Operational Pause and Culmination

Well, my week of wall painting finally reached its end late yesterday just before the celebrations for the First Friday of the Week commenced. Both my Favorite Panamanian and I learned we are not as young as we used to be in fairly definitive fashion. We thought we could put in twelve-hour work days for three days in a row without paying a penalty. That was not the case. My wife’s bad leg and arm acted up and I was dealing with some fairly unsettling re-occurrence of some of the issues I had to deal with in the months following prostate surgery. We mutually decided on Wednesday night that we would institute an operational pause for all of Thursday and just rest.

Much Needed Fun Last Night

The Mafia Gathers

That worked. I spent the entire day in the Man Cave devouring movies (see below) and explicitly endeavoring not to spend more than two or three minutes on my feet. We launched again Friday morning as she finished up the last of the trim and I knocked out the bathroom and the two entry doors. The house was still in disarray but we didn’t try to exert any kind of order as that could wait until today. The weirdest part of the operational pause was that my legs were cramping up uncontrollably at night. I experienced a similar thing when I first went to Panama and had to abandon the daily bike work out. So, Thursday I knocked out 30 minutes on the bike and the cramps were vanquished.

Door to Garage

Bathroom

Front Door

The bright spot is that everything came out looking great. We still have some curtains to install and some wallpapering (that will be my Favorite Panamanian’s job). All of this week’s exertions prepared us for a memorable First Friday celebration. We hadn’t planned on even trying to dance but the Neighborhood Mafioso called for an impromptu assembly of the Panamanian mafia at her home so we wandered across the street to her abode after we cleaned up. It turned out to be a great night of laughing with these superb friends. I had to repair to a spare bed room to accomplish the Family FaceTime call which the FBR thought was strange but it was good seeing all those faces. The Mafioso’s daughter showed up later and joined in the hilarity. The Mafioso’s husband and I have perfected his ability to smuggle additional beers to me after I emptied the cooler I brought with us. It was the perfect way to end this week of too much work and we even got a couple dances in later in the night before we left. I don’t know how much rest we’ll get next week as we’ll be visiting my son’s family at his rented beach house in Hampton and the BRS/BR3 combo don’t exude restful tendencies. Morale, however, will skyrocket

Seven movies fell in my A-Z watch, like I said, day off in the Man Cave, all keepers except one, Emmanuel, First Contact, fell in love with Krista Allen when meeting her on Skinamax in 90s, apparently I’ve outgrown her, discard bin; Enchanted, so funny, Amy Adamas is perfect in this; Ender’s Game, book was so much better but this was still good; End of Days, may be Ahnuuld’s best movie, fighting the devil; End of Watch, awesome buddy movie, love Michael Pena; Enemy at the Gates, Soviets versus the Nazis, who to root for?, Law and Weisz have real chemistry; and new addition to the library, Kandahar, Butler blowing up Iranians, well alright.

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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