Youthful Summer Weather

The past few weeks have been nothing like what I think New England summer weather should be. It reminded me more of what we left Panama to escape – the rainy season. That is marked by oppressive humidity and way too much rain. While the rain hasn’t been up to tropical levels, the humidity reminds me of some of the less salubrious summers I spent in Ft Benning’s School for boys in Georgia. In other words – more than cruel. It’s been very un-New Englandlike. I’ve written before about the summers of my youth, growing up in New Hampshire. There were only three or four nights all summer that were too hot/humid to sleep comfortably. The nights were almost uniformly cool and there was no real need for air conditioning. Times have changed or my time on the South has changed me into someone more dependent on freon.

Departure Day for FBR, Wingman, and Wingmom

I bring this all up because, after a series of ferocious thunderstorms last night, a front came through and we woke up to what I think of as a “typical” New England summer day. The humidity was gone and there was a pleasant breeze wafting over our hill top. My Favorite Panamanian had every window in the house open shortly after arising. I was able to mow the lawn in the middle of the day without several gallons of sweat donated to the cause. The cosmos seems to have shifted back to normal, at least weather wise. Everything else, not so much.

Finds a Canine Friend Upon Arrival

Meanwhile the FBR is out on an adventure with her dad and Wingmom. They flew to St Louis on Friday for the weekend. It offers Wingmom a chance to link up with some of the friends she left behind when she moved to New Jersey. The FBR was excited because she loves to travel. Wingman also has friends on the area as he spent some of his youth in the city. They were greeted with 108 degrees, so weather was not near as fun as we’re enjoying.

Three movies fell in my A-Z watch, all keepers, Escape from L.A., total camp but Snake Plissken!!; Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, so much better than I remembered; and Excalibur, silly but eternally fun re-telling of Arthurian legend.

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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