Beach Dinner

The inevitable, implacable rainy season asserted itself last evening, here in what seemed to be the last refuge of the dry season. We’ve been dodging the rain all week here as the storms gathered to deluge David and the communities surrounding Las Lajas. Those heretofore distant storms have robbed Las Lajas one of its enduring pleasures – the spectacular sunsets. Each of the past few nights the sun has started its plunge only to slip behind the clouds short of its appointed place on the horizon. We got one true sunset a couple days ago, but everything else was denied. I have it on pretty good authority that the sun did, in fact, set, without our documentation. The lack of visual aids did not, of course, stop us from gathering on the beach for the sunset because the camaraderie of friends, liberally augmented with Atlas beer, is the true value of the Las Lajas sunsets.

Dinner Last Night

Our One Sunset This Week

We amplified the effort yesterday by cohosting a beach dinner with our upstairs neighbors for the condo administrator who was in for the weekend with his wife. We’ve gotten to be good friends with them and will be visiting them in their Panama City home next week. I transported the balcony table and grill down to the beach in the late afternoon while the ladies turned one of the ranchos into a stylish gathering place. It was a very fun evening as we made a declared effort to assist the upstairs neighbors with their Spanish. My Favorite Panamanian made a chocolate pie since we had the makings purchased for my son’s visit. The combination of three granddaughters in residence meant the pie was never made. My son’s loss was our win yesterday.

Hidden Sunset Last Night

Storms in the Distance

As we sat around the table with the invisible sunset, we saw a number of offshore rain storms. I snapped the above picture of the other people on the beach and you can see the rain falling in the distance. There is nothing subtle about tropical rain. As we looked around, our condo was literally surrounded by dark clouds while we enjoyed a dry dinner. The lively conversation lasted well into the night. We had just declared victory and were packing up the dinner supplies when the rain started to fall. By the time we got upstairs a true rainy season inundation was underway that lasted a couple hours. For those of you thinking I’m suffering with deplorable weather now, here’s a photo I just snapped from the balcony.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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