Parting Shot
May 30, 2008 Filed in: Photographs
Jim grabbed a photo of Mel and Rosemary before they
left. We learned so much from them during their stay.
They are an inspiration to all of us - we want to be
doing what they are doing when we have the same amount
of experience in life. They are probably off on their
next big adventure as I post this. What a life!
Kayaking with Mel & Rosemary
May 25, 2008 Filed in: Photographs
Here is a photo Jim grabbed of Mel while he was
kayaking near the Changuinola River towards the end of
their trip. We had a wonderful time this day as we do
every day.
Ain't love grand?
May 23, 2008 Filed in: Photographs
Mel and Rosemary were here with us for a week. They
travel all around the world so we were honored that
they spent one of their weeks here. They are still
holding hands snorkeling after all these years!
What happens when...
March 17, 2008
What happens when you take one very funny retired high
school government teacher, one of his fraternity
brothers, one of his former students, all of their
spouses and a few of the kids and toss them into the
Panamanian jungle on an island in the middle of the
Caribbean Sea? Oh yea - they are all Texans
tambien. A rocking good time :-)
We ended up with a group of friends (who have come together over time) vacationing here at Tranquilo Bay last week. It was great fun. I had an idea of what we might be in for as I communicated with them via email, but my expectations were exceeded. We have fun with all of our guests, but this group seriously tickled our funny bones. They began by playing jokes on us the first night they arrived and ended the week with us being in on the jokes as other guests arrived.
One of the things I am truly appreciate about our clientele is that they REALLY are on vacation. They kick back, have fun and forget about the every day. Our location definitely helps people to enter this zone, if you will, but I continue to be impressed by people who can turn off and tune in to nature so that they re-enter their day to day lived recharged.
Here are some photos of one of our porch sessions.
Singing and joking
Hook Em Horns
Chicken foot dominoes
And look at what they did to Bimini!
Happy Saint Patrick's Day!
We ended up with a group of friends (who have come together over time) vacationing here at Tranquilo Bay last week. It was great fun. I had an idea of what we might be in for as I communicated with them via email, but my expectations were exceeded. We have fun with all of our guests, but this group seriously tickled our funny bones. They began by playing jokes on us the first night they arrived and ended the week with us being in on the jokes as other guests arrived.
One of the things I am truly appreciate about our clientele is that they REALLY are on vacation. They kick back, have fun and forget about the every day. Our location definitely helps people to enter this zone, if you will, but I continue to be impressed by people who can turn off and tune in to nature so that they re-enter their day to day lived recharged.
Here are some photos of one of our porch sessions.
Singing and joking
Hook Em Horns
Chicken foot dominoes
And look at what they did to Bimini!
Happy Saint Patrick's Day!
Exciting, Exhilarating & Exhausting
February 19, 2008
Our little business is growing tremendously this first
quarter of 2008. Our occupancy rate for the first
quarter is up over 100% over last year. This is
exciting, exhilarating, and a little exhausting.
Exciting because this is the business we came down to Panama to have. Watching our business grow and keeping it running smoothly gives us all a wonderful sense of accomplishment.
Exhilarating because we are participating in a group of special memories for our clients. While our clients all share a love for adventure and nature - each one experiences it differently and comes here from a different place. We are fortunate to be exposed to all of these wonderful people. It is really cool to have the opportunity to enrich their experiences while at the same time we gain insight and perspective from the encounter. We experience our place with a fresh set of senses each time a new guest arrives. To hear the way they describe things and see the delight in their faces is truly rewarding experience.
Exhausting, yes, but in a good way. We work seven days a week for many hours out of each day. As with any business as you continue to learn what it takes to make it great it takes a bit out of you. However, the upside of what we are learning and how it is getting easier each day for us and for our employees is that we are building a business that we believe will stand for a long time.
Exciting because this is the business we came down to Panama to have. Watching our business grow and keeping it running smoothly gives us all a wonderful sense of accomplishment.
Exhilarating because we are participating in a group of special memories for our clients. While our clients all share a love for adventure and nature - each one experiences it differently and comes here from a different place. We are fortunate to be exposed to all of these wonderful people. It is really cool to have the opportunity to enrich their experiences while at the same time we gain insight and perspective from the encounter. We experience our place with a fresh set of senses each time a new guest arrives. To hear the way they describe things and see the delight in their faces is truly rewarding experience.
Exhausting, yes, but in a good way. We work seven days a week for many hours out of each day. As with any business as you continue to learn what it takes to make it great it takes a bit out of you. However, the upside of what we are learning and how it is getting easier each day for us and for our employees is that we are building a business that we believe will stand for a long time.
Blogging
January 17, 2008 Filed in: Story
It makes me happy. I love that I can live in the middle
of the jungle on an island in the Caribbean Sea and I
can still access good content on things which interest
me. In the past it was necessary to get a subscription
to a magazine or to watch a television show in order to
get this stuff.
Don't get me wrong, I still like to read books and magazines, but I can't load up on them these days like I could when we lived in Houston, Texas.
I have several groupings of blogs saved in my browser of places I check out several times a week for education and inspiration.
We recently had a guest stay here who is both an esteemed author and professor as well as a dad, a husband, and a nice guy - Bob Sutton. I have been reading his blog, Work Matters, ever since. Speaking with him and his amazing wife, Marina, reminded me to open my eyes to other types of blogs for both education and information. (BTW - Bob's most recent book is helpful even if you don't work in a "normal" workplace. I read it before his family's arrival based upon some information his tour operator provided to me. It is a good read!)
If I had to pick my top nine blogs as of today - they would be (in no particular order):
Soule Mama - Amanda Soule's Blog
Angry Chicken - Amy Karol's Blog
House on Hill Road - Erin Harris' Blog
How about orange ... - Jessica Jone's Blog
Work Matters - Bob Sutton's Blog
Ali Edwards Design Blog - Ali Edwards' Blog
Pink Chalk Studio Blog - Kathy Mack's Blog
Sew Mama Sew Blog - Sew Mama Sew Store Blog
11 Mystics - Suzanne's Blog on iWeb and other technical stuff
It is not at all unusual that I begin on one person's blog and then follow the links to the next and the next and the next. I have a variety of tutorials and recipes and scrapbook ideas stored away in my favorites. I pull inspiration from these when it comes time to make something for the kids or for the cabanas, etc. But honestly, I am a lurker. I do not leave comments and I rarely communicate with the authors of the blogs. It is more like reading a book or a magazine for me. I must credit Ali Edwards for getting me started in all of this. I get a newsletter for a digital scrapbooking website called Scrapgirls (my husband loves that one) and Ali was interviewed in the newsletter. There was a link to her blog. And from there I was hooked. I only hope that someday someone will feel the same way about our blog, or trip reports, etc.
Have a great day!
Don't get me wrong, I still like to read books and magazines, but I can't load up on them these days like I could when we lived in Houston, Texas.
I have several groupings of blogs saved in my browser of places I check out several times a week for education and inspiration.
We recently had a guest stay here who is both an esteemed author and professor as well as a dad, a husband, and a nice guy - Bob Sutton. I have been reading his blog, Work Matters, ever since. Speaking with him and his amazing wife, Marina, reminded me to open my eyes to other types of blogs for both education and information. (BTW - Bob's most recent book is helpful even if you don't work in a "normal" workplace. I read it before his family's arrival based upon some information his tour operator provided to me. It is a good read!)
If I had to pick my top nine blogs as of today - they would be (in no particular order):
Soule Mama - Amanda Soule's Blog
Angry Chicken - Amy Karol's Blog
House on Hill Road - Erin Harris' Blog
How about orange ... - Jessica Jone's Blog
Work Matters - Bob Sutton's Blog
Ali Edwards Design Blog - Ali Edwards' Blog
Pink Chalk Studio Blog - Kathy Mack's Blog
Sew Mama Sew Blog - Sew Mama Sew Store Blog
11 Mystics - Suzanne's Blog on iWeb and other technical stuff
It is not at all unusual that I begin on one person's blog and then follow the links to the next and the next and the next. I have a variety of tutorials and recipes and scrapbook ideas stored away in my favorites. I pull inspiration from these when it comes time to make something for the kids or for the cabanas, etc. But honestly, I am a lurker. I do not leave comments and I rarely communicate with the authors of the blogs. It is more like reading a book or a magazine for me. I must credit Ali Edwards for getting me started in all of this. I get a newsletter for a digital scrapbooking website called Scrapgirls (my husband loves that one) and Ali was interviewed in the newsletter. There was a link to her blog. And from there I was hooked. I only hope that someday someone will feel the same way about our blog, or trip reports, etc.
Have a great day!
Take Aways
January 04, 2008
Each day I wake up here I count my blessings. There are
so many things and people who helped me reach this
point in my life and for that I am grateful. This
evening I have been reviewing in my head the multitude
of people I have met in the last few weeks and how
spending time with each and every one of them has been
rewarding. One of the things that is so great about
being here in Panama and running a small lodge is that
we get to meet people from all walks of life with a
variety of interests and experiences. It is so cool
when these people come here and have an adventure
together.
I try to make it a point not to ask people what they do for a living as that conversation is one they have regularly at home. On vacation in the middle of the Caribbean ocean one should talk about different things. So I thought it would be interesting to give a brief list of ONE thing that I took away from each group of our guests over the last few weeks (I obviously took away much more than one thing from each family and each person for that matter but to list all of them might become tedious for those of you reading this)
S – teenage boys are very good at entertaining 4 year old boys – thanks guys!
H – chai tea helps to make friends
M – there are good white wines
K – family trips are one of the best gifts to give and to receive
E – there are other people who like bugs and snakes as much as Jim and Jay
N – teenage girls are up for all kinds of adventure – even bat caves
S – it is possible to truly unplug and just “be” on vacation with your family
Z/C – let me sleep late and then keep me going all day and into the night
C – game for anything especially if it includes bacon, chocolate or beer!
R – children can’t learn to speak properly if they don’t actually chew their food
R – cousin in a very distant way – that whole 7 degrees of separation thing rings true
B/H – when it seems like there is more to the story there usually is
There are so many things that I learned from these recent guests. If I did list what each of these people did for a living and the accomplishments among them I would go on for days. Suffice it to say that our guests accomplishments far outshine ours yet we can all spend a bit of time here together and have a great time doing so. Thanks to all of you for spending some of your precious vacation time here with us!
I try to make it a point not to ask people what they do for a living as that conversation is one they have regularly at home. On vacation in the middle of the Caribbean ocean one should talk about different things. So I thought it would be interesting to give a brief list of ONE thing that I took away from each group of our guests over the last few weeks (I obviously took away much more than one thing from each family and each person for that matter but to list all of them might become tedious for those of you reading this)
S – teenage boys are very good at entertaining 4 year old boys – thanks guys!
H – chai tea helps to make friends
M – there are good white wines
K – family trips are one of the best gifts to give and to receive
E – there are other people who like bugs and snakes as much as Jim and Jay
N – teenage girls are up for all kinds of adventure – even bat caves
S – it is possible to truly unplug and just “be” on vacation with your family
Z/C – let me sleep late and then keep me going all day and into the night
C – game for anything especially if it includes bacon, chocolate or beer!
R – children can’t learn to speak properly if they don’t actually chew their food
R – cousin in a very distant way – that whole 7 degrees of separation thing rings true
B/H – when it seems like there is more to the story there usually is
There are so many things that I learned from these recent guests. If I did list what each of these people did for a living and the accomplishments among them I would go on for days. Suffice it to say that our guests accomplishments far outshine ours yet we can all spend a bit of time here together and have a great time doing so. Thanks to all of you for spending some of your precious vacation time here with us!