Weekly Photo Challenge: Shadowed

Posted on January 12, 2015 by Kris Cunningham

This week didn’t go as planned. I am at my daughter’s home in Seattle. The cat was sitting on the floor where the ceiling track light was casting a sharp shadow, making a perfect photo for this challenge. Of course, as soon as I grabbed the camera the cat had left to join the others in the anxious wait for breakfast.

Is it time??
it must be time! Please, soon!!!

Well OK then, if I can’t photograph the cats the way I want, I will play with the shadows of the chair legs.

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Breakfast is finally served, and calm and contentment returns among the household cats. Pumpkin takes up her favorite spot on a barstool, which I thought made for some interesting ideas with the reflections in the countertop.

It is a cat ball!
oh, did you want me to look your way?
how is this?
i am quite the cat
the fridge also makes interesting reflections
i am the cat!

And then, suddenly, in a flash, the cat jumps to the other barstool and there is a brief but unmistakable cat shadow!

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Enough of chasing the elusive cat shadows. Let’s get on with the day.

Joel discusses modeling ideas with Pumpkin.
Maple takes up her day position to watch the state of the world outside.

This doesn’t exactly meet the photo challenge but it was fun just the same.

 

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Windy Season!

Posted on January 7, 2015 by Kris Cunningham

In mid to late December the rainy season ends and summer starts. This is the dry and sometimes windy season. The last three days have been very windy indeed! It seems the winds have been stronger and have lasted longer than what I remember from other summers. I can only imagine what it is like higher up in the mountains where it tends to be much windier than down here closer to sea level.

So, it is windy and there are leaves and debris everywhere, and biking home is especially challenging against the head wind. But, there have also been some more unusual occurrences in the last couple days.

The oropendolas have made some nests in a tree in our neighborhood park. The other day I noticed that one of them was missing, one was swinging free, and the third was hung up on an neighboring branch (no worries, it had righted itself today). I can only imagine being in those nests as they swing wildly in the strong winds!
We went back later to see if we could find the fallen oropendola nest, and sure enough it was in the grass beside the road. Here Joel is holding it so you can get a sense of how very big it is. It’s interesting that these birds build these long nests with the entrance up near the top, and climb down into them to lay their eggs and care for their young. Thankfully there were no eggs or babies in this nest! The nests are fairly new so maybe they hadn’t gotten to that part yet.
Then, there was an even bigger surprise. I came home to find our big guaba tree had fallen down, partly into our yard and partly into the street.
The tree had gotten very big and I was going to have it trimmed as soon as the fruit was ready. Then we could all enjoy all the fruit that is too high up to reach.
The tree was full of fruit! Unfortunately it was no where near ready. When mature these very large, hard seed pods are full of seeds with a sweet, delicious, fluffy fruit around them. The whole neighborhood was looking forward to enjoying all this fruit.
We spent the afternoon sawing and cutting and hauling pieces to the woods behind the house. As the yard was cleared I could see that my pretty coconut tree and the plantains were damaged but should recover. I might have lost a yuca or a pineapple plant, but both are easily replaced.
This part of the side fence is going to need some repair. Everyone seems to believe the tree is too damaged and will not come up from the roots.
In any tree, there has to be at least one new and interesting bug. This one finally sat still on my camera case long enough for me to snap a decent photo.
The next day Rubin comes to the rescue. He’s not very big but he is amazingly strong.
Rubin is a master of the machete and quickly made short work of clearing the road. (Thankfully we are the last house on our side of the street, and the neighbor across the street was away so we weren’t keeping him from getting in and out).
It was amazing how much Rubin got done in a short amount of time. When I came home from my morning ride, this is what I found! If you look closely you can see some green leaves on the tree stump. These are actually a baby tree growing next to the stump so maybe all is not lost after all. If this one grows, in a few years we will have another tree.
The yard looks quite different and has much less shade, but now we have a view of the woods beyond.

I have written about the oropendolas in the past HERE. This post has some photos of the birds making nests in this very same spot. Fortunately these didn’t fall down until many months later (and unfortunately landed in the street and were destroyed by the cars). Here also is a video of one of them doing his interesting and unique display.

The guaba, also knows as the Inga or ice cream fruit, is an interesting tree. It is a nitrogen fixing tree and there are about 300 species of them, found mainly in the Amazon rain forest. Some have pods as much as a meter long!  Here is another article with some good pictures of the fruit that is familiar to us here.

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Weekly Photo Challenge: New

Posted on January 2, 2015 by Kris Cunningham

Weekly Photo Challenge: New

I have something new in the yard. I like to garden, and if you can have something pretty that also produces food, so much the better. Here in Panama many foods are new to me, as are the plants that produce them.

Little by little as time allows I have been cleaning up and arranging the yard. My friends have helped me with advice, suggestions, seeds, and plant starts. Now we have bananas, pineapples, coconuts, plantains, guandu (pigeon peas), baby coffee plants, as well as a number of fruit trees that were here when I arrived.

My latest addition is yuca (or cassava). I saw someone planting it in the neighborhood and asked what he was doing. All you need is a stick or cutting, put it in the ground with part below and part above ground, and wait for leaves to appear. There is yuca growing wild in the woods, so off I went with my cutters to bring some home and give it a try.  In about six months it should be ready for me to dig the tubers, with any luck about 15 pounds of them per plant.

115new

I also learn new things through blogging. I read the Wikipedia link for yuca and learned a lot! Apparently this plant has poisons, so it must be cooked or properly processed to remove the toxins. I’m glad I didn’t take a bite of the raw root just to try it. The leaves can also be eaten but they also must be cooked to get rid of the toxins.

This root is a major food source for over half a billion people in Africa, Asia, the Pacific Islands, and other tropical areas such as Panama. Of all the root vegetables available here, it is one of my favorites. I will be very happy if I can grow yuca in my yard and enjoy the harvest. At the rate I’m going my yard is going to look more like a farm every year. But, here in Panama, this is very normal. It seems like almost everyone is growing food of one sort or another in their yards.

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Warmth

Posted on January 2, 2015 by Kris Cunningham

Weekly Photo Challenge: Warmth

We are going into summer here so warmth is not a problem. We have left the rainy season of warm and balmy days and afternoon rains, and have come into the dry season of warmer, dry, and breezier days and slightly cooler nights.

A couple days ago I biked to Boquerón which took me about 1 1/2 hr. It was a clear day, the sun was intense, and I was definitely more than warm when I arrived. I had a very enjoyable break with my friend and fellow blogger Richard, and I drank an entire pitcher of ice water while we chatted.

This adorable three year old also wanted to chat while her mom worked making food and serving the customers. She played with everything on my bike, asked us a hundred questions, drug chairs over to inspect the higher parts of the bike, and did her best to keep the conversation going non stop even when Richard and I took an aside for our own conversation. The Panamanians generally have wonderful warm smiles, but the children are especially beautiful in this regard.

115warmth

It was a warm day, we were greeted warmly and cared for with kindness at the fonda, and the little girl was like a bit of sunshine. I think that covers “warm” quite well!

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Yellow

Posted on January 2, 2015 by Kris Cunningham

Weekly Photo Challenge: Yellow  With this week’s challenge, show us what yellow means to you.

Yellow?? This is a country of green. There isn’t much yellow that comes to mind, but after days of thought here are a few photos.

There are the yellow walls of the new overpass, easy to see in the day or night.
There were a lot of these green and yellow butterflies at the river one day.
I have some yellow flowers growing along my front fence.
The yellow stems of this coconut are really pretty. This was a gift from my good friend Hydeé so it means a lot to me.
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Feliz Año Nuevo – Happy New Year

Posted on January 2, 2015 by Kris Cunningham

Celebrations in Panama are always fun and interesting, and New Year’s Eve is no exception. There are the expected midnight parties and lots of fireworks, of course, and something else I find especially interesting – the muñecos.

A muñeco is an effegy, often of a political figure, but it can be of absolutely anything the person wants. It can represent good things and wishes for the coming year, but it often represents frustrations and bad things from the past year which are set on fire at midnight and go up in smoke. I can think of a few bad years in my past that I would have loved to watch go up in smoke!

I think the interior provinces of Panama participate in this practice more, but I did see quite a few muñecos in our area, including one in our neighborhood that was great fun.

This was in town on a side street.
There was one in front of this upscale home with some huge Christmas decorations.
Seen at a construction site on the way to Boquete
There is a back street north of town where some indians live in a very simple house by a creek. This was out in front of their place.
I’m not sure why many of them have beer and liquor bottles.
This one was in our neighborhood. “What if I tell you that I got rich with the people’s money”
Close to midnight, the muñeco was put in a pickup and slowly paraded around the neighborhood with a caravan of vehicles. Someone was behind the muñenco making it wave its arms, and there was much honking of horns and hollering.
As I snapped this photo there was another caravan going down another street, apparently from a nearby neighborhood.
After the driving around, the muñenco is taken out of the truck and everyone gets their picture taken with it.
Even the neighborhood stray dog gets in on the action (sorry, took me a bit to get my flash in action)
I was there, so I was encouraged to get in on the photo action.
Joel also gets a photo
At midnight, the muñenco is set on fire. This looks a bit creepy so remember it is only straw, old clothes, and firecrackers.
The flames intensify
and rounds of fireworks crackle and pop!
As the evening went on, there were really beautiful fireworks going off in many directions.
People here can have the big fireworks that are only allowed for professionals in the US. I appreciate everyone who set off fireworks because there were so many really beautiful ones to see!
Something new I hadn’t seen before were these balloons. We saw some floating above the neighborhood, and then the neighbors down the street set a few off into the night sky. It was so beautiful to watch these balls of light and fire gently drifting overhead through the dark sky.

There is an interesting article HERE about the muñencos in Panama. I’m sure a Google search will bring up more if you are interesting in learning more.

Once again, it was a great neighborhood party. We were greeted, kissed on the cheek, and wishes Feliz Año Nuevo by so many people, and I had a great conversation with a new family down the street that I didn’t know before. If you want to have a good time here you only need to walk out your front door. That’s one of the many things I love about the Panamanian people.

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Crocodiles in Panama

Posted on December 28, 2014 by Kris Cunningham

This interesting photo has been making the rounds lately on the internet and Facebook.

1214crocodile1

Word is that this crocodile was caught in the Panama Canal near Colon at the north end of the canal. I do not know if it is true or not, but it is known that there are large crocodiles in that area. The picture is a bit tricky because you don’t see it right away, but the crocodile is actually on a flat bed truck so the people behind it look deceptively small. Truck or no though, it definitely is a large crocodile and I would not want to encounter it.

This particular bit of news has been interesting to me and my blog because it caused a huge spike in my blog traffic and surprised the heck out of me. People have been searching for information about crocodiles in Panama on Google and other search engines, and an old blog post about crocodiles kept popping up.

We have not seen any crocodiles in this area. The closest is a small caiman in the river and the neighbors said even that is very unusual. But, after living around alligators in Florida we are very used to being careful in fresh water. It is said that the crocodiles here are most likely to be found at the mouths of rivers where the fresh water flows into the sea which happens not too far south of us in Pedrigal.

I saw headlines on the PanamaGuide.com that the crocodile has been released. Unfortunately you have to pay if you want to read more than the first couple lines of the article, and I cannot find any other information to substantiate this news. I do hope though that if this crocodile was indeed captured that it has been released. Of course I don’t want any loss of life from wildlife but hopefully with precautions and education, we can all manage to live peacefully with the diverse wildlife that is found in this part of the world. This is one of the things that makes Panama so fascinating.

Here’s another picture of the crocodile I found on line. Don’t go swimming in the Panama Canal!

crocodile1

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Christmas in Panama

Posted on December 27, 2014 by Kris Cunningham

Another holiday season is flying by! But, it has been another excellent Christmas. It is interesting to see how it is celebrated here, both the differences and similarities.

One big similarity which I’m not sure is a good thing, is the commercialism of the holiday. Decorations and promotions started to appear in stores two months beforehand since there isn’t that Thanksgiving date to mark (though Black Friday was observed for the first time, complete with crowds and overflowing parking lots). As it got closer to Christmas the crowds and traffic increased daily. The last week downtown was closed to traffic, stores were crowded, and it was almost impossible to drive around town except in the mornings. Yes, the Panamanians did some serious shopping!

But, Christmas is also a traditional family event and a time of celebration. Unlike the US though, Christmas Eve is the height of the celebration. Families and friends get together, often making the rounds to a number of homes of of family and friends, and many celebrate with fireworks. In every neighborhood the fireworks increased throughout the evening with the climax at midnight to usher in the day of Christmas. Then, at midnight, everyone is wished a Merry Christmas (in person or by phone or whatever means of communication is possible), dinner is served, and presents are opened

There continues to be celebrations on Christmas day as well. Families and friends who couldn’t get together on Christmas Eve see each other on Christmas day, and I saw many homes in our neighborhood had gatherings. I was also surprised to see how many people were working on Christmas Day. I talked to a car mechanic, a small engine repairman, and even the trash men were making their Thursday rounds. Supermarkets were open, and of course there were policemen on duty.

Here with us and our friends it was a relaxed and quiet holiday. Many kids were elsewhere celebrating with other family members, so we made the traditional holidays foods for dinner but enjoyed the evening at our own pace and appreciated the neighborhood fireworks that made the night so festive.

1214ChristmasDinner1

Here is the majority of our Christmas food. At the top of the table are the tamales, next to the green beans. Below them is chicken with traditional Panamanian flavorings, and next to that is arroz con guandu (rice and pigeon peas). This and the tamales are pretty much requirements for festive dinners, and especially for Christmas. Guandu comes in green, spotted, or black. These are mine from last year preserved in the freezer, and they are black which is why the rice looks so dark. The dish sure tasted good though!

Moving on, next on the right is a fruit cocktail of apples, pears, grapes, and oranges. Sangria is in the cup made with cranberry juice and fresh squeezed orange juice. I never made it with orange juice before but it is really good. We also had iced tea for anyone who wanted something non-alcoholic. The pink dish is potato salad made with beets. It is made like most potato salads but with the addition of beats which give it this festive color. Because of that it is popular at many holiday dinners. Not pictured – the very illegal (diet wise) but wonderful cheesecake, thanks to Pricesmart. I wanted a tres leche cake but they didn’t have one, and I couldn’t come home empty handed after all.

Like the US, food is an important part of the holiday and every family has their favorite dishes and recipes. Food and treats are on hand for any guests, and it is especially nice if they are home made. And, also like the US, often there is the head woman of the kitchen who knows all the family favorites and how to make them.

Cedo, la jefe (the one in charge) of her kitchen.

Cedo, la jefe (the one in charge) of her kitchen.

Next comes New Years so we aren’t finished with celebrating yet. TIP = This Is Panama though, so we are never finished with celebrating! That’s OK though because it’s nice living in a country of endless celebrations.

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Twinkle

Posted on December 27, 2014 by Kris Cunningham

Weekly Photo Challenge: Twinkle This week, share with us your photos of twinkling light. You will need to find a light source and a reflective surface in order to capture a twinkle, but those are the only limitations.

The obvious subject is Christmas lights, but I felt like doing something different. I passed this stream in the woods and loved the sunlight sparkling off the water.

And, this spider web shimmering in the sunlight caught my eye.

 

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Gone, but not Forgotten

Posted on December 27, 2014 by Kris Cunningham

Weekly Photo Challenge: Gone, but not Forgotten  In today’s challenge, show us what “gone, but not forgotten” means to you.

I am woefully behind on photo challenges. I got really stuck on this one, then I got busy with holiday activities and the days flew by. That’s my excuse. I usually use current photos for photo challenges, and how do you photograph something that is gone? I finally realized that of course, I will have to dig back through old photos. I decided to choose my former Florida life which is gone, but not forgotten even though the memories of those years are fading in the face of my new and different life here.

I had a couple water lily ponds on our Florida back yard. I loved them for the beautiful flowers and plants, and all the wildlife they attracted. I never got tired of photographing the water lilies!
I love the water lilies with their delicate petals and soft colors.
Bees loved the waterlilies but we didn’t see these pretty green bees very often.
We did see a lot of honey bees though, and a swarm actually moved into the siding of our house. This was the beginning of my experiences with beekeeping. I’m not sure what I was doing here. I think I had put out a box after collecting the honey so the bees could clean it up. I see a box in the background with a bottle of sugar water so that must have been a new colony I just put in and didn’t have it’s own honey supply yet.
We also had tons of frogs, toads, and tadpoles in the pond and they could make quite a racket. These tree frogs liked to live behind the house shutters. They weren’t very happy when we renovated the house for sale and removed the shutters in the process.
One day we got a heck of a surprise. An alligator snapping turtle had moved into the pond and was eating the water lilies! We could not figure out how he got into our fenced, Jack Russell proof yard. We carefully removed enough plants to track him down, scooped him up with a big net, tossed him in a trash can and promptly took him the river and set him loose. One could lose a toe to that beast while working in the pond!
Florida also had some amazing sunsets. It looks like we climbed up on the roof one evening to capture this sight. Since Joel was the most likely to be on the roof, I will give him credit for this photo.

xxx

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