Carolyn Barr

As you know, we have a plethora of fauna in our front yard. There’s Potter the otter (and Sons, his baby otters), Scooter the sea lion, Scampers the harbor seal, and the newest member of the cast – Gertrude the elephant seal!

She’s big, she’s clumsy, and she huffs and puffs back and forth in the water. She’s a real character, and the largest pinniped we’ve ever seen in the wild (I may or may not like to pretend that it’s a walrus). I don’t have any photos of her, but here’s one I found on the interwebs of a female elephant seal.

Photo by kevincole

Isn’t she pretty? The boys are the ones with the big, ugly elephanty noses.

The other day while Caleb and I were watching some boats go by, none other but Gertrude popped up and started huffing and puffing on by. Then naught but a moment later we saw Scampers poke his little head up! He just hung out, staring at us. The pinnipeds seem to like to come out when the water is especially choppy.

I learned through the grapevine that there have been quite a few transient orca whale sightings around the island, but Caleb and I haven’t seen anything. Though my tally of seeing whales from the water taxi is now up to two! And I haven’t even been riding the boat for a year.

Not to brag or anything, but the Puget Sound is awesome.

For Christmas this year Caleb and I decided we needed to get some sun, seeing as how the sun cruelly abandoned us to the clouds, rain and darkness for the winter. Thanks Mr. Sun, thanks.

So right before Christmas we fled south to Panama.

Christmas day we spent at someone’s house we found through AirBnB.com, which is my most favorite site when looking for places to stay. Usually much cheaper than a hotel, and nicer too.

The house we stayed at belonged to an expat couple from California. They actually bought the land and had the house built there overlooking a big valley. It was in the mountains of Panama, which means that it’s not too hot there, it hovers around the 70s most of the year. What I really loved about this house is that the terrace was very much a part of the house. Almost all of the terrace-facing doors were always open 24/7.

Onwards we went from there to Playa Venao. This was the only part of the trip where we took a bus, and that’s only because the bus system in Panama is probably the best in all of Central America. However, it all went awry in the trashy town of Penonome. Eeeeeeevil Penonome (read pen-oh-no-may).

We had to take two buses for this trip. One from the mountains to Penonome and then from there to the beach. Well, the first bus driver told us to wait at the wrong spot for the Playa Venao bus. So we waited for three hours. Three I say. On the side of a horribly hot, dusty highway with not bathroom and little water. Staring at the crest of a hill about a half mile away, watching for the coming of the bus we needed. Of which three drove by and didn’t stop. WOE.

So eventually we did end up at the right place and got on the right bus. We also arrived at our destination about 5-6 hours later than I had hoped. Oh well.

Fun fact: The buses pretty much in every Central and South American country play loud mariachi music and the like. For hours. Thank goodness for headphones.

Anyway, we made it to the beach after dark. We checked in to our $30/night room and headed to the restaurant and got some fried fish and ahi tuna steak.

Our room was worth exactly $30/night I think. It was just a double bed with a rough sheet and a fan in a claustrophobic room. The lock was a chain through the door with a padlock. Cute.

But this place was totally worth it, mosquitoes and all. We ate amazing seafood every day, lazed in hammocks by the beach for hours and Caleb took a couple of surfing lessons.

This was also a place where we basically didn’t sleep hardly at all. The howler monkeys started yelling, “THAT THE SUN WAS UP! THERE IT IS! EVERYONE GET UP NOW!” at about 5 or 6am every day. And of course it took awhile to fall asleep because we didn’t have air conditioning here, so it was humid and hot.

One morning we just got up right when we heard the monkeys start rustling about and went and found them. It was a nice little hike and Caleb got to see monkeys in the wild.

Another fun fact: we could drink the water there. Yep, in the middle-of-nowhere Panama. In fact, we could drink the water almost everywhere in Panama. Apparently this has something to do with the Americans putting in the water system in lot of places. Though this place on the beach had clean water because they had their own well and filtering system.

So that was Panama! It was hot and lovely, and we’d recommend it to anyone. We probably won’t go out of our way to go back, but it’s still a beautiful country. Though the people were rather rude in my opinion, but that’s besides the point.

Next time I’ll talk about a few of the pictures from El Salvador below…

Lately I’ve been planning a trip to Panama, and have been asked several times, “Why Panama?“

Well I’ll tell you why. Panama is much more than a canal, it is a tropical, jungley country full of two-toed sloths, vibrant birds and toasty warm waters good for snorkeling or surfing, depending on the beach.

The real kicker is that Panama is often overlooked as a vacation spot, it’s really quite similar to any other tropical country along the Ring of Fire. Jungle + Volcanoes + Pretty Water = Vacation, right? It’s just like Hawaii, just cheaper and less English.

Anywhoo, hubs and I won’t have long in Panama before we plan to move on to El Salvador. Island hopping, as it were. Or isn’t. Whatever.

We’ll be using our time wisely: efficiently and cheaply. I did have grand plans to somehow make it to Bocas del Toro, arguably one of the most beautiful parts of the country, attributed to its clear blue waters. But it’s expensive both in time and money to get there, as well as one of the most popular tourist destinations. I may be a gringo, but I plan on avoiding tourists.

So I hunted down other (clear) waters, found off the coast of Las Tablas, a 4 hour bus ride (and $10-$15) from Panama City. The actual Pacific coast of Panama is generally not-clear, but near Pedasi in Las Tablas – just a 30 minute boat ride – will bring you to Isla Iguana.

Photo by Vladimer Shioshvili

Am I right or am I right? That’s worth a trip. This is the site of future snorkeling and gallivanting with the native iguanas, the island’s namesake.

Since we can’t spend all of our limited time in paradise (well we could…but I like variety), we’ll also be visiting El Valle – a little town in a dormant crater in inner Panama. It’s jungley and lush.

Photo by Nathan 2009

Photo by fveronesi1

Did I mention the birds? Apparently there’s great bird watching in Panama. I sound old. But look at the pretty bird!

So that’s why one wants to visit Panama. You can drive from the Pacific to Atlantic Oceans in 1.5 hours, snorkel in pretty turquoise waters and hike through the jungle. Es bueno!

I’ve hardly even mentioned the canal, which I am looking forward to seeing. Have I told you that in college I wrote a very loooooong opinion/research paper arguing that the Panama Canal should be expanded to fit the new and larger ships of today (which by the way, it did end up getting expanded…or rather…it’s in the process of being expanded). Anyway, I called it. Let it be recorded.

As of yesterday, the new privatization of liquor law in Washington went into effect. Cue crazy long lines and empty liquor shelves at every 10,000+ sq. ft. grocery store carrying liquor as Washington gets its drink on sans-government control.

Personally, I don’t really drink liquor. It’s place in my kitchen is in travel-sized bottles meant for baking. Alright, peppermint schnapps in the winter for my hot chocolate too. But that’s it.

Even though I’m not exactly the prize purchaser of vodka (…have I ever bought  vodka?), I still voted for the freedom of liquor. I don’t exactly care for the state to be in charge of the distribution of any product. Most people I know voted yes on the initiative, but now many of them are showing their ignorance by complaining about the increase in cost of of their favorite booze.

Guys. Get a grip. How did you not know this when you voted? Besides that, I would much rather pay the tax on a product than have to go to a state-controlled venue. Think of it as a convenience tax, which it basically is.

Maryland is also hung up on some liquor laws, and it doesn’t look like they’re going to fix it anytime soon. In Maryland you can’t buy any alcohol except from a designated private (non-government) liquor store. Ridiculous. Alcohol there is also much more expensive. Cheap wine in Washington is roughly $5. In Maryland it was twice that for the exact same bottle. How on earth does not carrying wine in a grocery store help the consumer? Or even the state? Their liquor stores were also disgusting, all of them. Always really cramped. I think I only saw one specialty store that wasn’t so bad.

Anyway, that’s my rant of the day. Time to go back outside and enjoy that sunshine!

Oh hey guys, I’m Walrus.

I’m the glorified stuffed animal that lives here. I have the best life. Free food, free lodging, plush blankets on which to nap upon and a waterfront view to gaze at.

Sometimes I even see otter families!

Alright, not the best picture ever of Potter & Sons. But I’m telling you, that’s a family of otters.

I see really big boats too.

Yeah, I live the life. Let’s go outside and watch the sunset…

So beautiful! Even as a cat, I can appreciate beauty.

Really, I watch the sunset nearly every day. Sometimes I sleep through it though, post-dinner nap.

Alright, that’s all from me today, I’ll relinquish control to Carolyn again. Time to go nap…

I really like making pizza. I like experimenting with different, unconventional toppings, like raspberry jam and date nugget pieces. Pizza is just one of those versatile foods that loves some creative experimenting.

The other day, during a rare May sunny week on the island, I made the best pizza yet. I’d give you the recipe, but there are no measurements for anything. I will, however, tell you all of the toppings I used.

First off, the crust. It was none other than a ball of the Pioneer Woman’s perfect pizza dough that I pulled out of the freezer the night before. This is the best pizza dough, especially aged. I made a double batch (netting me 4 balls of dough) a couple of weeks prior and stuck them in the freezer.

Secondly, the toppings. Oh the toppings. I must credit Caleb, he’s the one that was inspired to use some date nugget pieces I had. Genius, this man.

These are the ingredients, in the order I layered them on the pizza:

• Mozzarella (lots and lots of it)
• Lightly fried minced garlic (lots and lots of that too)
• Chopped, pre-cooked bacon
• Date nuggets (next time I’ll add more, this time it was just a sprinkle)
• Goat cheese
• Basil from my front porch
• A light sprinkling of onion salt and oregano

500 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

Perfection.

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Kudos to Caleb for taking such lovely photos of the pizza, he takes the best photos.

I’m a sci fi nerdlette. I am. I grew up watching Star Wars, Star Trek (even while I write this), and Dr. Who. Mind you that’s the old Dr. Who, before the BBC got all fancy shmancy on us and stopped using the same set for everything. And Tom Baker, my favorite Time Lord. This article hits pretty close to my feelings about Tom Baker vs. David Tennant.

So busy.This week has been rather crazy at work, and of course that’s combined with an utter feeling of sickness. In addition, the weather this week has been rather dreary. It hasn’t been the worst, but definitely not the greatest. Hoping I feel more spry soon.

Last weekend was beautiful here on the rock. Last Saturday Caleb and I went to the Vashon 60 Second Film Festival. It was free. With free wine from the Andrew Will Winery (from Vashon) and free chocolate from Theo Chocolates. I was very enthusiastic about the emphasis on free this event had.

The meat of the event was thirty-one 60 second videos from around the world and from locals. It ranged from a video of a man reciting The Jabberwockey to several beautiful landscape videos to short skits. You can watch all of the videos from the festival here. Some are a bit longer or shorter than 60 seconds. But Vashonians don’t worry themselves with details like that. Some of my favorites were A New Bike, It’s a Peep-erful Life, and Anna’s Hummingbird Feeding.

I love the Vashon Movie Theater. It has such a wonderfully homegrown feeling, and the audience is rather vocal, in a good way. Not to mention the concessions are much cheaper than on the mainland and the popcorn has real butter. I think I already told you guys all this, but I really love it that much.

It becomes clearer by the day that I like being isolated from the business of Seattle and people. My parents told me it would happen. I resisted.

But Vashon has broken me, oh my dear island.

The above photo was taken by a Vashon friend I met via Twitter. That’s West Seattle on the left, Port Orchard on the right, and Vashon in between those two. Tacoma is in the far background behind the island. Looks so small, right?

Now, it’s not that I don’t like people. I just don’t like too many of them, too close, too often. I like my space, and I think a 22-minute ferry ride to downtown Seattle is the perfect distance between me and the big city!

A few years ago I happened upon Kiva, an organization that makes small loans to low-income individuals around the world. It’s a teach-a-man-to-fish sort of thing, instead of just giving money to these people, with the goal of both aiding their livelihood and the economy around them. It’s an involved process, so here’s the short version.

The long explanation can be found here.

Since I joined, I have made loans to a group of women in Ghana so they could buy supplies to make and sell clothing, a man in Kenya to buy products for his store and another man in Kenya who owns a butcher shop (his loan was for 3 bulls). Of all the loans I have made, only one ended in a loss. Yes, a loss (of maybe a penny). Losses happen (usually due to exchange rates changing), but as far as I can tell they are very small. When you make a loan they tell you a ton of information about the lending institution and the percent of loans at risk.

Now I didn’t fund all of my loans in full. Each loan is funded by a random group of people, whoever chose to donate to that particular need. I merely donated $25 here and there. I’ve been using the same $50 to fund about 3-4 loans/year. Once each loan is repaid, I donate the money again. It’s a happy circle of self-perpetuating microfinancing.

I really enjoy the site, and it’s very easy to use. They have an awesome loan sorting system. You can sort loans by country, type of need, how much time is left for their loan to be funded, male/female and so forth. It’s up to you where you want your money to go.

Right now Kiva is providing (through an anonymous sponsor) free $25 trials, which is why I have gathered you here today. There are a limited number of these free trials, so they might be all gone already. No matter,  you can still join the site for free and take a look around if you wish.

Now full disclosure, the free $25 can only be used to make one loan. This money won’t be paid back to you. However, whatever money you add will be paid back to you.

I’m not trying to pressure anyone into the site, I just want to share the knowledge as I think it’s a great system. I don’t get anything for referrals or whatnot, but if you’re interested in it, now is a good time to join.

I’ve seen whales. During my regular daily commute. WHALES.

Get me my harpoon!

I joke, I kid.

Last Friday on my way to work, trolling along at a nice clip on the Melissa Ann, I saw a pod of orcas. We were less than 10 minutes into our 22 minute trip and the boat slowed way down, interrupting my reading. I looked up just as Captain Dan came on the intercom and announced that there was a pod of orcas off of the bow (side note: I now know where the bow is).

Commence everyone crowding to the front of the boat. Behold, there were whales. Just swimmin’ along, minding their business. We stuck around for a few minutes. Honestly, who cares about being late to work when there are whales to watch?

Not me, that’s who. I actually almost missed my bus, but all was well.

If you haven’t guessed already, all I can seem to talk about now is Vashon. If you lived here you would understand. When I’m not luxuriating on my floating rock, I am otherwise working at my new job, which I am really enjoying.

This last weekend my brother-in-law stayed over. It was a grand time. On Saturday morning I made this crepe recipe, filling some of the crepes with raspberry jam and other with a blueberry coulis. I really recommend this crepe recipe, it’s practically fool-proof. I even made it using my cast iron skillet and coconut oil, which worked beautifully. Letting it sit for an hour at room temperature is important, don’t skip that step!

In the future I’d like to try some savory crepes. Caleb and I used to frequent a place on Queen Anne (Citizen Cafe) that makes really yummy savory crepes. I hope I can imitate them.

As for the next time I make sweet crepes, I am going to fill them with strawberries and nutella. The day I moved out of my college dorm, Caleb brought me one. It was very sweet of him.