Frail Deeds Dancing

Saturday, March 5, 2022

Anniversary Eve

I'm guessing word of the strongly worded complaint I was ready to forward to the Las Lajas Chamber of Commerce was somehow leaked because I awoke this morning to find true behemoths crashing ashore. I hurried outside and rushed though my pre-boogie boarding exercises in order to get to the surf. I was not disappointed. I soon had my pick of some towering waves to ride in. The brought that little bit of doubt and fear that had been missing with the much smaller versions I've been dealing with over the past couple months. My sixty-six year old body was sending desperate messages to my adolescent brain as a particularly large wave loomed at least five feet over my head as I stood waiting for it. Nothing ventured etc. etc. so I launched and as I shot out from under the foam giggling in very un-senior citizen like fashion my adolescent brain was launching into "told you so's" with the more sane portions of the cranial cavity.

My First Friday Partner in Sunset Position

So the waves are back, so, of course, I'm leaving the beach for three days. It is, necessarily so, for a supremely adequate reason. Tomorrow, my Favorite Panamanian and I will celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary. We'd planned a huge party but that old culprit Covid mitigated against that. Since neither of our "kids" could make the trip, we decided a celebration was not to be. I can add this party to the list of pandemic victims along with my retirement party. We drove back to David to celebrate a little bit with my wife's family. We're going out to dinner tonight with her brother. Tomorrow we'll attend mass in the same church we were married in those 40 years ago. On Monday we'll travel up into the mountains to spend a night in the same hotel we spent our honeymoon at. Nostalgia on steroids is what I'm aiming for.

The Sunset

We lost internet service yesterday for most of the day. I was a little amazed at how much the electro-magnetic spectrum rules our lives, even at the end of the isolated tropical beach we were at. We lost access to the television programming we've come to enjoy (read - telenovelas for a certain wife of mine). The biggest loss however was the inability to join the family First Friday FaceTime call for the first time in recorded history. The phones started beeping with incoming text messages after 7pm and I was extremely pleased to see the family, including Great Aunt, had proceeded without me. It's called training, folks.

The Circular Rainbow

The inability to participate did not reduce my Friday beer consumption, dashing my wife's hopes. Some things are sacred. My slightly disapproving spouse agreed to participate since again, no telenovelas. We took an early evening walk down the beach and were treated to a circular rainbow surrounding the setting sun. I just can't make this stuff up, it was so cool. I thought the crew that is painting the condo building was to blame for the internet loss but we later learned the entire area had lost service at the same time. I was a little disappointed at the timing of its return as I had lined up one of my blu ray movies to watch with my wife but with the return, I had to resort to Netflix and something more mundane (and less bloody). After forty years you make allowances. As long as she was next to me.

Waves This Morning

Painting Proceeds

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RECURRING CHARACTERS

BR3 – Blog Reader #3 – granddaughter #3, BRS - Blog Reader the Sequel - second granddaughter; FBR - First Blog Reader - first granddaughter, ABFA – Amazing Best Family Athlete - my daughter in law; Wingman – my son in law; Wingmom – Wingman’s mom, of course; Keene Friends 1 & 2 – friends since high school from my home town of Keene, NH; Soxfather - my brother in law; Great Aunt - my elder sister; Cantankerous Friend – friend since grade school who likes to argue about everything, poses as radical leftist to attract women; Kindergarten Friend – friend since kindergarten whom I reunited with after many years; Pittsburgh College Roommate– high school friend, also a “Minor Celebrity” in Pittsburgh; Deckzilla – our backyard deck which grew to monstrous dimensions once my wife got involved in planning; Maine and Virginia Musqueteras – two close friends of my wife – her US sisters, my wife is the 3^rd musquetera (musketeer); Riggins - also known as the Grandpuppy, son's dog; 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; Neighborhood Mafioso - wife's close friend and Panamanian mafia member, Favorite Panamanian - the wife (of course); First Friday – celebrations to mark the First Friday of the Week; Curbside Girls – close friends of my daughter acquired during her single days in Brooklyn

Friday, March 4, 2022

Into Each Life

I’ve been thinking of launching a well written complaint to the Las Lajas Chamber of Commerce about the lack of surf this year. With the exception of a couple days, the waves have been certifiably short of what I’ve come to expect after spending time here each of the last twenty years. It was so bad a couple days ago that when I walked down to the surf line for my morning boogie board session I looked at the calm water and just turned away. I’ve always included this as part of my morning workout because it is usually requires a real physical effort to fight your way through the surf to the launching point. I know. Boo Hoo. My life is so difficult. I think my Favorite Panamanian may have been saying prayers about reducing the power of the surf because she’s always worried that my adolescent brain sends my 66 year old body to attempt things it shouldn’t. Come to think of it she does get one of the those, almost exclusively female, secret smiles whenever I bitch and moan about the small waves. Things that make you go hmmmm.

Rain Hitting Pool This Morning!

Morning Pelican Parade This Morning

The small waves aren’t the only test of our fortitude Las Lajas is throwing our way. We’re getting the first signs that the dry season is winding to an end. Yesterday we had our first cloudy afternoon and this morning it actually rained. Granted it was only for about ten minutes and was real light but this represents the first bona fide rain we’ve had at the beach since we arrived in January. Rain means humidity which makes the 90 degree heat a little more oppressive. We haven’t been running the A/C during the day since we arrived. We just open the balcony door and front door each morning and enjoy the off shore breezes. That didn’t work today. Somewhere Great Aunt is smiling as she takes serious umbrage at my sometimes overboard exultation as to my weather versus hers.

Sunset Last Night

The waves actually approached acceptable late yesterday when I was out there. As I was whooping aloud (again, the adolescent brain) after catching a big one, I noticed our car had been moved from its usual parking spot. It was obviously moved so I could see it from my location in the water. The proverbial light bulb went off as I remembered I had promised the Favorite Panamanian that I would wash said car last evening. She had taken yet another page out of the wifely handbook and had started washing the car herself. The increased waves might have been a result of the spousal indignation she had been sending in my general direction. I hurried out of the water to help her and as the last wipe was made, she was actually talking to me again.

My Wife and Car Last Night
She'll Kill Me When She Sees this Post

Scenes From Beach Walk This Morning

Sun Reflected in Sand

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RECURRING CHARACTERS

Thursday, March 3, 2022

Stuck

I have acquired a situation that I am entirely at peace with. I am left alone in the condo complex with only my Favorite Panamanian as company. This marks the first time since I returned from the States that we find ourselves alone. My wife’s singularly spectacular family has performed the admirable task of lifting me from the blues, along with old friend Travis McGee. The last of our family guests departed this morning as my wife’s nephew and his girlfriend embarked on their return to Panama City. They were great company over the past few days, not in the least because they became my nightly movie buddies. My Favorite Panamanian is a much tougher customer as she refuses to watch anything she has seen in the last ten years and anything older than that is usually dismissed as too old. You can understand my dilemma. My nephew is a movie nut so you can also see why we get along. We spent the last couple nights watching 007, crossing the sands of Arrakis, and fighting Zuul. I’m going to miss them tonight as I search for a suitable movie on Netflix or the Super Stream. At least my spouse appreciates my popcorn game, honed to a fine edge over the past sixty plus years.

With my Movie Buddies This Morning

With My Favorite Panamanian

Being stuck with my wife is not a bad state of affairs at all. After the maelstrom of activity and emotions over the past month, it will be nice for a little bit of solitude. We’re not the only ones stuck. The company that has been contracted to paint the condo complex was moving a large piece of equipment into position yesterday when it sunk into the sand. Over the next six hours they unsuccessfully struggled to find a way to free it. They picked up the effort this morning and after three more hours they finally got it out of the hole it had dug for itself. It happened right below our condo so it allowed for some entertainment value. I don’t think the guys trying to free it shared our fascination.

The Stuck Entertainment

Sunset Last Night

After a weekend with a choked off internet (whenever the complex is full) I was finally able to have clear FaceTime calls last evening with the “kids”. BR3 learned the word “happy” in pre-school yesterday and was applying it to virtually every situation she found herself in. The BRS achieved a long awaited goal when she declared to her very pleased parents that she was too old to use her “binky” at bedtime. As I’ve watched them from afar these past few months the BRS seems to have entered one of those rapid development phases as she’s seems to have changed the most. The FBR grudgingly is living up to the promise she made to me a couple weeks ago to not run away when the FaceTime call comes in. I say grudgingly because she glares at the screen while I talk with her mom. She still has an excellent heart though as my daughter reports that the first person the FBR wants to call each night at dinner is Great Aunt. So, I have been replaced as a priority for all the right reasons. I don’t think Great Aunt minds at all.

Crowded Beach This Morning

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RECURRING CHARACTERS

Wednesday, March 2, 2022

Old Coats and the Busted Flush

We’ve reached March, against some steep odds, which brings with it the beginning of Lent, time that always brings the divergent Catholicism views within my marriage into sharp focus. It will surprise no one that the more ardent Catholic is my Favorite Panamanian. While she listens to mass and prays the rosary daily I’m a lot more modest in my approach. I (and she) blame it on growing up Episcopal and their less stringent requirements. Henry VIII did something good (other than Elizabeth the 1^st) after all I guess. This means there will be “discussions” over the next forty days as to why I’m eating meat on Friday ranging up to why I’m a pagan in all but name (I’ve always thought that last part was a bit harsh).

Wife and Tia Loca Sunset Beach Dancing

Yesterday marked the end of Carnivale in Panama and the condo complex started to empty. It had been uncharacteristically full over the past few days. There was a group of nearly twenty young Panamanians in one condo that had everybody concerned about when they arrived. They turned out to be hard partiers (go figure) but they kept their antics under control. They had the swagger and disdain for everybody else, since eighteen-year-olds have the world all figured out but there were no drunken rampages. We marked the end of Carnivale with another beach day. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. We lost Tia Loca this morning which is a huge loss in the party quotient. She had to return to work. We were marking the nightly spectacular sunset last evening when my Favorite Panamanian and Tia Loca broke into an impromptu dance party and I was the one drinking beer (being the devout pagan I am).

That Sunset

With the winding down of activities I’ve found myself with more time to read. I had avoided it for nearly a month because my thoughts while trying to read inevitably leapt to the unfairness of the Soxfather situation. I tried to exert a little more self-discipline because he would have hated being the cause of such an interruption of something I deeply and truly love – reading. If nothing else, Soxfather was all about the written word. After I got started, I fell into the old rhythms of devouring the written word voraciously. While I was home I downloaded 21 of the old John D MacDonald Travis McGee books.

Beach This Morning

Travis was my first literary hero. I started reading him in high school. I awaited with an eagerness bordering on desperation for MacDonald to publish another novel in the series and fell into a deep funk when MacDonald passed away in the 1980s. A testament to my hopeless fandom was the absolute need to visit the Bahia Mar marina (where McGee parked his mythical houseboat) before any bars in Fort Lauderdale when I went there for spring break in college. McGee was the first to enter my pantheon of literary heroes where he joined eventually by Lucas Davenport, Harry Bosch, Scott Horvath, Virgil Flowers, Matt Scudder, Stu Redmond, Mitch Rapp, and most recently Jack NMN Reacher. Travis however was the original and his novels stand the test of time. I last read the books seven years ago so it was prime time I got back to my favorite knight errant.

Re-reading a beloved book, or series of books, feels like donning a beloved comfortable old coat that the wife may not truly approve of but understands its importance to you. I slipped right back under McGee’s spell as he ambled around the Busted Flush (his houseboat) rescuing damsels and recovering his 50% with his sketchy salvage business. Reading McGee again is truly akin to therapy as I learn to deal with a less colorful world I find myself occupying. McGee was all about color (see titles of the book series) and while he would need some updating in today’s world, I think he would thrive. I find myself in the tropical environs similar to his usual hunting grounds and it makes the reading even more fun. Lesson learned – when in pain, find something you love and do it, despite the pain. Pain cannot stand up to someone like McGee.

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RECURRING CHARACTERS

Tuesday, March 1, 2022

Family Remedy

Coming to terms with the loss of Soxfather is a process. I don’t mean to suggest that Great Aunt doesn’t have a much tougher road to hoe than I do but Soxfather touched so many lives that those of us within his closer orbits are having a difficult time. I’ve relearned a valuable lesson over the past few days – the importance of family to healing. I’ve crowed before about the fantastic family I inherited when I ran into my Favorite Panamanian all those years ago. They descended on our condo a few days ago to celebrate Carnivale days and provided exactly the kind of support I didn’t fully realize I needed. It offered me the chance to talk about Soxfather and what he meant. Most of the gathered family had met Soxfather and understood the magnitude of the loss.

Beer "Coozie" Picture with my Brother in Law

We followed up Saturday night’s bonfire with another on Sunday night. It was every bit as memorable as the night before. When I went down to the beach for my Monday morning workout, I found the pit still smoldering with several ends of the longer logs hanging on the edge. I tossed them into the middle and the pit smoldered for the rest of the day which came in handy later. My brother-in-law and his wife showed up for the day as we planned a beach side barbecue using the condo complex’ communal barbecue grill. It had been a long time since I used actual charcoal. My wife’s nephew borrowed a shovel and scooped several shovelfuls of still simmering ashes from the fire pit to start the charcoal, eliminating one of the enduring issues of using charcoal – getting it lit.

We Had One of Those Sunsets Again

Tia Loca

Favorite Panamanian and I

I brought out the coozies the Pittsburgh College Roommate had gifted for Christmas. I was so psyched about sharing their use that I posted something on Facebook about it. A couple hours later I noticed through some very funny remarks that the Facebook spell check had changed the coozies to cookies and everyone was wondering what beer cookies were. It was a fun afternoon of sitting in the shade on the beach with a nice breeze blowing through and laughing almost non-stop. We celebrated the birthday of my wife’s nephew’s girlfriend. I realized at a certain point that a whole hour had passed without thoughts on Soxfather. Instead of feeling guilty I thought this type gathering was exactly the kind Soxfather reveled in and that he would have been all in on it. In a strange way I felt closer to Soxfather than I had since he left.

Breakfast Time

Brother in Law Manning Grill With Tia Loca

Dead Animal Flesh!!!

Wife's Family Behind Birthday Girl

Beach This Morning

As I said earlier, the lesson I relearned was the importance of family and close friends (always count them as family) when it comes to healing. I also mentioned Great Aunt has it much tougher than I. I am therefore so grateful that she is currently surrounded by Soxfather’s equally great family. She’s close friends with Soxfather’s sister who lives down the street. While it hurts to be so far away, I know she has these great people as well as Namesake Nephew for support. I am doing my part as well as I have not once mentioned the difference in our respective weather. This is something that I am led to believe that Great Aunt finds especially irksome. In normal times this would lead me to writing even more about the glorious tropical beach weather I’m “surviving” in. Just doing my part.

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RECURRING CHARACTERS

RECURRING CHARACTERS

BR3 - Granddaughter #3; BRS - Blog Reader the Sequel - second granddaughter; FBR - First Blog Reader - first granddaughter, ABFA – Amazing Best Family Athlete = my daughter in law, formerly known both as MEF – Most Excellent Fiancé & MEG – Most Excellent Girlfriend; Wingman – my son in law; Keene Friends 1 & 2 – friends since high school from my home town of Keene, NH; Soxfather - my brother in law; Great Aunt = my elder sister; Cantankerous Friend – friend since grade school who likes to argue about everything, poses as radical leftist to attract women; Pittsburgh College Roommate – high school friend, also a “Minor Celebrity” in Pittsburgh; Maine and Virginia Musqueteras – two close friends of my wife – her US sisters, my wife is the 3^rd musquetera (musketeer); Buddy – AKA the Wonder Pooch – family dog, a black lab – hates squirrels, died in 2017; Riggins - also known as the Grandpuppy, son's dog, surrogate grandchild while awaiting the real thing; PanaGals – female relatives/friends of my wife from Panama; Panamanian/Latin Mafia – inevitable group of Latin friends my wife accumulates wherever we have lived & their spouses; Neighborhood Mafioso - wife's close friend and Panamanian mafia member, Favorite Panamanian - the wife (of course); First Friday – celebrations to mark the First Friday of the Week; Excellent Boss – my former direct boss at work; Voices of Inappropriate Worth - members of public who come to every Worcester public meeting to complain, all are on public assistance along with demeanor issues