Today was a sad day for one father, as I drove Annie and Chris back to Tocumen Airport for their return flight home. Every parent with grown children knows the sweetness of reunion, however brief, and the melancholy of another estrangement when they need to resume their separate lives. How much fun we have had. How much joy they brought with them. How many warm and pleasant memories they bring home with them. God bless you both.

We went on some walks today. Warm sunshine, black sand, fresh marine air. Just quiet, private times to see and feel and think and enjoy. No noise except the waves. Just the beauty of the earth and the temporary absence of agenda, expectation, urgency, demand.

Home Sweet Home. No bouganvillas in Medford or Pleasant Grove this time of year. Looking in thru our entrance gate. Ocean is on the opposite side.

We celebrated Chris' and Cassandra's birthdays yesterday. We made yellow cake and chocolate frosting with mostly proper candles...We purchased a "2" and a "0", but Kathy cut a "6" for Chris from a piece of paper. A burning paper candle made for an urgent "Happy Birthday" song. A few gift cards added to a nice birthday party.

We rely so heavily on our lap top and the Internet to help keep us connected with home and the world. We need to get a cooling pad. Peter and Chris downloaded James Bond "Golden Eye" from the old Nintendo 64 days for me today. It has been years since I played that. Thank you Pete ! We have had some free, live, on-line video sessions with family on Skype over the past few days. I still marvel at the technology. Postcards are an anachronism.



You have previously met some of our local zoological friends. Let us introduce you to some additional acquaintances. Please meet Fiona, our next door neighbor Irish wolf hound ( the largest canine in the world). She has a brother, Quigley. The tops of their heads are nearly at the level of my shoulders. Imagine this hound of the Baskervilles chasing you in the dark. Worse yet, their "deposits" on the beach can ruin a lovely dusk walk. Or, perhaps they are just "sea sponges" washed up on shore, right Annie? Also meet one of the crabs we had fun catching at surf line at midnight one night, a friendly yellow frog that seemed to enjoy our pool, and another friendly gecko.



Fun in the water, both above and below the surface.


Kathy bought some blow-up water toys at the local store a few days ago, and we have had so much fun with these playing out in the waves. It is quite remarkable how wide the tidal variation is on this beach at Gorgona, and we have fun playing in the waves at different times. At some times we get completeyly clobbered by the waves and dig sand out of previously undiscovered crevices, and at other times the water is glass-like. We all had a blast body-surfing, and got some fun video of Annie, Peter and Chris yesterday. We had fun watching two shrimping boats plying the waters in front of our house today. First clue was a sky full of seabirds, pelicans, terns, gulls, frigate birds. It was funny to see this boat with almost every inch of available line covered with these large, ungamely pelicans just motoring along with the boat waiting for its next free meal. These boats would leave an obvious brown wake where the bottom was disturbed by their shrimping nets. Bad for shrimp, good for camarones-eaters. Kathy bought some shrimp from a vendor on the street a few days ago. We grilled them with steaks.

Sorry for the screwy last post. Somehow, what appeared on the edit page was not what showed up on the actual post.