Longing for

BRS in the Fort with her Dad

A couple busy days to launch the holiday week left me a little nostalgic specially after seeing the movie I did last night. The AC guys returned to get the systems up and running. I distinguished myself in the IT field by installing passwords on the Wi-Fi accounts on the run and then successfully downloading an app that will allow me to turn on and adjust the AC system using my phone. My IT consultants (my kids) were astounded at the technological leap this entailed.

She Wears her Dinner Well

Back in the Fort

We came home from the movies last night to find the Neighborhood Mafioso standing in front of our house. We then noticed the huge fireworks display going on over the city of Worcester down below. Our house, sitting on top of the hill provides a great view of the fireworks each year and I wouldn’t have known they were even going on if the neighbors hadn’t been out there. It led to a very nice interlude hanging with them on a perfect summer night watching the show and not having to fight traffic.

The granddaughters reported in last night. The BRS was leading her parents on her now requisite post prandial neighborhood walk. She’d spent the day running through the sprinkler at Day Care a well-known family trait. My Favorite Son sent me some more photos including their living room fort adventure from the past Saturdays during a Daddy-Daughter Day. This tugged at some memories of building forts with  much younger version of my son and then even further back to frustrating my mother when she came home to find my sisters and I had used the sofa cushions to create a veritable Gibraltar in the living room.

The FBR finally communicated with us. I think her parents goaded her into it but I wasn’t going to question the result. I even got her to smile a couple times being “grandpa silly”. The FBR had been called upon to nurse her mother back to health on Monday with some of her patented snuggle medicine. My daughter apparently ate some bad sushi and was severely waylaid by the aftereffects. Yet another reason, not that another was needed, never to eat sushi.

Yesterday was the movie last night and yes that makes sense. This sported a very interesting concept. After a worldwide blackout certain aspects of culture disappear from people’s memories – including all memory of the Beatles. Except for the hero – a struggling English singer who’s hit by a bus during the blackout. He starts singing some of the well-known tunes and is immediately hailed as a musical genius while struggling with guilt over knowing the truth. Since the Love Actually guys were involved there was a serious grasp for the heartstrings but the true star of the movie was the music. The Beatles music is so ubiquitous that I’d forgotten how poignant and just flat enjoyable their huge legacy of songs really is. The love story is a little too cute as I consider it a gaping plot hole why anybody wouldn’t immediately be in love with Lily James. There are some very funny moments as the singer discovers several other items have also disappeared. This was a nice escapist romp and a very fitting ode to the musical genius of the Beatles, reminding millennials what all the fuss about the Liverpool gents is all about.

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RECURRING CHARACTERS                                           

BRS - Blog Reader the Sequel - second granddaughter; FBR - First Blog Reader - first granddaughter, ABFA – Amazing Best Family Athlete = my daughter in law; Wingman – my son in law; Keene Friends 1 & 2 – friends since high school from my home town of Keene, NH; Soxfather - my brother in law; Great Aunt = my elder sister; Cantankerous Friend – friend since grade school who likes to argue about everything, poses as radical leftist to attract women; Pittsburgh College Roommate – high school friend, also a “Minor Celebrity” in Pittsburgh; Deckzilla – our backyard deck which grew to monstrous dimensions once my wife got involved in planning; Maine and Virginia Musqueteras – two close friends of my wife – her US sisters, my wife is the 3^rd musquetera (musketeer); Riggins - also known as the Grandpuppy, son's dog, surrogate grandchild while awaiting arrival of the BRS; 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; Neighborhood Mafioso - wife's close friend and Panamanian mafia member, Favorite Panamanian - the wife (of course); First Friday – celebrations to mark the First Friday of the Week; Deckzilla Dude – senior citizen carpenter/contractor; Voices of Inappropriate Worth - members of public who come to every Worcester public meeting to complain, all are on public assistance along with demeanor issues