Wednesday, January 29, 2020







Duo

 

Lea Feinstein and I combined our efforts--her paintings and my furniture--in  a show in her studio here in LA.  We called it  
"Duo: Two Friends from Two Coasts Working Together"

 

The space looked ultra colorful and cozy when all put together 


 


 

and drew a lot of curious people on opening night.  


 


Think they liked our stuff but it might have been the cookies loaded with chocolate chips we made.


Even dogs came.


And later, it was delightful to get these neat cards from Linda
which she painted from photos of my furniture.
 

Tuesday, January 28, 2020



Last Day in Gamboa:
The kids enjoy the Resort's pool
with fruit smoothies.
 
With a truckful of happy kiddos
 
we go to Rachel's Bat Lab
 
where she shows us a fruit bat and mentions that a mold that clings to the parasistes that cling to the bats has been named after her!  Her claim to fame:  Gloeandromyces Pageanus.
 Sounds exotic but looks less than gorgeous. 
 
 
We get in a good selfie.
Gwen gets some homework time.
 
And the next morning we head to Tucuman Airport where, after waiting ages in the check-in line we learn that we've been bumped from the flight. 
Waiting in the airport lounge for 6 hours couldn't negate the terrific week we had in Panama.  Thank you to our Gamboa guys!



Wednesday, January 22, 2020



Thursday:  Zip-Lining!
 
 
After a delicious rainy morning, we grabbed the chance of clear weather and drove to a site just outside of town that offered hiking trails and a waterfall.
 
 
An incredible waterfall--very, very high up with water cascading over cliffs and rocks down to a pool and river below.  It was breath-taking! 
 
The site had zip lines below it, right up to the top and then, insanely, out across the ravine carved out by the falls.
 
 
 
 
Many tried the introductory zip-line, not me.   
 
When the guides asked if anyone would like to go the whole route, Simon raised his hand!  And then Max volunteered--saying that his cousin was younger than he, so he had to do it or suffer ever-lasting humiliation.  The girls were out.  Rachel and David and I were never in.  But Sam and Jess, partly out of adventure and partly out of chaperoning, I imagine, were in.  Truly though, what good is a chaperone when you're miles above the ground and something might happen to your line?
 
 
We didn't want to think about that, those of us at ground level,  But we positioned ourselves on a bridge below and watched as, slowly, one after another, 4 tiny people so high above us flew over the gorge .
 
 
 
We could only guess, from such a distance, who was who,
 but when we counted all 4 safely traversed there was a sigh of relief.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Of course, when they got back, there was total elation!  
"One of life's 10 best experiences so far," said Jess. 
(what were the other 9?)
  
 
 
The proud zip-line crew.

Sunday, January 19, 2020



El Valle B&B

As I said, it was a big and wondrous house we rented in El Valle. 

There was an amazing assemblage of art and arty things from Buddhist sculptures to lovely flower paintings.  It was the eclectic assortment of lamps that drew me.  Here are some (actually, quite a few):

 







 





A cool iron stool, a frog fountain



and the Eiffel Tower made out of corks.




Thursday, January 16, 2020




More Panama

On Wednesday we took off in two cars to spend the afternoon swimming in the Pacific at the Pipas Beach Resort--a favorite stop for the Page Bethels.



The water was sublimely warm, the waves almost non-existent.  So relaxing to float away the time. 



Perfect! 



Serious sand digging by the grand kids. 


 

Serious--and relaxing--Mojito drinking. 



Then a 2-hour drive up into the mountains, seeing far-away lightening on the way.--exciting to we Burbankians as we so seldom get rain, much less thunderstorms.


 

Arriving in the the town of El Valle and to our rental--a lovely, large villa where we sat out on the veranda 



and, yes, listened to the rain.

Monday, January 13, 2020




Tuesday in Panama--

took us to the Amador Causeway--a spit of land jutting out from Panama City (actually four small islands connected by a causeway made from rock taken from excavating the Panama Canal).
 

We went looking for sloths at the Punta Culebra Nature Center, a small corridor of green cut off from surrounding forest and home to, supposedly, lots of sloths.  The kids were offered a Balboa (Panamanian dollar) for each sloth they spotted. 


Luckily for all three (Gwen still had school!) each spotted a sloth.
Here's one: very furry, somewhat large, amazingly slow moving, 
huge black finger and toe nails,
extra cute black snout.

 

Enjoying the view into the Atlantic from a lookout at Punta Culebra.


 

Enjoying our selfie at the same spot! 


Then to lunch at an outdoor cafe on the Causeway where very alert grackles (or some bird) repeatedly dove in and stole french fries or even shrimp from the kids' meals.  Had to hand it to those birds for hutzpah.

On down the road to Frank Gehry's BioMuseo. 



Movie all around--ceiling, floor, walls--showing Panama's gorgeous waters, 
mountains, flora and fauna:  rain overhead, rivers beneath us.


My favorite part, though, is the room of white sculpted creatures who for centuries migrated over the Panamanian spit between North and South America. 




Huge and tiny,


Ferocious, slinky,

 

 even arboreal.

 

 Glorious lush greens in the forest murals on the walls.

 

A photo of wasps pollinating a fig.
Love the design!
Love this museum!!