We had a Musquetera weekend as the Maine
Musquetera and her husband joined us for a very fun three days. My Favorite Panamanian
and the other two Musqueteras are sisters of the heart who bonded as young
Spanish speaking immigrants in 1985 Virginia. They’ve stayed in touch over the years
and whenever they get together, you can count on a couple things. Long, laugh-filled
conversations and shopping. They showed up on Friday evening in time for pizza
and immediately set about catching up. Her husband and I knew what was in store
and set about amusing ourselves while the wives descended into almost
breathless conversation.
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| Musqueteras Together Again |
They put together a plan for a full
Saturday, involving, you guessed it, shopping. They took off just after
breakfast after I reluctantly showed my Favorite Panamanian how to enter her favorite
hunting spots into the GPS. My Maine counterpart and I were told to meet them
for dinner at a restaurant near the movie theater precisely at 4:30pm. I arrived
a whole minute late and then checked their location. They were still more than
twenty minutes away. Timeliness is not a native trait for either of these
ladies. The restaurant wouldn’t seat us until the entire party was present so we
spent some time wandering around a nearby book store (never a bad alternative).
They eventually arrived and my wife confessed to being the culprit. Luckily the
movie had multiple showings, so we were able to have dinner and then hit a
later show.
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| Our Late Saturday Dinner |
Sunday, after church, they set out
again. My Favorite Panamanian had been pestering me all weekend to let her
drive the new car and I ran out of excuses, so off they went. The guys watched another
Red Sox meltdown while the ladies shopped. I received a frantic call from my
wife where she admitted she’d left the house without her license and her credit
cards. She’d didn’t appreciate my laughter upon hearing this. I’d like to report
this saved some money but it just meant a return to the house to pick up the forgotten
items and returning to complete the purchases the cashiers were holding for
her. Shortly before leaving for Maine the ladies connected via phone with the Virginia
Musquetera. I asked them why they weren’t using Facetime and she said she was
walking around her house without any clothes on. I immediately perked up and
said that was a poor reason to lose seeing her friends’ faces and “promised”
not to look. They all laughed while roundly dismissing my opinion. It was good
to see my Favorite Panamanian so happy as she always is when she’s in the
company of one of the Musqueteras. A good weekend.
The film we saw was F1 – the Movie. I wasn’t
planning on seeing this because I am about as far from being a car racing fan
as is humanly possible. However, I am married and when my wife heard Brad Pitt
was in it, we were seeing the movie. I turned out really liking it. The
filmmakers use cutting edge technology to put you right in the insanely fast
cars as they careen around various tracks. Pitt was, well, Pitt, which pleased
the ladies but also added his cool, laid back personae which was perfect for
his part as a much older driver brought in to save a failing F1 racing team. His
character had an interesting arc and I always like to see those with pretensions
of superiority get hoisted up by their nether regions. This is one of those movies
you have to see on the biggest screen available as I’m betting it will lose a
lot of its visceral impact on a television. Good flick.
Six movies fell in the A-Z watch, all
keepers: Kraven the Hunter (last of the son’s father’s day gifts and new
addition to the library), not as good as in the theater, with wonky CGI but great
action; Priest – warlike priests against vampires along with Maggie Q; Princess
Bride – may be the best love story movie ever made, flawless; Prince of Persia –
still trying to figure out why Gyllenhaal needed to speak with a British accent
but acceptable action; Project Almanac – of course a high school prodigy would
use his time machine to win the hot girl; and Project X – apologetically like
this story of a massive party that gets wildly out of control.
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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 her single days in
Brooklyn; Czech Connection – Czech couple who’ve become good friends
along with their daughter (the Czech Shadow); 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 3rd 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; Seis Amigos - two couples from our condo complex
and my wife and I; Soxfather – my
brother-in-law (whom I miss more than I can ever explain); Tia Loca –
wife’s younger sister; Wingman – my
son in law; Wingmom – Wingman’s mom,
of course
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