We went to the market on Friday and we got about 3 pounds of dorado (mahi mahi) and 3 pounds of marlin. It cost $13.00 for all. We had the dorado on Friday night, yum yum, and the marlin on Saturday night. This picture is of the marlin before grilling. Matt was beside himself with anticipation. The fish is caught daily and trucked to Boquete. Large coolers of ice hold many delicious choices.

When we take the dogs on their morning walk the cats are always in a window waiting for our return.

Matt and Stacy getting ready to put the marlin on the grill.

Matt and Stacy left yesterday to go back to Denver - we hated to see them go - they are fun to be with. This picture was taken right before they left for the airport - a good luck rainbow appeared just as I took this picture.

Most recent garden shot.

A night on the town - Melissa, Sarah and Megan - Boquete will never be the same.

Stacy and Matt on their first morning walk. This is their second visit in less than a year - I think they like it. As you can see they are dressed warmly - our morning temperatures are in the low 60s. Our highs are in the low 70s.

The cats have discovered the high places in the house - I guess it was just a matter of time. Now the battle is on as to who will win the "Bad kittie - you can't be on the counter battle". Whoever said that the spray bottle routine works needs to be reminded that it only works if you're present when the transgression occurs. Consequently, we aren't sure exactly how they're managing these feats because they insist that they aren't getting on the counters.

Sarah relaxing after a long morning run. Sissy, our miniature schnauzer, is in hog heaven now that the kids are back home. She gets held and fed constantly.||

Sarah and Matt - the kids had a 4 day overlap in their visit and it made for a fun time.

We are doing work on the lower property - our neighbor Bob has designed and built a beautiful bridge that will span the creek that separates our properties. Bob is in the coveralls, Alex his gardener/handyman is in the blue cap and Michael and Matt are assisting.

Next stage of bridge - in the next few days Bob anticipates he will be finished. He has done such a beautiful job with the design and construction!

What is a garden without a sunflower or two. I planted these in the undeveloped lower garden. They have been in the ground about four weeks.||

The rainy season is officially over - the garden is now really blooming because we have a lot of sun.

Melissa, our daughter, has arrived for her second visit to Panama.

This was taken just at dusk on the upper terrace on Thanksgiving - Debbie, Patricia, Melissa and Sharon.

Sarah, our daughter, and her best amiga, Megan have arrived for their first visit.

Megan, Melissa and Sarah getting ready for New Year's eve party at the Palo Alta.

Sarah, Megan, Melissa and Mike celebrating the New Year!

Double rainbow on Christmas morning.

Beautiful sunset on Christmas day.

Melissa havesting my first celery on Thanksgiving day.

Another party!

Melissa helping Ricardo plant daisies.

Sharon watering the tropical garden.



Michael practicing his chip shots in the lower garden.

Noche listening to piano music.

Orhid blooming.

We had our coffee picked and processed for roasting. We will have it packaged this year under our own label.

The lower jungle path that we had built in October. We will keep this area rustic and native.

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Buddy & Sissy taking morning garden walk.

Going through the lower garden gate early in the morning.

Gardenia bush is blooming.

The morning glory vines are taking over the gazebo.

Mike stuck a yellow plastic flag on a pole - this is his practice green.

Our well is overflowing with plants.

The coffee is ripe!

The wispy plant is miniature bamboo - we have it planted in the spring.

The satillite dish is quickly being covered by the morning glory vines.

Look closely - this is a truck that passes the house every morning and evening. It is filled with young people being transported to the coffee farms. If you look at the back of the truck you can see just the hands of those not tall enough to see over the side.

Noche is wearing his Christmas scarf. Today he helped me transplant some seedlings. He loves to lay on the table and play with the small plants. Every now and then he eats a few of the seedlings.

This will be a large post after our return from the U.S. to bring everyone up to date on progress in the garden. Here's our tropical area beside the driveway.

These are all morning shots (about (9:00). The grass is Bermuda.

The celery, parsley, and Mexican cilantro are doing well in the herb garden.

Side gate to the back garden by the bodega.

Down the walkpath by the gazebo. The vines are covering the fencing very nicely.

Looking down to the rear garden below.

Ricardo's brother helps out one day a week. It's a big place to maintain and I have golfing obligations!

The paseflora (passion flowers) are starting to spread and bloom on the slope to the lower garden.

The field of day lilies is getting thicker all the time.

This small ravine is where the spring runs. It is thick with vegetation.

Geraniums on the bodega are doing very well.

Towards the rear of the lower garden. The hedge is the back side of my golf hole. The grass will start greening up even more now that the sun has returned.

The ironwork over the well is overgrown with flowers. That didn't take long!

These flowers form a row along the bottom walkpath and are now almost five feet high.

Another shot of the tropical garden by the driveway. Those plants are growing quickly and will be four, five, and six feet high.

More of the tropical garden.

These are alongside the road going past the house. They have an orange flower. The pots have pampas grass in them.

Left side of the driveway entrance. The vines are starting to cover the iron.

Left side of the entrance.

Looking up the road going past our house. We're on the left. Pretty quiet out here in the country!

This is our latest project. We built a path from the rear of the garden down to the stream at the very bottom of the property. It will stay very natural with coffee and whatever plants are growing there.

The coffee down below is about ready to harvest. Note the red berries. Most of the rest is still green. We're about a month away from harvesting. We plan to have our own coffee this year.

Here's a shot coming back up the new path at the rear of the garden.

Coming back up the path. The rains of October got everything super green.

Along the rear of the garden.

Banana plant is doing well.

Lots of vines coming down from this tree. You can swing like Tarzan.

The bridge area. We now have outlets throughout the garden for Christmas lights, etc.

The spring area from another angle. Hard to believe there were little sprigs of plants in there six months ago.

Impatiens at the base of the bridge. The iron has a dark green finish.

Another geranium shot. Note how rustic the walls of the buildings are.

Coming around the side of the house from the bodega to the carport area.

These windowboxes are under the office.

The cats are in their usual spot on the desk looking out at the hummingbird feeder.