Mom Day with Mountain Run

Mother's Day Lunch in Boquete

I tried to do my best by the Favorite Panamanian even though it wasn’t officially Mother’s Day in Panama. Her every request was granted and it turns out she can come up with some pretty good ideas. I wrote yesterday about the nostalgic trip back to the church we were married in thirty five years ago although I mistakenly called it thirty seven years. That raised a couple of spousal eye brows when she discovered that mistake. I also tried to get in as many FaceTime calls back to her children as possible. They were very accommodating but it looks like the First Blog Reader wasn’t in the Mother’s Day mode. She’s cutting two molars into the dental lineup and that’s made her a lot more tantrum prone than usual. An angry 18 month old makes enjoying Mother’s Day a challenge. The Favorite Son recognized the ABFA’s maternal efforts by way of Riggins with a mobile speaker so tunes can be played wherever.

Such a  Character

We escaped the coastal humidity with a run up into the mountains yesterday afternoon. Unlike my more energetic high school classmate I used the car to climb into the mountains. We stopped for lunch in Boquete and ate next to the main river. It was full of rainy season power and reminded me of New England. We drove by Casa Azul, the house we rented last year when the whole gang came south. It’s evolved into a bed and breakfast, but still held a load of good memories from that special time.

With Mother in Law and Cousin

On the way down from the mountains my wife decided we would stop off to visit a favorite aunt in Dolega. She told me this three seconds before I had to make the turn so that was fun. As stated above I cannot deny her anything on Mom’s Day. We had a nice visit but the combination of hot weather and a very full stomach from the Boquete lunch had me fighting to stay awake for long periods as I tried to follow the conversation. We ended the day by taking the entire family out for dinner at a favorite local restaurant in David, El Fogon.

El Fogon Dinner

On the trip down here I finished off the newest John Sandford book Golden Prey. It popped up on my Kindle unexpectedly since I pre-ordered it months ago. As usual it was very hard to put down. I even eschewed watching movies on the plane ride so I could keep reading. As with all “prey” novels the hero is Lucas Davenport but this is the first since Sandford freed him up from his bureaucratic job as a high ranking Minnesota cop. He’s now a US Marshall able to freelance and hunt the criminals he chooses to. Davenport, as skilled and deadly as ever, chooses a mass murdering thief who’s eluded law enforcement’s best efforts for more than ten years. Sandford has injected new life into Davenport with his new job and weaves a fascinating story told from all sides, including a couple groups of criminals. It’s overlaid with Sandford’s usual sly humor and firmly re-establishes Davenport’s position near the top of my pantheon of literary heroes. If you haven’t discovered Sandford and his stable of unforgettable literary characters – do yourself a favor.