Into Each Life etc. and Then a Space Station

We’re about half way through Great Aunt’s Panamanian adventure and yesterday we finally got a typical dry season day. I wrote in the last post that she had joked about seeing a tropical rain for which she was almost immediately rewarded with same. After driving through her summoned rain on Friday night, Saturday dawned with an ominous cloud cover, very unlike a typical February day around here. It remained cloudy for most of the day and while still tropically warm the sunset was obscured by those clouds. We moved the sunset ceremony from the beach to poolside because it probably would have taken a court order to get Great Aunt to leave her happy place within the pool. That was still a lot of fun as we roundly blamed Great Aunt for the lack of sun.

Great Aunt and I Walking Beach Yesterday

Cloudy Saturday Morning from our Balcony

Poolside Sunset Ceremony

All We got for Saturday Sunset

That culpability extended into Sunday with another cloudy morning but mitigated to a certain extent when the sun emerged in the afternoon. Unfortunately, the clouds returned for the sunset ceremony but we still celebrated, fairly certain the sun did in fact set behind the cloud bank. That time was lightened up with a Facetime call with my son and his family. They had just returned from the BRS’ birthday party. She was on cloud 9 (sorry about that image – no blame for Great Aunt there) as she danced around all the presents her friends had bestowed upon her. BR3 was her usual, “on the brink of sanity” self and informed her abuela that she expected sprinkles on her cake in May.

Great Aunt in her Happy Place

They're Building a New "Rancho" Down the Beach

Afternoon Pelican Flyover

In addition to Great Aunt’s meteorological impact, the air conditioning in the guest bedroom she occupied stopped working. On Monday morning I drove into Las Lajas to retrieve our AC tech who couldn’t identify a problem but inserted some more freon to get us through the week. As mentioned above, Great Aunt’s climatological curse was finally overcome on Monday with a truly perfect dry season day of bright sunshine, steady ocean breezes, and a truly spectacular sunset. It was the FBR’s turn to call in during the sunset ceremony. She is keeping track of the number of days until she joins us down here (it was 18 last night). She’s been a lot more talkative since we arrived down here, I think it’s the pool and beach views.

FBR Was Messing with the FaceTime Filters Again

Last evening’s sunset ceremony was truly memorable for a couple of reasons. While the actual sun setting was picturesque, what we call the “secondary” sunset was one for the record books. I was walking back to beach next to the pools when I had to stop and marvel at the amazing colors stretching over nearly half of the horizon (see picture below). Great Aunt won the contest for spotting the first star but that wasn’t the only celestial spotting that took place. One of our upstairs neighbors noticed a star like object that seemed to be moving. I thought it was a plane initially but then noted that it was moving way, way too fast for an aircraft. Someone suggested it might be the International Space Station. The upstairs neighbors quickly checked the internet and learned the ISS was, at that moment, passing over Panama. It was incredibly cool as it moved from one side of the sky to the other in less than a minute. A truly memorable sunset ceremony, fully redeeming Great Aunt’s tattered reputation.

All we Saw was a Fast Moving Light But it Was Cool This was the Source

Monday's Superb Sunset

The Stop and Gasp Moment

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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