A Week that Was, Sorta

This week is well known for a lot of things, predominantly 9-11, but there are other events worth noting that aren’t as dire. On Tuesday my mother-in-law celebrated her 92^nd birthday which is entirely worthy of note. She can’t travel up here any more on doctor’s order but she’s still a spry and all together there lady. To add additional prestige to this week, today marks the birth of none other than Keene Friend. We’ve been friends longer than either of us care to note but he is my brother from another mother. He and the Cantankerous Friend are coming down to Worcester today to celebrate that birthday with a WooSox game and dinner. As stated above, a week of notables.

My Lunch Date

Walking Elegantly Again

Birthday Girl (when she was only 90) with my Wife

The Birthday Boy

Tuesday Night Entertainment

For the first time in recorded history, I sat through an entire presidential debate on Tuesday. I was interested to get to know more about Harris. I certainly did. She was up for the challenge and clearly won the debate, going away. I know she didn’t harken too much on her proposed polices but she did an even more important thing. She proved she could be presidential while demonstrating, in no uncertain terms, that her opponent could not. I noted to my Favorite Panamanian that Harris was purposely goading Trump into protecting his fragile ego. He ended up looking like the angry old man down the street yelling for kids to stay off his lawn. I mean, “immigrants eating dogs and cats”, c’mon. He was anything but presidential and added to his resume of being a disgraceful embarrassment. I know his hardened followers will forgive him anything (still one of the greatest mysteries of the 21^st century) but I left the debate watch a lot more comfortable having to abandon the Republican Party for this election.

New Carpets Installed

My Favorite Panamanian’s recovery continues apace. She had her first physical therapy appointment yesterday and continues to walk, even up and down stairs, without pain. The PT still cautioned her on not trying to do too much in the first two weeks after her surgery. I force her back her couch perch with the leg elevated whenever I catch her trying to do too much. She complained a couple days ago that this convalescence had severely impacted her ability to shop. I was not as sad at this development but she is a force of nature when it comes to shopping and I should have known better. Water always finds its own level. We sat down for lunch earlier this week and she sprung her trap. She had been using her couch time to shop online. She’d found a couple carpets she thought would look great in the kitchen and on the main staircase. She needed me to complete the purchases because, thank God, she still hasn’t made the technological leap to the final step of online shopping yet (despite the ABFA’s unofficial assistance☹). Amazon was only too happy to allow me to buy the carpets. As we got up from lunch she said that had been a great meal and I remarked that it was one of the most expensive lunches I’d ever had. So those carpets have since arrived and I spent yesterday installing them as well as finally fixing the cement border on the front porch. I felt down right handy.

Front Porch Repair

R.I.P. to a True Superstar

There was a momentous departure this week as well as James Earl Jones left the mortal coil. As a confirmed movie geek, I would be amiss in not taking note of this, however, against all odds I share a personal connection with him. I was lucky enough to meet him while filming my 15-second movie career. I was in the Old Guard when Francis Ford Coppola was filming Gardens of Stone and I was selected for a very bit part at a military funeral. Jones played the regimental command sergeant major and while he was the best-known actor on the set, he was also the nicest. Very personable and not lording over his celebrity status with us “common folk”. The same could not be said of a couple of his co-stars. He was one of the nicest people I’ve ever met and took time to ask about my family and my duties as an infantry officer. I was star struck listening to the voice of Darth Vader speaking to me. His long and distinguished movie career also included what may be my favorite movie of all time, Fields of Dream, where his soliloquy on baseball has certainly stood the test of time. One of those bigger than life types whom I will miss.

One of his Scenes from Gardens of Stone

Given my wife’s increased mobility and to keep her away from her iPad and online shopping (shhhh) I took her out for a date night movie and lunch. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice was the selected target. This is a simply awesome sequel to a great original film. The best aspect were the original stars returning properly aged for the thirty years since the original, although Katherine O’Hara must have made a real deal with the devil because she doesn’t look to have aged at all. She returns as Delia, the crazed epitome of an evil step mother/pretentious New Yorker. The movie doesn’t try to re-tell the same story and brings a lot more heart than I thought possible. Keaton, once again, demonstrates what a comic genius he is running around the afterlife pursued by Monica Bellucci (some guys have all the luck) while still trying to reunite with Lydia. A very welcome addition is Jenna Ortega who steals every scene she’s in as the perfectly cast daughter. Even now, thinking back at some of the gags I can’t stop smiling although I missed the sadly (departed in real life) Otho. There were some very clever and obscure tributes to the first film. A very fun and nostalgic comedy/horror romp.

Three movies fell in the A-Z watch, all keepers: Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels, hilarious British crime comedy, Guy Ritchie’s debut; Lockout, completely underrated sci Fi action flick, with Guy Pearce channeling an early version of Deadpool, just love this movie; and Logan, best X-Man film ever made as Wolverine meets his unknown daughter.

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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 (whom I miss more than I can ever explain); Tia Loca – wife’s younger sister; Wingman – my son in law; Wingmom – Wingman’s mom, of course