The next adventure begins.

  I have checked in and my suitcases are almost completely packed. I just have to close them and weigh them again to make sure I am not over 50 pounds. We have to be at Park and Ride for the bus to the airport by 1:15pm. My flight to San Antonio is at 9:35pm from Midway airport in Chicago.

 I cut up Judi's Christmas quilt and I am taking one piece with me to finish it for Paula. Hopefully we will be able to visit some fabric stores for fabric for binding the two cut sides. It is a blue tie dye fabric that I used when I made it. We went to JoAnn's Fabric yesterday and I found something I could use but the lines at the cutting table and check out were so long it would have taken the rest of the afternoon. Their customer service is so poor at the Madison store. They don't have near enough employees. They are the only fabric store around so they really have no competition. 

I received an email yesterday that the sister I was planning to visit in San Antonio is too ill for visitors. I am sad to hear that. She is 95 so it is easy to understand. Adriana and I may go to the convent anyway to see the other sisters I know there. We'll see.

Heather has booked tickets for Christmastime for them to come to Orosi. That will be so fun, to celebrate the Holidays with them and Gerardo's family.

It has been a great trip and I am working on my next one in October to California and then to Madison for 2 more suitcases. I have 3 more packed to go already with stuff I didn't have room for this time. Heather has promised me they will bring 4 at Christmas when they come. I am taking back a good assortment with me including cut up and felted cashmere sweaters to make a throw for Heather. She has more sweaters she will felt and cut up and bring down for more throws. They will be so soft and once they are felted they are easier to sew. They don't stretch as much.

I can't wait to get working on my big dreamcatcher again. I love the beads I bought to use around the outside edge and I have copper wire to go with the silver. I think it will be quite wonderful.

I did make progress on the documents needed to apply for residency in Costa Rica. I have a statement from the Hutchinson Police Dept. that I am a person of good conduct and a letter from Social Security stating the amount of my monthly income and stating it is for life. I think I already have all the other documents I need and will start working on that when I get back there. It's a long process but there would be advantages being a resident.

Heather and I have done lots of running around and made a daily trip each evening for a McDonalds cone. The employees at the one we go to are so nice and so friendly for our $2.11 purchase. No Indian food this time but that's OK. I have had Thai, Chinese twice, Italian twice and pizza and lots of great American. AND raspberries, golden and red, right off the bushes. The golden delicious apple tree has lots of little apples but nothing on the honey crisp yet. There are pears on the pear tree and Heather is busy planting mulberries, which look like blackberries. All her flowers and bushes are getting so big she may have to thin them out and do some moving. The raspberries have already spread several feet on the neighbor's side of the fence. They are very happy.

I am going home with several new pairs of jeans to cover my skinny legs - 6 in fact, 2 new pairs of sandals, lots of new tops that fit and a few other things. I am leaving some clothes that fit here so I won't have to bring them all next time. I have coffee for Adriana but I am not sure about jelly. My suitcases are so full and heavy there may not be room. I only have a couple left. Heather will give them to friends.

I think that brings you up to date on my adventures. Emilio and Jose celebrated birthdays while I was gone but I did send them greetings and spoke with Emilio. I may have more to report from San Antonio and my time with Adriana.

A driving day

Today I head back to Heather's with maybe a stop at Moe's for a snack and one of their wonderful milkshakes. It has been a great 2 weeks with lots of successful shopping, visiting family and friends, a successful casino visit and tons of good food. Kaye tried to feed me salmon but we lost it. Yvonne fed me salmon and ham, Sandy and I had ribs and chicken at Cabin Fever, Roz and DuWayne fed me ribeye steak and Alaskan king crab, Italian at Bernadette's, pork roast with Janice and Jack and this morning we are going for Potato Pancakes. I will have to go on a diet when I get home. 

I even had a doctor visit with all good numbers and results. With my weight loss and the healthier food I eat I have been able to discontinue one of the insulins I was on. YEAH!  My blood pressure was good too and I had her check to make sure I didn't have any tiny ant nest in my ears. Little wax that she removed but no ants.

At Heather's I will get my things sorted and my suitcases packed and then off to Texas and Adriana. Lots of moving around but my car has been great and I have been able to see almost everyone and do almost everything I wanted to do.

I made chocolate coconut balls and fudge and chocolate covered bananas with Kaye's grandchildren and did the coconut and bananas at Roz's and brought some with me for the people here. I have handed out jelly and coffee and even pickles from the meat market in Kimball. I got lost in Bloomington and John saved me. Bern and I explained our almost cousin relationship to him. We colored my hair and I even won some games of Quiddler and left my game with Roz.

I'm having a really good time.

I know, I know, I know!

I haven't written anything since June 2nd! Part of the reason is I have been so busy having fun. Part of the reason is I have spent several days without my iPad or with very limited access to wifi. 

Let's see if I can give you a little report. It's after 11:00pm so I will see how long I can stay awake. I am in Hutchinson so I will have to work backwards to when I left Orosi.

There was some confusion over when I was leaving as I would tell people the 8th and I was actually leaving at 3:30am on the 8th. so although it was during the night it was the night of the 7th. Jose wasn't taking any chances and came a little after 3:00am so I was at the airport before southwest even opened. I was really lucky with seats on Southwest and ended up in rows 2 and 3 so I was able to get right off. I thought I might possibly be able to make the 5:00pm bus from Midway to Madison but the luggage took quite a while. I left on the 7:00pm bus and got to Madison at 10:40pm. Heather and Kent were to pick me up and I thought they were just running late but it turned out they were on the other side in another parking lot where they thought the bus would stop. When they saw the bus leave they came looking for me and we got loaded up and headed home. 

Heather and I spent the next day running around and shopping. No, we didn't go to Dig and Save. She already has 12 suitcases lined up and waiting for me and enough stuff to probably fill 5. I will only be able to bring 2 with me so I will have to be selective with what I bring this time.

Friday morning we went to pick up my car. The agent admitted in the 2 years he has worked there he had never seen a rate as low as we got. I had also signed up for membership in the car companies club and he said I qualified for an upgrade. Out came a 2017 Ford Escape, a bronze color. I just love it.  It is very roomy and comfortable.

Everything went well until I hit 694 and 94. Construction and one lane bumper to bumper. Took me till 6:30 to get to Battle Lake and dinner with Kaye.

Saturday it was into Moorhead for lunch and a good visit with Kathy Loney and then Menards to pick up lots of stuff for Kaye and Herberger's to pick up lots for both of us. We were invited to a surprise 70th birthday party in a hanger Saturday evening in Wahpeton so we headed there for a couple hours. Lots of fun and that is where I left my iPad. We called as soon as we got back to the lake and they found it. We said we would pick it up Monday morning when we came back to town.

Monday was off to visit my cousin, Yvonne and her husband Homer, who live in the Fort Ripley area overlooking the Mississippi River. 

Tuesday was lunch with three of my cousins. It was at a Mexican restaurant and they were all very impressed when I ordered my lunch in Spanish. When we left, Yvonne and I headed for Herbergers. I should never go to Herbergers. 2 pairs of sandals and 2 pair of pants. 

Wednesday morning Yvonne had an appointment so she dropped me at the Mall. I figured they would have wifi but I also wanted to stop at Christopher Banks. Two tops and another pair of jeans. Now I really didn't need this pair but they are a size 4 so I just couldn't resist. I am going to leave the tag on them. I left their house at 3:00pm and headed for Little Falls. I decided to stop and see if my friend, Charlene, was home and we sat outside and talked. It is like we have never been apart and the next thing I knew it was 6:30pm. I left and went to Sandy's in Little Falls.

Thursday there really wasn't anything I wanted to do or anyone I wanted to see so we headed for the casino. We had breakfast and decided to split up and meet again in an hour. Let's just say both our pockets were fuller when we left after an hour. Dinner was at Cabin Fever - ribs and chicken that was so good and then a visit with Dennis and Joyce. A really fun day.

Today Sandy went to work and about an hour later I headed into town to Pete and Joy's Bakery. They have the best food. I had breakfast there and bought some things to bring to Roz's house. Emilio called me while I was there and I let all the customers say Hello to him.

I spent a lot of time shopping in St. Cloud and picked up lots of goodies. Haven't found a swimsuit yet though. I stopped in Hutch and visited with Linda at the Theatre for a few minutes then off to DuWayne and Roz. I had stopped at the market in Kimball and got the sweet horseradish pickles for Linda and for Roz. Town is really busy because of the Water Festival and the Main Street Bar was packed tonight but the Crispers were great.

Tomorrow morning is the Farmers Market. Not sure about what else. I do have some funny stories that I will tell next time, but it is midnight and time to go to sleep.

They had to move their planes out of the hanger for the party.

I took pictures so Gerardo can see what Minnesota farm fields look like.

I know, I wasn't going to have anything to say for a while

But, I have to tell you about my jelly! It seems I have a product people are interested in and now that I have my super, duper labels, people want to know what I will charge for my jars of jelly. I hadn't thought about selling them. And I suppose if I sell them I can't ask people to bring the jar back. Ziomara got the first label on her jar of papaya pina marmalade today. I am not so sure it is going to make it to Douglas. 

I left here on the bus at 10:15am and sent a message to Emilio letting him know I was on the way.  The notice came back I was out of minutes. It happens at the most in opportune time. About a block from the bus stop in Cartago there was a shop that said Kolbi so I stopped to prepay more minutes. Soon as I was set I called him to let him know where I was and he said he would meet me at Ziomara's yarn shop. We took care of cutting out a sticker - well he did - and put it on her jelly. She was busy with a crochet class so off we went to the market. It is difficult to find nice oranges with good zest so we went back to the vendor we bought from last week and I got 4 oranges and some strawberries. We weren't hungry yet so I wanted to get some of the melting chocolate that the Super hasn't had lately and we headed to what Emilio called the early version of WalMart. It was the same place Ziomara had sent me for jars and yup, I got more of those also. I want to take the melting chocolate with me so I can make chocolate covered coconut balls for Kent and at Kaye's. Next stop was the bakery I love to get bread to go with the jelly for the craft ladies. Now we are ready to eat and head back to the market and our usual restaurant. I was hungry for empanadas so I ordered a chicken and a beef because the other option was cheese. Emilio ordered the meat soup. He had a tamarindo drink and I had mora. I had eaten half of the chicken one when I broke the other one in half and asked him what is this. It was cheese. I said I don't really need two so he ate the cheese one and his soup and I finished the chicken one. I also repackaged the red bag because it was so heavy I couldn't carry it. I moved some things to my purse. Emilio headed to San Jose and I headed to the bus with a stop at a couple stores along the way including ABC Bazaar - yup more jars.

I was going to just head to Paraiso for the craft ladies but since I had time and my bags were so heavy I decided to come home and then go back. Worked great and I unloaded what I didn't need and headed for Paraiso with the bread and 2 jars of jelly. I also had the labels to show everyone. They were very impressed and they all wanted to know how much I would charge for my jellies after they tasted them. I will have to find people to bring jars to me or the cost of the jars will run up the price I have to charge. Regular canning jars are not easy to find here.

Who would have thought I would move to Costa Rica to be a jelly maker! In fact I have all the ingredients for a batch of Papaya pineapple tomorrow while Emilio cuts out the stickers. I may also use the strawberries I got today with the two bags of mora I have.

It's only a week away

As much as I love it here, I also love my trips back to the States, especially ones like this one where I will be visiting a lot of family and friends. Even though I don't like all the driving. I want to be magically transported from one place to the other. 

Since I am flying Southwest I am taking a checked bag with me so I have room for coffee and jelly. I am going out today to get papaya and pina and oranges and limes to make a big batch of that. I have several jars back and Ana brought me a bunch of baby food jars. This time will be a new experience as I am flying into Midway airport in Chicago and taking the shuttle to Madison where Heather and Kent will pick me up. It will be a challenge to do that on the way back to Midway because then I will have 2 bags, my carry on and my red bag. I will be heading to Texas for a week before I come back here. Adriana has voiced a possibility of coming here for 2 weeks in July which would be wonderful. I have given her fares so we will see if she can work it on top of changing jobs and moving.

Yesterday afternoon was a sewing lesson and they will be back today. We spent some time sewing straight lines that I had marked on fabric. We also had to take some out and do it again but that is all part of school and learning. One of the ladies, Arabela, was having trouble with the machine I bought here and the thread always breaking so I had her and Efigenia swap machines. It seemed to help for some reason. We also had a lesson in slow. They would take off at 90 miles an hour and it is hard to control anything. I also taught them about reverse and locking stitches but we are having a little trouble with the idea of only 2 stitches. It ends up being half the row. But, they are coming back today so they can't be too discouraged. And, yes, I know their names. I had them write them down for me. Efigenia is pronounced Efihenia as like Gerardo the g is pronounced like an h.

Today's sewing lesson will start with a cutting lesson using the batting and the rotary cutters. I also want to show them zigzag on the machines. I have very simple machines so no fancy stitches. It will give them a break from sitting at the machines and concentrating on the potholders.

If you look close you can see tons of avocado.

This is Cas, a poor cousin of guayaba, but very popular here. They will eat them off the tree but most popular is in fruit drinks with either water or milk and sugar. Tons of fruit on the tree.

My touch of color added to Costa Rica.

The flower garden is coming along.

Tomorrow is craft ladies in the afternoon and somewhere along the way I will connect with Emilio to get the stickers. Another jelly making session, but only one jelly this time and hopefully no blisters - the boiling jelly does splatter! I don't have much scheduled until I leave very early on Wednesday except Katherine and the girls and Otto for a massage on Tuesday. There may not be much to post before I leave.