Statutory Resurrection

During the week leading up to Christmas the FBR while sliding down the back hill inadvertently beheaded my Favorite Panamanian’s Virgin Mary garden statue. This was grounds for extreme consternation from my very catholic wife but I took solace in the fact that I hadn’t been the perpetrator this time out. I, along with my dogs throughout the years, have a somewhat spotty history when it comes to breaking some of my wife’s prized possessions. We caused numerous accidents that, sometimes, even my well developed/practiced ability with super glue have been unable to save. Since this was the second time Mary had lost her head (I was guilty the first time), my wife decreed we needed to replace her. I was ordered to bury the statue in the woods. This spring we launched an ultimately unsuccessful search to find a replacement which met my wife’s exacting standards.

The Repaired Mary

I had been telling her all along I could fix it and she finally took me up on the offer. I disinterred the two pieces and over the past couple days have glued and then cemented the head back in place. I have to admit this was one of my better efforts. Testament to that fact is that my wife only grumbled a little bit. I built a new pedestal for the statue in the garden and now all I have to left to do is power wash and then paint it. The home’s Catholicism will be rendered safe again. We’ll have to institute some new sliding rules on the back hill though. It’s less than 200 days until Christmas!! (198 to be exact).

I received some welcome news the other day from the dermatologist. The results on her latest excavations into my skin for a biopsy were all benign. That’s two exams in a row without Mohs surgery rearing its ugly head – win! Unfortunately that word wasn’t in the Bruin’s lexicon last night as their season ended with a playoff loss to the Islanders. They were an entertaining team this year but were ultimately let down by a soft goalie and a team that had better depth. The future, however, looks bright, as long as they can find a couple more durable defenseman and jettison Rask.

We were back in the cinema on Tuesday to see a Quiet Place Part 2. I was a little concerned that John Krasinski wouldn’t be able to follow up the success of the first film. Those concerns were unwarranted. This sequel involves an evolution as the family leaves the devastated farm with the secret to defeating the sound sensing monsters. The quietness, almost another character in the first film, isn’t as prevalent this time but it’s supplanted by a film-long tension. The deaf daughter, toweringly portrayed by Millicent Simmonds, steals the movie from her more accomplished co-stars. She’s on a quest to get the disabling signal she discovered to a radio station still in operation. Meanwhile mom is left to defend her other two children, including an infant, from the swarming creatures. Trying to keep a new born baby quiet is a horror movie in and of itself. We see a lot more of the monsters this time out which means the success of the first film generated a bigger budget. It was well spent, great movie.

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RECURRING CHARACTERS                                           

BR3 – granddaughter #3, 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; Kindergarten Friend – friend since kindergarten whom I reunited with after many years; 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; 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; Curbside Girls – close friends of my daughter acquired during her single days in Brooklyn