I’M BACK…

I arrived in Panama on December 1. Fernando, my favorite taxi driver, picked me up at the airport and then took me to the Do It Center to find an Instant Pot and glass jars for my kombucha. No Instant Pot there, but I did find a nice gallon jar to prepare the kombucha. He then dropped me off at Los Pinos, where I experienced some minor disappointment. I was anticipating that my room was going to look like the photos on booking.com. They were close, but no balcony. The one in the photo on booking.com belonged to the next unit over. What they called a balcony in this place was laughable. It was just a narrow hallway, (about 3′ x 8′) that had an open area and rail at the far end. I asked about this balcony, and the owner came and asked if I wanted to change rooms. I was thinking about it, but, in the meantime, I texted my friend, Natalie Kelly, to let her know that I had arrived. She reminded me that she and Mike had to go to the US because Mike needed medical treatment. They will not be back here for many months. Long story short: I left Los Pinos and am now happily ensconced in Mike and Natalie’s house.

This house is a bit less than a mile from el Centro – perfect. I walked in this morning to go to the Tuesday Market and to the grocery store to buy some sugar (to make kombucha) and yogurt (to make my yogurt in the Instant Pot). Another big plus about staying here is that Natalie has a fully equipped kitchen. So, I didn’t have to worry about finding an Instant Pot. There is also an Instant Air Fryer here. I’ve never used one of those.

I stopped at Baris’s booth at the Tuesday Market and bought a supply of CHOX.

Kombucha made. Two weeks to wait.

I got off to a roaring start with the publisher. We had an appointment for our first meeting today at 1 pm EST…I thought. It was actually noon. Dang! I put it on my calendar at noon, but it was changed to 1 pm when I entered EST. Oh well. She was very nice about it, and we now meet on 12/5.

I haven’t posted anything about calligraphy since I joined the Dreaming in Script class in April. What a great experience. I finished the course a short time ago, and David, the owner/instructor, suggested I start from the beginning and do it all again. I find it interesting that I do not remember some of these lessons. There is so much to learn. I don’t think I have ever felt this passionate about anything artistic. This class in particular pushes all the buttons: precision, language, dexterity, focus, memory… David, and the student mentors, Sneha and Tony provide detailed feedback almost immediately. I don’t waste time making the same mistakes over and over. And they don’t just tell me it’s wrong; they suggest techniques to do it correctly. So different from my prior experience.

Sneha posts a prompt on Sundays called Words of the Week. These prompts highlight a specific word group that share distinct characteristics. This is the first part of my daily practice. Then I go back and repeat lessons in the Course Directory.

The numbers on the above photo are the width of letters and their connections. I used to detest (as in resist) this part of the course. It just seemed so messy, but I am getting better at it, and then, of course, it’s more fun. I am amazed how there is improvement every single day.

This has become a very spiritual practice for me. One day, while I was struggling with a letterform, I heard a voice say, “Just let ME do it!” I stopped trying to control the pen so much, relaxed and just watched as my hand wrote. I have never before experienced this feeling of Consciousness creating through me. This is joy: The feeling you get when God is saying, “That’s it! This is what I want to do through you.”

I recently finished reading, Close Call, written by a friend, Kim Suhr. I loved the final essay, called Artism. (Funny, AI wanted that to be Autism, very relevant – not insightful, but it gets it right sometimes.)

Here is an excerpt: Oops…can’t send until tomorrow. Stay tuned.

The complex I’m living in is called Boquete Gardens (NOT the Boquete Garden Inn, as my taxi driver thought and seemed very annoyed when we had to track down Natalie’s house. All fairness to him, no one seems to know this place is call Boquete Gardens except the people who live here.) There are about 10 houses (not sure). I already know one of the residents, Lesley Hughes. Lesley was the head of Boquete Health and Hospice where I volunteered for a while. Natalie and I trained with Lesley as new volunteers. Lesley sent me a WhatsApp text almost immediately after she learned I was moving in, inviting me to the group chat as well as to a party on Dec. 5th. I met Billy on the road this morning as I was returning from town. I met Kathy Jacobson yesterday, as she was the person “with the key.” I’ll leave that in quotes for now.

Just talked to my niece, Jolene. We are planning to do El Primitivo, a Camino in Spain. She just let me know that she got the time off. We’re going in September 2025. Yay! Time for another adventure!