Sand Foot And Departure Decision Matrix

I have, begrudgingly, accepted the fact I may be getting old. That comes with the indignity of groaning (at least in my head) when standing up, as well as the seemingly endless series of muscle strains from doing simple physical acts that were not as dangerous just a few years ago. As I said, I accept it, sort of. In the latest unkindest cut of all, I’ve injured myself boogie boarding. For the past couple weeks, I’ve noticed a twinge in my right foot whenever I walked into the uneven sand on the beach. It’s some sort of tendon that connects the big toe to the back of the foot. I customarily end all my boogie boarding sessions with a big wave for hopefully the best ride of the day. Everything was going (if you’ll excuse the pun) swimmingly on Saturday as the big, final wave showed up. I’d been launching off my other foot because of the aforementioned pain. There wasn’t time to use the off foot since an earlier wave had rocked me out of position. I used the right foot and immediately felt a searing pain.

Saturday Night Dinner Crowd at Natrulamente

I got a really good ride in which was only fair since I’d paid for it with my right foot. The off and on discomfort I’d been experiencing was replaced with every step pain. It was bearable as I walked out of the surf since the sand is hard packed and flat there. That all changes when I reached the soft sand above the tide line. It felt as if someone was poking the foot with a white-hot needle as soon as I hit the soft sand, hence the title of the blog. My Favorite Panamanian, always ready to launch into loosely fact based, medical tirades whenever she detects something wrong with me, was waiting for me, no longer able to mask the foot pain.

Saturday Sunset from Our Table

She was appropriately surprised when I declared I had to stay away from boogie boarding for a few days. She knows how much I love it and that I only have nine viable boogie boarding days left (yes, I’m counting). She realized this wasn’t something minor. In a concession to age I had to abandon the Army inculcated expectation to ignore pain and what it might mean. Great Aunt left a hefty bottle of ibuprofen when she visited which has come in handy. I no longer limp on flat ground but the uneven soft sand is still a problem. I figure I’m two days away from reentering the surf. Fortunately, my Favorite Panamanian is heading back to David to spend a few of our dwindling days in Panama with her mom, so she won’t be around to disagree with my decision.

As those days diminish, I reflect on what I’ll miss and won’t miss with our departure from this tropical paradise. I compiled the lists below and you can see I’ll miss a lot more than I won’t miss, but that is the nature of the place and why I love it down here (during the dry season). That is also why the biggest “won’t miss” is also the most decisive. It’s started raining during the day now and that’s a harbinger of things to come. It brings with it oppressive humidity that’s been absent during the dry season. It’s easy to take daily temps in the high 80s and 90s if there’s an off shore breeze and no humidity. Those factors are almost all gone away now.

Sunday Paintbrush

It would still be bearable though because of the list on the left, most especially the top of that list. Our friends we’ve made here and my wife’s incomparable family are what makes this place for me.  The Seis Amigos make all the difference to life here at the condo. While it was fun before we met them, they’ve added a geometric multiplication to that. The Upstairs Neighbors have become close friends, spending all the time here with us and helping, without having to be asked, whenever needed. Although we never see enough of the Panamanian couple of the Seis, we’ve made the most of their times here, including two of the best condo parties ever this year, the Super Bowl and Easter Weekend. There is a trump card that’s not listed and that’s the distance we’re from our children and the granddaughters. You combine that with the oncoming wet season to soften the blow of our departure.

Miss                                                      Won’t Miss

Friends (Seis Amigos & New Ones)               Oncoming Wet Season

Panamanian Family                                        Distance to Movie Theater

Hearing waves from bedroom                        David Traffic

Sunset Ceremony                                           Daily Power Outages

Boogie Boarding                                             Bugs

Beach Reading                                               Broken Elevator

Thongs                                                           

Morning Workout Solitude

Hosting Visiting Family/Friends

Las Lajas Surf

View from our Condo

Panamanian people

Barefoot For Days on End

BRS with Last Week's Snowman

We completed our hosting of our last group of visitors yesterday when the PanaGal and the Refugee from the Worcester Chapter of the Panamanian Mafia departed after a very fun weekend. The Upstairs Neighbors arranged a Saturday dinner at an exclusive Las Lajas restaurant, Natrulamente, where we met some new friends as well, an American couple from down the beach. The food was excellent, the owner served as our waitress and it was a cosmopolitan experience as she spoke four different languages to the different dining groups. I think she’s Swiss so that’s kind of expected. We had to forego the sunset ceremony at the beach but was offered a spectacular alternative from our outdoor table. We returned to the condo where the ladies started conversing that lasted well into the wee hours of Sunday morning. We ended Sunday back on the beach where we thought the rainy season had robbed us of another sunset after the sun disappeared behind a hefty cloud bank. We were about to give up when the Big Guy assuaged our disappointment by pulling out his paint brush and delivering some truly remarkable colors in the many clouds.

BR3 on her First Big Girl Bike

And Happy About It

The granddaughters and necessarily, their parents, have been busy back in the States. A spring snowstorm descended on New England (much to the consternation of a certain Panamanian) which allowed the New Hampshire granddaughters to construct a spring snowman. It appeared to be gone a couple days later when BR3 was out riding her big sister’s bike for the first time. I can’t believe she’ll be four in a few weeks. These granddaughters need to slow their role in how fast they’re growing up. I know I’m helpless to slow it as my similar efforts with their parents failed miserably. Wingman had a big weekend in New Jersey as he hosted a games event with his business partner. Wingman was working on this as far back as his visit here with us and it looked like he got a great turnout for the new business he’s hoping to grow.

Wingman When he was FBR's Age

Yesterday's Event

Good Turnout

I was surprised watching Knox Goes Away. I shouldn’t have been because I’ve always been a big fan of Michael Keaton who directs as well as acts in this. He delivers as a hit man learning he has rapid onset dementia when his estranged son comes to him for assistance. There were so many layers to this and the scenes with Keaton and Pacino were worthwhile in their own to watch two masters at work. I loved the script as well as the tension mounting throughout the movie as Keaton’s character has to dodge the police and several other dangers as well as his deteriorating mental state. One of the best movies I’ve seen in a while. Loved it.

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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 him her single days in Brooklyn; 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; Tia Loca – wife’s younger sister; Wingman – my son in law; Wingmom – Wingman’s mom, of course

Mafia Reunion

As our days here in paradise are winding down, we are hosting an unexpected, at least for me, Panamanian Mafia reunion. A member of the Worcester Chapter of the Mafia relocated back to Panama a few years ago. A couple weeks ago my Favorite Panamanian linked up with her and thus was born the plan for this weekend’s reunion. Accompanied by one of the redoubtable PanaGals, she arrived yesterday in time to engage in the afternoon boogie boarding session and the sunset ceremony. I brought my wife’s iPad down to the beach for the First Friday Family Facetime call while the ladies cavorted in the nearby pool. My Favorite Panamanian deigned to emerge from the water long enough to see the assembled granddaughters.

Sunset Ceremony Yesterday

The said granddaughters are facing their own challenges back home. The New Jerseyites experienced a fairly robust earthquake yesterday; strong enough that my daughter had to grab her computer monitor to keep it from falling over. If you’d told us back in December who was more likely to experience an earthquake in 2024, my bet would have been us in earthquake prone Panama, certainly not epicentered in New Jersey. It was strong enough that my son felt it all the way up in New Hampshire. During the call, the BRS excitedly related that their dad was allowing them into his home theater that night to watch the movie Wish. The FBR heard that and the movie choice for her was also sealed. It was funny, because we took all three granddaughters to see that movie last year. It marked the first time BR3 had ever been to the movie theater. So, they once again shared the movie together, albeit a few hundred miles apart.

Beachside First Friday Call

Meanwhile the Ladies Cavort

Thwarted Sunset

Still Kind of Cute

The sunset was once again comprised by the pesky western horizon cloud bank which seems to delight in thwarting our view as rainy season descends. The sunset, however, isn’t required to enjoy the sunset ceremony as we inculcated our visitors into the social aspect of the beach gathering each night with our upstairs neighbors. This was followed by a two-car convoy to the village for our Friday pizza session. Sunset Pizza (honestly, that’s the place’s name) was up to its usual hijinks, providing pizzas made from dough sourced directly from Italy, that’s the claim at least. Chow Mein the cat, made his usual appearance once it was clear there was pepperoni scraps to be had.

Pizza Time

Only one more weekend, after this one, to be had at the beach this year, so I’m happy my Favorite Panamanian has some friends in to share it with. As beautiful as the beach is, the best aspect of living here is hosting visits from friends and family. I’m going to write in a future post about our departure and the attendant feelings but I’ve convinced my wife we need to enjoy the time we’ve got left instead of worrying about how short that time is growing. I should take my own advice. I was down in the beach this morning in girding loins mode before my usual morning workout when the usual solitude was shattered by the arrival of the ladies for an atypical early morning swim. I’ve been saying all along that the best time for the pool is the morning before the tropical son heats it up to sauna levels by the end of the day. They finally took me up on it.

Earlier in the week, I saw Madame Web. I’d heard really bad things about this flick but, since it was a Marvel movie, I thought I would give it a chance. Big mistake. This is undoubtedly the worst Marvel movie ever made and maybe the worst superhero film as well. I felt bad because I’ve always liked Dakota Johnson and certainly Sidney Sweeney but this was a complete mess. Despite their best efforts the stilted dialogue was a huge distraction. The plot of Johnson babysitting three potential spider women brought the forward movement to a screeching halt. I was looking for some reason to like this and failed, just like the filmmakers.

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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 him her single days in Brooklyn; 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; Tia Loca – wife’s younger sister; Wingman – my son in law; Wingmom – Wingman’s mom, of course

Arthurian Precipitation

I know I’m guilty of exceeding good manners in praising my winter home here in Playa Las Lajas. Those family members and friends who have come down here to visit not only understand but also probably agree with my hyperbole. So, it will come as a surprise to no one that I am now going to compare my Panamanian home to Camelot. Sorry. Had to go there, but not for a greatest of reasons. I love living in Panama with only one caveat, only during the dry season. What does all this have to do with King Arhtur’s home base, you would understandably ask. For the last week we’ve had a number of rain storms, but they only occur after sunset. (lyrics from the song, The rain may never fall till after sundown). It’s a not a complete match though as the rain doesn’t fall as much as it descends. The Panamanians refer to it as “agua cerro” which literally means, water mountain. Think of the heaviest deluge you’ve ever experienced and you’ll have an idea of what the normal Panamanian rain comes in like. I’ve got to recalk the living room windows before we leave because there’ll be eight months of this on a daily basis while we’re away.

Sunset Crew a Couple Nights Ago 
Wife Hiding Behind Me Because her Hair was in a Turban

Night of Four Sunsets

So, the last couple sunsets haven’t been epic as the clouds hang around, building up to that nightly inundation. They made up for it a couple nights ago when, accompanied by the upstairs neighbors, we experienced four separate sunsets as the sun peeked in and out of clouds as it descended. A viable sunset isn’t required for the sunset ceremony as we gather even when its cloudy because sitting on the beach, sipping adult beverages with good friends is a recipe for the good life. Last night we had some adventure as well. We noticed a farmer’s tractor down the beach with a bunch of young guys working up the beach with what looked like fishing nets. We joined the upstairs neighbors in a guessing game of what was actually going on since they weren’t going out beyond hip depth in the water.

Last Night's Fishing Crew

Working the Nets

Their Haul

My Favorite Panamanian, ever the social one, decided she was going to walk down the beach to investigate. That was when I floated my theory of a cocaine delivery gone wrong and these were the drug dealers policing up the wreckage. That gave her pause, for about five minutes, before she ambled over to see what was going on, with the upstairs neighbor as security. Thankfully, it was just a group of friends fishing. They were doing really well despite their shallow depth and had a bucket of fish for their dinner table. These must be the buggers that bump into my leg while boogie boarding. The Keystone Cops construction company is back at it down the beach, with the huge tube visible from our living room. After failing with the back hoe, they waited a week and showed up yesterday with some kind of fabric to coat the huge pipe with. They stood it back up and seem to be trying to dig it in by hand from the inside again. This promises to be interesting.

The Pipe is Back Up

Blast from the Past on Instagram Today
Wingman Back in the Day

We were back in David for a short stop yesterday as we brought my mother-in-law home after a week long stay with us here at the beach. She really seemed to enjoy her stay, even with the elevator still out of commission. This means, (and I know a bunch of you were worried about this), that I can safely walk around the condo in my underwear again. This may, of course, in turn explain my wife’s foul mood as well. I’m always nervous when my Favorite Panamanian declares we’re driving back to David because she inevitably finds collateral reason to extend the stay well into the evening. Think manicure and friends to visit. This usually means I’m sitting at her mom’s house reading and waiting. Not the worse fate in the world (because of the reading) but, I mean, have you seen the view while reading here at the beach. Despite an unscheduled trip to a clinic and a lab with her mom, she was only gone for four chapters.

Condo Complex Seen from Beach Last Night at Sunset

The Crew

I'm on the Left with the Upstairs Neighbors

The Rain That Eventually Chased us in

We waded through the usual onerous David traffic to hit the requisite supermarkets and were on our way back home by 3pm (win!!). We stopped for lunch at a roadside favorite of my Favorite Panamanian. It was a really good feed and then I had to make the hour-long drive back to the beach with a very full stomach and a pair of eyes that were demanding to shut. We’ve all been there after too big a lunch on a hot afternoon. We arrived in time to join our upstairs neighbors for the aforementioned sunset ceremony. We were still there well into the dark of night when the approaching rain storm we’d been watching march across the waves towards us finally arrived and chased us inside. Still even with the increased rains and attendant humidity -

In short, there's simply not

A more congenial spot

For happily-ever-after-ing than here

Beach This Morning, Still Cloudy

Still Beats the Hell out of this
Ring Camera shot from our Front Door Back Home 
This Morning

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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 him her single days in Brooklyn; 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; Tia Loca – wife’s younger sister; Wingman – my son in law; Wingmom – Wingman’s mom, of course

Tropical Easter

Once again, we are wiling away the hours of Easter here on the beach. Easter, for me, ranks way down the list of favorite holidays, after Christmas, Thanksgiving, 4^th of July, New Years Day, Memorial Day, Arbor Day, etc. etc. That being said, when we get the Seis Amigos together for a weekend long celebration, Easter has a chance to rise in the rankings. Friday got off to a slow start despite the energetic presence of Tia Loca. I had just started the weekly First Friday Family Facetime call when the power went out (again). With the power out, so was our wi-fi signal and internet. We’ve had a bunch of outages over the past couple weeks, usually lasting only a few minutes. This one lasted for eight hours. This adds some challenges to our living arrangements since we also lose air conditioning. You may have heard, Panama is hot, so lack of AC, especially with the incipient humidity of oncoming rainy season, is a big deal.

Easter Dinner Last Night

We followed our standard operating procedures, connected the fridge and one lamp via extension cord to the generator fueled common area down the hall. We spend a lot more time here than other residents, so we were ready for the powerless state. The condo complex was as full as I’ve ever seen it because of the holiday weekend but none of the other residents, other than the upstairs neighbors, had extension cords. I felt a little guilty looking out at the beach and seeing a bunch of people hanging out there in the dak, looking up at our condo and wondering why we had lights on. My devoutly Catholic Favorite Panamanian was doing her usual Easter church time which started on Wednesday. Her devoutly less Catholic husband stayed home for the sunset, which didn’t depend on electricity. We had a plan to go into Las Lajas for our usual Friday pizza and meet my wife there when church released her. We learned the power outage affected a fifty-mile swath of the province so we didn’t think the pizza place would be open. We were wrong. We didn’t learn that until much later when my Favorite Panamanian showed up at the condo with a couple pizzas, wondering what happened to us. Without the internet we had no way of communicating so couldn’t tell her of the change in plans. She in turn, was waiting at the pizza place for a long time (I thought church and her usual post mass socializing was the reason for her delayed return).

Friday Sunset

We set up at the dining room table for a game of Uno Flip with my wife, Tia Loca, their mother, and I. My mother-in-law had never played the game and we spent a long time explaining what each of the cards meant. She acted a little confused, which I think was an act, because she won two of the first three games. I related this to my son later via text and he claims his abuela is a hustler, because of her penchant for winning card and dice games when the family gets together while professing not to understand everything. The rest of the family quickly chimed in on the text chain, confirming his assessment. After the game I threw a spare mattress out in the living room where it seemed a little less oven-like than our bedroom. I was asleep for about an hour when all the lights, and blessedly, the air conditioning came on at 1230am. We probably wouldn’t have played the very fun card game if the power hadn’t gone out so it wasn’t a real defeat.

The Very Crowded Beach

As Packed as I Ever See it

Sunset with Upstairs Neighbors and Tia Loca

Saturday was a beach day for most of us. My Favorite Panamanian was back at church for a few hours but Tia Loca and I renewed our mutual boogie boarding partnership. We were joined by the Panamanian Couple of the Seis Amigos and before I knew it we were surrounded by boogie boarders as many of the other condo residents joined in the fun. I’m guessing they’ve noticed, in the past, how much fun the old gringo was having in the waves and showed up with boogie boards of their own this time. It was akin to having a boogie boarding club. There were a couple of young kids, same age as the FBR, who were out in he waves with me and because they were so light, really successful. It was a truly fun, if exhausting afternoon. This was followed by a catered cookout hosted by the Panamanian couple of the Seis Amigos. We set up in the condo common area and feasted on way too much barbecue. The Panamanians brought a number of desserts which typically included a lot of fruit, so, off limits to my sensitive palate. The Upstairs Neighbor rode to the rescue though. My picky eating habits are well known and she knew I would be out of luck at dessert time, following the consumption of all the dead animal flesh. She prepared a cookies and cream cake that was one of the best pastries I’ve ever tasted.  It was so good, with my insistence she share the recipe with a certain Panamanian of my intimate acquaintance. (Note I failed to mention to her that Panamanian had prepared a chocolate pie for me, safely hidden in our upstairs fridge). The sunset ceremony that followed with Tia Loca and the upstairs neighbors (minus my church bound wife) was also fun as Las Lajas rose to the occasion with another epic sun departure.

Saturday Barbecue

The Guys Table

Easter saw the beach as full as it ever gets around here with a number of small kids trying to see how much sand they could transfer from the beach into the pools. I truly enjoyed the noisy charging around as it reminded me of the time with the three granddaughters. Speaking of those worthies, the BRS and BR3 were at their other grandparents’ house chomping at the bit to start their Easter egg hunt. They were waiting for other cousins to show but had accomplished a detailed reconnaissance out the window to identify targets. Meanwhile the FBR was gracing our nation’s capital. My daughter and she accompanied Wingman for a weekend trip to DC to assist his father with some health issues and were able to put in some tourist time while there. It was nostalgic to see the FBR cavorting in the same places her mom and uncle had when we lived there. Not to be outdone, the Panamanians held an Easter egg hunt on the condo lawn. I’m think a lot of chocolate wasn’t used as it would have melted in the heat. I’m of the opinion this bunch of kids didn’t need any assistance for additional sugar to fuel their depredations which was a lot of fun to watch. Even if it further emphasized missing the three absent granddaughters.

BR3 And BRS Easter Egg Prep

Success!!

Easter Sister Hugs

Riggins Cornered

FBR in D.C.

With a Shout Out to Great Aunt

My Favorite Panamanian was freed from church on Sunday and spent the entire day preparing a huge ham dinner to share with the Seis Amigos and some of our new friends from down the beach. I was called upon to prepare the sweet potato dish and had acquired enough mini-marshmallows to meet the ABFA’s strict guidance in that area. I really missed a working elevator as we had to shuttle the makings down the stairs on repeated trips. My wife also hadn’t anticipated the condo common area, where we would eat, would be exposed to direct, tropical sun as it sank on the horizon. Undaunted, she summoned the condo caretaker to position a couple large umbrellas to provide shade while I was sent upstairs again to retrieve a fan from our condo. This was the first meeting for the Seis Amigo with the Canadian contingent from down the each but any awkwardness was soon abandoned. What looked like an awesome sunset was viewed from our dinner table after the umbrellas were retired. It was a very fun time that extended well into the night after the food was done with. It is tough to be away from family at these times but I’ve come to think of these really good friends we’ve made down here as my surrogate family. They feel that close. The Panamanian Couple as well as my wife and I were, predictably, the last ones standing as the night deepened. My counterpart and I decided it was our solemn duty to finish off his beer supply last night since they were returning to Panama City today. I’m not convinced our wives were on board with that decision, but they accepted our “state” with their usual grace. Last night as one of the best times I’ve ever had here, and that’s a high bar to reach. It was all due to the singularly excellent people I was blessed to spend time with yesterday. My Panamanian family.

New and Old Friends at Easter Dinner

Sunday Sunset Seen from Dinner Table

The Rest of Saturday Sunset

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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 him her single days in Brooklyn; 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; Tia Loca – wife’s younger sister; Wingman – my son in law; Wingmom – Wingman’s mom, of course