We are in the midst of gearing up for the Friday arrival of both kids and their families. I have it on good authority (the subjects themselves), that all three granddaughters are extremely excited about their visit to Panama. It’s interesting that the most exciting aspect so far for them is that they will all be on the same flight from Panama City to David. We had planned a trip to David later this week to lay in the appropriate amount of food. This was supplanted when I had to take my Favorite Panamanian back to David on Sunday to address some sort of allergic reaction she was experiencing. I dropped her at the emergency room of a private hospital. It is just down the street from her mom’s house so I set up there reading and awaiting her call.
That
came about three hours later after she’d had a bunch of tests and an IV. The
total cost of the emergency room visit and a bunch of tests, $60. It would have
cost that much just to ask a question of the receptionist to an American
emergency room. We spent Sunday night in David so we could hit the grocery
stores on Monday. I knew it would take the equivalent of the gross national product
of a small nation to address the requirements. My Favorite Panamanian had
created a menu for the entire week and whenever we walked by something she
thought a granddaughter would like, the shopping cart would be further encumbered.
I’m helpless in the face of her playing the “granddaughter card”. 
Powerless Pool Time
We
returned to Las Lajas in the early afternoon facing the prospect of lugging the
vey burdened car’s load up the two flights of stairs. Because that wasn’t challenging
enough, the power went out ten minutes before we arrived. That meant no air conditioning
after I finished the half dozen trips up and down the stairs. I might have
mentioned in the past, Panama is very hot. Our refrigerator was not up to the
level of food we had arrived with so it was fortunate the upstairs neighbors have
lent us their condo for the upcoming visit and we made it work, barely, with
their refrigerator. After everything was stored and both refrigerators connected
to the generator powered common areas down the hallway, my Favorite Panamanian and
I went soak some tired bods in the pool. That turned out to be a very good decision
as we awaited the return of power. 
Beating the Heat
Walking Down the Beach 
Sunset as we Walked Home from Canadian Visit 
Dinner in Las Lajas
After
a couple hours in the pool, we took a walk down the beach where we ran into other
power-starved refugees from the other residencies. As we were walking by the
nicest house on the beach my wife suddenly veered left and entered the
property. She then gestured for me to join her. She had met another Panamanian lady
at Sunday mass and learned we were neighbors, as this new friend lived in the aforementioned
house. She and her Canadian husband hosted us for a very fun social hour. I’d
always wondered about this house which proudly flies a Canadian flag along the beach.
I learned a lot about the recent history of the beach development and it’s very
cool to have additional friends in the area. We planned on a trip into Las
Lajas for some Sunset Pizza until I remembered they were closed on Mondays. We
made do with their next door neighbor/competitors, Natrulamente. Ther pizza isn’t
as good and neither was their service last night as we waited nearly an hour for
the food to arrive. The neighborhood alley cat, Chow Mein, paid us a visit to
help pass the time. 
Chow Mein Visit
The
more I hear about politics back home, the more I become convinced Donald Trump
is an agent for Vladimir Putin. There have been too many instances where he has
actively worked to support him whether attacking NATO or the EU, both pillars
of the strategic check on Russian aggression. Recently his minions in congress
have taken an active role, I’m sure at his behest, to block aid to Ukraine in
their desperate fight against Putin’s aggression. Earlier they hid their opposition
behind our own border security but that was put to the lie when they wouldn’t
consider a bipartisan bill aimed at just that. I spent my entire adult life in
the Army training to fight the Russians and it burns my ass that one of the
leading candidates for President is an agent for a Russian leader who’s stated
goal is to return to the halcyon days of the Soviet Union’s death grip on
eastern Europe. Trump’s supporters and their inexplicable blind faith in this
con man won’t change. The chaos and division Trump revels in is right out of a
Russian strategic information war game plan. When will we wake up?
Agent and his Handler
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Two Inbound Princesses
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 3rd 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; Seis Amigos
- two couples from our condo complex and my wife and I; Soxfather - my brother in law; Tia Loca – wife’s younger
sister; Wingman
– my son in law; Wingmom – Wingman’s
mom, of course
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