Keene Contributes

I thought it would only be fair if my hometown contributed to my post-trip rejuvenation efforts. You know, when you realize a lifelong dream, the coming down part is fraught with potholes. Meta’s AI isn’t helping as all the videos Facebook wants to show me now involve Scottish castles. Of course, if Keene was going to be called upon it wasn’t so much its geographic qualities it but some of its more excellent residents. Chief amongst those collaborators was Keene Friend who acquiesced to my descent upon him on a Tuesday afternoon. The Cantankerous One was out riding his bike so unavailable. I thought it would only be Keene Friend and I until Kindergarten Friend rode in form the wilds of Spofford Lake. I don’t need to tell you where the Favorite Panamanian was during this, do I? I’m sure her friend TJ Maxx was up to the task of welcoming her home.

The Three Amigos at the Ale House Yesterday

BR3 and BRS Sunday Shortly after Leaving
I Guess I Wasn't the Only one Tired

The three of us had a fun afternoon catching up in that elegant Keene establishment, Penuche’s Ale House. Crawling distance from Keene Friend’s house is one of its more remarkable features. I subjected Keene Friend to further viewing of my recent trip’s photos which he took in good form. Kindergarten Friend’s hamstring injury seems to have improved in my absence and he was his usual jovial self. After the appropriate amount of alcohol was rendered hors de combat, we made the obligatory phone call to the Pittsburgh area and the PCR. We grilled him on the Trump assassination attempt to insure he wasn’t involved. He and his wife took the interruption of their afternoon and pointed grilling in good stride. After Kindergarten Friend had to go home to make tacos, Keene Friend and I were chauffeured to Margarita’s to dine with the Favorite Panamanian while a thunderstorm scoured Keene’s Main Street outside. I can only hope the Cantankerous One was home before the deluge. This visit was exactly what I needed to assist with pulling my head out of the Scottish Highlands where it’s been for the past week.

At Margarita's Last Night

Wingman with his New Team

It was a big day, Monday in New Jersey. Wingman and his partners opened their new game themed establishment, called The Players Agency. He’s put in a literal mountain of work getting ready for this over the past year and it was so good to see them finally reaching their opening day. This is a perfect opportunity for him to make use of his superb people skills and the experience he’s picked up over the past few years. He’s definitely putting in the work needed to launch a successful business and he reported the first couple days were an unqualified success. They’re already looking for additional hires based on the reception in the community. He’s balanced this intense preparation with his continued musical career, I’m so proud if him.

Inside The Player's Agency

Speaking of the Trump assassination attempt; as is typical, many of his followers have leaped aboard the conspiracy wagon which their usual mindless blathering. I believe it is a case of grotesque, bordering on imbecilic, incompetence. You all know I am not a fan of our benighted former president but this should never have happened. He’s already damaged our democratic processes enough. The Secret Service screwed this up as badly as it could have been. A 400-foot shot is easy and to have left that roof uncovered is a travesty. The take down of Trump after the shot rang out was also delayed and almost comedic in execution. I worked with the Secret Service back in the late 1980s and the men I knew then would be cringing to have let this happen. I know this will upset the Trump conspiracy crowd, but seems to be a case of criminal level incompetence by both the Service and the local supporting cops that allowed a befuddled young man looking to add his name to the history books get close enough to take a shot. They need to clean house starting at the top with some of the excuses I’ve heard coming from her over the past couple days. Get some people in there who aren’t concerned with being inclusive or politically correct but with protecting the subject.

Date night today and, big surprise, we were at the movies to see Quiet Place, Day 1. This movie has the same effect as the first two. You are drawn into the pervasive quietness. My wife coughed during the movie and I was startled enough to look around waiting for a monster to descend. Lupita NYong'o should be considered a national treasure. She brings so much heart and depth to the role of a terminally ill hospice resident who’s caught up in the descent of the Quiet Place monsters into New York City. Her quest for pizza in the midst of an apocalypse would have been funny if any other actress had attempted it. She’s aided by her faithful cat. They must have used some serious tranquilizer on that beast as she didn’t meow once during the alien encounters. Oh yeah, they don’t really exist. That‘s what this movie does. It draws you in to the point you believe this is actually happening. That is testament to the searing performance of NYong'o. Great movie.

Only one movie fell (which was really four) in the A-Z watch, Keene Friend gave it to me as a gag Christmas gift, War & Peace – oh my God, so painful, so Russian, so long. I’m only keeping it because it was a gift from him.

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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; Seis Amigos - two couples from our condo complex and my wife and I; Soxfather – my brother in law; Tia Loca – wife’s younger sister; Wingman – my son in law; Wingmom – Wingman’s mom, of course