It's the start of rainy season ...

So many plants are now in bloom, like the bird beaks below:

Don't know what these are called, but the blossom comes up first, then the leaves take over for most of the year:

The datura are in full trumpet, too - see the next 2 photos for a couple of the different varieties:


Last year's little terrace project is growing in, and will really start looking good with the return of the rain:

But the poor bananas had a really rough windy season, so they look quite pitiful:

This terraced area is one of the next areas I plan to plant:

& here's one last garden photo for this segment:

Unusual winds

Before I say anything else, let me assure you that the only damage our own property suffered was 2 small branches breaking - they both landed without incident. Oh, and if I' being totally candid, 3 empty flower pots tried to use the unusual weather to take flying lessons, but since they were caught (and out in the corner to think about their folly) I didn't count them as a casualty.

Most of the trees that fell were either cedars, like this one or -


pines, that are shown in the next 2 pics.


And all the trees that came down in our particular area were on Juan's property .. the local indians call him "king Juan'... most of the rest of us understand why he got the nickname. Since just about every tree that came down also took out portions of his 'fortress wall', there's a lot of gossip about divine justice and karma.... I could go into a lot of detail, but I'll just say that the legal placement of Juan's 6 kilometers of rock wall are a questionable distance from the road & I've heard him brag that this is his way of forcing the road onto the neighbor's property, thus increasing his holdings.

The paint is still drying, but -

The pint is still drying, but if I say so myself, I think I'm getting the hang of painting - still can't quite get a whole flower on a canvas, though (and that canvas is 2' x 3', which is a whole lot bigger than the whole plant was). Anyway, I'm still having fun, though my clothes do seem to manage to collect more than their fair share of added color.

Dry season has arrived....

Now that dry season is finally here, we can have the windows open, which means we can do smelly projects - for instance, the polyurethane fumes, which we used to seal the faux ties on the living room floor & the shelving unit Paul suspended over the rock Carlos left in our living room floor ... I'm still not 100% thrilled with that rock, mainly because that was supposed to be an open area/walkway & that rascal loves to trip people. Hence the shelves Paul suspended in the danger area.

This is the corner on the other side of the front door:

And this is a view of the living room from the dining room - the open door on the left goes to the back patio.

In the yard....

Alexandra, Doris' dog, found this potential playmate hanging onto a philodendron leaf
The little guy never did come down to play.
Then, Paul spotted this on a leaf next to our door .... anyone have a clue what it is?
I had to look at it from the other side, but Paul saw right off that it was a praying mantis.

Some rainy seasons get SO wet that -

The local kids looking at the way the last gully-washer changed the creek that runs behind our house - this is actually about 1/2 a kilometer downstream from our house --- see how rocky our soil is? Also note that whatever einstein designed the new bridge, actually created quite a fine dam!
This is a closeup of where the bridge joins the dirt road - looks to me that if someone doesn't do something, that bridge could end up being an island. I'm not kidding you, that truly was a bridge - is now an odd sort of ford.

And this shot is a closeup of how every little rock protects (at least long enough for a photo) the ground underneath it:

Despite the rain, interesting new bugs are appearing in the garden

& Our peach-colored Angel Trumpets (about a foot long) perfume the air.

In the area -

This is a portion of one of our local hydroelectric projects ... very picturesque and functional, too. Unfortunately, many of Panama's water rights are being purchased by other countries, and the newer hydroelectric projects that are going in are not so picturesque - worse, the electricity will be sent to other places and the profits will go there, too.


View of Paso Ancho from the coffee farm that's up the mountain from our house - soon, coffee beans will be ripe and the sounds of workers picking will join the bird's songs.