I was surprised to find a lot of citrus in this tropical country, but it seems to thrive here. Of course I was familiar with citrus from living in Florida, but it was the usual oranges, grapefruits, and some lemons and limes. Here though, there are a lot more varieties. There are juice oranges, more green and yellow than pretty orange but very good. There are “mandarinas”, fairly large and deep green, with sweet delicious orange flesh. There are grapefruits, maybe not as pretty as we are used to but really tasty.

Then there are limones (lemons), an amazing variety of limones. There are huge lemons, called “Noriegas” because of their (edible) bumpy skin. There are little key limes. There are yellow lemons that aren’t sour. There are the smallish limones with beige patches on the green skin, and very juicy and yummy orange flesh. There are others without patches and slightly lighter flesh. It seems like I’m always running across a new kind of lemon. They all have specific names but I haven’t gotten past “limón” for everything.

In our yard alone we have oranges, mandarinas, limón, and something that is fruiting for the first time after almost being killed by leaf cutter ants. The Noriega lemon I grew from seed is thriving but not fruiting yet. Right now though, the limón is flowering and it smells so sweet! It’s on the back side of the house but when the breeze blows it brings the fragrance through the yard. It still has fruit too, which I had better pick and juice to make way for the new crop.

So, this is what I am doing, sitting on the terrace enjoying the smell of limón blossoms and somewhat cooler air. I don’t know what is going on with the weather lately. I went out on my bike Tuesday afternoon and it looked like summer, clear sky, pretty clouds against the setting sun, and a headwind coming back.

Yesterday was too hot even for me. It was sunny, windy, and so hot our little AC was no match for it. My neighbor said the old people are saying summer is coming back and the old people know a lot, so it could be. Nooooo! It’s supposed to be raining, and cooler! Today was better, still hot but with cloud cover so not as bad. At least we have water 24/7, and it’s not snowing, or any number of other things I would dislike a lot more, and I can spend the hot part of the afternoon playing bass in front of a fan. Tomorrow evening we play outdoors in Boquete, which can remind me of why we live in rhis warm place 😁