AUGUST 2006: “I'm gonna need a hacksaw . . .” [continued]


Our next "grouping" is due to requests I received from some of you, requests for more images depicting Panama's "ambiance," for want of a better word. Unfortunately, TC and I seldom take pictures that could be labeled "tourist" or "travel" photos, but recently, when friends from Santa Barbara visited, they did! So, thanks to Pat and Dave Kistler for just about all of the photos in this next batch, which I call: "Local Color."

I promise, in the not too distant future, to assemble a more extensive group of photos to impart a better feel for life here. Actually, were I to scour all the months worth of photos we have, I probably would find a pretty good mix of shots from around the country, which would save everyone from having to go back and re-read and re-visit all the text and photos on this site, well, except me. Still, I always respond to requests...one way or another.

Okay, just because it's done now, I'll include a very few of the last shots taken of the allee construction process. See how I suffer for you? I mean, the last thing I want to do is revisit the construction process of anything! I have now foresworn building in any and all of its forms for the rest of my unnatural life. Meantime, click on the picture, if you want to subject yourself to the agony of it. Sheesh.

I'm pretty sure the gazebo will have lost it's canvas cover and gained a ceiling of vines, before the allee has so much as bushy sideburns, if you know what I mean. Things grow fast here in Panama, but not that fast. It will be several years before our golden chain trees provide much in the way of shade under the allee.

Well, our galleries are dwindling down to a precious few. In fact, there are only two to go! Hoohah! Next up, for you connoisseurs of style, is improvements to and photo impressions of Casa Ingaso, itself. Plants are filling in, last details are being done, and a seeming completion is at hand. Of course, pundits say a house is never completed, but you should at least be able to sit at your island to eat breakfast, shouldn't you? We haven't been able to since the island was made, but we can now! Just click on through the pictures to see what the heck I'm babbling about. Don't worry, you'll be brought back here again. (I like this power I have over you!!)

That leaves us with one last gallery: "Plants!" This is for all your plant lovers out there; you know who you are. TC's constant focus on obtaining and planting and caring for her gardens is having its effect: greenery is ascendant!

Even more than the new stools, or bookcases, or a big-screen TV (which really says a lot for me), TC's gardening is making Ingaso feel more and more like "home," whatever that illusive word means to you. Just as our pets bring us love and entertainment, along with their endless forms of engagement, so too our plants and trees and their care not only fill our lives with new relationships and the joy of their beauty, but also a richer experience of Ingaso.

We are blessed. Many people are responsible for our current situation, and many others contributed to it in an infinite number of known and unknown ways. Really, when I think about it, I realize that everyone in my life, every influence, every accident, every seemingly meaningless moment has led me to this, just as TC's has led her here, too, and just as you've been led to yours. I can't remember who said it, but I've always remembered it, and it went something like this:


"As I look back over the course of my life it becomes apparent that it was orchestrated. How else can I explain the coincidences, the happenstance, the unexpected serendipties and failures that brought me to where I am? The question I find myself asking is, What unseen intelligence conducted this symphony?"

If Casa Ingaso is to be my "coda," I couldn't imagine one more wonderful. Thank you.

"Hasta luego, amigos!"

[click here for September's gallery—there is no home page...]