The Holidays and Beyond

We made it through the wet season unscathed and just were beginning to enjoy full days of sunshine when the cold front plaguing all of you up north created storms in the Caribbean which currently are moving across Panama. We've had high winds and incessant, blowing rain for two days now and are looking at two more days at least. The rain has not been heavy, just unceasing. We're hoping for no repeat of last year's flood. There were landslides in parts of Boquete in early December caused by heavy rains, but we were not personally affected. They hit particularly hard in Valle Escondido (Hidden Valley--the name should give you an idea of what the problem was), a downtown gated community. One reputedly million-dollar house was completely destroyed, and many homes were inundated with mud and water, including that of a dear friend, Pat Mains. She recovered sufficiently to host a Christmas luncheon for fifty people of December 24th. Quite a trooper, particularly since she lives alone and is of retirement age.

In fact, there were quite a few parties to attend this year, and all of them were very fancy by our standards. I remarked to several of you via e-mail that I felt like a British colonialist, what with all the china, crystal, silver, and Panamanian servants scurrying about. The festivities were more low key at our house on Christmas day, but enjoyable nonetheless. Ramon's delightful daughter, Laura, was visiting from San Francisco, and we also were joined by Scott and Vicky, part-time Boquetenos who hail from Houston, and Justin, the new golf manager at Cielo Paraiso, recently arrived from managing a golf course in Mexico. One of the highlights of the holidays was an all-day runabout with Steve. We took off down barely navigable roads, splashed through creeks and waterfalls, gathered plants along the way, got lost, and ended up at the foot of the walking path to the volcano. It was good to able to spend time with him again, as we had lots of news and gossip to catch up on. The picture above is of Steve. (I know you've been wondering what he looks like. Sort of a better looking Steve Erwin, with whom, incidentally, he was mates back in Australia. He has a great story about their transporting some crocodiles together.)

Steve and Michelle returned a few days later to help me host the Garden Club holiday party on December 31st. I use the word "host" loosely as all I did was provide the house. The Club president and her husband set the date and the time, they planned and supervised a number of plant-related games (which were fun even for me, a decidedly no-games person), and members brought all the food. I did provide the paper goods and a fortified punch, but otherwise just sat back and enjoyed everything. Steve even conducted the garden tours. So, all in all, a great holiday season.

Larry is nearing the end of the all the procedures leading up to his getting some new teeth in his head. Following six or seven root canals (I've lost count) and gum surgery which took forever to heal, he spent two four-hour sessions last week having some teeth ground down to accommodate the new ones, which are to be ready in early February. In the meantime, he has temporaries. He had been a champ up to last week, but in addition to having a sore mouth when he came finally came home, he also had a terrific backache from the dentist's chair. And the lousy weather isn't helping his mood any. I'm just trying to stay out of the way.

Juanita Bonita, AKA Kitty Kitty, is now fully integrated into the household: she's joined the two of us and the dogs in bed at night. I used to have approximately one foot of space in a king sized bed--albeit a different one foot at the top at the bottom, obliging me to sleep in all sorts of contorted positions. Now I have virtually none. And no one will give an inch. Chyna somehow morphs into weighing about 200 pounds, Trudy growls if I as much as touch her, and Kitty Kitty gets all huffy if I make her change positions. It takes a good fifteen or twenty minutes to claim sufficient space to get in bed. And, God forbid, if I should have to get up and use the bathroom at night. Animals who wouldn't be moved for love or money earlier in the evening shift around so as to make in impossible for me to reclaim any room whatsoever upon my return to bed. I anticipate urinary tract problems resulting from all of this.

Despite the wind and rain, I'm going to have to gird my loins and make a trek downtown for supplies today. Allegedly, the roads are a mess. And the annual Flower and Coffee Fair is in progress, thus exacerbating the situation. So I better fortify myself with some more excellent Boquete coffee and get cracking.