Typical Rainy Season Day!

This is a typical Rainy Season day in Panama.  Awoke around 6am and went out to the outdoor living room with coffee and watched the sunrise with my wife!  It was gorgeous with lots of blue sky on the horizon giving way to  many different variations of clouds as you look upward.  Then off to leash up the dogs for a 45 minute walk/run/play.   The creek on the property is running nicely so they both got an unplanned bath!  Ty is learning to swim.  Arriving home Cindy cooked up an omelet and toast with some bananas off our trees.  Sweet!

Then we headed out back to the garden area.  Cindy is creating raised beds for Vegetables and flowers and plants.   It is going to be stunning.  She creates and I try to build them.   Our first is a raised broccoli bed, 18' x 6' and about 12" deep.   I made it from Bamboo.   Cindy finished the soil amendments and planting the broccoli today.  Then we laid out the two ponds and some "rivulets" in between them, one feeding the other.  We were excited to see how they worked when the rain began around 4pm.  Perfecto!!!

The rain was a deluge (aguacerro in espanol)  so we took a wonderful nap drifting off to the sound of the pouring rain with the windows open.  We awoke and took a quick drive down to the Macho Del Monte river.  Wow the waterfalls were spectacular and the 80' gorge was over half full of water from the down pour.

Now I am typing this post before dinner and a movie!

Such a blessing and such a blessed life.
Ciao for now
Blake

Quetzal sighting!

Our good friends Larry and Camille came to visit for a week.  we did a lot in a week and simply had the best time.  One day we ventured up to the Quetzales Lodge and took a trip into the cloud forest in search of the illusive Quetzal.   Now, we have talked to many friends and fellow hikers about trying to find a Quetzal.  Very few are successful and if they are, they feel very blessed to get a glimpse of its tail as it disappears into the rain forest.  Well, we were blessed to have seen 5 on this day.  here are a couple sneak peaks!

Just cannot add much to that!!!
Ciao for now
Blake

Hi Nutrition fruit smoothy from property!

So here it is.  An amazing fruit smoothy made with fruits off our property in Panama.   We have Guava, Marinon, banana, plantain, sweet lemon, and lime.   Blend this together and add a bit of local Honey and you have an amazing meal in a glass.

one vitamix, a bunch of fruit a glass and presto!~  a great drink.


ciao for now
Blake

Moving mob of caterpillars! yuck!

This is a moving mob of caterpillars.  they hatched on a nearby tree.  then move down the trunk in a mob just like this and go out in search of a bush or tree to eat!  This is on our rear property in Panama.
Cindy says "Its just nasty!"
Ciao for now.

Busted

Ok, we are pretty much up to date on this blog.  there is, of course, much more that occurred in between the lines written here, but we'll leave that to your imagination.  Meanwhile, the puppy and I were busted taking a snooze!

All this while Cindy was hard at work building and planting her new Herb garden off the patio up next to the rock wall overlooking the back yard!!

Looking forward to those spices in our food soon.
Ciao for Now,
Blake

Another amazing day

So the 1st of May was ushered in with an amazing double rainbow right in our back yard.  From our patio looking out to the Southeast, it was black ominous clouds moving in.  At the same time our backs were hot with the sunshine burning through the mist from the west.  and gradually from the left a rainbow took form with brilliant colors as it started to rain.  The it began to pour in front of us as it heated up behind and the Colored arch took form and added a second.  IT was spectacular!

It poured and then as the color dissipated the most beautiful and divine clouds appeared.  A spectacular day in a spectacular life in Panama.

We'll see what unfolds next.
Ciao For Now.
Blake

Finca Dracula

So it sounds like something out of the old Horror Movies but, believe it or not, its the name of a World Renown Orchid farm.   Nestled in the mountainous farming region known as Cerro Punta, Finca Dracula was visited by the local Garden Club, which Cindy just joined.   The group of women got together and journeyed up to Cerro Punta. here are some of the beautiful images .  I wasn't there so I cannot write much.  Maybe Cindy with leave some comments below to share the adventure.

Lets look forward to comments from Cindy.
C4N, Blake

Boca Chica beach

So we had a great little day trip to Boca Chica and a little beach there with stunning views, white sands, Howler Monkeys and bright green snakes that eat giant frogs!  We traveled down with some friends about an hour and a half from home to this remote location in a protected bay with bath water for ocean.   Lounging at first in the open air Palapas with grass tops,






the conversation turned to the water.

We hung out most of the day here and walked along the beach to the point.   There, Susan spied a green tree viper who had just attacked a huge frog.  Johnny and I stayed and watched for about 25 minutes and the snake slowly sucked the entire frog into its mouth/body.  It was a discovery channel moment in real life!

The trip home was met by a substantial rain shower near David which cleared the air for a beautiful arrival at Ark Landing!
Ciao for Now, Blake

First Bananas

So last week we had our very own first bananas!  What a treat.  They are sweet and delicious and ten times as flavorful as back home.  What a blessing!  Yeah, they are ugly, but totally organic and native!

Um Um Good!!!
Ciao For Now, Blake

Catchup not Ketchup

Wow it is hard to believe my last post was April 21!  Lots has happened in the past 12 days!  Cindy and I just returned from David for our semi-Monthly shopping.  Left the house at 8:30a and got home around 4:30p.   Of course we had a bunch of errands to take care of that we had saved up and some of them will require return trips.  this is pretty standard in Panama.  Go to take a part in for the weedeater and they do not have one and direct you to another store that sends you to a shop that sends you back again that finally tells you that you need to find the shop/store on the Frontier(border) that sells that part- 1.5 hours in the other direction!  Got to the Panamanian version of the DMV to pick up my lic plates only to find out I missed it by 3 days and will need another inspection of the vehicle, which wasn't with me!   Ok so this sounds like our DMV also!!!!!  Had great luck at PriceSmart(like costco) and Super Baru and Arrocha and a great lunch at the Chinese steak house!

So that was today.  more to come on the adventures of the past two weeks, including a storm that was an EVENT and an earthquake, leaf cutter ants, and Fog you only see in the movies and central California!
C4N
Blake
ps and oh yeah the attack of the deadly driftwood!