Tapas Twice

 There's a pretty good tapas place that opened in the Falls -- actually an addition to the parking building. They have a nice sized outside area, and Wifey and I have been a few times. On Monday, my sister of another mister Mirta met me there -- we celebrated her birthday early, with a shared burger and some delicious paella.

Last night, my friend and financial advisor Pat asked to meet. He's in town helping Steve, a retired cop, set up a private account, now that Steve can move his pension money out of the state system. Pat said Steve was coming, too, and wanted to stay close to home - and so it was to Bulla again -- second time in a week.

It was lovely outside -- we caught up on finances, and strategies in investing in light of the coming (now here) Russian invasion of Ukraine. Steve's lady Ruth came by, and we all ate well. The couple left, and Pat and I stayed another hour -- nursing some local craft beers.

Russia. Sons of bitches. My first thought today was that my Republican friends, dating back to the 80s, were right about them the whole time. Putin is scary. I naively thought we were past the point of invasions like Putin's. Boy was I wrong.

It's funny -- my paternal grandparents were born in Czernovits, in what was then Romania. It's now Ukraine -- and I have zero affinity for the place. For Czar era Jews, "Russia," which was what they called the entire area, was a place to happily be FROM. I never heard my grandmother tell any happy tales about her childhood in Europe -- to her,  America was truly the promised land.

I read an interesting article in the Times by Thomas Friedman, one of my favorites. He traces the invasion back to the years NATO added some FSU countries like Hungary and Poland to NATO. This was a thumb in Russia's eye, and Putin was just awaiting his chance to get revenge, by taking back control over a major country.

I just hope peace comes fast.

My friend John, a retired CIA agent, now does defense consulting, and is back to his original "Account," as the Agency calls countries -- Russia. We have plans to meet in early April when Wifey and I travel to D.C. -- but if this kerfuffle remains hot, he likely won't have any time to get away.

At the gym this am, there was black humor among the younger guys about needing to get in shape in case the US went to war. Wow. That scary scenario is somehow no longer absurd.

Closer to home, we look forward to hosting my nephew Henry tomorrow for a few nights -- he's in town working for a SF company hosting a big event here in town. The Ds already made reservations for a nice family dinner, and hopefully Saturday we spend some time here with the Little Man, too.

Meanwhile -- Covid is in clear retreat -- and now global unrest for another reason. It's truly, as Roseann Roseannadanna said, always something.