On Friday, February 27, Lin, my husband and I went on a bird watching trip with our landlord’s nephew, Jason Lara, to see quetzal birds. I have wanted to see one since I was in my twenties visiting Maya Indian ruins in Mexico. The Mayans revered the quetzal bird and used their feathers in their costumes.
Costa Rica—Looking for Birds, Especially the Quetzal
In 2020, we went on a bird watching tour in Costa Rica, but I was dealing with cataracts at the time and a camera that wasn’t working well, so I didn’t see one at all. Groups of people ran here and there as the guides sighted the birds flying from tree to tree. Our tour guide then took my iPhone and got a photo off of his telescope that was fantastic, but I never saw it with my own eyes, so it felt incomplete.
Male Quetzal in Costa Rica in 2020
Boquete, Panama Bird Watching
On Friday, we looked and waited patiently for 2-3 hours—patience is a virtue. I took a lot of nature pictures because the setting was gorgeous. But we gave up because the clouds rolled in and the evening approached, and we only saw a pair of quetzals fly overhead.
Jaon’s telescopeLin looking for quetzal birdsBeautiful scenry!
Jason told us he would add us to his short list of people who didn’t see a quetzal—we were number 5!
As we wandered our way through the jungle back to the restaurant at TreeTrek, we saw a male quetzal—that’s the one with the bright turquoise color and long tail and plume, but once again my camera didn’t work. It focused on the leaves and branches between us and not on the quetzal. Jason’s pictures begin this post.
However, I did get some photos of a beautiful bird there—I think it’s a hummingbird. What do you think?
Once Again—My Repeated Bird Watching Story
But once again, Jason, our tour guide saved the day and put pictures on my iPhone using his high-powered telescope. And once again, my desire to see a male quetzal in the wild ended sadly.
We moved to the patio of the TreeTrek’s restaurant. Jason set up his telescope to keep watching, turning it towards the tree where he and Lin saw the male quetzal. I turned and with the naked eye, I saw turquoise and Jason exclaimed, “There’s a female.”
I high-fived with Lin and set up my camera, but it had flown away before I could find it again. It was a long distance away, but I saw the turquoise and that felt good—I’ll take it anyway I can!
Afterwards, we shared a delicious tropical drink, chicken bits and French fries, visiting and enjoying the evening with Jason.
Finally,
I haven’t given up. I plan on going on another bird watching tour with Jason in the future, and I plan on seeing and photographing a quetzal—and you will see, I promise!
This is short this week, because I’m sitting in the Houston airport writing it. I’m on my way to Albuquerque today for few days and then on to our ranch in southeastern Colorado to see my brother.
Here’s a review quote about my new book, Time Measured Out!: Navigating Life’s Journey Through Poetry:
“Each poem feels like a quiet pause—an invitation to slow down and consider the moments that shape us.”
For most of my adult life, I have struggled with “here” and “there.” I grew up, moved and had my adult home but my home in Branson, Colorado always called to me.
After our move to Panamá, this poem came up when I was visiting in Branson in December 2025. Witness my current struggle with “here” and “there”!
Here & There: Juggling Two Lives
The familiar train whistle blows
And I know I’m home
In Branson,
A sound that echoes through my childhood.
The wind blows
Dust devils twirl on the plains.
The mesa towers to the southwest of us.
Saddlerock hangs to the west
As another reminder of home.
This my here now!
Our family ranch calls to me
Dad voices his familiar stories
In my heart
Granddad looms large in my history
Mom’s sweet presence and squeals of delight
Echo in my soul
Memories overflow
Even though they’re gone.
Now, sitting beside my brother
With our stories.
He’s the only one who can verify their truth
Our stories
Our family’s stories
Sometimes quiet fills the truck cab
Dust swirls
Silence
Reverence for our shared lives
My brother opens up while we ride around
Safe
With deep stories
His childhood disappointments
At our community church.
I never knew!
Why???
The familiar sights
Cholla cactus
Graceful with arms extended
Yucca
Sharp spikes pointing heavenly
Pinon pine trees
Cedar trees
The smell I love!
Oak brush, orange at this time of the year
Dead trees ravaged by drought and bugs
A windy trail, bumpy with rocks
Reminds me of a Canyon Lullaby!
We try to make daily trips to the ranch,
But our busy schedule doesn’t allow.
Each trip feeds my soul, my spirit, my heart!
The train whistles in the background
Of my life here
Several times a day
Welcomed and comforting!
This house I inherited overflows
With Mom and Dad
I just used Mom’s pressure cooker
To cook spaghetti noodles
She called it her “Poor Man Microwave.”
Dad’s pot on the stove
To add some humidity to this dry climate.
Here my life is
Ranch business,
English, English, English!
No one knocks on my door anymore
My brother only
I visited my 96-year-old friend
But she’s failing!
That’s the here, but underneath
The “there” beckons!
Life there!
Our new life in Panama
Green jungle surrounds us
New friends live near us
They knock on my door.
Beautiful clear mornings as we look towards
Vulcan Barú
Rainy afternoons during the rainy season now.
Our life carved out
Two markets for fun and people
A knitting group
My recovery group
Basketball games, following one of our landlords
A more relaxed life
Less stress
US politics not the focus
No dishwasher in our rental house
Gives me time looking out the window
At the green
The colorful flowers
The hummingbird buzzing the lavender flowers
Being present
A gift!
Here my life is
My book business
Spanish, English, Spanish
Which I love!
I never planned to move
To Panama
I planned to live and die in Tijeras
And visit Branson
My here and there
Used to be Tijeras, then Branson
But we stood on our decision and morals
We said no to the insanity
We took action,
Well planned by Lin
And it happened
Here and there—juggling these two lives
When I’m here, I think of there.
When I’m there, I yearn for here.
My Writing Group
I shared this on Monday with my Writing Group from New Mexico at a Zoom meeting. One person’s critiqued: “I loved the homeyness of it. Also, I can relate to the train because I had a train in my childhood. I also love the line – ‘The “here” now.’”
Another writer in the group shared he loved the visuals and it felt so many of the topics in it were universal.
Finally,
Juggling the here and there has become an art for me—I’ve done it my whole life. What are your thoughts about this poem? Any line resonate with you? Any topic remind you of something in your life? I hope it did and please share it.
Today we toured the back side of Barú Volcano with Paul a 97-year-old geologist on the way to Volcan. What an explosion of information!
Started in Boquete
Twenty plus people rose early this Saturday morning to go on a much-anticipated tour with Dr. Paul Myers, retired geologist who just happens to be 97 years-old! Because of safety issues, they had to downsize the group by half because of stopping on roads with no shoulders. So several people agreed to go on the next tour!
Then we headed towards Volcan, down a windy road through the jungle. We had several stops where we gathered around Paul, Michael and Marteta, his assistances to hear his detailed description of the way the volcano had affected this area and their input. He described Volcano Barú, as “a half-ass volcano” because of the way the volcano cut away part of the mountain. Also, Paul let us know that it erupted every 400 years and we are now at 500, so watch out!
Geology Terminology
Immediately we learned about the lahar plain that extends all the way down to David. I had to learn geology terminology immediately.
Lahar plain is “also called a volcanic mudflow or debris flow. A mixture of water and volcanic debris that moves rapidly downstream. Consistency can range from that of muddy dishwater to that of wet cement, depending on the ratio of water to debris. They form in a variety of ways, chiefly by the rapid melting of snow and ice by pyroclastic flows, intense rainfall on loose volcanic rock deposits, breakout of a lake dammed by volcanic deposits, and as a consequence of debris avalanches.”
Another geological term I learned was debris avalanche, “Moving masses of rock, soil and snow that occur when the flank of a mountain or volcano collapses and slides downslope. As the moving debris rushes down a volcano and into river valleys, it incorporates water, snow, trees, bridges, buildings, and anything else in the way. Debris avalanches may travel several kilometers before coming to rest, or they may transform into more water-rich lahars, which travel many tens of kilometers downstream.
A debris avalanche rushes down the side of a volcano to the valley floor. Many such debris avalanches transform into lahars and travel tens of kilometers from the volcano. Typically, the scar created by the avalanche leaves a horseshoe shaped crater on volcano’s side.”
As we traveled to Volcan and stopped along the way, we saw evidence of both of these. Near the Cuesta de Piedra, we experienced a lahar plain on one side and a debris avalanche on the other.
Paul kept sharing so many details about how the volcano affected the area. He dazzled us with his unending knowledge and pleasant personality. I took notes on my iPhone, but they probably won’t mean as much to you as they do to me.
A Highlight
Sample of antecite rock
Paul told us the rock here is andecite which I had never heard of before. He showed us a sample and identified the different components of the rock. It looked so different from the lava rock I grew up with.
Paul’s Poetic Comments
Baru is a “half-ass volcano.”
You can read the landscape.
You need to geologize your vocabulary.
This scenery is telling its own history.
Give or take a million years!
For lunch, we stopped in Volcan and had a traditional Panamanian meal which I love. It cost about $5 a plate.
When we arrived below the Volcán Barú Parque Nacional, Paul slowed us down to listen to the quiet and enjoy the serenity and spirituality of the place—no loud music, no jet streams overhead, just peace and quiet. He encouraged all of us to return by ourselves and enjoy the place in a more solitary manner. A lonely tree grew out of a rock!
Volcán Barú Unclouded
I Zoomed in on The SummitVolcán Barú Summit
After a short hike, we returned to the visitors’ center and took pictures of Volcán Barú, but the clouds covered the summit. But because we waited, the clouds moved on and I got this gorgeous picture. Here we stood at 6000 feet—Volcán Barú stands 11,000 feet at its summit.
Finally,
I grew up near Capulin Mountain, a volcano in northeastern New Mexico and had visited it often with family and visitors. It has a crater to go down into and the area is surrounded with lava rock, so different from Panamá. This all felt so familiar yet so different.
Now I live facing Volcán Barú with a magnificent view of it out our living room window—another volcano, but now I know so much more about this unique one. A delightful day with friends learning about the major figure in our area, Volcán Barú. Paul called him, grandfather-abuelo!
We all need to get outside more! Nature is calling!
What a whirlwind week I’ve had. I started it in Panamá. Then I flew to Albuquerque for a few days and then on to Branson, Colorado to be with my brother! Whew!
Monday, October 27
It was an early day for Lin and I—up at 4:30 AM with our trusty Uber driver, Joel, picking us up at 5:15 AM. At the airport, we went our separate ways: Lin returned to David, Panamá and our dear neighbor picked him up.
I flew to Houston, Texas in Business class, a new experience for me. The reason we did that—we don’t get charged for two suitcases. Otherwise, in Economy Premium you pay for the second suitcase. So, to explain: I put my medium suitcase in my big one to fill when I go through the storage shed. On the flight, I worked on the final layout of my second book some, but not as much as I had hoped.
In Houston, once again I went through customs easily because Lin and I bought the “Global Entry” which makes entry into the US seamless because of facial recognition.
I had a four-hour layover in Houston, but it worked because I did have to get my suitcase and recheck. I needed to eat, and I love sitting in an airport and watching people.
On my flight to Albuquerque, I slept most of the way. My dear friend, Sheri, picked me up and we went to one of our favorite eateries, Rusty Taco, for dinner.
Tuesday, October 28
Immediately Sheri offered to chauffeur me around, so we went to two different Walmarts to pick up some things I knew I couldn’t get in Panamá—yarn for the baby afghan I’m knitting for my great nephew and three-hole hole puncher. Sheri graciously offered to go to the second one.
Then in the afternoon, we drove up to our house in Tijeras to change the air conditioning to heating. It ended up being super easy because when we put in the air conditioning we bought a top-line thermostat.
We walked around Lin’s garden and marveled at how well it looked, but we were sad to see the absence of the three big fish we had in our pond. Sheri and I only saw the three little ones.
Then, on our way home, we stopped at our storage shed just to check on it. Everything looked great, and I easily found the scale we have to weigh a suitcases. Lin had left it out in the open on top of the “Panamá” boxes near the door.
After that, we went home and enjoyed a relaxing evening of watching “Dancing With the Stars.” I used the yarn I bought and knitted like crazy. I want to finish it on this trip and mail it—it’s late because he was born May 25, on his granddad’s (my brother) birthday.
Wednesday, October 29
This whirlwind day centered on medical needs. I had messaged my primary care physician about the hearing loss I’ve experienced since the ear infection I had in September. His nurse called back but I didn’t answer because I didn’t recognize the number. She left a voicemail, so I called back and they got me an appointment on November 14. I had to delay it because I was going to northern New Mexico on the train on Thursday and staying a couple weeks with my brother.
Then a little later I got a phone call saying they had a 1:00 appointment THAT day! OMG! I had plans to go with our realtor to our house to meet a painter for an appraisal at 11:30 AM. So, I declined.
When our realtor picked me up and we barely pulled away from Sheri’s house, my phone rang and it was primary care physician with no greeting, only a question—“Why can’t you make the 1:00 PM appointment?”
I told him what I was doing. After a short silence, he said, “Can you make it at 3:00 this afternoon?”
I looked at my realtor and she shook her head, so I said, “YES!” Wow! Can you believe that!
We met the painter then had lunch and great conversation, catching up.
Sheri took me to my 3:00 appointment. My doctor had concerns about my right ear and the possibility I still had an infection in it, so he gave me a prescription for an antibiotic.
Sheri has dinner every Wednesday with two girlfriends, so I joined them. What a delightful time I had to meet the women I heard her talk about often. Afterwards we picked up my prescription. When we got home, I went through seven weeks of junk mail mostly that our realtor had collected! It was a bin full! To end the evening, I organized my suitcase, to prepare for my trip the next day.
Thursday, October 30
Sheri woke up sick because of an antibiotic she was taking, but she did feel better later so she took me to the Amtrak train station. The train was an hour late from Albuquerque then delayed thirty minutes more on the trip.
Because of problems with my leg still, I sat downstairs by a 92-year-old woman traveling to Wisconsin. She was a retired high school English teacher, so we had a lot in common.
On the trip, I worked on my book business and set up a couple ads to promote some of my books.
When I arrived in Raton, New Mexico, my brother was waiting. We went to Bruno’s for pizza and had some of the best pizza I’ve ever had. Then we drove the hour trip home to Branson.
Friday, October 31
Of course, we went out to our ranch in the morning! I love going out there with him. Recently we’ve had road work done on our canyon and created two new reservoirs. What fun it was to see the road improvements and water in both of the reservoirs.
My brother is a big sports fan, so we watched the sixth game of the World Series with both of us cheering for the Toronto Blue Jays. Sadly they didn’t win which pushed it into a seventh game.
Saturday, November 1
What a busy whirlwind day I had full of Zoom meetings!
First, I joined my CoDA meeting at 10:30 AM in Albuquerque via Zoom. I love staying connected to this meeting and my friends there.
During the meeting, my brother texted me that his deer meat was ready to pick up. He’s a great hunter and shot a buck last week. So, he drove to Capulin, New Mexico to pick up the meat and the head. He’s going to have the head mounted to add to his collection of nine heads he already has in his living room.
After the meeting, I cooked some antelope backstrap for us for lunch. When he got back, I went to his house to watch the Texas Tech football game and eat lunch. His great nephew, Coy Eakins, plays on the team and our whole family has been following Coy and Tech.
At 3:00 PM, I changed from Tech football and came to my house and did a Zoom meeting with my three friends for our monthly meeting. Again, I enjoyed the stories and the camaraderie of this group.
That night, we watched the seventh game of the World Series that stretched into an eleven-inning game. These two teams were evenly matched, but the LA Dodgers won. Sadly we had no trick or treaters!
Another whirlwind day for sure!
Sunday, November 2
Because I’m a Denver Broncos’ fan, I missed church and went to my brother’s house to watch the game with him. He’s an avid Broncos’ fan with a house totally decorated with Denver Broncos’ stuff and San Francisco Giants’ stuff—he lived in northern California for 32 years.
And the Broncos pulled out another win, driving us crazy until the end.
Afterwards, my brother and I drove fifty miles to Trinidad to his friend Bill who is a taxidermist and gave him the head of the buck my brother shot. I love Bill! We sat for quite a while listening to his stories.
Finally,
As you can see, this whirlwind week overflowed with activity. In the midst of everything, I did a poll on four book cover possibilities for my new book. Let me know which one you like.
This book will be out sometime this year, hopefully at the end of November! Be on the lookout!
