HAVING THE TIME TO PARTY

As usual, when I walk by myself like I did today (another four mile tour), my mind gets busy.  I started the walk off thinking about my neighborhood, the friends we have here and really how we have just gotten to know many of them a bit more in the last year.  We were at a Halloween Party last night that my next door neighbor invited throws annually, and we had a fantastic time with everyone (perhaps a little too fantastic, which might be a really big reason why Ray didn't want to walk with me today). This thought brought me to thinking about the excitement we had when we moved into this neighborhood seven years ago.  Even though we didn't have a pool in the backyard, we would have less yard work on the weekends (scaling back from six acres to under a third of an acre) and more time.  We were going to entertain more (like on House Hunters when they ALWAYS say "I really want an open floor plan for entertaining.").  We had two parties.  Then we bought the lake house with our close friends.  I was excited to have everyone over on the weekends.  Now the thought was that we would entertain here.  We would throw parties.  We had one.  My family (my sister, her boyfriend, nephews) along with Ray's family have been to the lake house maybe three times.  Yes, we have had friends come for a day to swim, go for a boat ride,  go to winery events with us, and our roommates family have gathered at the house on many occasions, but as far as throwing a party, decorating, inviting friends and neighbors to one big gathering, that just never happened even at the lake house.  The reason I was giving this thought is on another blog written by my virtual friend, Holly (Let The Adventure Begin!), she wrote about Hollyween and the annual party she would throw for family and friends.  And now in Panama, we all agree (blogging friends) she needs to decide on one event, or even many (!)  to celebrate (maybe still have a Halloween party for those that embrace the costumes, dressing up, scariness of it).  I told Ray that is my plan.  Perhaps we can have an annual "We made it to Panama" party, or  "It's rainy season, so let's party" party, or "Our tasks today actually all got done today and not mañana" party.  Maybe we can throw a get together on a holiday that we won't be home in the States for, such as July 4th, and we can throw an annual Red, White and Blue party (I know Panama has fireworks!).  Because I really do hope to make lasting friendships in Panama like I have done here.  I just cannot wait to enjoy the friends and appreciate the time we will have to spend with these new friends.

 It has been an unusual month in that Ray and I won't have been to the lake house for four weeks (plans are to go there this coming weekend).   There have been fall events and get togethers that we have enjoyed RSVP'ing "yes" to on the invitations.  We are really making great memories to take with us to Panama.  It will be more difficult to leave if we keep this up, but so many of our friends say they want to visit us and see Panama.  They are just as excited for us as we are.  And just like not knowing that I enjoy Kid Rock music ("who knew this about Allison" was what a neighbor said last night to Ray while I was dancing the night away to all that classic rock music), they are discovering that Ray and I might actually not be so "vanilla" (straight laced) after all.  How the heck would we be able to pack up and move to Panama if we didn't have a little "rocky road" in us?

FOUR MILE WALKING TOUR

Entrance to my neighborhood.

                                  The common area that is never used (we use it as cut through to get to the winding road)                          

My "Wisteria Lane" white picket fenced neighborhood of 25 homes.

The best part of autumn!

 Yesterday morning I set out for a brisk walk.  The morning temperatures have been in the mid-forties the past few days.  Going for a walk sure beat what I had done the morning before--colonoscopy.  My turn.  But all things good.  Checked that off my list. Had a great nap during and took another one once home.  Seem to lose an awful lot of sleep with the prep of it all.  Enough said. Glad to not have to do it again for five years.  Back to my walk.  Ray decided not to go.  Since I read many blogs about Panama and thoroughly enjoy seeing what it is that my virtual and real friends see when they set out for walks and hikes, I decided I would use my phone camera to capture pictures of what Ray and I see when we walk.  Wondering how this will differ once we are in Panama.  And also, as I asked Ray when leaving the house without him, how long will it take me to feel comfortable enough to walk in Panama alone?  What type of neighborhood will we live in?  Will we even be walking a neighborhood, will we belong to a gym or will we hike and walk trails and perhaps buy bikes to ride?  Since I carry my phone to "map my walk" for the mileage and pace, I figured why not snap a few pictures at the same time.  And fortunately, I didn't trip once.


First let me say that autumn has arrived, and I love it.  We had so much rain into last weekend that I didn't get out much to see the change in colors.  But this weekend, the colors are coming to life a bit.  Yesterday, it was cloudy.  Today it has been blue skies with bright sunshine and mid-sixties in temperatures.  Ray will wear shorts and t-shirt when walking, but since I am always cold, I wear pants, a t-shirt with sweatshirt over it.  Today, the sweatshirt came off mid-walk.  Our walk takes us onto the winding, country road dodging high speeding cars for a quarter of a mile to a subdivision called Magnolia Woods.  Magnolia Woods has about eighty homes with each house being on three to eight acres.  The houses are set back so you don't see them until you get up to them.  The subdivision has been around for almost fifteen years, and these days, the houses sell for around $700,000 and up.  The best part is that the roads are wide, and there is a bike trail.

This is the winding country road leading to Magnolia Woods.

Slight hill leading into the subdivision.

I took this picture because the magnolia trees at end of driveway are new, and they are a bit odd to me.

Pretty trees.

Once out of this subdivision, our walk takes us into St. Georges Estates.  This neighborhood houses about 450 homes with four or five bedrooms that are on smaller lots.  There is an HOA (Homeowners Association), so the homeowners have to keep their yards and houses, for the most part, to a certain standard.  These homes are selling for $300-450,000.  

Leaving Magnolia Woods entering St. George's Estates.

Starting the walk through St. Georges Estates

Today with Ray, we took a four mile walk that included a trail through the woods.  We had no idea how long the trail was or where it would lead us.  Okay, he had an idea.  I just kept walking (since he was out walking, he wanted to make it count).  Remembering all the food I ate last night at an Oktoberfest party we were at, I just kept walking.  But usually we leave this subdivision and head into Vista Woods.  Vista Woods does not have an HOA.  These houses are big and small. Most are well taken care of and have neatly landscaped yards.  Some houses have sunroom additions, some have large decks or screened in porches.  But there are the other houses that have fenced in backyards with chickens running around or very large, angry looking dogs barking non-stop.  There is the Sheriff's house that has junk piling up on the side of the house (he is too busy chasing criminals to clean up the mess), the brick house with a scary bright blue front door, or the house with baby blue siding on a smaller home that has manilla colored shutters and broken out garage windows.  This compromises about five percent of our walk.  For the most part, I enjoy looking at how the homeowners have decorated for Halloween or just for the autumn months.  Pumpkins, bales of hay, mums and scarecrows are mostly seen in the yards of the larger homes while bones, graveyards, ghosts, and spiderwebs are seen in front of the smaller homes (perhaps younger children live here).

Leaving Magnolia Woods and entering St. Georges Estates

Start of the trail to who knows where.

Some running water.

Ray is always one step (or two) ahead of me.

This is the end of the trail.

And finally, we get close to the end of the subdivisions.  But first, we pass by Carly's middle school, A.G. Wright and the soccer field she spent countless hours kicking a soccer ball on.  Odd building for a middle school, and an elementary school is attached to it (Not hers though.  Hers is in the next parking lot over--odd, as well.)

A.G. Wright Middle School

Looks like some delinquent burned one down.

Three, or like today four, miles later, we come to the end of another successful walk.  This is what we see other than houses.

This office development has a dental office in it.  He only recently hired a dental hygienist though.

There is an elementary school on the left, and Carly's high school (Mountain View) is straight ahead.

Senior living apartments (we see ambulances there often--not good)

When we bought our house in 2006, a YMCA was going to be built here.  It never was built.

 On another note (I do this often when I tell a story, and I write like I talk...), late yesterday, Ray and I were two hours southeast of our house in Gloucester County, Virginia.  Friends of ours have a house on the Piankatank River and held an Oktoberfest party.  We couldn't attend last year, because we were ending our vacation in Panama. Dining on homemade pretzels, bratwurst, sauerkraut, sausage, potato salad, German beer and wine, apple cake and pies, we met many new people and have been deemed "heroes" if we do in fact retire to Panama.  The hot topic of the night was the government shutdown and the upcoming election.  One man has been researching overseas as retirement options for himself in about ten years.  He had quite a few questions, and we promised they would all hear from us through our mutual friend.  Especially once they have visited us!  Driving country roads taking in the autumn changes, deer on the side of the road when driving back later at night, along with walking the trail and admiring the fall decorations in the yards are all things I will miss in Panama.  But I know I will love admiring heliconias, bougainvilleas, palm trees and hope to see (in El Valle) soon Panama's national flower, the Holy Spirit (a rare orchid).  That will be just as breathtaking and magnificent as the red, yellow and orange colors surrounding me now.

The Holy Sprit (notice the dove-like center)--stunning.

A birthday present (fall porch decor) we had put together for a great friend in Tennessee prior to our visit.  Equally beautiful to me.

SURE COULD USE A LITTLE GOOD NEWS

In 1983, Anne Murray had a #1 hit on the Country chart called "A Little Good News".  In 1987, when Ray and I started dating, we would listen to many of his cassette tapes in the car on road trips.  He loved then, and still loves now, country music.  Since he did most of the driving, we listened to most of what he liked on the radio (and this before CD's, Satellite, Ipods).  The song mostly went along the lines of how there were sad stories always rolled up in the local paper, Bryant Gumbel had nothing good to say, someone robbed a liquor store, someone took a hostage, a building burned down, or maybe someone stole a plane.  There weren't any good news stories.  There was never anything good to report.

Last week, this is exactly how I felt.  What the heck is going on?
While in Napa on vacation, a thirty-four year old man named Aaron Alexis shoots up the Navy Yard.  He kills twelve people and wounds four.  He is killed himself in the shootout.  He was under a delusional belief that he was being controlled by low frequency electromagnetic waves.
Next, we have the government shutdown.  Eight hundred thousand employees furloughed.  Some patients come in, because they have the free time.  Some patients cancel, because they don't want to chance paying a co-pay.  They don't know when they will be going back to work and when they will get paid.  Until last Saturday (five days into the shutdown), the employees didn't know they would be getting back pay.
And on Thursday, a thirty-four year old dental hygienist was gunned down and killed because she tried breaking through the cement barriers at the White House and led police on a chase to the Capitol.  She, too, was delusional and thought the President was stalking her and claimed to be the 'Prophet of Stamford'.

Today, a four car pile up on I-95 at five thirty in morning here in Stafford, VA (350,000 furloughed employees were called back to work today) caused a fatality along with a seven mile back up and the highway being shut down.  People were asked to stay home a little while longer until the lanes were open again (VDOT did not open up the two HOV lanes to add relief).
This afternoon an accident occurred down the street from my office.  Hazmat called to the scene.  Ray's "fifteen minutes more to get home" commute took forty.  My eight minute commute, 3 hours after the accident, took twenty-five minutes.
I wonder what tomorrow will bring on Day 9 of the partial government shutdown?

Summertime sequestrations, shoot outs, furloughs, fiscal cliffs, debt ceilings, chemical weapons used on innocent people, nuclear weapons seized--different, newer terms and phrases but still seems like Anne would be singing the same old song.  Bad economy, fighting on foreign soil, change in policy, Third World assassination, people firing shots in anger and dying in vain (or what I think might be useless reasoning).  And so it goes.

And as Anne Murray would sing (and I would sing along with Ray in 1987), we sure could use, a little good news today.  This has nothing to do with Panama (well, my fingerprints are being held up since that department is shut down), and it has everything to do with Panama.  I am concerned about the events of the day.  Mostly, really, I am just concerned about the future.