Wedded And Flown

Saying their Goodbyes

Okay so the WiFi here at the Embassy Suites actually works pretty spectacularly once you wander through all the wickets they set up to insure you’re a hotel guest. I’m loving the hotel room which is a suite with a sitting area, small kitchen and king sized bed. I’ll send some photos tomorrow but I’m on a short leash since I only have a few minutes before the conference begins.

Son Helping His Abuela With the Corn Grinding

Cleans Up Nicely

Yesterday was spent traveling to Rhode Island with my Favorite Panamanian, the Favored Son and the ABFA to attend the wedding of a long time friend’s son. Before we left my son had a nice moment with Buddy as the two old antagonists said goodbye to each other for probably the last time. Buddy and my son established a routine early in Buddy’s tenure with us where they would chase each other around the Charlton house while my wife yelled at them to stop. Buddy would get frustrated because he could never catch my track star son after easily tracking down yours truly in similar situations. Buddy may not understand why he’s getting all the extra attention but he’s earned it.

The wedding ceremony was very long involving a number of priests which is appropriate since the groom was almost a priest and continues to do good work for the church. We snuck out for a quick meal after the ceremony since the reception dinner wasn’t scheduled for a couple hours and we were operating on fumes from breakfast. It was a good time just hanging out with my son and the ABFA.

The reception was low key but very homey which, again, very appropriate. We got to speak with our old next door neighbors, the groom’s parents, for a while and refurbished contact with their far flung family most of whom we hadn’t seen in many years. I think that’s one of the coolest, yet cruelest, aspects to weddings. You end up seeing family and friends after years apart.

In this case there was a young lady I remember as a pre-teen that was now sheparding a pair of daughters that were older than she was the last time I saw her. Our former neighbors, a Japanese man married to a Portuguese lady, always made for an eclectic but superb family experience. Since this was a Sunday wedding followed by a school night this was the first wedding I’ve ever attended where I didn’t have a single beer. There was a small dancing effort as the speaker system wasn’t up to having the music drown out the constant chatter of conversation. It was still a wonderful day spent with some of the nicest people on earth.

My Date

We rushed back to Worcester since I hadn’t even started to pack yet and this was a cardinal sin in my wife’s eyes. She believes packing should be an Olympic sport. She finally threw her hands up and demanded I just pile what I was taking on the bed and she would pack it. This was kind of cool since it allowed me to spend some more time with a certain black lab in the Man Cave.

Meanwhile in New Jersey:

Helping mom Cook

Making a Mess

And Loving It

Wonder Sadness

Buddy in Every Sense of the Word

My initial enthusiasm at Buddy the Wonder Pooch’s improving health were dashed decisively Friday afternoon with a call from the vet. My good friend, partner in crime, and fellow target of my Favorite Panamanian’s ire has leukemia. The vet indicated we could refer him to an oncologist but the success rate is very low. I made the decision that I didn’t want his final days to be spent undergoing chemo and the attendant quality of life. I was stunned by the call and affected more than I thought I would be. That’s testimony to just how close he and I have become over the seven years we’ve been together. My sister remarked how lucky he’d been to land at our doorstep. I’ll think about that later as I’m determined to make him as comfortable as possible with whatever time he has left. The vet said it could be weeks to several months. I already miss him.

Friday Night with the Mafioso 

I had the immense good fortune to acquire an assembly of some of favorite people in the world both Friday night and yesterday to help assuage my impending sense of loss. Friday night saw us wandering down the street to the Neighborhood Mafioso’s house where I drank way too much beer, sadness will do that to you. It was good to be surrounded by friends although my thoughts kept creeping back down the street to a certain black lab. I snuck down there a couple times to make sure he was receiving the requisite pats.

Deckzilla with her New Coat

Forces Gathering 

FaceTiming With Granddaughter

Great Aunt Dominating her New Knee

My Favorite Son and the ABFA came down to spend Saturday night since we’re all going to a Rhode Island wedding today. With the close proximity of his birthday I invited Great Aunt, Soxfather, and Keene Friend for an impromptu birthday celebration/barbecue. I spent most of the day leading up to that finishing up Deckzilla’s annual recloaking in sealant. After moving everything off her immense bulk and power washing her I spent most of Saturday applying the sealant to all her many layers. My Favorite Panamanian came out to help with some of the lower levels which was a huge boost.

Dinner Time

Birthday Boy

Unfortunately the cool weather meant Deckzilla was still damp by the time people started showing up and we spent most of the evening inside. We fielded a FaceTime call from New Jersey where the First Blog Reader was more than impressed with the assembly of people she had fawning over her every gesture. Eventually dead animal flesh was seared and Deckzilla’s upper level dried enough for us to eat outside. Bonecrusher was deployed and my son wielded that fell weapon expertly to sever his birthday cake. Being surrounded by this awesome assemblage of people was exactly the medicine I needed after Friday’s news.

Bonecrusher Appears

And Goes to Work

I’m not sure when I’ll be blogging again because I leave early tomorrow morning for a business conference at one of the hotels surrounding BWI airport. It will all depend on the adequacy of the hotel Wi-Fi and that’s always a sketchy bet. I probably should figure out what hotel it is before I get on the plane. You can probably guess how excited I am at the prospect on three days in Baltimore. 

With Mom at Playground

Gearing Up

Helping Mom with Pancakes

Chaos Theory

A Chaos Donor at Work

I along with the rest of the world am trying to figure out exactly what the hell is going on at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. I am increasingly convinced that Trump not only foments the chaos his White House is engulfed in but revels in it. There can be no other explanation for a senior leader allowing his underlings to be so thoroughly embarrassing. Maybe this is how he operated in business but the veil of privacy/security his business affairs enjoyed is certainly no longer in place. Trump, surface thinker that he is, may have stumbled across the Art of War and gleaned the following precept as a way to operate:  “In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity” ― Sun Tzu.

I’m not an expert on Sun Tzu but I don’t think he meant to create chaos if none is available. The Tweeter in Chief careens from one PR debacle to another and seems to enjoy it. A lot of people were asking me this week about his transgender ban (if that is what it is). I’ve always been a fan of motivated Soldiers prepared to deal death and destruction upon the enemy. I don’t really care what is or is not hanging between their legs. My only issue is people who join the military specifically to receive the needed medical treatment to achieve their transgender goals and only because they would not be available for extended periods of time while undergoing the treatment to deal the aforementioned death and destruction.

Married to my Favorite Panamanian I have what I consider a master’s degree in chaotic thinking so I may be on to something here. Unfortunately the country pays the price for the maelstrom of distraction (which I think is really going on here) consuming the national command authority these days. On the home front Buddy the Wonder Pooch bounced back in a big way yesterday as the drugs kicked in and seemed to knock down the worst effects of whatever was causing his recent malaise. Pedestrians with the temerity to walk on “his” sidewalk in front of our house were back to being routinely chastised.

On the Train with Wingman

In New Jersey the First Blog Reader was back to her wandering ways as she and Wingman popped up at a nearby zoo. They also took her first ever train ride which was a huge hit if the video Wingman posted is to be believed. We caught up with them as they stopped off for dinner after picking up my daughter at the train station. She was still hyped about seeing the mountain lion and the goats (for some reason) but she was too engrossed with the restaurant’s TV (which she doesn’t get at home) to provide a coherent recitation of the day’s events. So not only do I finish a distant second to Sesame Street’s Elmo but any chance to watch ESPN Sportscenter also trumps Grampa (well I guess I can understand that).

Stalking Mountain Lions

So, Apparently She's Dating

Vet Time

She Used to Be Able to Stretch her Legs Out in This Box

Buddy the Wonder Pooch had a very interesting day yesterday. I brought him in and the vet quickly determined that he had an abscessed tooth that will require extraction which probably led to the fever he had as well as the swollen face. That wouldn’t have been too bad (expensive) except she also noted some troubling results from her examination, especially around his liver. She recommended an X-ray and a couple of other tests which more than doubled the bill. If you read this blog at all you know how much I value my canine partner in crime but I’m also not one of those people who will spend thousands of dollars for end of life extending medical treatment for pets.

The Patient This Morning

When she left to prepare the estimate based on her physical exam I told Buddy that I had a figure in mind that if the estimate exceeded I wouldn’t pursue. She came back with two separate estimates, one for the testing and the other for the dental surgery. The combined figure exceeded my “drop dead” line by a couple hundred bucks but we are talking about Buddy the Wonder Pooch here so he got both. The dental extraction will be next week and I hopefully get the test results back today. I also have to give him 4 pills a day for the next two weeks which Buddy immediately negotiated into a full casing of cheese required for each pill to assure ingestion. More to follow on this.

The Bravermans

My wife and I had to say goodbye to some very dear friends last night. About a year ago our daughter convinced us to start watching the TV series Parenthood and last night we finished our run through this incredible series last night. The Bravermans truly grew into friends as we shared their lives through the six seasons they were on. I think this is the best ensemble cast I’ve ever seen in a TV series and heartstrings were liberally pulled as their story wound to a close. I’d like to think they’re still out there enriching the Berkeley, California scene. I’ll be genuinely disappointed when I see one of the actors from the series in something else because that means I’ll have to suspend my belief the Bravermans actually exist. If you haven’t seen this show – do yourself a favor.

We also saw Dunkirk last night which is every bit as good as you’ve probably already heard. Chris Nolan does a fabulous job bringing the epic story of the miraculous survival of the British Army in the opening stages of World War 2. It wouldn’t be Nolan if he didn’t throw a few curve balls at the viewer though as the story is told through three intersecting story lines, each operating over a different time span, a week versus a day versus an hour. The bleak outlook for the remnants of the British Army at the outset are offset by simple heroic actions. Nolan exhibits his usual fine touch of not trying to pummel you into seeing his vision but allowing it to unfold. The cast, especially Tom Hardy and Mark Rylance, shine although the story of the Soldiers on the beach was a little confusing. I was brought up in a generation that venerated the significance of Dunkirk which allowed Britain to survive until the US could enter the fray. It would be a much different world today without Dunkirk and I’m glad such a fine film has been made so current and future generations can understand what we owe to the heroes of that conflict.

Conflict was certainly center stage on Wolf’s Bane, the latest book in Christopher Nuttall’s excellent Empire Corps series which I finished a couple days ago. Here again I had to say goodbye to some very good friends as this is the last book, at least according to Nuttall, that will center around Colonel Striker and his dwindling company of galactic Marines trying to put the galaxy back together after the empire they served fell. This book is wholly and excitingly centered on the climactic battle between Striker’s Commonwealth and the evil dictatorship of Wolf’s Bane. All the pieces Nuttall had carefully placed in prior books come together for a riveting concluding battle. I’m going to genuinely miss Striker as Nuttall continues the series in other locales of his fallen empire. A great read.

Day of the Big Guy

The Birthday Boy a Couple years Ago

I didn’t blog yesterday (you are very welcome) as I was engulfed hosting visiting corporate vice presidents and a business lunch with the customer. That all went exceedingly well but the regular work day was compounded by the annual height of the vacation purge of some of my best people. I looked up and it was the end of the day and since nothing extraordinary happened I decided not to impose my faulty prose upon you.

He's Always Liked his Cake

The Young Pirate

Happiest Day of his Life

Today is a completely different story though as it marks the birth day of my Favorite Son and therefore momentous on a more cosmic scale. At a recent wedding that we all attended I looked across the table and just marveled at the young man sitting across from me, more so that he flourished despite my amateur level fatherhood. At times I reflect back on what the little tow headed scamp developed into and am amazed. I know I tend to gush when it comes to my children but if you’ve been lucky enough to meet them you would completely understand. I called him “Big Guy” even when he barely reached my knee and he more than redeemed that appellation, more so in spirit than the more apparent. He still holds a number of school track records at my old college but his more compelling records lie in how he lives his life with the irrepressible ABFA at his side. Happy Birthday Big Guy – I could not be more proud of you.

Happiest Part of My Birthday - Having him at my Side

A little more troubling news at home where Buddy the Wonder Pooch is severely under the weather. It started about a week ago when he abandoned his usual technique to speed eating his daily meal. He’s been drinking water non-stop and a couple days ago the side of his face started swelling up. I was able to get him into the vet’s today so I’ll keep my fingers crossed it’s just a tooth ache and not something more serious.

Buddy This Morning

Date night last night and the Favorite Panamanian and I went to see Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets. I’m a huge fan of director Luc Besson and he once again delivers a wildly entertaining sci fi film. It was a chemically imbued 5^th Element with Besson’s soaring images and grandiose style. The movie would have been legendary except for his choice of lead. Dean Dehane is a fine actor but he doesn’t have the physical screen presence Valerian called for. His part of a rough and tumble futuristic galactic cop needed someone who doesn’t have to jump around in the shower to get wet. All of the other actors, especially Cara Delevingne as Valerian’s partner, are superb. The action and constantly changing locales are Besson-like which means they alone are worth the price of admission. Critics won’t like it but I certainly did. It’s a great ride despite the wimpy hero. 

Meanwhile in New Jersey