Various handicrafts for sale in the Embera Indian Village in Panama.

We spent the last two weeks on Block Island. One of the highlights of the trip was joining the Block Island Club. My wife's family always used to join when they came to the island when she was growing up, and her father even helped import the first 420 sailboats the club used. Its friendly and low key, and has sailboats, kayaks, paddleboards, a couple of tennis courts with a really good instructor, and even held a potluck cocktail party one evening.A sailboat race hosted by the club.The clubhouse.The sunset cocktail party.The view from the tennis courts as a scary storm moved in.

Jim, your bird is a Gila Woodpecker. They usually eluded me by flying away, exactly when I tried to take a photo. Neat birds, though.

I was similarly skeptical a few years ago when people were saying that the 17-year cicadas damaged many trees the previous time they were here. I reasoned that since adult cicadas don't eat anything, how could they possibly damage a tree. However when the massive brood emerged, the resulting damage looked exactly like susan_wv's image. As you say, the females do cut slits in twigs and deposits eggs therein. When the eggs hatch, larvae drops to the ground to begin the cycle anew. The key is when the 17-year cicadas emerge, there are lots of them -- as many as 1.5 million per acre. Each female proceeds to lay about 500 eggs choosing branches that are about 1/4 inch in diameter. Consequently in heavily affected areas all of the branches of that size are completely covered with slits to that point that the branch dies.