First, thank you to all the friends and
family who reached out yesterday on Facebook to wish my Favorite Panamanian and
I a happy anniversary. It seems semi-incredible that we’ve been married for forty-three
years now. How fast they go. We celebrated out anniversary by having the air conditioning
systems in our master bedroom and living room go on the fritz. I know. That doesn’t
seem like an appropriate way to honor a marriage that has survived that long,
but there it is. I’ve written before how mercurial the power system in Panama is.
Add to that being at the end of a very long transmission line and problems
occur.
 |
| Dinner Last Night |
We’d had a pretty good year so far with
only two long power outages, both scheduled. In anticipation of how bad the electrical
grid is, we installed surge protectors on the three air conditioning systems
that cool the condo when we first moved in. Very early on Thursday morning, the
proverbial oh dark thirty, the bedroom A/C unit kept going on and off. When I
went to investigate, the protectors were flashing on and off. After some kind
words, I got them working for about two hours. I was back in there at 4:30
trying to re-create the magic, to no avail. Interesting, the small hotel behind
us had loud music playing for a pool party both times. I think they were trying
to go all night. While I appreciated their goal, it looked like a sad effort
with three couples sitting around the pool with the music blaring.
 |
| Yesterday's Substandard Sunset |
My Favorite Panamanian celebrated the
anniversary by running back to David to get her nails done. I declined an invitation
to join her and enjoyed the day at the beach. We’re going to celebrate the anniversary
next week with a short trip to Columbia. The Upstairs Neighbors, stalwarts to
be sure, assisted morale operations by gathering to recognize the sunset. While
the sunset wasn’t up to Las Lajas’ usual standards, their company certainly
was. Since one of them is celebrating his birthday today with a dinner we’re
attending, we decided to move the usual First Friday pizza night at the Sunset
Pizza Lounge to Thursday.
 |
| Sunset Crew, in Position |
My wife, with her freshly painted nails,
called from the village on her way back to report that, for unstated reasons,
our usual pizza place was closed. Undaunted, after savoring the prospect of
pizza all day, we shifted to the other pizza place in the village. We linked up
with my wife there and were greeted upon entering by none other than Chow Mein,
the cat. I’d like to think she recognized us as soft touches because she set up
directly below our table. Our usual place closed in their back room so Chow
Mein couldn’t access us there. However, here, she was back in action and scored
a significant bounty of pepperoni, ham, and cheese. She seemed almost sated by
the time we left, but as soon we departed, she moved on to another table.
 |
| Chow Mein is Back!! |
Fortunately the A/C was working in our
guest bedroom so we slept in there for the first time ever. It’s a lot darker
than our master bedroom but I couldn’t hear the surf as clearly. We also had a
bruiser of a rain storm hit but sadly there was no pool party behind us to absorb
it. Justice denied. My Favorite Panamanian used her connections to get the A/C
repair guys here today and they are at work as I write this. I can hear Great
Aunt speaking, “Poor Baby, a whole day without A/C. How did you survive?!”.
That’s what big sisters are for, honesty injections.
 |
Without A/C Forced to Open Balcony Doors
Okay, Not so Onerous |
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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 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 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 (whom I miss more than I can ever explain); Tia Loca –
wife’s younger sister; Wingman – my
son in law; Wingmom – Wingman’s mom,
of course
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