City Born Girl in Panama Country Life

  "Order what you want, eat what you get."  These are eight perfect words for life in Panama.  Heck!  Great words for what is happening around the world at the moment!     Thanks to Caryn and her recent visit with her spouse, my cousin Ron, I now have a great 'ism'.  A saying.  Sage advice to mess around with.  Her stories about  global travels in leadership training and management consulting yielded this gem.  She was told this at a restaurant while dining with her client in Thailand. This, after she was served something other than what she thought she ordered. Lately, our orders yield something close to what we end up getting. But, 'close' by what measure? Orders not in a restaurant sense but working with our Panamanian service providers.   A commitment to begin work on a Tuesday typically yields someone showing up on a Thursday.  Or the following week on a Tuesday. Sunday night. My phone dings.  I tense a...

 Codi is out.  His morning routine is underway.  Barking at the farm workers that pass by our gate on their way to the bus stop is an important job.  This oddly comforts me rather than annoying.  I seek anything familiar and routine in this, a chaotic and devastating, start to 2025. The normal routines of the farm go forward as if nothing else in the world impinges.  The horses clang their feed buckets as the sky yields pinks and corals heralding the sun.  The nocturnal sounds recede as the morning birds fill the air with their song.  I take comfort.  I need comfort.  Los Angeles, my childhood stomping grounds, is burning to the ground. This new year began with family visits.  Cousins on both my mom's and dad's side have finally come to see what our Panama farm life is all about.  There will be a constant flow of family through the next few months.  I am my mother's daughter... I delight in this company and the ability to ...