So we went together to David, to a private house that the Maestro uses when he’s in David.  It’s a typical Panamanian setup–we sat outside along with 3-4 other people and chatted with each other and everyone else while waiting.  When it was my turn, the therapist had me walk a little–and then said both to my companion and to me that the problem was a tilted pelvis.  It flashed through my mind that that would explain some other things as well.  Both my internist and orthopedist had immediately focused on a slipped disc in my back, everyone agreeing that it was an old condition, but that’s where their attention was.

The session was painful.  BUT I had immediate relief–no question that I was feeling better.  He urged me to return the next day, which I did, and I went for still another session when he returned in a few weeks.  I’m greatly improved, and will see him next week for another session.

Mary has been doing a series of back exercises designed by Egoscue, highly recommended by acquaintances in Boquete.  They’ve been working well for her–she describes it as similar to the feeling after a chiropractic session.

Neither of us is completely recovered, but we both are far more functional than we have been.  I’ve been walking pain-free for the first time in months, and am able to do a surprising amount of work, which was good, since we had various emergencies, mostly having to do with broken water pipes, last week.

So when we lit our Advent candles on the first Sunday of Advent, we were correspondingly grateful for those among other blessings.

It took me a while to adjust to beautiful weather during Christmas, but this year, for the first time, it seems absolutely perfect!  Probably because of the contrast with the 9 months preceding, but for whatever reason, the weather, the fortunate lives we’ve had, and the season have all combined to bring a great deal of joy to this house.

We’ve had our Christmas lights up since the first week in December and have delighted in those.  They really are pretty and we enjoy seeing them from the inside of the house as well–they make a lovely pattern of colors seen through the windows.

I’ve been baking up a storm.  Yes, the fruit cake is brooding in its alcoholic haze for 4 weeks.  But I’ve also been baking seasonal cookies that I haven’t made in decades.  As my Christmas gift, I’m going to share a recipe that has been in my family for at least 60 years, and probably longer.  I remember my mother making it when I was a teenager, and I’m sure she made it beforehand, except what kid remembers exactly what the goodies were except that they were special and delicious?

Here it is:

Fruit Bars

Forgive the image–I scanned my original recipe into my recipe file.

A few differences–you might want to cut down on the sugar.  Surprise, surprise–I soak the candied fruits in rum for 2-3 hours before baking!  Also, I use a much smaller and deeper pan–an 8″ x 8″  baking dish in which case this makes 2 batches.  You can substitute some other dried fruit for the dates; I’ve used prunes, and that’s been just fine.

We love them and are having a terrible time rationing ourselves, since we’re both on diets (I’ve lost 12 lbs so far with 8 more to go), which we’re struggling to maintain until Christmas Eve/Christmas Day, when hey, those are my favorite days of the year, and let the good food make its welcome appearance!

We visited the Espinosas yesterday for the first time in weeks.  They’re almost over their latest round of colds and allergy problems, with most conditions clearing up with the weather (true for just about every Panamanian we know).  I’m going to make tamales again this year, only this time from maize nuevo–fresh corn.  I am not looking forward to getting the kernels off the cob, and grinding is a chore, but Ricardo showed us an ingenious setup he’s devised for turning the molino the easy way–with electricity.  He’s hooked up a motor to the mill via an old bicycle wheel, and both he and Maritza assured us that we’ll have all the masa we need in 15 minutes!  Maritza is also going to check to see if we can get fresh corn from local people–much cheaper.  We plan on going in together, she to make bollos, me to make the tamales for Christmas Eve.  We’re going to make the tamales at their place on Thursday.  It’ll be fun, working up there, and I will be making tamales under the guidance of that master chef, Maritza.

Meantime, we’ve had other visitors and will have more this coming week.

For Christmas Day dinner, we’re having a couple from Abajo who are in the latest agonizing throes of construction, which has gone on for 2 years.  They’re interested in plants and thoughtful, witty, fun company.  I’ve also picked up some tips and information, since they have done a good deal of what we want to do in the way of insulation.  They also have recommended a cabinet maker, an American couple who have set up in Abajo.  I have hesitated and hesitated to have cabinets made by a Panamanian because as wood becomes scarcer, the incidence of using green wood has skyrocketed.  This couple has a kiln, which no Panamanian I know of does.  They’ll be more expensive, but I have heard nothing but raves about the quality of the work.  After the New Year.

So, it promises to be a wonderful end to what has been a hard year, and we are truly grateful.

This is a long post, because it is my last on this blog.  I have posted irregularly for a while now, in part due to the sciatica, which made sitting dificult and painful.  But even after that problem went away, I realized that I was no longer looking forward to bloging.  I’ve always done this blog for my own enjoyment, really, and now it’s turned into an obligation, somehow–”Gee, I haven’t posted in X number of days, weeks…”.  Nope, not gonna do that.  I think that, in good part, when I started this blog I felt like an outsider looking in and commenting.  I’ve realized in about the past month that I no longer feel that way and therefore no longer care to comment about what I view as natural, everyday living.  So, fittingly, this is the end, at this wonderful time of year.

There are about 6-10 of you with whom I correspond regularly by email (in some cases, even see!) or in other venues, such as LT.  I trade jokes with some of you, and that has been fun.  With a few others I’ve shared in both the good things and the sorrow of losing a beloved animal friend (here’s to Mr. Ziggy, well-loved in this life and beyond).  That’s taken on a life of its own, I’m glad to say, and there is no reason why it can’t continue, since we almost never communicate via the blog any more.

For those who have enjoyed the weather reports–and there are quite a few–just bookmark our weather site, because Mary does all the work and will continue to keep that up.  You don’t need any reminders from me.

It’s been fun but it’s time to end this and start something different.

Feliz Navidad y Próspero Año Nuevo!

Joyce

But it’s been hard to keep up with the story.  However, Eric Jackson has done a superb job of summarizing the situation and reporting what information there is that hasn’t made the papers.  Please make sure you watch the video–it’s mind-boggling.

I should mention that there has been damage to the access of the Centennial Bridge; only two of the four lanes can be used.  There’s a dramatic photo of it in this morning’s La Prensa.

On a much milder scale, our November weather report is in the archives.  Mary has a link to an excellent presentation that Lloyd Cripe has done on the climate–do check it out.

Walking the dogs just at sunrise was a joy.  Birds making a racket–they seemed to be louder than usual this morning.

We ate breakfast outside on the porch, enjoying the perfect weather.

As we remarked to one another, these are the days that make the rain worth enduring.

We had the best turkey I can remember, and for food, I have a long memory!  Tender, juicy.   I’d like to take all the credit, but I roasted it the same way I’ve always done.  I sort of went all out with side dishes as well–did stuffed mushrooms, which I haven’t made in decades.  We’re still enjoying turkey sandwiches.

That Sunday being the First Sunday of Advent, we also lit our first Advent candle.  this year, we have Advent calendars on our desktops, and that has been fun.

But to make the weekend really special, we went to see Harry Potter y Las Reliquias de Muerte, A.  For this film, one cinema in David did have subtitled copies, so we were able to hear the voices of the actors.  We never saw the 6th film in the theater, because they only had doblada copies in David, so we waited for the DVD.  But for this film, they had subtitulada in one theater and the doblada in the other.

What a great film!  What fun it’s been to watch those kids (and they are kids no longer) grow up!  I thought it was the best adaptation of the books yet, and while I have a few quibbles with the editing, the movie itself was terrific.  No more school stuff, folks–straight action-adventure and you had better know what’s happened before.

When I read the 7th book, knowing that it would be filmed and having listened already to directors talk about problems with filming exposition, I wondered how they were going to handle all the exposition in the final book.  There’s a lot of it–it’s how Harry gets the information he needs.  But Steve Kloves, who has done all the screenplays but one, did an excellent job and while the movie does slow a bit, it picks up beautifully and the ending is perfect.

I have never understood why reviewers have had it in for Dan Radcliffe, who is a good actor.  I think all three of the “kids” were beautifully cast, and I have to say the same for the rest.  Alan Rickman is the embodiment of Snape, and I think not even Ralph Fiennes portrayal of Voldemort is as sinister as Jacob Israel’s  of Lucius Malfoy.

A great movie–beautifully photographed, nicely directed, excellent acting.  Bring on Parte B!

One good thing about yesterday’s rain, though–at one point, it was a real aguacero with a rainfall rate of over 2.5″/hr.  And so we had a chance to test out the latest work Juan has done on the roof.  At this point, he has replaced the Alumband under all the cumbreros and put patches on many if not all of the screws.  Yesterday, we saw the fruits of his work–no leaks!!  Some of those leaks along that line have been bothering us for years–again,nothing serious but utterly annoying, especially when you have a line of them.  Gone!  He has some more work to do on the roof; eventually, I want all the screws patched.  But I’m starting to look forward to installing insulation on the ceiling.

Juan the Roof Repairer

The weather report for October is here.  Mary has a nice discussion of La Niña with really good graphics.

I was going to write a paragraph or so about measurement, but have decided to limit myself to a few sentences (if that’s possible).  I’m merely going to note that with just about any measurement except counting, the reference is to some standard.  There is no a priori reason to suppose that a manual rain gage is more accurate than an automatic one.  So–Mary has noted differences between our WeatherHawk rain readings and our manual rain gage.  If the rainfall is heavy, it can be as high as 30%.  Lesser rates of rainfall: just about equal.  Lloyd Cripe ahs noted differences as high as 50%.  In both cases, the manual readings are lower.

Myself, I’m going to stick with the WeatherHawk readings out of consistency if nothing else.  Plus they a re slightly more dramatic!  :-)

November’s report isn’t started yet but we recorded about 25 inches.  The “average” is about 15″ but the first half of the month was wet.

AND due to a really weird phenomenon, November went out with a bang.  Yesterday a system was sitting off the coast of Panama in the Caribbean that the national Weather Service said could indeed develop into a Tropical Cyclone!  Practically unheard of, but that’s this year for you.  I think, however, that it more or less dissipated.

Still, lots of fun while it lasted.

Flowering Senna

Fruiting Senna

Back in July, I took the top picture–the senna tree was in full bloom and just lovely.  It stayed in bloom for a very long time.  The other day I happened to notice that it had “fruited.”

I’ve gardened for over 60 years, and am used to legumes, but never realized that trees could produce “bean pods” as well as plants.  The senna is one of them, but we’ve seen others as well–huge trees in which the pods are very dramatic, they’re so long.

What interests me as well is that the flowering time of this tree is so long–at least 3 months and even longer.  There are still a few  flowers lingering along the east side of the tree.

And of course, it’s an historic election–Brasil’s first female president.  La Estrella had a nice spread on her yesterday.

Honor Roll card

Michelle is Number 1 in her class.! All of us are proud of her.  Great credit goes to Luz and Oldemar, her parents, who support her in every way.