Surprise Calls

There I was minding my own business yesterday, when, out of the blue, my phone started ringing. This is a rare occurrence for me (the same is not true for a Certain Panamanian I sleep with). Since I knew it couldn’t be her calling (in the shower), I was stumped. I answered the Facetime call and was extremely pleased when the visage of no less a worthy than BR3 greeted me. I was a little confused since she was supposed to be in school at the time. She quickly advised me she was home from school sick. She didn’t seem overly upset about that situation. She was her usual bouncy self, working on some art, between growling at the screen. The ABFA filled us in on that situation which had both myself and her abuela (safely out of the shower by then) laughing at BR3’s antics.

Sunset Social Hour Crew Today

This luck was compounded later in the day as I took up station for the sunset social hour to receive yet another call. This one was from the FBR who also reported being home from school sick. My daughter provided the necessary background while simultaneously chasing down Walnut (the cat) who was wreaking havoc in the kitchen. It was a nice reminder of how blessed I am when I looked into these two small faces. The FBR was coming off a recent triumph. My daughter sent us a video which depicted the FBR’s first ever time on ice skates. I was astounded as she looked like she’d been doing it for years. She’s signed up for hockey in a couple weeks.

FBR 1st Time on Ice Skates

They were alone in the house last night as Wingman is on another tour with his band. I’ve been getting regular updates since this is an east coast tour and last weekend he was in NYC where my daughter and the redoubtable Curbside Gals took in the show. Last night the tour hit Boston and my son and some of his buddies journeyed down to see the show. He said the experience was excellent but he didn’t get to bed until 2am which is at least four hours later than usual.

Wingman Cookies at the Concert Merchandise Table

Wingman Executing his Patented Moog Keyboard Handstand

Wingman Outside the NYC Venue

Curbside Gals - Still Got it

Scenes from Show in Boston Last Night

Son and His Friends Before the Show

I am following my strict regimen of truly savoring my time on the beach. The waves have reverted to their earlier weak condition which is unwelcome, to say the least. I assuaged my frustration by conspiring with the Upstairs Neighbor to address my pyromaniacal side.  We’ve been eying a huge piece of driftwood that washed up in front of the condo complex a few weeks ago. It is literally the size of a small tree; which is what was before it launched on its ocean voyage. I thought it was too deeply embedded in the sand to move but the neighbor disabused me of that notion yesterday during the sunset social hour. Since the waves were so bad this afternoon, I used the afternoon boogie boarding session time to move the tree into position over another buried tree. I piled some more debris from the surf line and we are in business. We’re aiming for a Saturday night conflagration, as long as the tide doesn’t rise and bear away our fuel.

My Future Bonfire Start

In semi-tragic news, we had a completely overcast afternoon. When you combine that with the poor state of the waves, you can see how badly I am suffering 😊. Since we are made of stern stuff we still gathered for the sunset social hour at the appointed time today (socializing always trumps the view anyways). We were rewarded with an epic secondary sunset as the entire western sky lit up, putting a definitive end to my day long suffering.

Slow Start to Sunset With Overcast

Then it Rallied

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

Catch Up

I’m just back from another Tuesday spent in David where we continue our stateside date night routine by seeing a movie. Movies have been a huge part of my life for the past few days as you can see below. Part of that is current release movies have been cropping up on the Super Streamer and I needed the psychic break after spending time preparing taxes. The break would prevent a similar appearance of a psychotic type. I watch the movies late into the night because I’m not brave enough to use my daytime stress release of boogie boarding. I’m convinced there are large and unfriendly creatures haunting the surf after dark.

Lunch in David Yesterday

The trip to David was fun as we were accompanied by our visiting Rhode Island friends. Since they haven’t rented a car, they are dependent on us for re-supply. We had lunch at TGI-Fridays which allowed me to quench my latent homesickness. My Favorite Panamanian permits this a couple times a year while we’re down here so I can emerge in an American style menu (without accompanying sub-zero temperatures). The Upstairs Neighbors were charged with properly celebrating the sunset which they did with their inimitable style. We hit the grocery store before dodging through early evening traffic back to Las Lajas.

Keeping the Faith

Rewarded

I think I’ve finally managed to master preparing our tax return remotely from here. The first couple years we stayed down here, I always scheduled our return before April 15^th to make sure I could get them in under the wire. As we descend further into internet dependency for all aspects of life and my kids have educated me beyond a knuckle dragging level of computer competency, I can now accumulate all needed information online. That’s not saying it’s easy. It isn’t. My tax situation is fairly simple but transferring that situation into a format the IRS and the People’s Republic of Taxxachusetts will recognize is anything but. There was a real sense of accomplishment when I received texts from old friend HR Block that both the state and the IRS had accepted my returns. Now, back to boogie boarding for the sheer fun of it.

Not

The date night movie was Send Help. I loved this much more than I thought I would. It’s a strange love child of Castaway, a gender switching The Devil Wears Prada, and The Most Dangerous Game. A heartless, rich, entitled, narcissistic boss (today’s go to villain type) is stranded on a desert isle with a nerdish female employee whom he recently overlooked in favor of a college buddy for a promotion. The female turns out to be an expert at survival and he now depends on her for survival. There are several plot twists and some real gross out moments but this works on a number of levels. Rachel McAdams towers as the female while Dylan O’Brien abandons his usual good guy personae as the boss. While the major twist is telegraphed too early, these two make up for that with outstanding performances. You have the usual Sam Raimi over the top-ness but it fits so well with the superb plot. Great Flick.

I was looking forward to the sequel to Greenland but Greenland 2 Migration was a disappointment. I was probably too invested in the ending of the first film which had the heroes reaching safety in Greenland while the world explodes around them. That safety is destroyed in the first twenty minutes of the sequel as Gerard Butler and wife, Morena Baccarin, set out in a handy lifeboat to reach Europe. Part of the whole concept of the first film was the entire world had been devastated and wiped clean of life. Europe apparently didn’t get that memo as there are several communities the heroes have to wade through to reach a rumored safe zone. This was nowhere near as exciting as the first film. One of the major plot points was having a walk across a ladder. Still, Butler and Baccarin are so good you can overlook the gaping plot holes. Hated the ending.

Anaconda has an amazing cast set up with an interesting plot. A group of losers try to recapture their vibe by creating a low budget remake of Anaconda. It turns out most of funniest gags were seen in the previews. Paul Ruud and especially Jack Black rescue the film from the depths, but it still lagged from what it could have been. Thandiwe Newton is criminally underused as is Steve Zahn. There are several laugh out loud moments but not enough to sustain the premise. The snake ends up being more cartoonish than scary. A disappointment.

I had better luck with The Wrecking Crew. I thought this would be a kind of silly buddy flick. It was, but it was also immensely entertaining. Jason Mamoa and Dave Bautista are fantastic as feuding brothers trying to solve their father’s Honolulu murder. They end up fighting international and home-grown criminal empires as well as the Yakuza. The Hawaii location brought back a lot of great memories of my time living there. Note – Honolulu traffic is never as sparse as shown here. Some great action scenes are ably handled by the athletic leads with the effective use of CGI when needed. My only concern was Bautista. He’s lost so much weight that he looks sickly at times; hopefully not in real life.

Finally, I saw The Housemaid. I thought this was going to be another in the long line of evil man Lifetime style movies. It was, but it was sneakily so good as well. This was supposed to be Sweeny’s movie, but Amanda Seyfried steals it. She plays a seemingly psychotic wife who hires Sweeny as a housemaid (yeah I know, what was she thinking!). There are some great twists along the way as perception of what is is constantly challenged as new information becomes available. Sweeny is also very good as the maid with a past trying to earn her way out of homelessness (semi-unbelievable). The final confrontation was well worth the trip getting there. Great movie.

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

Routinely

Okay, so we’re into February already which means we’ve been in Panama for more than a month. That seems incredible on certain levels because it doesn’t seem that long. Of course, it would seem a lot longer if I had to deal with 30 inches of snow and a persistent polar vortex, but I digress. We’ve had a fun weekend with Tia Loca and my mother-in-law in residence. We linked up with them at First Friday pizza at Sunset Pizza in the village. That pizza dough remans one of Panama’s hidden treasures. Las Lajas is gearing up to celebrate their patron saint which has meant nearly daily Catholic masses. That has made my Favorite Panamanian and her visiting Rhode Island counterpart very happy.

First Friday Pizza Crew

I’m glad because apparently my wife had some sort of revelation while in church that led her to realize she wasn’t taking full advantage of life on the beach. She only had to refer to her husband to see what is involved in that equation. She has boogie boarded no less than three times over the past week, which is more than she did all last year. She hasn’t mastered the whole step out of the way when I bear down on her, trying to skim by her closely. My eye is healing well.

Today's Cloudy Sunset Social Hour

Tia Loca continued her obsessive need to dig clams, and she roped my Favorite Panamanian into a prolonged hunt yesterday. So much so that my wife had a really sore back today. Our freezer has a huge bushel of clams to be addressed. That’s always fun. Before they met their frigid end, one of Tia Loca’s victims launched a vicious attack on my mother-in-law. She was helping her daughters rinse their haul when one of the little buggers latched on to her fingernail. It was so funny seeing all three ladies try to figure out how to remove the clam without damaging the fingernail, because, as we all know, that is more important.  

Clam Attack

Our streak of fantastic sunsets seemed destined to end today with an uncharacteristically cloudy day. Or so we thought. My stalwart sunset social crew showed up despite the heavy cloud cover and Las Lajas rewarded us. We couldn’t see anything of the actual sun setting and while we still had our merry socializing, we suddenly noticed the entire western sky had lit up. Ten minutes after the sun had disappeared (so the internet informed us) the whole sky was illuminated. It looked like an airborne river of lava. We were seriously mesmerized. The photos don’t do it justice. We concluded that this would rank amongst the best sunsets even though we didn’t see any sunsetting. It’s what we do.

Started out Subdued

Then

Boom!

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

Respite

I’ve protected you all from my fractured prose for the last few days. I’d like to claim that it was out of sympathy for the trials most of my favorite people are going through dealing with the monster winter storm. That I didn’t wat to inflict continuous coverage of what my situation was in stark contrast to the frozen north. If I’m completely honest though, I’ve just been lazy. That’s easy enough to do when you’re in my situation. Not only living at a tropical beach but also having some of the best weather we’ve experienced since arriving. The dry season with low humidity and gentle offshore breezes all day long have finally arrived in force.

Last Night's Welcoming Dinner

I know my family was grinding their teeth when they read the second sentence above. They were dutifully sending me pictures of what it was like in the storm zone. In typical response I sent them a view of what I was looking at and proclaiming we’d had no accumulation. I know. Kind of cruel. You can see the extent of the cruelty when I show you the photos I received and sent. Yep, Kind of d**k. I have suffered some casualties in the storm though. Our house sitter reported the demise of my snowblower which decided to die when confronted with the mountain of snow it had to address. I luckily have some of the best neighbors in the western world as our next-door neighbors and the Neighborhood Mafioso helped us coordinate a workaround.

In New Jersey Walnut Surveying the Aftermath

Their Deck

Meanwhile in NH Riggins is Thinking "C'mon!!"

BRS and BR3 Ready to Play, Once they Can Get Out of Garage

The View From Our Condo I Sent

Ring Camera View of Our Front Yard in Worcester

In a major development, my Favorite Panamanian has finally decided to enjoy living on the beach. She’s spent so much time and effort planning her upcoming birthday celebration that I’ve had to pretty much go it alone at the beach. I know, we all have crosses to bear. Earlier this week I was surprised when she showed up for the morning boogie board session toting her own board. I’d been extolling the return of Las Lajas signature surfing waves, but this was the first time since we arrived that she joined in. The Upstairs Neighbors snapped these photos from their condo. I think they were as shocked as I was.

Wife and I Boogie Boarding

We also have resumed our morning beach walks, which I enjoy because it gives her a chance to fill me in on everything I need to know (willing or otherwise). We took our first walk to the western end of the beach since we’ve been back and encountered a big surprise. There’s a river that runs behind the condo and empties into the Pacific at that end of the beach. Heretofore there had been a definite channel as the river cut through the beach. That was gone. It’s been replaced by a huge bay covering a significant portion of what was previously beach area across the river.

Morning Walk

Birds Didn't Appreciate Our Approach

The New Bay

We spent a couple days this week back in David. On Monday we did a huge grocery run to lay in supplies for what promises to be a very busy February. We also took in a movie with Tia Loca. Yesterday we were back for a couple of reasons. My Favorite Panamanian through social networking had gotten a clue as to a good hairdresser (this is apparently big news). The hairdresser was located in the picturesque mountain town of Boquete. We also were scheduled to pick up the first of our February visitors, our friends from Rhode Island, later in the day.

We Got in a Sunset on Tuesday

So. I was cruelly yanked from my beach earlier than planned yesterday so I could get my wife and her mother to this new hairdresser appointment. After some extended reconnaissance we located the salon and I was summarily dismissed to amuse myself while the ladies were attended to. I walked around the town in the very cool temperatures (for Panama) and took in the beautiful views. It was in the low seventies, so I saw a couple Panamanians wearing parkas. I set up shop in the shade in the central park to read away the time waiting. I finished my latest Travis McGee novel and decided some gelato from our favorite gelato shop in Boquete would be nice.

Views from my Walk Around Boquete

I accomplished that and was a couple chapters into my next Travis McGee when my newly coifed wife showed up. I asked her how she found me and she laughed. She knew I had my kindle and blithely said she just looked for the nearest shady spot where I could sit and read. I am predictable, apparently. I had my revenge when I revealed I had made it to the gelato shop. She was shocked at my temerity, but I told her it was her own fault for leaving me unsupervised. We finished up our Boquete stay with lunch at one of our favored restaurants. We were, strangely, the only ones there, a huge change from earlier visits. They’ve raised the prices a lot and with so many other choices I guess people have voted with their feet. The food was still good. As our departure route took us by the gelato place, my Favorite Panamanian executed her patent move, batting those incredible eyes at me. So, I had a second serving of the Oreo flavored gelato while my wife had some sort of pink concoction.  

Boquete Lunch

Gelato Time

We were back in the oppressive heat of David in time for the flight. I watched the temperature climb fifteen degrees in the car as we descended out of the hills. This is the second year in a row that our Rhode Island friends have visited. As with last year, they’re renting the condo downstairs owned by the Panamanian couple of the Seis Amigos. My wife’s family joined us in a welcoming dinner in the rapidly becoming famous eatery, El Fogon. They’d left Boston with a temperature reading below zero and were now doing more than ninety degrees better. Sorry, a last chance to rub it in.

The movie we saw, Mercy, was better than what I’m reading on the internet. Chris Pratt stars as a futuristic cop accused of murdering his wife. He has ninety minutes to convince an AI judge of his innocence or face summary execution. It offers a real comment on the intrusive nature of today’s intent infusion into our lives as the judge can access virtually anything connected to the internet, which is, basically, everything. The judge is played with clinical detachment by Rebecca Ferguson, so good in everything she does. While the bulk of the movie is the two of them facing off in a closed environment, it highlights what good actors they both are. The first fifteen minutes drag a bit but if you can wait through that, it is a great movie building up suspense as we hang on each development with the almost obligatory twist.

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