Five Sixths

I’ve had a very active weekend despite the profound absence of my Favorite Panamanian. As usual, I can lay the blame for my entertaining living at the feet of my friends. That includes the usual suspects here in Las Lajas, the Upstairs Neighbors. However, they were joined in that effort with the long absent Panamanian component of the Seis Amigos. They arrived on Friday, in time for the sunset social hour which added a welcome sense of “this is how it’s supposed to be”. Since they are both significantly younger than the other four members of the Seis, they are still gainfully employed, and work has kept them in Panama City for most of our time here this year.

Five of the Seis Amigos at Sunset Pizza Friday Night

Before their arrival, we had the week-long delayed afternoon at the Coco Loco. You’ll remember (maybe you won’t) that we showed up at the down-the-beach bar last Friday thinking there would be a singer. We hadn’t bothered to check the date but had a great afternoon with the Upstairs Neighbors and their visitors. We were joined there yesterday by a sizable percentage of the Las Lajas ex-pat community, mostly Canadians with some Germans and a couple more Statesiders, in addition to us. Other than the pungent German gentleman (who hadn’t showered lately) standing right behind me, it was another delightful Coco Loco afternoon.

Coco Loco Friday Afternoon

After the very fun sunset social hour which saw a severe depletion of my cooler’s population (something I can count on when the Seis are together), we loaded up in the Panamanian’s truck for a trip into the village for Friday pizza and beer. Sunset Pizza’s owner was back from her Stateside adventures and the service returned to sublime levels. It was so good having the Seis (actually Cinco with my wife’s absence) and we Chiri-Gringos tried to show the Panamanians how much they were missed. That’s the very cool aspect to such good friends, we picked up the comradery as if no time had passed. My Favorite Panamanian was definitely missed though, despite my alcohol fueled Spanish (Coco Loco to Sunset Social Hour to Sunset Pizza) which induced some quizzical looks.

Friday Sunset Social Hour

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

A Revisit

Last week I received a treasure trove of additional photos from our friends who were visiting us from Rhode Island. There were some great photos of my Favorite Panamanian’s epic 70^th birthday party as well as some shots of my son’s and daughter’s visit. Since one of the stated reasons for this whole blog thing is to preserve evidence of our family’s life, I’m including many of them here. It was fun going through them to relive our special time with family and friends here in paradise. Enjoy.

Pre-Party, Me with my Kids and our Panamanian Family
Except my wife Who must have been Changing

Party Location with Formerly Floating Candles

Party Revving Up

So Much Fun

Upstairs Neighbors Being Greeted by Granddaughter
Party Welcoming Crew with Czech Shadow

Granddaughters Wore the Long Dresses Under Protest

Visiting Czechs

The Shadow

Wife's Mom had So Much Fun at Party

Wingman and Daughter

Wife's Brother and His Daughter

Me with Stateside Visiting Party Goers

Maine Musquetera's Sister and her Husband

My Daughter

Wife's Mom, Brother and his Wife

Wife's Cousin Table

Wife Giving Macarena Lessons

So Funny

Party Seating Area

Wife with her Siblings

Lot of Beauty on Display that Day

Upstairs Neighbors Enjoyed it

Tia Loca About to Start Trouble Somewhere

Brother in Law with his Family

Wife with her Uncle

Mother in Law with her Sister and in-laws

Awww - ABFA and my Son

Finally got a Representative Sized Piece of Cake

Wife with Sisters and Cousins

Mom in Law with Cousins

Mother in Law Loved Sunday Party Too

Tia Loca's Son's Girlfriend Forgot Flip Flops to Cross Hot Sands

Son and His Family

Maine Musquetera

Visiting Rhode Island Friends

ABFA and Granddaughters Taking Break from Beach

World Record Sunset Social Crew

Upstairs Neighbors Savoring Sunset Gelato

Czech Friends

Tia Loca

BRS and ABFA

Joined by Daughter and FBR

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

Importance of Neighbors and a David Day

Those of you who see my daily sunset updates have seen repeated photos of the people I have dubbed the Upstairs Neighbors. While the beach here is every bit as delightful as I have painstakingly chronicled over the past few years (just ask my recently visiting high school classmates). The best part of the annual tropical escape is linking up with the Upstairs Neighbors again. I don’t think I would enjoy the time here anywhere near as much as I do if I wasn’t afforded a daily opportunity to interact with them. That got me to thinking (I know, a dangerous undertaking). Having good neighbors is a recipe for a decidedly enjoyable life.

Wife and I at Recent Sunset

My Favorite Panamanian and I are really blessed in both of our homes. The Upstairs Neighbors are perfect counterparts for our sometimes complex (bordering on strange) social activities – read that to mean my fascination with boogie boarding, beach bonfires, and Friday night pizza. Okay so I guess most of the social complexity derives from me. They are great people, always volunteering to help and my wife’s family has similarly adopted them, always asking how they are doing. They’re about our age and also had a semi-nomadic lifestyle until settling down in Arizona (and Panama). We are similarly blessed back in Worcester with both the Neighborhood Mafiosos as well as our next-door neighbors. Ever since we left the military, we have enjoyed that fortune as both our next door neighbors in Charlton were very special people whom we try to stay in touch with. I guess this is what it means to be a civilian where we don’t have to meet new neighbors every other year. I like it and we are blessed, so we’ve got that going for us.

With both Upstairs and Other Neighbors at Same Sunset

A perfect example of what makes the Upstairs Neighbors such an important, integral part of our beach lives took place on Sunday. They had recently patronized a restaurant down the beach and liked it. As we were sitting around the sunset social gathering on Saturday, they suggested we check it out together on Sunday, done deal. The restaurant, which we had been to many times when it was operated by Plinio (before his move up the beach closer to us). It turned out to be a revelation; the place had been completely renovated and cleaned up. It still offered amazing beach views (complete with thongs) and we enjoyed a steady offshore breeze during the excellent meal and conversation.

Neighborly Lunch

View from Table

Since visitors and various other tasks have reduced the opportunity to visit the movie theater (a big deal for a certified movie nut), I pointed out to my Favorite Panamanian there were two movies I needed to see playing in David. I planned on a normal (for us) Tuesday expedition, complete with grocery shopping and family visits. My wife one-upped me and said it would happen on Monday (remember, 51% of the vote). Since we weren’t on any kind of time crunch (except for movie showtimes) we approached it casually. We stopped off at my wife’s favorite department store and that’s where our casual approach took casualties. I had to buy a new bathing suit (that boogie boarding obsession wore out the new one I showed up with in December). I had the new suit within five minutes of looking, while my Favorite Panamanian decided there were a number of items that had to be perused. She’s a dedicated peruser. Two hours later, we left with “our” purchases and decided to hit lunch on our way to the grocery store. We stopped in at an old favorite, Gallardo’s. The Upstairs Neighbors (those people again) had talked about visiting it recently and we hadn’t been there this year yet. It was a very fun lunch, for a number of reasons (mainly for the company) but high on the list would be an Oreo milkshake (totally worth the brain freeze).

Lunch with my Date Yesterday

We left the restaurant and realized we only had an hour before the movie start time. That meant traveling through the David traffic near the hospital twice and knocking out the grocery shopping in between. After that we had to drop our purchases off at her mother’s house before driving to the theater. That’s much harder than it sounds, mainly for the traffic involved. My Favorite Panamanian totally behaved at the store with only minimal perusing and I drove like a Panamanian both ways to make the movie in time to only miss a couple previews. After the first movie I decided to forego the second movie (a horror movie I would be seeing alone) and join my wife for dinner with Tia Loca and my mother-in-law. Family is always more important than seeing an inflated body count. The first order of business was to see the newly arrived furniture at Tia Loca’s recently renovated home which my wife declared as very important. We then had a very fun dinner at our old favorite, Terra’s, before the late night drive back to Las Lajas. A very good day.

The movie we saw was the best we’ve seen all year. Project Hail Mary is a great movie. It probably won’t set any movie critic’s pulse racing but it is good, old fashioned entertainment. If there was any doubt about Ryan Gosling’s star power (there isn’t) it’s firmly quashed as this movie is basically all his. He plays a more than reluctant astronaut charged with saving the planet from an infection belaboring the sun. He’s left on his own until he links up with an alien on a similar mission. Gosling deploys sone real depth in approaching both his situation and the relationship with his “buddy”. There’s some well placed humor as well as a less than subtle message about what it means to be human. I loved this movie.

Earlier in the week I finally got around to seeing Trains Dreams. This is a quiet movie about the simple and tragic life of a solitary man in the Northwest in the early 20^th century. The movie benefits greatly from a tight script and expertly uses a narrator to explain some circumstances when needed. Joel Edgerton more than deserves the Oscar nomination as the central character. He’s understated as the plot calls for but displays the anguish and pain his life inflicts in more than his share. This is a great movie to watch alone on a free afternoon or evening as you’re immersed in the harsh environment the characters’ lives play out in but where they still find simple beauty and meaning.

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