Ilsa Grande

This past weekend, we made a one day trip to Isla Grande on the Atlantic side of Panama.  A baby sitter was staying with Raleigh and Stephen had access to a car so off we went.  The drive was really pleasant, interstate style highways and very nice country roads with one brief interesting stretch through a little town that was jammed.  This photos does not come close to capturing the chaos of this stretch of road.

We took a little motor boat from a busy little dock and parking lot place

a nice short 10 - 15 minute ride

and there is our hotel, and dockside restaurant where we both stayed and had dinner.

just a view of more of the hostels and tourist places

this is us going into the warren of little cottages where we stayed.  I forget the name of the place.

The end of the Island was uninhabited and real rocky with a rocky shore that was quite pretty.

the rocks were volcanic and quite rough 

On the way back we stopped at an old fort from the early 1700s the made me wonder if  Captain Jack Sparrow had been here.

He would have liked my hat.  No one else does

And actually while Jack may not have been, the British Navy certainly has.  Below is a photo of a painting from Wikipedia public domain, Samuel Scotts depiction of Admiral Vernon of the British Navy attacking and ultimately defeating the Spanish at Fort Portobello in 1739. 

He occupied and destroyed the fort and this is what is left.  His victory was received with great joy I understand throughout the colonies.  I did not perceive any lasting animosity at this particular location so I guess they have decided to let bygones be bygones.  (or perhaps Patt and I do not look British)

moe pictures of the grandson

If you might get tired of looking at photos of our youngest grandson, then perhaps this particular post is not for you.  it is for us though to share and to remember with.

Hotel pool was fun but now all the time.  We tried several things to find something we both enjoyed and the efforts were generally short lived.  See photo below.

There were several pieces of deck furniture in the pool which were ideal, I thought for playing on.  Oh well, silly me.  (I edited me out me from this picture-- those with the photo editor do have a little power that is much under appreciated)

One thing that was fun for a while was catching the heavy drips of rain running off of the sun shelter on the pool deck.  (there was a brief intense rain shower while we were swimming - surprise surprise - rain in Panama, who would have expected it?).

and guess who much prefers to be carried than to be sentenced to being imprisoned in a stroller.

 Note the grin behind the pacifier - and note the second pacifier  in the right hand and "blue bear" in the other.   That grin represents Granddad violating major house rules in allowing all three items out of the crib area.  Who knew?

We spent some time with a host of other kids with young moms, nannies, and grandparents at a nearby by playground.  the baggy pants I liked.

In Panama again

It is good to be here again and see our youngest grandson, Raleigh.  Despite the apprehension shown here, with this askance look towards me, he does appear glad to have visitors from the north - and quickly recognized us as special (that is our story and we are sticking to it)

Our hosts have made arrangements for us in a hotel just around the corner from their new apartment.

 and I will have to do a blog on this relationship shown in photo below.  Deuce and Raleigh and who could be called with complete justification, Deuce the wonder dog.  What she puts up with would make Thomas Paine shudder.

see what I mean

and we are providing a very good audience for Raleigh to entertain.  He is proving to be quite the entertainer and we are a willing and encouraging audience.

Referencing the earlier mention of their new apartment, the view out of the main room dinning/ living/ kitchen, (great room?) window - and corresponding breeze is fabulous.  This is what I am looking at as I sit at the dinning room table- it is due south by the way.

 and from the kitchen bar, food prep area and over the living room area , this is the view- which is west for those of you orienting yourselves and is also stunning.  The north view is into the side of the Waldorf hotel and the pool deck.

Big day for the Gunny

• Yesterday Andrew got promoted to Marine Corps Gunnery Sargent at the New River Marine Air Station.  It was quite the big deal.  Here is his Sargent Major reading him his rank and orders while his Colonel looks on.  You will note that apparently the barber stays fairly busy.

Then Eric, Jenna, and Barb pinned Andrew's new lapel pins on that designated new rank

following which, peers and others friends/crew chiefs/ pilots and such who had been lined up watching gave the ole well done and welcome to a new club secret hand shake and stuff.

The large number of unwashed civilians in attendance then got into the picture.  Note the large rain puddles in the background.  We had the benefit (?) of eastern NC's humidity and heat as the rain was before and after the ceremony but not during.  It was not one of those blue sky days.

Being on base and "knowing someone who was "someone", we then went into one of the large hangers where helicopters are repaired.  In the foreground are the propellers and which are seen in the photo below

the two helicopters in the background, minus propellors, are for some reason gray, matching the sky.

there were helicopters as far as you could see, coming and going, landing and taking off as New River is a major training facility for -- you guessed it - helicopter flying.

Here is a photo of Andrew with Jenna, who with Andrew did a wonderful job hosting all that crowd of civilians at their home in Wilmington for dinner after the tour of the hanger.

and here is Andrew with yours truly and you will notice that Andrew has a big grin in both photos.  In fact that grin was Andrew's companion the entire day.  It was indeed a good day for Andrew.

What ? has it been two weeks already ?

It has been over two weeks since I posted last about nothing happening well that continued for a bit longer but finally --

Well like Scarlet said  "Tomorrow is another day"  and indeed it finally got here.  The port-a-jon is gone from the font yard and we have moved out of the basement.  Early last week we finally got the last of the various tradesmen, craftsmen, inspectors and so on to complete enough of their tasks to get clean up done and moving back in started.

 above is Oscar the main carpenter guy and below is one of the various painter/plaster guys

 and below was highlight - two different guy from different companies working at the same time.  Also in the photo is the pleasant shade of green port-a-jon that graced our front yard for three short - count 'em - three months.

 Towards the end you would have thought the scene below was what we were aiming for.  Partial completion of about everything.  Ask us if we were frustrated.  No don't scratch that scab.

Anyway moving day finally got here end of last week and we move into the new space day and out of the garage and basement day.  Note the basement kitchen we had been using of microwave toaster oven and not seen but often used hotplate.  Note also neat comfortable arrangement of living space with ample storage of stuff while in the basement.  Note also James doing some of the work.  We were some kinda glad to have him here helping.  He carried hundreds of boxes of dishes, pots, silverware, and stuff back up the stairs.

Here is Patt thinking just what ought to go where and why do we have so many boxes of zip lock plastic bags ?  I packed up all that stuff and knew we had multiples of some supplies- I apparently in my last year or two of grocery shopping think the coupon for zip lock bags for example needs to be used every time you see one since zip lock bags are so handy.  Apparently you don't need umpteen boxes.

 Anyway we are making progress in putting away stuff:  and we do like the open look of the new arrangement.

Getting the rest of the boxes unloaded  and finishing moving in will help.  

And we do like the lighter floor color

We still have a way to go but we are getting there.

The personality of the house is different and it lives differently already.

Looking forward to having some guests. 

A bit of reality check.  We still have a punch list.  Not a long one nor one that is one to worry about, or one that hinders our living in the new space at all -- so compared to where we have been -- we are in good shape- as is obvious.

update on the tomorrow of promise

well tomorrow got here -- which actually was yesterday, and the painter did not show up, the plumber did and completed his work,  and the electrician did too and did a lot of stuff, but he needed the painter to do some plaster work and he also did not have all needed supplies so he said he would be back tomorrow meaning today but it is late in the afternoon and he is not here so perhaps it will really be tomorrow.  The electrician  did discover something that required the gas guy to have to return which he did do today.  - as promised -

did you follow all that, it is complicated -- I am so glad the private sector is so reliable and does things right the first time and gets to critique us government workers -- which the electrician did to no end.  I think he listens to Rush.

no new photos taken but here is one that I am so glad to no longer have operational.  It is of the staircase when it was covered to help control the dust and dirt from all the work.

I can not remember if I used them before of not but they were such a pain to navigate entry and exit to the stairwell and so depressing.  They were a big part of this project.

we actually ended up putting old sheets on the steps to help keep the carpet clean and not track trash up stairs.  Complain complain whine whine whine.  I need to get over it. ya think

at least this stuff is gone.

and upon review and reflection we are making incremental progress - incremental- and the painter is coming tomorrow. 

Getting new floors and Kate Graduated too

Logical title of a blog is't it?  Well actually it is.  Our renovations continue at a snails pace.  (But the snails pace movement is not the link to Kate.)   Over the last two weeks, the floors were sanded -- here is living room with edges sanded and parts of the den sanded (note the new opening between the two rooms)

 Here is an actual worker working in the dinning room.  The entire first floor, old and new floors were sanded and stained.

 and here is the new look.  Lighter and brighter and the finish has some name like "historic oak" or something like that in case you were interested in that type of information.  Just remember, often wrong never in doubt when dealing with me and this level of knowledge about stuff.

I do know the walls are not "urban putty",  We considered that shade of white/gray and did not like it.   I do like the new floors and the new paint on the walls whose proper name escapes me.  I will make up something if it pleases you, or if you want to know exact color of white that is not white or gray that we ended up with.

and now to Kate's graduation and how these posts are linked.  -- While floors were being refinished (during refinishing one can not be in the house due to access and odors/fumes) we were refugees in Graham, which coincided with Elon College's -- check that --University's 2013 Class getting certified.   We stayed with  Janet at het house.  Absolutely enjoyed our time there.  She has the most wonderful screen porch and backyard.  We did indeed enjoy our time there.


And while there we celebrated Kate's graduation many times over.  Kate was extremely patient, being photographed approximately 8 or 9 times.  And she did indeed complete requirements for graduation and has diploma to prove it.

 Photos courtesy of Kelly and Beth, who report that Kate was number 135 from the left in the  photo (or in the program ) out of about 6,483, 497, 357, 344, 361 graduates in Elon's largest class yet.

Here Kate is surrounded by Dad and Uncles with Name tags to assist recent grads, (you know how those Elon grads are)  and uncles have provided no end of good advice on next steps after graduation.

From what we understand the major suggestions still under consideration remain, Charlotte Police Academy, Thomas OTH truck driver & heavy equipment operator's school, and the Professional Bar Tending Institute of Greensboro.  So it is obvious additional training is in the future.

 The full array of aunts, uncles and parental units (also with name tags) 

Congratulations Kate.

and 

btw

we are now back in Raleigh,

the electrician did not show up today, 

due tomorrow,

the plumber did come today

but must come back tomorrow

the painter is due tomorrow 

tomorrow is an important word in my vocabulary you may have noticed

somehow I think tomorrow will not be as full as expected

today certainly wasn't