Moving day. Started off in Potrerillos Arriba and ended up in Boqueron.
Sunrise:
Sunset:
Last Solo Sunrise
The only thing special about today’s sunrise is that I was able to witness it. This is the last sunrise I’ll see in Potrerillos Arriba with no one else around except the dog. The owners arrive late this afternoon. I’ll be spending the night for a couple of reasons. One, they’ll be traveling all day long and, as I did last year, I’ll fix dinner. Two, you can’t say, “welcome home, thanks for letting me live in your house for free the last eight months. . . see ya!” and split. Well, I guess some people could do that but I can’t.
Filed under Living Abroad, Retirement Abroad, Uncategorized
There Is Always Another Sunrise
Man that is born of woman is of few days and full of trouble.
He cometh like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow and continueth not.
This morning I learned that my friend, Frank Hilson, died yesterday. I only knew Frank for a few years and we only spent a couple of weeks in each other’s company but hardly a day passed that we weren’t in contact with each other via emails. I can’t imagine anyone not liking Frank Hilson. He was that kind of guy. I wish I had known him longer, but I’m grateful for the time I did know him. He will be missed by everyone who knew him.
Frank Hilson
9/28/1939 – 11/15/2011
Please, don’t think I’m being flip about this, but it’s our destiny. We all owe our creator a life. There’s no getting out of paying that debt. You can’t beg for more than what you’ve been allotted. It’s not going to happen. But whether we’re here to see it or not there’s always another sunrise.
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Twofer Tuesday
When I got the idea to document my last week of sunrises, +1, here on the mountain in Potrerillos Arriba, this is the kind of morning I’d been hoping for. So far the sunrises haven’t been as glorious as they often are here, but this morning didn’t disappoint me. It was so good, in fact that I have to give you two shots instead of just one.
It started off like this:
And ended up like this:
Filed under Living Abroad, panama, Retirement, Retirement Abroad
Monday Sunrise
A little more color today. Perhaps because the Patriots, the team of my childhood handed the evil Jets their asses last night. Or it might have been my loved Saints pulling it out in OT to beat the Falcons, or perhaps, even, for the formerly 0-7 Dolphins beating the Redskins for a two-game winning streak. Who knows?
Only four more to go.
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Sunday Sunrise
Heavily overcast and certainly no drama today.
Recently I’ve been wondering whatever happened to the parrots. Last year they would be flying and squawking as they flew off in the mornings towards the rising sun, but this year it has been silent…until this morning. Where do parrots go for their vacations?
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Saturday’s Sunrise in Potrerillos Arriba
Some sunrises are spectacular. Full of color and wonder. Other mornings the only thing spectacular about the sunrise is that you were able to see it at all.
Six more sunrises to go.
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Winning Words
The Washington Post’s Mensa Invitational invited readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition.
Here are the winners:
1.Cashtration(n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period of time.
2.Ignoranus : A person who’s both stupid and an asshole.
3.Intaxicaton : Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with.
4.Reintarnation : Coming back to life as a hillbilly.
5.Bozone ( n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.
6.Foreploy : Any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose of getting laid.
7. Giraffiti : Vandalism spray-painted very, very high
8.Sarchasm : The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn’t get it.
9.Inoculatte : To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.
10.Osteopornosis : A degenerate disease. (This one got extra credit.)
11.Karmageddon : It’s like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it’s like, a serious bummer.
12.Decafalon (n.): The gruelling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.
13.Glibido : All talk and no action.
14.Dopeler Effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.
15.Arachnoleptic Fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after you’ve
accidentally walked through a spider web.
16.Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito, that gets into your
bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast
out.
17.Caterpallor ( n.): The colour you turn after finding half a worm in the fruit you’re eating.
My favorites are 2, 5 and 14.
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A Week To Go In Potrerillos Arriba
I’ve got one week left up here on the side of the mountain in Potrerillos Arriba. The owners return next Thursday. The travel from Taos, New Mexico, and are exhausted by the time they get here, so like I did last year I’ll have a dinner prepared for them. Last year I made a nice Cuban Picadillo like I used to eat in Florida. This year I’ve decided to do chicken ala king. Since the buses stop running early, here, I’ll stay over night and go over to Boqueron in the morning.
This may bore you over the next week, but I’m going to be posting a shot of the sunrises I have left in this beautiful setting. I’ve been very fortunate to have had the opportunity to live in this house. I’ll definitely miss sitting out on the front porch with my morning cup of coffee made from beans grown just over the valley to the east.
Filed under Living Abroad, Retirement Abroad
Little Things Mean A Lot
Most of us live in a “wired” world with our cell phones, computers, Kindles, iPads and the like. Lots, if not most, expats here in Panama have access to a computer so they can stay in touch with family and friends back “home.” Panamanians are hugely into the wired world. Every day I ride the bus there are several sitting through the ride texting away like crazy on their “smart” phones. Or they’re showing each other next the photos they’ve taken with their phones.
Facebook, of course, is huge all over the world for those who can log on to a computer, down here in Panama, too. And for those who can’t afford their own computers there are cyber-cafes all over in Panama City and the wonderful Info Plazas that I’ve written about before. Every time I go to the Plaza in Boquerón there are kids working away on their Facebook pages. One of the young girls who translated my book into Spanish has a Facebook page. She has 533 “friends” and, get this, 1,517 photos.
But we forget there’s a whole other world out there that isn’t plugged into the matrix. There are a lot of people here in Panama who don’t “log on” to a computer and there are a lot of people who don’t have even a single photo of themselves or their loved ones.
There’s a young gringo living in David by the name of Ryan Grassley who goes by the moniker Halfthrottle.
Ryan rides his motorcycle around Panama with his cameras (video and still) making some wonderful short films. Recently he went into the Ngabe-Bugle “Comarca” with his cameras and a battery-powered photo-printer. The following Halfthrottle film shows that while a picture is worth a thousand words a little thing like a photo given away can mean a lot to people who have probably never seen a picture of themselves in their life.
Filed under Living Abroad, panama, Retirement Abroad
One More Good Adventure 