Musquetera Libertad

My Favorite Panamanian slept late today which was only to be expected after a whirlwind weekend with the Maine Musquetera. That worthy showed up late Friday afternoon and they were headed out shopping within a half hour of her arrival. That continued for the entire weekend until her departure Sunday afternoon. I had to adjust my routines for the small part of time when they were home, no more naked walks around the second floor after showers. They were joined in their acquisitional pursuits by the Neighborhood Mafioso and other members of the local Latina Mafia. It’s rare that I see so little of my wife when she is technically in residence, but this happens when these two sisters of the heart get together. When she left yesterday afternoon, I thanked her for the “libertad” she provided.

The Musqueteras Heading out Friday

She also arrived bearing gifts. A renowned maker of cakes, she prepared a half dozen homemade chocolate cupcakes for me. I don’t know why they think they need to bribe me, but I’ll take it. Their absence provided a rare, completely free weekend, bereft of supervision. I seized on that opportunity to knock out a project my wife had requested. I wanted to surprise her when she returned from scouring the retail environment. She requested I move a large cement statue from one side of her vast garden complex to another. The only problem was the stump remaining when she had me cut down a tree last year in the new location.

Statue in its New Home

I didn’t want to attempt this with her onsite because the stump removal had to take place within a circle of tulips which she declared I had to preserve. That was the most difficult part of the effort. I had a deft touch with the shovel but that isn’t always possible when wielding an axe with as much force as I was (a lot of sneaky fun until I remembered the underground utility lines beneath the garden). With the aide of the axe and a branch cutter I was finally extracted the stump and roots which were not in favor of my actions. I think “most” of the tulips survived but at least I have stand off until next spring to learn their fate and my attendant spousal remonstration. The statue is a very heavy cement relic from my mother’s garden that we inherited. She always has me moving the damned thing two or three times a year in its old location so I’m hoping this new place is its permanent home. She was very pleased when she got back while casting a penetrating look at the circle of tulips.

The Stump I Dug Out

After this very physical effort, I retreated to the Man Cave for most of the rest of the very rainy weekend. A serious impact was made on the A-Z watch as a result. If you want a very bizarre movie watching experience, watch The Wizard of Oz and the Wolf of Wall Street on the same day. It was fully weird. I’m in the serious home stretch on the watch and should be into the X’s in the next couple days. The physical therapy sessions and the exercises the therapist has me doing seems to be working on the rotator cuff injury. I’ve found myself lifting my left arm without thinking and not experiencing the pain I had since mid-February associated with those type movements. I also moved the statue without issue, so definite progress.

FBR Scaling Obstacles

Then Swinging Off

My daughter sent me these pictures of the FBR scaling some sort of inside obstacle course this weekend. I’m not sure exactly what was going on, outside of the fact that the FBR looks like a fully grown teenager instead of just ten years old. I guess she needed some recreational action after her hockey season ended. Up in New Hampshire the BRS accompanied her dad, my son, to the Mandalorian movie and said it was great. I’ll find out tomorrow.

Finally, today is Memorial Day. If you haven’t already, please send up a prayer for all those heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice to insure we live in a free country. I know the past few years have been tough with all kinds of warts growing on that freedom, but we still live in arguably the most successful experiment in the concept of freedom the world has ever seen. We owe that, oft-times taken for granted, liberty to men and women whose sacrifices run from their bodies left on Lexington Green to a thousand battlefields around the globe. Remember them and please honor their sacrifice no matter what you think about the transitory politicians who benefit because of it.

The A-Z watch continued with eight movies, seven keepers: Windtalkers – could have been special if they hadn’t butchered the military aspects so badly and forgot to spotlight the actual code talkers, eject; The Wizard of Oz – finally added to the library, a great watch full of nostalgia; Wizards – well remembered and still enjoyable 1970s animated fantasy from Ralph Bakshi; The Wolf of Wall Street – hard to root for anybody in this as everybody is inherently evil, still a great ride; The Wolverine – Hugh takes his claws to Japan in a story spanning generations; Working Girl – holds up well as a romcom with a fantastic cast and a great song; The World’s End – a movie about a pub crawl!!! You know I loved it; World War Z – epic storytelling with the political ramifications of dealing with a worldwide zombie plague.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------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 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; 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; Upstairs Neighbors – American couple and great friends who live in condo above us in Panama; Wingmom – Wingman’s mom, of course