I am alone again.

Just got back from taking Kaye to the airport hotel. She needs to be at the airport about 4:30am so now she is just a couple minutes away, not 11/2 to 2 hours away depending on the traffic. It was great having here here, even if she did win the last 5 games of Quiddler in a row.

Correction from the blog yesterday. Cat spells her name Cat not Kat. 

I have moved back into my bedroom and sheets are washed and dried and the beds remade. Tomorrow I will work on getting Cat's room ready. The only other thing I have scheduled is Katherine and the girls will be here to swim at 9:00am. Lexi is now walking so we will probably be chasing her all over the soccer field.

Remember the plant in my garden I thought was marijuana? Well, it now has produce on it. The cucumbers are still doing well, the dill is looking good, lots of tomatoes on the plants in the pot and I have two more pineapple tops to plant. I have some carrots that are looking pretty good also. Gerardo's camote is coming along, the papaya tree is getting big, lots of morning glory, sunflowers and cosmos are doing great, both bougainvillea are in bloom and the butterflies love the flowers in my planters.

I haven't told you about the bugs. Some kind of beetle I think. Apparently this only happens in May. For about the last 4 nights, when you turn the lights on after dark, the bugs come out and fly or crawl around. They are about an inch long. They have taken over the living room and the kitchen. They don't seem to come in the bedroom. We tried to sweep them outside the first couple nights, also spraying , all over everything but then we gave up and as soon as they appeared we turned all the lights off and moved to the bedroom to play Quiddler on Kaye's bed. I waited until the end of our excursion with Gerardo Sunday to tell him I had a problem and showed him one of the bugs. All I got was a laugh and a comment that it is May. No sympathy at all. I am going to pretend they are like box elder bugs and will be gone soon. 

I am very tired so I am off to bed.

It is morning - 6:23am and Oscar is outside the door removing the stump from the bush he cut down. This is the bush to the left of my house where we are going to put the concrete block planter. There is also a big old metal frame like a big headboard along the long wall that Kaye and I moved. We now have it standing up against the wall behind where the bush was. I think this area is going to turn into a really neat landscaped area. I am hoping to plant things to grow up the headboard and the wall and have my concrete block planter there also. Gerardo showed me some really neat concrete blocks at the finka that would give it lots of character.

So much has been going on. I think I have mentioned Heather spends some time at Dig and Save and one of the things she gets me are suitcases for $2.00. She checks them over very carefully to make sure the zippers work and the wheels work. They may have little problems like the front pouch not closing but anything necessary is in good working order. My idea was to bring them here and give them away to store things as most Tico houses don't have much storage. I made arrangements with Jose that yesterday he could pick up 8 suitcases to give to the poor people he helps. One of the suitcases was full of clothes, colored chalk and colored pencils, little bottles of shampoo and conditioner and body lotion. When Gerardo came over he got quite excited. It happened I was on FaceTime with Emilio and I asked him to tell Gerardo what they were for. Gerardo explained he and his family would take everything and pay me for it and I could use the money for the poor people, for food or whatever was needed most and that would be better. It was very interesting how it all worked. Before long Ana and Dora and Papa and Marta were here. They were on the phone and sending pictures to Flora. Ana found things she took for Tia. Gerardo wanted the bags of products for the bed and breakfast, the chalk and colored pencils would be great for the children who are coming next Monday. When Ana's daughter moved to Nicaragua she needed suitcases but Ana didn't have any to give her. Now she does.

I hadn't planned to sell things so I had no idea what to charge so I wrote down 25,000 colones which is about $50.00 and showed it to Gerardo and said for everything. He said no, mas, mas which means more. It is for the children. Jose and I talked on the trip back last night and he says this works even better for him because it can be used for whatever is most important. Medicine or food or doors. Rebecca was here for Kaye's massage and said she is going on a trip in August and do I have more suitcases. I explained I didn't but I would be bringing two more in June and I would save one for her. It was such an eye opener for me. I didn't realize the value of some of the things I have brought. I was just looking to clear out the bedroom and hoped they could be put to some use. I am so happy they will be used by one group and the payment will be used to help another group. 

Maybe this afternoon I will get back to working on my big dreamcatcher again. Or not. I may just do nothing. 

Tupperware products are different here. These are my new canisters. Marta sells them. They are so happy. These are for flour, sugar, coffee and you got it - cookies.

A few of the cases.

Papa is helping.