From the mouths of babes, part (today)
As I was tucking Dyson in, I told him that I loved him. He told me that he would always love me. I responded that I hoped he would remember that when he becomes a teenager.
He said, "I will love you because it is in my brain and in my heart. And in my nose. Ew! Get out of my nose!" (with nose-picking gestures…)
That’s my boy - his love for me has limits…
Nana’s back from the hospital (again)
Earlier this week, the rehab center ran some blood tests on Kel’s mom. They found that she had way too much rat poison (warfarin) in her blood and her blood was too thin (thin? what does that REALLY mean?). Upon that discovery, they sent her to ER to monitor her closely. They adjusted her meds and kept a close eye on (what exactly?) before sending her "home" (the rehab center) today.
Before leaving Charleston earlier today, I got an email from Michelle (who’s been staying with us providing a lot of wonderful support while I’ve been gone and Kel’s been wrapped up in providing coverage (and dealing with) this insane VT massacre) stating that Mom was being moved back to the rehab center. As such, I stopped by on my way home from the airport.
She seemed to be asleep when I got there. I stood just inside the door to the room. I didn’t want to wake her if she was actually asleep, but I did want to talk to her. After waiting just a minute or two, she opened her eyes and saw me. She was really happy to see me.
When I pulled out my camera, she was concerned about the appearance of her hair. I assured her that everyone just wants to see her smile, so I told her to smile pretty while I took the picture. After I took the picture, she told me she was getting pretty…
She showed me that she could move her right arm quite well, but she still has trouble with control of her fingers. She also reasserted that she was going to get better…
Michelle stopped by (before I did) and brought her some of her mail, including a slew of catalogs. Surprisingly, Mom wasn’t interested in looking at them - which is pretty atypical of her pre-stroke behavior (and she was a big fan of QVC…)
Before I left, she told me I was beautiful. Now I’m really concerned about her mental recovery…
At the Holiday Inn in Mount Pleasant, SC, they posted an interesting variation on the typical fire safety warning:
If you happen to get too close to the "fire emergency", and are smoldering, be sure to do so only in the designated smoking area…
The Britney Spears of Potato Chips
You can dress up trailer trash, but you’re never gonna convert a pig’s ear into a silk purse…
While I was in Charleston, I stopped at a local Harris Teeter to pick up a six pack. On my way the cash register, I saw these chips. (The word, "garlic", is like a homing beacon to me…)
Of course, I had to buy them.
Yep, they are identically-sized, reconstituted potato (and Natural Ingredients) chips. Thicker (and crunchier) than typical Pringles.
I wouldn’t buy them again. If I’m going to pay a "premium" price for chips, I would prefer actual sliced potatoes. Silly me…
Of course, the category is pretty limited…
One of the "hits" on my blog was an Ask.com search, limited to UK sites only (this blog is on an Irish blog host) looking for the answer to the following question, "what does IPA stand for on beer"
And my blog was the first and foremost result!
I don’t think it answered the question, though….
(It stands for India Pale Ale, by the way…)
Planet Earth - from my perspective…
Watching Discovery’s Planet Earth series (the bit about the grizzlies and the salmon) reminded me of when I used to go canoeing with Shyza. He’d stand in the shallow waters of the river and do his best to bite the fish he saw swimming just below the surface.
I don’t know that he ever caught one, but he sure seemed to enjoy it…
[All pictures are hot linked to a larger version.]
One of the day trips we took from Coronado was to El Valle de Anton.
Supposedly the whole valley is a volcano crater.
Here is a shot of part of the crater rim from the outside:
One of the big draws to El Valle is the open air market on Sundays.
Scaled by the backdrop of the mountains that ring the valley, it doesn’t look like much…
There were a lot of locally made crafts as well as plants and produce.
Across the street, a band from neighboring Ecuador rocked the hizzah, playing The Sounds of Silence on the pan pipes to the backing of a beat box…
We weren’t really sure where to go to see all of the sights of El Valle, so we followed the first sign that seemed touristy. It said, "El Nispero" and showed a picture of a bird. What the heck!
The road seemed longer due to the fact that it wasn’t paved and we had no idea if we’d actually find something interesting at the end. But the view was nice…
It turned out to be a small zoo and plant nursery.
After we parked the car, a young boy (maybe six) asked us if wanted him to "protect" our car. Huh. That was really the last place I expected to run into a protection racket. Newark, maybe…
They had a few nice displays and some interesting critters, including albino peafowl. (As well as some normal peafowl with a couple of aggressively showy males…)
Another view of the backdrop. Pictures really don’t do it justice - it’s a fantastic view…
The area was very rocky - looks like they collected a lot of the rocks and formed several non-functional walls…
El Valle is the sole home to the Panamanian golden frog, Atelopus zeteki. They had a display at El Nispero, but it was terribly dark inside the cage and I was trying to focus through some heavily corroded welded wire with tight (for obvious reasons) spacing. Yeah, yeah - excuses…
At least the picture shows that I did, in fact, see one…
One monkey checking out another…
The three-toed sloth was just as fascinated with Donna as she was with it. Obviously hamming it up for the camera…
The margay was chillin’…
while the ocelot was pacing…
You could easily stick your fingers through the fence and lost a finger to a bored big cat…
Another dramatic shot of the surrounding mountains…
We drove around for a bit and then returned to "town" to grab a late lunch at Restaurante Bruschetta (on the right). Donna & I (with Dyson by my side) walked around looking for a photo op, while Kel waited at the table and Keira used the baño…
Dyson stole my cheap sunglasses and copped a ‘tude…
Supposedly, El Valle also offers a fantastic canopy trip and some really nice hikes and waterfalls. The kids were not up to further adventures, though.
Maybe I’ll make a return visit the next time I go to Panama on business. (Should be within the next month…)
I’ll be blunt right up front. Like the rest of Central & South America, Panama is a beer wasteland.
Cervecería Barú Panamá, partially owned by Heineken (I believe), brews the biggest brand in Panama, the patriotically named Panama beer. A typical pale lager at 4.8% alcohol (by volume), not unlike every damned so-called pilsner brewed worldwide…
They also brew Guinness for the local market. This version of Guinness is similar to the Extra Stout brewed for the U.S. market, but at a slightly smaller alcohol level of 5.5% (by volume).
Grupo Cervecería Nacional de Panamá, owned by SAB Miller, makes Atlas & Balboa. Atlas is a true light beer - only 3.8% alcohol (by volume). I guess it’s safer than water…
Balboa is interchangeable with Panama.
In addition to the ubiquitous Corona, Miller Lite & Budweiser, there were a few (very few) foreign-brewed beers available. (Not easily obtainable, of course…)
Löwenbräu was actually made in Munich…
It was almost a shock to drink a lager with flavor after a week of Panama and Balboa beer…
In the local "high end" grocery store chain, Rey, I found a Trio Extra Stout from Brouwerij de Oranjeboom (Netherlands), an InBev brand.
Surprisingly, for a European-brewed beer, it was made with corn. (As was a pilsner from the same brewery that I saw, but didn’t purchase, in the grocery store.)
It was absolutely terrible. Like the first stout ever attempted by a novice homebrewer - the kind of beer that makes people claim that you can’t make good beer from extract. (I know some damn good extract brewers - experience helps regardless of your primary methodology…)
Needless to say, even though we didn’t have a lot of time at the Atlanta airport on the way back, I made a point of dragging Kel & the kids to the Delta Crown Room - I HAD to have some hops. After a couple of pints of Sweetwater 420 Pale Ale, I started to feel better…
Last weekend, Karen fixed dinner, including sweet potatoes. We put a small amount on Dyson’s plate and insisted that he try it. (I don’t like sweet potatoes myself, which is why Dyson hadn’t tried it before. Well, at least not that he could remember.)
He started getting pissy about trying it. Kel told him to open wide and started putting a piece in his mouth. He clamped down without getting any. She tried again, with sterner commands, and he managed to get a tiny piece in his mouth. And then SPIT it out.
Absolutely unacceptable. So I got out of my seat and told Dyson, quite firmly, to come with me and started walking out of the dining room.
He reluctantly got out of his chair and said, with an obvious hint of dread, "Oh no. This can’t be good."
Luckily he was out of the room before everyone started laughing. As he was got closer to me, he asked, "What are you going to do to me?"
After giving a little swat to his butt and lecturing him on being polite to anyone that goes to all the trouble to make dinner for him, I insisted that he eat a larger helping as punishment. Once we got back into the dining room, he found that he did, in fact, like sweet potatoes quite a lot, and had no problem eating all that I gave him.
Sigh. Could’ve saved us both a lot of trouble by just taking that first bite…
We have a new catch phrase around the house now…
[all pictures are hot linked to a larger version]
I, as is my habit, took a few pictures of flowers while in Panama. This post will focus only on said pictures.
Like usual, I know absolutely nothing about the flowers that I’ve photographed…
This one was almost everywhere…
A close up…
The white version…
Something else entirely…
This one was at the "zoo/nursery" in El Valle…
Dunno where I took this…
One of the places we visited was the Altos de Campana National Park. (Some nice landscape shots from that park later…) We took a hike through the cloud forest. Here are some flowers (and such) from that hike. (Regarding the first & second one, I couldn’t decide which picture I liked the best, so you get both…)
They’re all quite dark. Not much daylight penetrated the canopy or the clouds…
This looked a lot like a banana tree, although I didn’t see any bananas…
This one was so tiny it was hard to get the autofocus to behave…
Okay, it’s not a flower. But it is involved in the plant’s reproduction…
The flower itself got a bit washed out, but I liked the way that the "hairs" on the leaves are highlighted…
Back at the resort…
I was torn whether or not to include this picture, because it seems relatively boring, but what the heck…
I saw a lot of this type of fruit on the road when we went to El Valle. I also saw some people selling them along the road (although, why? They were all over the road…)
I popped one open and tasted a wee bit of the juice - quite acerbic. I wonder if they eat them raw or use them in some other fashion. I would google if I had any idea what they were…
Again, not a flower. These seed pods are about a foot or more in length. They’re almost feather-like when they "pop"….
We stopped by Gamboa on our last day. I’ve got a bunch of pictures from that portion of the trip. Until then, enjoy this flower from the edge of Gatun Lake…
Not much information, but hopefully some of you enjoy the pictures…
