Grommeted

I’ve been away from Frail Deeds for a while. This is bound to happen as I embrace the life of leisure here on a tropical beach. I don’t mean to rub it in (okay that may be shading the truth) but there just always seems to be something more enticing to do than sit and write (and that’s not even considering the increased thong quotient of the past weekend). Since I last wrote, I had to get the condo back in some sort of acceptable level of cleanliness for my Favorite Panamanian’s return (not as easy as it sounds). The rest program I instituted for the left arm seems to have fixed the shoulder pain I was experiencing. On Friday I was back to full workouts and boogie boarding. In a twinkling turn of fate (whatever the hell that means) I have also acquired the title of “grommeteer” in the interim.

Friday Night Pizza in the Vil with Upstairs Neighbors

Let me explain (I’m sure you’re going to be fascinated!). The Favorite Panamanian has never been happy with the blackout curtains we have in the condo. They’re needed, at times, for the bright Panamanian sun, such as when you want to sleep later than dawn. She had them created locally a few years ago with the curtain rods slipping into a sleeve at the top. This made them hard to open and close. They had to stay spread out and we tied them off at eye level to get the needed views. Because she’s always thinking about changing things, both in our house and in the condo, she came to me with an idea in November. We were going to install grommets to ease the use of the curtains. I thought this was yet another in her long line of home improvement brainstorms (curse you Pinterest!) and I dutifully added grommets to her Christmas wish list.

Curtains Before Grommeting

"Happily" Templating

Cutting

Snapping Grommets in

She ended up getting a veritable horde of the things for Christmas. So many that the kids were tasked with bringing some of them when they come next month, as our suitcases (as previously chronicled) were already overweight. When she returned from David last week, she decreed we had to get to work with the grommet installation. She said since Tia Loca and her mom were coming on Sunday it had to be done by then. This was late on Friday. We (she) divvied up responsibilities. I was handed a seamstress measuring tape, a piece of chalk, and a template to mark where the grommets would be installed. We both agreed I should not be allowed to do any cutting with scissors as that would be a recipe for disaster (I have this patience problem).

Lined up for Installation

Installed

So Much Better

We spent a lot of Saturday honing our technique. I actually became fairly adept at my part, to the point that she even agreed with me when I pointed out an issue (surprised there wasn’t a peal of thunder at that). She cut the holes for the grommets which we then snapped into place. It was all too easy (remember I wasn’t doing the cutting). The biggest surprise (for me) was how well the grommeted curtains work. An incredible improvement. I made the mistake of telling her this which resulted in one of her patented “told you so” looks. I can take it (lots of practice).

Saturday at Naturalmente 

Around our grometting, we had a busy social schedule. In addition to our daily sunset ceremony (even without any memorable sunsets) we had a First Friday pizza in town and a very fun Saturday night dinner out at Naturalmente with our Upstairs Neighbors. Naturalmente is a great Las Lajas B&B which also features an open air Mediterranean style restaurant. They alternate weekends featuring an all-meat platter with a seafood platter. It will not take a genius to figure out which weekend this one was. The meat was tender and so tasty that I couldn’t stop eating. By the end of the night, I felt like I did back in college when the dining facility offered extra helpings and I stumbled back to my dorm room completely stuffed. It was a great night of food and friendship.

Sunday Socializing

This past weekend was a three-day variety with a Friday national holiday. Sunday saw one of the busiest days at the condo that we’ve ever experienced. There was a horde of kids as well as the aforementioned thongs. There was a family reunion where the kids (I assume cousins) formed up into groups and were led through a series of workouts by one of the adults who looked suspiciously like a fitness instructor. They swam, did calisthenics, and ran sprints on the beach. I was most surprised by how dedicated they all were, no complaining. As busy as it was, the horde of kids were really well behaved and it was fun to have so much action taking place. We had our own horde as Tia Loca brought two of her friends as well her as mom for the day-long visit. In addition, a family friend we’ve known since my lieutenant days in Panama came for a visit with her niece and the niece’s son. She’s a good friend who, as a Panamanian, was instrumental in assisting my Favorite Panamanian adjusting to life as a fellow Army wife. Her husband is now a successful author of many awesome sci fi books. She was visiting family and took the opportunity to stopover with my wife before heading back to the States.  

Scoured Beach

The Pile of Driftwood
Note the Three Buzzards Checking it Out

We also had a beach scouring this weekend. One of the biggest developments we discovered upon our arrival this year was the improvement to what my Favorite Panamanian calls Purgatory Road. That is the stretch of road from where the pavement ends and to pass over for the several kilometers of gravel/dirt road to reach our end of the beach. In prior years, it was a real adventure with gaping holes and obstacles that required patience (again, not my long suit) and a high wheelbase to negotiate. She called it purgatory because we had to pass through it to reach paradise (I know, very Catholic). Anyways, we were shocked to find the road completely refurbished so we can now safely reach unheard of speeds, reducing the trip from fifteen minutes to five. This is all in the way of introduction as a fellow condo owner has a fleet of bulldozers and volunteered them for the work if others donated the needed fuel and materials. He had a spare bulldozer this past weekend and used it to scour the beach in front of the condo, removing the accumulation of drift wood (some as large as trees).

Sample of Last Couple Cloud Covered Sunsets  

While the beach looks much cleaner, it deprived me of one of my favorite activities. I am an acknowledged pyromaniac who take particular glee in stacking driftwood around buried logs on the beach and then having a beach bonfire with the Upstairs Neighbors and other friends. I felt I was doing a service by reducing the driftwood while also indulging my immolation needs. I had targeted several large pieces for future bonfires but they are now stacked in huge pile of sand next door. The Upstairs Neighbors have an equally crazy relative visiting in March and I had a huge log reserved for him. I’ll still manage; there are miles of driftwood still available. In closing I should mention that while we’ve had a few cloudy days in a row, with no visible sunsets (I know, poor baby) the sunset social hour still takes place. Last week we had to meet underneath our rancho while it was raining during sunset time, but we kept the faith. While the sunsets can be breathtaking, socializing with friends is the most important part.

Sunset Socializing Under the Rancho During Rain

Back on the Beach

Yesterday

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------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 her single days in Brooklyn; Czech Connection – Czech couple who’ve become good friends along with their daughter (the Czech Shadow); 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; Seis Amigos - two couples from our condo complex and my wife and I; Soxfather – my brother-in-law (whom I miss more than I can ever explain); Tia Loca – wife’s younger sister; Wingman – my son in law; Upstairs Neighbors – American couple and great friends who live in condo above us in Panama; Wingmom – Wingman’s mom, of course