Friday Returns

Friday marked a return to post-Friday Family Facetime dancing. We hadn’t been back to the Legion post since August due to granddaughter presence, followed by weekend activities, combined with some vertigo issues on the spousal side. We decided to go with just the two of us since the Neighborhood Mafioso was hors de combat. We fell in on a planned Halloween party where we were once again amongst the youngest people there (one of the attractions since it is so rare nowadays). It was a fairly quiet night but it was fun being out and about again instead of hanging out Friday night in the Man Cave, which as much as I love it, is decidedly not where I should be on a Friday night, despite my age.

Back at the Post
These Guys Won the Costume Contest

We were not the only ones out at a Halloween party. My son and his crew were out as well. My son and the ABFA teamed up as Barbie and Ken and luckily my son didn’t take any of the advice my Favorite Panamanian offered as costume advice. They looked great. We had minimal luck linking up with my daughter as she and Wingman were out and about this weekend. After none of the granddaughters wanted to talk with us at all on Friday (our status amongst them seems to have seriously waned), we were surprised to receive calls from the FBR yesterday where she talked with us at length over two separate calls. Her mom was at a film festival after spending Friday at a book launch (she’s so very NYC). The FBR related her experiences at swim lessons where she had been advanced a level in the past week. It was like old times with the FBR as she definably abandoned her teenage-like disdain for us. I guess she saves that for when her parents are present to impress them.

FBR After Swim Lessons Yesterday

Barbie and Ken with their Progeny

Finally, look what washed up on the beach not far from our condo! This was sent to us from some neighbors. I knew Panama had alligators (called caimans). In the distant past, it always made me nervous when I, as a lieutenant, led infantry patrols when we had to move through one of the seemingly omnipresent Panamanian swamps at night. You would see glowing eyes and sometimes hear large animals moving about in the dark in our vicinity. This happened especially when crossing the legendary Mohinga Swamp on the Atlantic side when we acted at the guerrilla opposing force for visiting USA based infantry battalions at the Jungle Operations Center. I knew there was a large caiman that had set up shop in the small river behind the Show Pony Hotel near our condo. If saltwater crocs are migrating from Australia this could have a definite impact on my boogie boarding. It looks like a caiman and my only question is what the hell is he doing on the ocean side (other than dying that is).

Whoa!

Three movies fell in my A-Z watch, all keepers: The Great Outdoors, thought I would be getting rid of this but Candy is still fun to watch; The Great Wall, loved the military pageantry of the Chinese army on the wall; and The Greatest Showman, just flat love the songs in this movie.  

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RECURRING CHARACTERS:                                     

ABFA – Amazing Best Family Athlete - my daughter in law; BR3 – Blog Reader #3 – granddaughter #3; BRS - Blog Reader the Sequel - second granddaughter; Cantankerous Friend – friend since grade school who likes to argue about everything, poses as radical leftist to attract women; CRC - Connecticut Riverboat Captain – another close friend from high school, renowned sailor of the big river; Curbside Girls – close friends of my daughter acquired during him her single days in Brooklyn; Deckzilla – our backyard deck which grew to monstrous dimensions once my wife got involved in planning; Favorite Panamanian - the wife (of course); FBR - First Blog Reader - first granddaughter; First Friday – celebrations to mark the First Friday of the Week; Great Aunt - my elder sister; Keene Friends 1 & 2 – friends since high school from my home town of Keene, NH; Kindergarten Friend – friend since kindergarten whom I reunited with after many years; Maine and Virginia Musqueteras – two close friends of my wife – her US sisters, my wife is the 3^rd Musquetera (musketeer); Namesake Nephew – son of Great Aunt and Soxfather named after me; Neighborhood Mafioso - wife's close friend and Panamanian mafia member; 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; PCR - Pittsburgh College Roommate– high school friend, also a “Minor Celebrity” in Pittsburgh; PCR+1 - Pittsburgh College Roommate’s wife; Riggins - also known as the Grandpuppy, son's dog; Soxfather - my brother in law; Tia Loca – wife’s younger sister; Wingman – my son in law; Wingmom – Wingman’s mom, of course