Hidden Leaves

Keene Friend and I at Elm City Yesterday

As I wrote on Friday, my wife and I were scheduled to head north for our annual leap peeping tour, kidnapping the Keene Friend while enroute. We started the weekend early when my wife showed up unexpectedly at First Friday. I’m so glad she did because I’ve got to “suffer” through the next few without her whilst she’s down in Panama. She rangered her way through yesterday despite having some sort of sinus cold. This has been a weird autumn so far. The colors should be peaking around now, especially north but it seems to me only some types of trees are doing so while others remain green. That analysis exhausts my botanical expertise but there were some beautiful vistas yesterday.

Wife Snapped this During First Friday

After we acquired Keene Friend we followed Route 12A north along the Connecticut River. We found what I described above, some spots of spectacular colors and others with very little. In other years we’d find whole hillsides sporting fabulous colors but only some of the trees on each hillside was in compliance this year, even as we got fairly north. I still enjoyed the drive immensely though. I’ve got his weird penchant for seeking out places I’ve never been before and this annual trip is part and parcel of that.

I learned yesterday that Keene Friend also enjoys this seemingly pointless adventuring. We had a lively conversation going when my wife remained awake. Before I realized it we were driving through the middle of Hanover which was overrun with Dartmouth alumni attending a football game, I assumed. My wife’s shopping instincts immediately kicked in but there was no way I was going to spend an afternoon trying to chase her down through the Ivy League hordes. I subsequently discovered there isn’t a lot of civilization north of Hanover but there were some of the best views of the entire trip as we followed Route 10 north. 

New Hampshire’s White Mountains towered to our right and tumbled down to the Connecticut River and rose again to our left as Vermont’s Green Mountains. They looked pretty much the same so wehre tdid the color appellations come from? We got to know the thriving metropoli of Lyme and Orford, New Hampshire. Orford is apparently one of the many towns in New Hampshire that claims to be the mythical Peyton Place and has some geographic features similar enough to the book to qualify and even sports a Peyton Place restaurant. I investigated later and found that there is no exact location as Peyton Place was a construct of several towns.

We made the turn back south in Orford, crossing the river to Vermont for the trip south. On our trip south I finally got see what White River Junction, Vermont looked like after passing by many times. I wasn’t that impressed. We returned more quickly to Keene since some rain started inserting itself into the process. We returned in time for some shopping and my wife achieved a remarkable physical recovery. She dumped Keene Friend and I off at the Elm City Brewery and headed for shopping parts unknown. Keene Friend and I tried to make the most of the situation. The Colony Mill building is in the midst of being converted into condos instead of stores but the brewery was still holding forth.

Unfortunately our preferred bar keep was not on duty and her absence was keenly felt. We ambled downtown and set up shop in Scores with its overabundance of TV screens. I think the place has changed ownership because many of the screens were tuned to the same event despite the opportunity the many college football games offered. We somehow survived this failure, assisted by the brewer’s art. We tried to rally some additional friends but Keene Friend 2 was battling a cold and the Cantankerous One was lost in North Carolina somewhere. We gave him a pass.

Margarita's

My wife eventually emerged from her shopping expedition and joined us for our typical Margarita’s dinner. We ended the night back at Keene Friend’s house where we reviewed my wife’s purchases while trying to follow some of the sporting events still ongoing. I woke up around 1130pm having missed a lot of the evening’s events. A long drive through the New England countryside and beering my way through one of my wife’s shopping expeditions will do that to me. I’m still going to miss her, a lot, starting tomorrow when I drop her off at the airport.

Meanwhile Dodging Sprinklers in New Jersey

The Bad Cinema project count remains at  #25 out of 100, no movies on the road.

66% Night

The Front Gardens

Well I went two for three with my immersion in key sporting events last night although arguably the most important went as bad as it possibly could have. The Red Sox laid a complete egg in Houston where they and their best pitcher were absolutely pummeled by the much better Astros team. They didn’t look to belong on the same field as the other team and that’s never a good look. The playoff beard’s days might be numbered. I have no proof my wife has been practicing voodoo to insure the Red Sox lose quickly, but I have my suspicions.

Playoff "Beard" in Danger

Boston fared much better on the ice last night as a completely new Bruins team showed up, much younger, much, much faster and they beat a good western conference team. While they did show a penchant for allowing late period goals they were a hell of a lot more entertaining than the plodding teams of recent years.

The Patriots also won in one of the ugliest fashions I can recall. Brady was harassed all night by a defense that only made one sack all year long. He still put up 300 yards and they won, wait for it, because of their defense and a historically bad Tamp Bay kicker. The Super Bowl hangover has been a real thing for certain individuals and I think Mr. Bill has taken matters into his own hands and sent some very pointed messages about playing time being dependent on what you can do now versus what you did last year.

Hanging with Friends Yesterday

I was struck yesterday pulling into my home after work at how much my wife has achieved in her front yard gardens. I know I complain a lot about the constant arrival of new and exotic plant life. I have to admit though, at a time when most of the neighborhood gardens are winding down for autumnal barrenness hers is still brimming with color. I know she puts a lot of work into it so I’m glad the evidence of all that work is so apparent.

From the Other Side

Equipping her Doll with Her Shoes and Socks

Nature's Starting its Own Color Fest out Back

It’s also the start of nature’s most beautiful time of year in New England with the leaves finally starting to turn. My wife and I normally take a Columbus Day jaunt around New England to view the foliage. This year she’ll be winging her way south on that day so we’ve moved it up to tomorrow. Since he’s available we’ll be running through my hometown to pick up Keene Friend to join our annual outing. I’m guessing we’ll end up back in Keene at the end of the night consuming adult beverages.

The Bad Cinema project count remains at  #25 out of 100, no time for nonsense on a sports saturated night.

Regional Sports-a-palooza Night

FBR Posing

I could be fairly sports out by midnight tonight. I remarked to my wife a couple nights ago that with the end of the baseball regular season a little more freedom was inserted into our nights. That freedom will be completely squashed today with a Red Sox playoff game at 4pm, the Bruins season starting at 7pm, followed shortly thereafter by the Patriots game. I keep telling my kids that they should revel in these days for New England sports because the unprecedented success they’ve grown up with is certainly not normal. I’m here to tell ya, as a kid who grew up in the the 1960s when the Patriots were a joke and the only team with any sustained success was the Celtics with the exception of the magical year of 1967.

Playoff Beard Progress - Today's Game Will Determine a Lot About How Long it Survives

I didn’t get a chance to talk with the FBR last night as her mom had a late commute in from the city. Wingman helped assuage a little bit of that pain with a couple pictures and this video which includes some slo mo. My wife is decisively engaged with Panama trip preparation. She goes down on Monday for three weeks. There will be a special church service on the one year anniversary of my father in law’s passing that she wanted to be down there for. She’ll also be accepting delivery and installation of furniture and appliances for the condo, including spending the night there for the first time ever. Little jealous but the bad cinema project should fill any gaps in the social calendar.

Nelson Demille is one of my favorite authors and he finally produced another book which I devoured in the usual fashion whenever he does produce. The Cuban Affair features a new hero, Mac, a former Army vet wounded in two tours in Afghanistan running a charter boat out of Key West. He gets drawn into a hair brained scheme to enter Cuba and retrieve some pre-revolutionary assets. The person who does the drawing is a beautiful Cuban exile. As with Demille’s earlier hero, John Corey, Mac is a huge wise ass and Demille’s sneaky wit made this a completely enjoyable read. He’s just funny and since I also have some experience of the pitfalls of Army vets romancing Latina women a lot of the joking fell close to home. The time spent in Cuba dodging the deeply embedded Cuban security apparati, interacting with the snooty Ivy League tour group as their cover, while simultaneously romancing his lady created a non-stop adventure that was truly hard to put down. It was typical Demille - funny, well-paced, full of suspense, not knowing how the heroes can survive. Now I’m stuck waiting for his next novel to appear. Hopefully Mac will be back as well.

The Bad Cinema project count rises #25 out of 100 with Assignment: Outer Space, an early Italian sci fi disaster.

Blankets and Conspiracies

Milestone Bedtime

The FBR, already bouncing back from her cold which she dominated by simply ignoring it, achieved a nocturnal milestone last night. Heretofore she’s always slept in her crib without blanket or stuffed animals, child rearing gospel nowadays. She’s now reached an age where that prohibition could be lifted and her parents sent the above photo to show her snuggled down with several of her furry friends at bedtime. I was wondering how it would go because, courtesy of the infrared camera in her bedroom (times have changed), we knew she wandered almost ceaselessly both before and after she fell asleep. Wingman reported she did well and the added benefit of playing with her friends for a full half hour after she woke up instead of immediately demanding his presence.

Sox Playoff Beard - Day 3

The conspiracy theorists are having a field day with the Las Vegas tragedy always looking to insert drama into a situation thoroughly saturated with the same. They claim there were multiple shooters and there was no way the amount of carnage inflicted come have come from one man. I’m sure from their basement lairs in their mother’s house they could reach this conclusion despite never having seen a fully automatic weapon in action. I have and there’s no doubt the Las Vegas law enforcement have it right. I’m surprised there weren’t more deaths given the capabilities employed. While the internet is a fabulous boon to information sharing it also allows these weenies their platform to spout nonsense. Luckily there is now an effective counter as these wild accusations are fact checked and exposed almost as quickly as they appear. Of course the conspiracy theorists are no more interested in checking facts than they are in changing their soiled underwear.

Date night had my wife and I taking in American Made, Tom Cruise’s return to the air. This was a very entertaining look at the excesses of the cocaine wars of the 1980s and yet another Hollywood attack on President Reagan’s administration. Cruise plays a pilot recruited by the CIA to spy on Central American commies who takes up a sideline of serving as the Medellin Cartel’s delivery boy. I was interested in the part about supplying the Nicaraguan contras because I parachuted into one of the airfields used by the contras during the same time frame. To say the filmmakers took extreme liberties with the facts would be a gross understatement. They take a sledge hammer approach to mockery and sacrifice integrity for it. I looked into the facts about Barry Seal after watching the movie and very little of what they portray happened and what did in the way they allege – but that’s Hollywood. Cruise is very good and it was interesting to see his dark side exposed behind all those teeth as the morally bankrupt Seal. A very entertaining flick as we ride into the ground with him.

The Bad Cinema project count rises #24 out of 100 with Mesa of Lost Women starring Uncle Fester himself as a mad scientist.

Naming Rights

My Wife's Not the Only One Into Shoes

I have decided to take the historic step of withdrawing my offer to sell the naming rights to my style challenged fire pit. I know this has the potential to cost me thousands of dollars as corporations near and far had been lining up for the opportunity to affix their corporate name with this modicum of do-it-yourself construction art. The final straw was yesterday when a Facebook friend commented after reading yesterday’s blog that she didn’t even realize that it was a fire pit and thought I’d created some sort of stone throne in my back yard. The fire pit shall forever more be known as “Rodney” in honor of Mr. Dangerfield who also received no respect.

I Guess Rodney Does Kind of Look Like a Chair

I had my semi-annual teeth cleaning appointment today where I was subjected to the usual indignities. I never dated a dental hygienist but I think they must be a dangerous breed with hugely overdeveloped forearms from all the scraping their job entails. I think my neck is going to be sore for a couple days.

Day 2 of Sox Playoff Beard

The FBR reported in last night with a pretty bad cold. Wingman reported that her affliction hadn’t slowed her down a bit, all day long. Our conversation took place during dinner and she was also shoveling food into her mouth at record breaking velocity. Somehow I think she’s going to be alright. She also ingratiated herself even more with her abuela and who thought that was even possible. My Favorite Panamanian called in while I was talking on FaceTime and when the FBR heard her abuela’s voice she immediately perked up. At some prompting from her parents, between mouthfuls, she said, “I love you abuela!” loud enough for my wife to hear. The ensuing “awwwww” was thunderous.

Retiring to the Ball Room with Some Friends

New Friend at Playground (Yankee Fan!!!!)

Speaking of my then absent wife, she and her acquisition assistant, the Neighborhood Mafioso were on the road to do some, you guessed it, shopping. My wife claimed she needed a new pair of boots because her feet had mysteriously grown a full half size. I polled the family last night and both my Favorite Son and Wingman opined that this was impossible. Both my daughter and the ABFA engaged in secret smiles of admiration. At an age when we’re supposed to be shrinking my wife is growing, but only in the area that would need additional shoe buying. Imelda Marcos is smiling down on this latest gambit from her devotee.

The Bad Cinema project count rises #23 out of 100 with hopefully my last Herc – Hercules Unchained and The Lost Jungle.

Ignition

My Fiery Date Last night

First of all my thoughts and prayers are with the victims of the senseless mass shooting in Las Vegas. There has to be a special place in hell for the idiot who opened up with a fully automatic weapon on a defenseless concert crowd. The last time I hear that amount of sustained automatic gun fire I was on a military gun range. It will be educational to learn how this moron acquired a fully automatic weapon, no 2d Amendment BS either – someone has to be held accountable. I had an interesting conversation with a Muslim guy that works for me. We were discussing the shooter and he said it was typical that when the shooter is a white male he is automatically labeled as deranged while with a Muslim its always well planned terrorism.

I planned on spending my afternoon watching the Patriots’ defense incorporating all the needed fixes from their disastrous start to the season. That didn’t go so well as a poor Carolina offense absolutely shredded a secondary that can’t seem to get out of its own way. I’ve never seen a Belichick defense seem this helpless. I’d be a hypocrite if I gave up but this will be a severe test of “in Bill we Trust”.

Daughter Making it Nice

My daughter, because of the type of person she is realized a newly made acquaintance who was well into her pregnancy hadn’t mentioned anything about a baby shower. Once my daughter checked she found out that nothing had been planned. She took the burden on herself and organized/hosted one for her. It’s moments like this when you realize you had to have done something right in raising your child. She remains a constant source of pride.

The Party

Meanwhile the FBR was Out Painting Gourds

Very Impressive if Heavily Purple

Her daughter, the irrepressible FBR continued to assiduously ignore us during our FaceTime call last night. That was until I asked her about her pumpkin painting experience from earlier in the day. She immediately ran to the living room to gather up her object d’art so we could bask in its reflected glory. After that we took part in negotiations as my daughter finally convinced her she couldn’t sit down for dinner buck naked and that at a minimum a pair of panties was required in polite company. The FBR grudgingly agreed despite her misgivings.

What Do You Mean I Can't Eat Naked!

First Ever Flames in the Pit

The huge downer of the football game was fully recovered after the sun fell when my Favorite Panamanian and I took in the first ever fire in my style challenged fire pit. I set up a couch in front of the fire after I was sure it was going to catch and we spent nearly two hours out there under the stars. It was a lot more fun than anticipated and or hoped for. My wife played some oldies on her IPad as we enjoyed the crisp autumn night. She resurrected the only two marshmallows we had in the house (from a wedding over a year ago) but they seemed perfectly preserved. She pronounced the fire pit a success after successfully toasting on it. My pyromaniacal side was assuaged as I watched a lot of the odds and end scrap pieces from our new hardwood floor meet their fate. We’re often so caught up in our own agendas that stopping and spending some quiet time together is forgotten. That’s a complete shame because it’s times like that when you realize how much fun it is to hang with your spouse, even after thirty five years of opportunities. You have to ask yourself – how many did I miss?

Wife at the Pit

Something Primordially Connecting About Staring into Coals

The Bad Cinema project count rises #21 out of 100 with a Son of Zeus twofer – Hercules and the Captive Women (!!!) and Hercules Against the Tyrants of Babylon, I may be getting Herc-ed out.

Somnambulant Saturday Culminates on Dancefloor

My Date Last Night

A rainy Saturday was a perfect candidate for something I haven’t had in a while – no scheduled activities. At least during the day as my wife would never let a casually mentioned opportunity for a night of dancing go un-redeemed. I finished off the style challenged fire pit with some perfunctory wire brushing and then some grill work but that was my only work related activity for the entire day. If this is glimpse of retired life – I think I can handle it.

Ready for the First Fire

I knocked off two more horrendously bad movies in my march through Sci Fi Film mediocrity and then watched the Red Sox do something they’ve never done before – win consecutive Division championships. I have no illusions about how far they can go in the playoffs with two teams clearly superior and another (the hated Yankees) playing better end of season ball but they’ve got a puncher’s chance. The playoff beard starts tomorrow!

The FBR was definitely not interested in conversing with her grandparents last evening. There was more important charging around the house to be done. My daughter sent the below picture in which the FBR lined up all her “friends” and then asked my daughter to take a picture so Grandpa and Abuela could see it. So we[re still in the conversation at least.

Yep, Grandpa Saw It - Loved It

As mentioned, our day ended with one of our patented Maxwell Silverman’s dance dates. As usual my wife took to dominating the dance floor whilst I hung on for dear life. The DJ was not on top of his game and there were several groups of inebriated women dancing with each other throughout the night. This despite some socially challenged dudes dancing beside the dance floor but never getting up the “huevos” to ask any of them to dance. The night ended too soon for everyone with the possible exception of my right knee. Wait just a minute – It’s OCTOBER already!

The Bad Cinema project count rises #19 out of 100 with a rainy Saturday afternoon twofer – Menace from Outer Space and Hercules Against the Moon Men, just doesn’t get any lower.