The last couple days I’ve started the
day out back in the pool at the local Y. This is a true harbinger back to my
high school and college days where I regularly spent at least an hour in the pool
every day. The muscle memory, if not the endurance or strength, was still
there. I was back to getting up at the same time I was when my commute was a
lot longer but for some strange reason I really enjoyed the routine. Part of it
was being back at a YMCA after all these years in a pool that was entirely reminiscent
of the pool I grew up in.
Today does mark the First Friday of
the Week which will be adequately, if somewhat hastily celebrated because there
is infinitely larger game afoot. I’ll make a drive into the vortex of Boston
traffic this evening to secure one each Cali-Daughter and accompanying First
Blog Reader (cue the happy dance). She’s flying in for her final business trip
to NYC before the November delivery date and will spend the weekend with us so
the future gramma can dote. There will also be an accompanying baby shower – a major
event for said future gramma.
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| First Blog Reader Progress as of Yesterday The Current Panamanian Assessment of Belly = Male Child |
The forces have already started
massing for that event with last night’s arrival of the Maine Musquetera. She
arrived while my wife, the next door Mafioso, and the PanaGals were touring
Boston for the day. I was abandoned once the gals returned and the chatter in
non-stop Español was still going on when I headed to bed. It’s been a lot of
fun to watch as my wife realizes a long held dream of hosting a baby shower for
her daughter. We thought it wouldn’t happen until this fortuitous trip arose. It
will only be the ladies at the baby shower so I have made a huge sacrifice and
volunteered to lead any accompanying men into Worcester for an abbreviated pub
crawl. I would do anything for that gal.
One of my literary heroes returned in
a book I finished yesterday. Jack Du Brul finally returned to writing about his
geologist née hero at large Philip Mercer in The Lightning Stones. Du Brul’s
been writing novels with Clive Cussler so Mercer was left to his own devices
for the past few years. He returns with a fantastic story that truly had me
wearing out the forward button on my Kindle as Mercer confronts non-stop action
on his way to seek out the murderers of a close friend.
Along the way he romances a couple of
ladies, solves the Amelia Earhart mystery, survives an Afghanistan firefight, and
takes on a megalomaniacal Frenchman (but aren’t they all) bent on world
destruction but this is Mercer so he handles all this with his usual aplomb. He’s
ably assisted by his 80 year live in letch who provides just the right amount
of comic relief courtesy of the greatest generation. I recommend the Mercer novels
to anyone who loves a good series of thrillers. It was so good to have him
back.
Speaking of old literary heroes, Jack
Reacher also suddenly re-emerged on the Kindle, albeit for just a short story
in Small Wars. Needless to say I rushed through that as soon as it
showed up. Lee Child looks back briefly to Reacher’s Army career days and
weaves a great short story which involves Reacher’s older brother and the incomparable
Frances Neagley. A needed fix while awaiting the hopefully soon next Reacher
novel.
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