Neighborly

I’ve written before of how blessed we are when it comes to our neighbors. The main reason we decided to put down roots here in Worcester was due to the people who surrounded our hilltop home and the for sale sign that appeared, as if by magic, in front of our now home. Lead amongst those neighbors of high repute is, of course, the Neighborhood Mafioso, but the list should also include our next door neighbors, a retired couple from Syria. My Favorite Panamanian is often over there sharing breakfast with her counterpart while the husband is a funny as hell in a very put upon way. I mention this because that neighborliness came into sharp focus last evening when we, along with the Neighborhood Mafioso, were invited for dinner on the next door neighbor’s new deck.

Dinner Last Night

Our Host

Wife with our Hostess, Deckzilla in Background

It was kind of weird looking over my wife’s shoulder to see Deckzilla, who seemed a little miffed that we abandoned it for the higher ground. I am something of a conundrum for the Syrian neighbor. She has been trying to feed me for years but always runs up against my extreme pickiness when it comes to food. I’ll do some small favor for her and she invariably sends over one of her signature dishes in way of thanks. The only problem being the food is extremely ethnic, which means well outside my comfort zone and I am definably the least adventuresome eater currently walking the earth. My Favorite Panamanian loves this (for once) because that means she gets to eat all the delicacies. This time out the neighbor was bound and determined to find something I would eat and she succeeded with some delicious shish ka bob. Dead animal flesh will always play.

BR3 and BRS out and About

It as a very fun evening with a serous amount of laughter, especially when the Neighborhood Mafioso’s husband was holding forth, which he is prone to do. The medicinal effects of laughing with good friends cannot be undervalued. My good fortunate, four of these good friends live within a stone’s throw of my front door. We were rapidly approaching the late sunset when rain drops started to fall to break up the fun. That was probably a good thing as when I’m enjoying myself as much as I was, the Coors Lite tends to flow unchecked.

I abandoned my earlier practice of buying movies for the home library unseen. That practice led to many huge mistakes which in turn led to the current A-Z winnowing process I’m going through. I made an exception to that rule for the movie Sisu, and I am so glad I did. I tried to catch it at the movie theaters but it was gone by the time I got around to it. I wanted to see it because of the crazy preview I saw. This is one case where the preview lives up to the final product. Sisu is just flat, psychotically great. A former Finnish commando who retired to mine gold is trying to make his way to the bank with his gold when he runs across a German SS unit retreating through Lapland near the end of WW2. The Nazis make the mistake of trying to take the gold away from him. He turns out to be the Finnish version of John Wick and is basically unkillable, although Nazis try and try. This is not a movie for the faint of heart as the German deaths range from comically funny to incredibly brutal. There was also a barbed wire suturing session I could have done without. A surpassingly great movie, beautifully shot in the north of Finland with a superb cast, especially the lead actor. So good.

Three movies fell in my A-Z watch (including Sisu above), all keepers, Eastern Promises, Aragorn in a naked shower fight as a Russian mobster, Hmmm; and Edge of Darkness, Mel Gibson, when he was still a star, in Boston revenge flick

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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; 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 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; 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