Crisscrossing Away

KHS '73  Assembly - Guest of Honor on Right

I spent another one of those weekends crisscrossing New England but it was for eminently good reasons as at each point of the compass I encountered some really special people. One of the “Dream Girls” of my high school class was returning for a short visit from her Atlanta home. A few weeks ago a group of us scheduled a gathering at Scores Sports Bar in downtown Keene to welcome her home and give her a chance to see as many friends as possible during her compressed time back home.

A true barometer of the esteem she is held in was the enthusiastic response to the call for the gathering. It was a very fun afternoon as high school friends rotated in and out of the bar. The biggest surprise was my Favorite Panamanian’s decision to remain with Keene Friend, Cantankerous Friend, and I for the entire time, eschewing her usual escape to tax free hunting grounds.

Raising my Fist at the Far End of Table

As the afternoon waned no one wanted to let go of the company and a friend of the guest of honor invited everyone over to his house for an after party. I’d never been to his house before but his directions of five houses past the covered bridge were pure New Hampshire and very accurate. We set up shop in his beautiful back yard along the banks of the Ashuelot River and continued the fun. A young man showed up, a guest of the host’s daughter, and started performing magic tricks. I’m not sure if it’s a comment on how much beer I had sent down range or he was really as good as I thought he was but he had the whole group stumped and very impressed with his level of prestidigadoo.

After party - Wife in Rear Next to Keene Freind

As the sun set we headed back to Keene Friend’s house for the night. Since I’d spent the entire morning moving furniture back into place after completion of the hard wood floor project I didn’t last much longer. My wife was of the opinion that this was more due to the fun and alcohol that had been consumed versus any physical labor. She’s such a heathen.

At the Sea Dog

We set out after breakfast on Sunday on the next leg of our journey as we crossed the state to surprise my Favorite Son. They weren’t expecting us but his birthday is this week and we showed up on his doorstep with presents and an offer to take them out for lunch. As with any new parents housebound by the responsibilities of a newborn they were very ready to escape with us. The ABFA recommended a newly opened restaurant in nearby Exeter, the Sea Dog Brewing Company. The BRS was more than ready to party and entertained all of us throughout lunch. She’s taking after her cousin, the FBR, in realizing when she has a captive audience that hangs on her every gesture. After a brief peekaboo game with her grandfather she went to her default trick – making raspberry sounds. The restaurant was a nice surprise as we were seated on the second floor with views of the Squamscottt River flowing right below us.

Proud Papa

Very Happy Abuela

Real Connection with These two

We had to depart all too soon on the final leg of our journey since we had a late afternoon appointment with Deckzilla Dude to discuss plans for the addition to the house. The rainy weather was emptying Maine out earlier than normal so there was more traffic than is socially acceptable but we still made it home in time for the meeting. My input was limited to grunts and gestures since this was about taste and style, not exactly my strong suits.

We ended the day at the theater trying to make up for our backlog of missed movies over the past couple weeks. I acquiesced to take one for the team and immerse myself in estrogen by escorting my wife to see Mamma Mia, Here We Go Again. The first Mamma Mia is potentially my wife’s favorite movie of all time but they used nearly all of the best ABBA songs in the first movie and the only time this second one takes off is when they repeated a couple of those. The entire cast is back dealing with a family tragedy while at the same time a series of flashbacks reveal how the original Meryl Streep character ended up pregnant on a Greek island. Lily James once again dominates but this just didn’t have the heart of the first movie and suffered a definite lack of Streep for most of the movie. It does finish strongly despite the presence of a very creaky Cher and not just because they finally included my favorite Abba song, Fernando. Speaking of Cher, she was a disaster as age seems to finally have caught up with her. Plastic surgery has ravaged her face to the extent she’s incapable of facial expression and she looked to need a walker for the limited dance moves that were called for. I need to get back to the movies tonight and see something blow up.