Coordinating & Supplanted Facetime

Yesterday marked our first full day back at the beach after our anniversary weekend adventures. The waves were Las Lajas appropriate which means, huge and resulted in my first boogie board injury of the season. I was getting such good rides, all the way in to ankle deep water that I abraded skin off one of my toes. I know, serious, right? I didn’t notice it until I was walking back up the beach and the pesky sand started getting into the wound. I figured I had been leaking blood for a good fifteen minutes while riding the waves and the movie Jaws immediately leapt to mind (I may watch too many movies). I washed it off and wrapped it with a paper towel as I settled in to watch the sunset.

FBR FaceTiming with Great Aunt's Cat

This was how my Favorite Panamanian found me when she returned from church (it’s Lent, y’all). She immediately launched into doctora mode which consists of lecturing me on how poorly I take care of myself. While she was impressed I had taken steps to protect the wound from the sand, she didn’t buy my argument that consumption of Atlas beer constituted a general antibiotic application. Hell, it was worth the try. I do understand the need to take care of an open wound in the tropics but I get a little sneaky pleasure getting her all wound up about it. She’s so cute when irritated, which, considering how often I induce that state for her, is a good thing.

Sunset was Especially Memorable Last Night

We finally were able to FaceTime with both sets of granddaughters and progeny last evening. We were sitting on the beach while both it was snowing steadily in both New Jersey and New Hampshire. Just saying. The BRS has established a preferred seating position on the newly acquired living room couch while BR3 was literally drenched in popsicle juice as she was polishing one of those off as we talked. She made my Favorite Panamanian’s day when she said, very clearly, “Hi Abuela!”. The FBR deigned to talk with us as well and showed the gap from her second lost tooth which she seemed very proud of. We are definitely now second fiddle for the FBR when it comes to dinner FaceTime calls. Great Aunt now occupies the preeminent spot for the FBR. We just can’t compete with her collection of a dog, 2 cats, and a large turtle. The FBR loves animals. I think she also realizes, even at her tender age, that the calls are definitely morale boosts for my sister.

FBR and Cat

Especially After Sun Went Below Horizon

Incredible Colors

Those were not the only significant FaceTime calls yesterday. Earlier in the day I conducted a coordination talk with Keene Friend and the Cantankerous Friend. Cantankerous will be our first non-Panama affiliated visitor of the year in a couple weeks. We talked him through the intricacies of maneuvering through the Panama City Airport and how we would effect link up. I’m excited to show him the beach and this part of Panama. We have a very long history of beach time together stretching back to our childhood adventures on Long Sands, York Beach, Maine. Both our families rented cottages for a couple weeks each year for a while. He was talking from Keene Friend’s house since he had a iPad to make it happen. I was crowing about the big waves until I realized this was a sore subject, literally, for Keene Friend since he injured his back here during his visit here years ago. I’m officially psyched for the first time in over a month about the pending visit.

Pelicans Executed a Fly-by

As the Moon Peeked Through the Palm Fronds

Finally, I read a passage today in my foray through the Travis McGee novels of John D MacDonald. I was finishing up A Deadly Shade of Gold, written in 1965 at the height of the Cold War. It made me literally sit up and gasp (that might be an exaggeration) but it certainly caught my attention. Here is the passage, “Reasonable conservatism is a healthy thing. But that kind of poisonous divisionist hate-mongering Face has been preaching is one of the standard Communist techniques. If you create a radical right, their vicious nonsense pushes more people toward the radical left. Then when fear pushes people into violence, or silence, the comrades enter and flourish. My friend, any way that they can make Americans hate Americans helps their cause.” If you substitute Trump’s name for the fictional Face from the quote it really zings home. I’ve wondered aloud at times if Trump was a Russian stooge, knowingly or not. It certainly seems these words, again written in the 1960s, over fifty years ago, indicate he has followed a Soviet era playbook. Once again, things that make you go, Hmmm.

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RECURRING CHARACTERS                                           

BR3 – Blog Reader #3 – granddaughter #3, BRS - Blog Reader the Sequel - second granddaughter; FBR - First Blog Reader - first granddaughter, ABFA – Amazing Best Family Athlete - my daughter in law; Wingman – my son in law; Wingmom – Wingman’s mom, of course; Keene Friends 1 & 2 – friends since high school from my home town of Keene, NH; Soxfather - my brother in law; Great Aunt - my elder sister; Cantankerous Friend – friend since grade school who likes to argue about everything, poses as radical leftist to attract women; Kindergarten Friend – friend since kindergarten whom I reunited with after many years; Pittsburgh College Roommate– high school friend, also a “Minor Celebrity” in Pittsburgh; Deckzilla – our backyard deck which grew to monstrous dimensions once my wife got involved in planning; Maine and Virginia Musqueteras – two close friends of my wife – her US sisters, my wife is the 3^rd musquetera (musketeer); Riggins - also known as the Grandpuppy, son's dog; 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; Neighborhood Mafioso - wife's close friend and Panamanian mafia member, Favorite Panamanian - the wife (of course); First Friday – celebrations to mark the First Friday of the Week; Curbside Girls – close friends of my daughter acquired during her single days in Brooklyn