Flower Consumption

Yesterday saw the day start off with the dreaded weekly meeting with the politicians to expose their lofty schemes to reality.  This is a weekly hour and half of pure unadulterated pain, mainly from the deep tooth impressions my tongue is left with. 

When I finally did get to my office, now severely behind in my work, my wife called wanting to talk.  While I chant the mantra of “patience is a virtue” and feeling less than extremely virtuous, she tells me of her adventures on early morning Facebook.  She’s found a very scary picture with my younger sister and another one involving the Virginia chapter of the Panamanian Mafia.

My Little Sister Admiring Her Handiwork

I don’t know what’s going on this week with the loved ones of my sisters (side note – Miss Louise officially moved to rehab from hospice yesterday – a very large and hearty Hoo Ahhh!).  My younger sister’s fiancé woke in the middle of the night with some serious blood flowing out of his leg.  Luckily my little sister was there and typically rose to the occasion, staunching the blood and rushing him to the emergency room to save the day.  I don’t think I’m going to stand around my sisters during any thunderstorms.

Now as to the Panamanian Mafia picture, one of my wife’s friends posted a picture to mark Panamanian Independence Day (note to self – where the hell was our annual party for this?) this past weekend.  She liked the picture and then noticed from the background that not only was this taken in our Virginia home but the “pollera” the lady was wearing was none other than her own.  My wife is a very accomplished “folklorico” dancer and she had let a friend borrow the costume.  She thought this was important information for me to have; patience was still winning at this point, but severely frayed.

My Wife's Dress in our old House

Yesterday I finished a book by another member of the Panamanian Mafia – author Tom Kratman, also married to a beautiful Panamanian gal.  He and I spent some of our waning lieutenancy days in Panama on the balcony of a Paitilla high rise overlooking Panama Bay and atrociously singing regimental ballads.  If memory serves me correctly, alcohol was involved.  The Lotus Eaters was my latest in his sci fi series of a future New Earth colonized by the same cultures of present day with all their failings.  His hero is a gringo who is remaking his wife’s homeland – Balboa (read Panama) to fully realize their potential.

It gives him a great chance to poke fun at what he sees as the various failings of those present day cultures.  He’s not a big fan of the Europeans, the eaters of the addictive flower.  Tom does a fantastic job describing the small unit battles (land, sea, and air in this book) as well as the political maneuvering behind the scenes.  If you like military science fiction then I heartily recommend Tom’s work.  He’s a much better writer than he was a singer (but my memory a little spotty on the details of that). 

Apparently they Administer Swim Tests to Tigers at the National Zoo
I Don't Think This Guy Was Very Happy About It