Visitation and the Playoffs

It’s been decidedly less isolated here over the past week. We had the PanaGal remain with us after her family returned to Panama City on Friday. This gave my Favorite Panamanian a partner in crime so I was left to my own devices, never a solid course of action. The visit was fortuitous since it coincided with this weekend’s NFL playoffs so I didn’t have to worry about the not so silent censure I sometimes receive for watching too much football. Added bonus – they made brownies!! It’s amazing how fast those things disappear, a complete mystery, of course.

First Friday Sunset

This meant I was on my own for my morning beach walks over the past couple days which is okay because it remains to be extremely cool to be walking on a tropical beach and having it completely to myself as far as I can see. I was finally able to get a picture of one of the roving crab herds I wrote about in my last post. It was a small one so imagine this herd about ten times larger and you’ll have an idea of what I’m seeing each morning. The birds have also discovered the enhanced menu and are in a serious swooping cycle to thin the herds, thoroughly entertaining (probably not for the crabs).

The Crab Herd

Friday Sunset

Saturday Morning Sun Rising over a Thankfully Extinct Volcano

Saturday Sunset & Wife

My beachside reading continues apace. I’ve now knocked off ten Jack Reacher novels since I arrived in Panama and am getting to ones I remember well. I love the Kindle’s ability to store so many books and last year discovered how much fun it was to circle back and read books from years past. Last year it was the Travis McGee novels and this year it’s all Reacher, so far. This has reduced the frustration of waiting for favorite authors to publish something new. An unintended consequence of getting older, I can’t remember the books I read years ago so it’s like experiencing them new all over again. Pretty cool.

Sunday Morning Beach

Solitary Beach Walk

Wife's Family Arrives

Our Bohio Was Full

Yesterday we were joined by large group from another branch of my wife’s extended family. It did everything to make me feel really old as the mother of two young children was someone I remembered as being a child herself seemingly last year. Her mother, now a grandmother twice over, is younger than either of my own children. Like I said, I’m old. It’s truly weird, or self-deceptive, how often that still surprises me. They were a fun group of ten that stayed the entire day with us on the beach.

Wife Happily Surrounded by Kids

Happily with a Baby

Beachside Nap Time

Wife with her Fam

Sunday Sunset

They had a four-month-old baby which immediately, and predictably, ended up in my Favorite Panamanian’s arms. I classified this as a needed granddaughter fix. This all freed me up to watch yesterday’s playoff games with even less of a chance of being in trouble. The games were fun and my upstairs neighbor joined me to watch Buffalo go down. The increased visitors this year is a great tendency and it only gets better from here. Later this week Great Aunt will be joining us for more than a week!!! Shortly after she departs, we’ll have all three granddaughters and their parental units in! It just doesn’t get any better than that. Oh, yeah, it’s snowing in Worcester right now.

FBR Had a Daddy Daughter Weekend

Intense

How do I Get One of those Axes?!

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RECURRING CHARACTERS:                                     

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