I came out to eat breakfast and ewwww. What’s that smell? I have this plant that makes spectacular flowers but they smell like rotting meat. Thankfully the breeze doesn’t blow it this way very much. It’s a Stapelia or carrion flower https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stapelia  

A funny  – I gave a cutting to my neighbor. One day they smelled something bad and looked everywhere. Was it a dead mouse? They even looked in the ceiling before they realized their plant was blooming. Now she pulls off the flower buds before they open. This plant is an import, not a Panama native. I found it at the Féria that’s held every summer.

Blue morpho butterflies are native though, and they are spectacular! They like old fruit, and since we compost we see them here. They take a lot of patience to photograph though since they only pop open their wings for a split second. My pictures from the other day aren’t worth sharing but I have this much better video I took some time ago.

We also see a lot of owl butterflies which are equally large but not colorful. They fly through the yard like they are drunk,  but they seem to get where they want to go. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owl_butterfly  They also like the fruit in the compost pile.

On another subject, they have been repaving the Panamerican Highway through town. Yesterday they were a bit west of Terronal and traffic was rerouted to one side of the road but it wasn’t too bad. They are doing a really nice job and the finished parts are great. I still say, however, that traffic lights are the first priority but the planners didn’t ask my opinion 😳

Working hard

There was a gal operating that big machine that chews up the old asphalt

I have decided that October is my very favorite month. We live in (deathly hot, according to many) David but it’s been so beautiful. Some mornings are pleasantly  cloudy but even when it’s sunny, by the time it’s getting uncomfortably hot the clouds are moving in. We have some days with gentle afternoon rains and others with crazy downpours. Last Thursday we had one of the most intense storms I can remember. The thunder was right overhead and deafening, and the rain poured down in buckets! It even knocked out the power for a couple hours. That night though it was so cool that I had to have a blanket over my lap.  Many, if not most evenings are that cool now. Summer will be coming all too soon and I’ll miss this rainy season. But, we don’t have to work outside or even go anywhere most of the time so I have a different perspective than many.

Well that’s all I have on my mind at the moment. This morning is beautiful and sunny, and I’m enjoying listening to the activity in the neighborhood. La vida tranquila en Panama 🇵🇦