the grill kin his back yard and we held forth on a glorious
spring day. We were briefly joined by his granddaughters which was kind of disconcerting.
They are now beautiful young ladies while it seems like yesterday they were
just kids running around our gatherings. As I hinted above, time is the most flighty
and fickle of all elements. We had yet another great time pontificating with
these great friends and by the end of the evening had solved most of the world’s
problems.
At the Lab n Lager with Keene Friends 1 & 2
as well as the Cantankerous One
Birthday Celebrations 
Birthday Boy 
Manning the Grill
We received notice last week that we
would have our electricity turned off from 8am to 4pm on Tuesday. My Faber-like
reaction, Road Trip! I first had to negotiate my annual physical which I
dutifully report to Great Aunt went swimmingly. What I thought was a broken bone
in my foot was pronounced, after some vigorous twists and turns, just another one
of those age-related aches and pains (lovely). All else was in great shape and
for the first time in a long while the doctor didn’t lecture me about eating
better, I just might be winning him over. I returned home a little after 10am
to find that power had been restored but we were not changing the itinerary and
I was off to Keene.
With His Granddaughters and Mafioso
We descended on my hometown and Keene Friend
for lunch where we were joined in short order by the Cantankerous Friend. We
ate lunch at a restaurant within sight of TJ Maxx which meant we lost my Favorite
Panamanian immediately after lunch. My friends and I retired to Keene Friend’s
house to watch an old movie until the downtown bars opened (one of the drawbacks
to weekday thunder runs). We reach the bewitching hour and deployed to the Lab ‘n
Lager to hold court. I sent out a couple messages and was rewarded by the
attendance of Keene Friend 2 and, after he departed, none other than the CRC. We did, however, fail in one of our more sacred duties by failing to drunk call the PCR. He probably wouldn't have had time for us anyways with his busy celebrity lifestyle.
The CRC(r) Also Dropped in
It was another fun afternoon catching up
with friends and watching my hometown wander by. Some things have definitely changed.
A very tall elderly guy with a beard, walked by a few times in a stunning
summer dress. One time he looked six months pregnant but apparently delivered
before his next time passing by. Yep, Keene has changed a bit. There were no
police incursions this time and the Kindergarten Friend was decisively engaged
elsewhere so we were denied his company. We made do and had another one of those
special times that happens when old friends gather. Time, again, doing its best
to reach warp speed. We ended the night, after being rescued from our downtown haunt
by the shopped-out Panamanian, back at Keene Friend’s house for pizza and Red
Sox. The food was much better than the Sox. We breakfasted this morning at the venerable
Lindy’s Diner (good food cheap!) followed by a short walk around downtown with
Keene Friend. We sent my daughter a couple photos for the FBR since she had just
watched the original Jumanji, shot in that location.
This Morning in Front of my Old Church in Keene
FBR Musicfest Adventures 
Atop Wingman 
Dancing in Nearby Surf 
Always Finds Time to Read 
Wingman!!! 
FBR Dancing Outside Venue 
Her First Ever Flashlight Wave 
Loves Her Dad 
Daughter and Curbside Freind Dancing to Keep FBR Awake
The granddaughters and their parental units
have been nearly as busy as we have over the past three day weekend. The FBR
attended her first ever music fest, where Wingman and his band played. It was
in Atlantic City, right on the beach and she got to stay up way past her
bedtime, something usually completely unheard of. Meanwhile up in NH the BRS
had her first ever Daddy-Daughter date where my son escorted her to a movie. I’m
not sure why because, like his own father, my son stated that neither daughter
will date until she’s in her thirties. He probably figures he will be as successful
as I was in making that same statement. 
Tired Mom and FBR Heading Home Way Past Bedtime
Daddy Daughter Date! 
Daddy Bought her Flowers and She Wore her Mermaid Costume 
Whole Fam out on Memorial Day
 |
| Memorial Day Parade in Portsmouth |
 |
| Sisters!!! |
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; CRC - Connecticut
Riverboat Captain – another close friend from high school, renowned sailor
of the big river; Curbside Girls – close
friends of my daughter acquired during him 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 3rd 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; PCR - Pittsburgh College Roommate– high
school friend, also a “Minor Celebrity” in Pittsburgh; PCR+1 - Pittsburgh College Roommate’s wife; 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
No comments:
Post a Comment