Ring of Fire in the Ocean State

My Sister on the Right and the Fallen Genius

Last night we went down to my sister’s house in Rhode Island for a “McShawn’s Night.”  A couple years ago my wife’s in laws (a superb collection of really fun people chronicled earlier) started going to a local Irish pub called McShawn’s.  They invited my wife and I to join them and it never fails to be a good time. The critical ingredient is of course the people and lately we’ve taken to just gathering at one of their houses and enjoying each other’s company.  Last night we went early to my sister’s house where the latest McShawn’s was occurring for a barbecue dinner prior to the festivities out on their new deck.  My nephew took it upon himself to protect us from predatory insects by igniting a series of torches as well as a small chiminea that was grotesquely over stocked but struggled heroically to keep us protected by billowing out smoke in prodigious quantity.  We sat around a table on the deck and when we could see each other through the smoke had a great time poking fun at each other.  My sister’s sister in law, she of the immense courage when it comes to traveling, made herself the target of most of the abuse.  She had launched a completely unprovoked, vicious, attack (I’m kidding here) against probably the nicest person in the world, her mother, earlier in the day.  She was toughest on herself and kept trying to bring herself back into the good graces of her mother who was also there last night.  She saw her dreams of becoming the number 1 child in her family’s hierarchy in ruins as she fell to a distant third.  Being a genius, she tried heroically to salvage some small vestige of her shattered prestige.  She put forth a theory that any middle aged, married man who started to get in shape was having an affair.  She stated this as fact not a theory though.  This led to a lively debate in which a girl from twenty years ago was reported in my lap.  You kind of had to be there.  Buddy was invited by my nephew and he made the most of the night raiding the garbage can and knocking over a light in the living room when trying to get behind the couch.  I think he endangered a return invitation.  It was a typically excellent McShawn’s night, protected by my nephew’s ambitious ring of fire, serenaded by an improbable fisher cat, but most of all spending time with some of the best people in the world. 

My Brother in Law with the Nicest Person in the World AKA the Victim

Part of the Ring