Divine Weekend

I’m wearing a semi-permanent smile right now and I owe it all to a widespread collection of family and friends who came together to provide one of those weekends I’ll remember for the rest of whatever time I have left on earth. It started on Friday when the Panamanian Mafia (and the Czech Connection) gathered for a post First Friday Family Facetime call get together. Pizza and beer were the names of the game, although I was quizzed on whatever happened to my European wine affiliation. I helpfully pointed outside that we were firmly back in the US where I proudly consume watered down American beer. I, however, once again extended my palate, after being exposed to Czech eggnog. I have scrupulously avoided ever drinking eggnog and I do mean, ever, even at well lubricated Christmases. The Czechs convinced me to try their concoction, explaining it involved rum that had to be smuggled into the US (editor’s note: I am not saying who did the smuggling in this case). It turned out to be really, really tasty and smooth. Color me amazed; and a big shout out to the smugglers (whoever they are).  

FBR Helping with Birthday Candles

The evening peaked with the arrival of the New Jersey bunch. That was timely because the FBR offered much needed guidance on how I should properly wield Bonecrusher (I blame the eggnog) based on her recent experience. Bonecrusher was needed to sever yet another magical cake created by my Favorite Panamanian. She has now officially moved into the realm of enchantment. She created a cake themed around movies, reading, and popcorn. For some reason she thought this was an accurate description of the birthday boy. Go figure! It was a great night.

Friday Night Crew

Wife Revealing the Cake

Getting Ready to Cut teh Cake

Hold Up! That's a Glass Table

Another Successful Bonecrusher Operation

We all woke up early Saturday morning and not only because the FBR was in residence. My Favorite Panamanian and her fellow church ladies planned a breakfast to honor the church’s veterans. I qualified, as did the Neighborhood Mafioso’s husband, my good buddy. I felt it was only appropriate that my wife garner some credit so I bought a t-shirt that proclaimed, “Military Wife - Toughest Job in the Military”, a basic truth any married veteran will concur with. We had a very fun table as my daughter and the FBR joined the Mafioso’s gang. I felt some sneaky pride that my granddaughter, who wasn’t around during the time I wore the uniform could experience this, realizing her grandpa served the country in uniform. We had to beat feet early to make our departure time for the biggest event of the weekend – the annual hometown, birthday pub crawl/high school reunion.

 

Saturday Morning with Mafioso's husband and FBR

We arrived in Keene to find Great Aunt already on the scene at Keene Friend’s house, having arrived the night before. Saturday was Great Aunt’s birthday which added to the august nature of the impending exercise. We immediately set out for Five Guys, the site of the traditional pre-crawl meal. We arrived there to find the Cantankerous Friend already on the scene and prepping for his key role in the crawl. After some quick catching up amongst the assembled worthies, we returned to Keene Friend’s house to launch on the crawl. My Favorite Panamanian volunteered to spend the afternoon shopping with the FBR since a pub crawl is not on either of their dance cards.

Pre-Crawl Meal

I’m going to forego chronicling each pub as we hit them, breaking with the tradition from the previous ten crawls. Yep. This was the eleventh annual birthday pub crawl that I’ve accomplished. We started in 2013 with only my son and I and it has grown each year apart from the benighted 2020 (we still did one, although much reduced). It has evolved into a mini-high school reunion as more and more of my high school classmates joined and realized how much fun we could still have partying together. This year we had no fewer than 20 people at each of the stops as classmates came and went throughout the day. We started at Penuche’s Ale House, followed by the Lab ‘n Lager, Modestman Brewery, the Kilkenny Pub, Madame Sheri’s, and the Pour House. I’ve included two photos from each of the stops.

Penuche's - The Gathering

Penuche Group Shot

Lab 'n Lager Discussions

Lab 'n Lager Group Shot

You can gather from the assembly of photographic evidence that a good time was had by all. I was particularly impressed with the attendance and grit of one of my female classmates. She’s forced to use a walker, and she made the walk to every single one of the stops. Truly inspiring. I think the Keene population was a little shocked to see this sea of gray hair and party intentioned senior citizens cruising their streets. I was so pleased to see both my kids, Wingman, and Great Aunt seamlessly fitting into the crowd. That’s testimony to the excellence on both sides of that equation. Keene Friend and I conspired to play a joke on one of our classmates at Penuche’s. She claims to have never been into this fine establishment known for extraordinarily sticky floors (the reason for which is best left unexplored). She promised to come this year and I convinced the bartender to shout out her name and ask if she wanted “her usual”. The bartender performed flawlessly but she only looked confused. It seemed a much better joke in the concept phase but Keene Friend and I both laughed very hard.

Modestman Crowd

Modestman Photo - FBR & Wife Join Us!

Kilkenny Pub Socializing

Kilkenny Group Shot

What followed was a truly special afternoon as we made our way through the streets of Keene. I can’t say enough about the people I was fortunate enough to spend the time with. I felt bad for my Favorite Panamanian who usually finds a way to join us for at least a couple stops. She and the FBR stopped by briefly at the Modestman Brewery. I planned to have her join us after the Pour House for the planned after-party gathering at Margarita’s. Unfortunately, once again Margarita’s disappointed. It has a checkered history for customer service, and we were unable to form up there. I called the wife to tell her not to come and we set out to walk back to Keene Friend’s house.

Madame Sheri's

Madame Sheri's Group Shot

Pour House

Pour House Group Shot

I was severely disappointed (in Margarita’s once again) because there were some late arriving classmates, including some of my favorites, who continued the party back at the Lab ‘n Lager. I was extremely proud of that as I later learned that they continued until after midnight. Considering we started just after noon, that was quite a run and included the Cantankerous Friend. I wished I could have attended but my Favorite Panamanian didn’t deserve to be left out again. We returned to Keene Friend’s house to link back up with her. Predictably, Keene Friend had arranged a birthday cake for both Great Aunt and me. Since I’d already wielded Bonecrusher, I allowed Great Aunt to do the cutting although the FBR felt she needed to guide the downstroke.

Some More Lab 'n Lager Scenes

The Fam

The Late Night Super Heroes

FBR Helps Great Aunt with Bonecrusher

My daughter’s family and Great Aunt headed to their hotel after the cake cutting. I heard rumors of the Lab ‘n Lager gathering but the wife was looking daggers at me when I mentioned it. You don’t get to my exalted age by ignoring these wifely signals. Keene Friend and I watched a very entertaining college football game with my son to wile away the rest of the evening. This morning, we all gathered at my mom’s favorite breakfast place, The Pub, for, you guessed it, breakfast. Everybody was in remarkably good shape dispite Saturday’s activities. It was a fun meal with the FBR entertaining us with her rapidly developing dry sense of humor. Both my son and the New Jersey bunch headed for home afterwards. I spent the afternoon watching NFL football with both Keene Friends as well as the Cantankerous One. It was one of those weekends I didn’t want to end but I can’t stop smiling as I remember it. Unbelievably, it exceeded my expectations which were impossibly high to begin with. I owe a huge debt of thanks to my family and friends and those remarkable classmates. KHS class of 1973 rules!!!

Breakfast This Morning

Zero movies fell in the A-Z watch, all keepers: Read above to see why

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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 her single days in Brooklyn; Czech Connection – Czech couple who’ve become good friends along with their daughter (the Czech Shadow); 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