Time

The best thing about retirement is having control over how you spend your time, not necessarily having more time. In fact, I haven't the time to do a fraction of the things I want to, even though I arise at 5:00 a.m. most days. Even though I know it's foolish to plan anything down here, because plans inevitably go awry, I nevertheless decided earlier this week that I simply had to start setting some priorities. I came up with three principal ones.

Sitting on the terrace in the early morning and late afternoon watching the birds when they are the most active is a must. Every morning flocks of white egrets pass through the back yard on their way, presumably, to the cow pastures further up the road. While they're soaring overhead, dozens of sparrows hop about in the grass or on the terrace searching for bugs, and the songbirds dive and swoop about. We also have some large, black grackles that largely stay high in the trees or on the roof, making enough noise to, as they say, raise the dead. Occasionally, flocks of parrots come by; you can hear them screeching long before you see them, which is a nice warning of their arrival. As flowers are beginning to bloom, more and more hummingbirds are about. There are dozens of species of hummingbirds in Panama, ranging from the teeny tiny to the ones I saw in Cerro Punta that were about four inches long (and irridescent). Interestingly, they perch a lot here--on branches and fences--so I hope to get some pictures sooner or later.

Learning how to speak Spanish more fluently is my second priority. To that end, I've committed to studying at least an hour a day, more if possible, i.e., if the weather is bad and I can't be gardening.

But gardening is certainly the top priority. Now that a lot of the basic plant areas are in, I spend hours potting, planting, weeding, digging rocks out of the ground, tying orchids to trees, fertilizing, propogating (plants), mulching, etc., etc. We're a ways from having the botanical garden that Steve envisions, but I do have a few blooms here and there, including a few orchids. I think it's going to pay off handsomely.