I have my own spot on the creek!

I asked Jose to come over and bring his machete. I found another spot where I could climb up the rocks but I didn't know if anything could be done for me to get down the other side. I did tell him it could be some day when he didn't have a lot to do. That was yesterday at 8:30am. He responded they would be here at 9:15am. Can't ask for better service then that! He checked things out and put his worker to work clearing out the concrete waterway so the water would flow. Adrien and Thomas came and talked with Jose and showed him where they could clear a path for me to a beautiful spot on the creek. They started chopping and installed a bridge over my little waterway and then came and got me. It was tricky as I am not very surefooted and I was walking over branches and bamboo and rocks and inches of plants and leaves. At least that part of the clearing I can do, and I am, little by little.

Because of all the rain the creek has lots of water and is rushing very fast. There are lovely rocks in the creek and all around the area. I call one my meditation rock. Otto is going to come when he can to go in the creek to check it out. There is a flat rock that looks like it will be great for sitting on. It may be out of the water when the creek isn't so high. I even have a tree to hold on to at the edge of the landing.

And I am excited! I have a light over my front door. There is a switch in the living room that didn't seem to operate anything and we started checking and between Jose and my neighbor bringing a ladder and me supplying a light bulb, I now have light. It will be great when I get home after dark.

I had a couple Paraiso ladies here Thursday and yesterday it was Mila and her husband and grandson, Ileana, Rosita and Emilio. I had everything spread out on my big table and next Thursday I will take what is left to Ileana's house where they are meeting for a baby shower and gathering.  Those who know my family know we do skits. Crazy, silly skits but we have fun. One of the skits was a wedding for Fanny (Jeanne). I made vests for the groomsmen using fabric of half naked cowboys. We also had them enlarged to lifesize and they were extra guests at the wedding. Anyway, i had a few pieces of the fabric left and had it folded up on the stand near the table with the idea I would use it as a joke when they were all together. One of the ladies picked it up and unfolded it and they got the biggest kick out of it. Mila's husband said he was the model. We got a good laugh out of it.

Katherine and the crochet ladies will be here Tuesday morning and Thursday is Paraiso. That and lots and lots of clearing my path.

My bridge over my little water.  

Look close and you see the arch of bamboo. You walk a short distance to the left. All along there you can see the water. This is taken from the house side of the bridge, so not far.

Along the way.

My meditation rock.  

I cleared the landing and to the right is a small tree to hold on to. 

By the landing. 

To the right. 

To the left. 

The spot I picked. Jose, Adrien and Thomas.

My goodness gracious

It has been 16 days since I wrote anything. Everyday I say I need to sit down and write and everyday I end up doing something else. Heather has been here and gone. It was a pretty quiet, rainy week. She brought me 3 suitcases full of goodies and the good thing is she felt better while she was here. We don't know why. Maybe the magic of Rio Macho!

I still haven't finished the baby quilt. The ladies are coming again today to see all the fabric and threads and goodies Heather brought. We went to the crochet ladies while she was here. I didn't know they were planning a luncheon and we were a bit late but had a good time eating traditional foods they made.

We went to Cartago and found the coffee she wanted at the old grocery store I go to.

Exciting news - the chicken store by the church and school now carries the butter I have been getting in Paraiso. He only gets it on Tuesday and  to start he only gets 6. I went on Tuesday and bought 5. 3 for me and 1 for Ligia Sanchez and 1 for Jeanette. I had run out and even resorted to buying some of the other at the Super because I haven't been to Paraiso for the craft ladies for a few weeks. Aura's granddaughter was born Wednesday of last week and is having some health problems and is still in the hospital. That is why the ladies are coming here today.

Jose and a helper and a big gravel truck have been here and I now have a path of gravel from the front of the house to the gate and stepping stones from the front to my garden. Things are coming along great and plants are flowering.

We have been having lots of heavy rain, from tropical storms. All over Costa Rica there are problems with landslides and flooding. So far no problems here in my corner. My little creek is so beautiful with rushing water. Because ICE, the electrical company, is right down the road and they go up the mountain a lot the road is kept up. I did have an evening with no electricity and a day with no water because of a broken pipe. There is a type of fungus that grows on trees here and kills them. It holds  water inside and mosquitos live in there. Heather and I spent time knocking them down so junk and water falls while you are doing that. Yup, we both needed showers and no water. At least once it started raining it washed us off.

Speaking of the mountain, Heather works to  take at least 10,000 steps a day and she walked from here to the end of the best sidewalk in all of Costa Rica, about 3 kilometers up the mountain, then back down to the church and back here. Not sure my hips would agree to that yet. One day we took the road past the church and came across an animal rescue.  We could hear lots of dogs. It says they take cats also. They are only open 8-11am so I haven't made it back yet when they are open. Heather said if she went she would give them all her money. There was one really big dog she wanted.

Ziomara is coming a week from Saturday and the crochet ladies are coming on Tuesday and that is all I have planned so far until the seniors on Nov. 17. October could be a quiet month. More gardening and planning and gathering for the Thanksgiving dinnners. Heather brought me more coconut, chocolate chips and a package of wild rice for the dressing.

Things I planted are starting to bloom. I also have had a few guayaba but the cas has slowed down. The tree by the deck is Azara or Columbian Guava. The beautiful plant Jose gave me that the ants ate all the flowers is blooming again. I will watch very close for ants and sprinkle everything I have that smells bad around it. I don't mind sharing my garden with ants but not if they are going to destroy it.

Afternoons are a little tricky here and this time of year there is often bad weather. September and October are the rainiest.

 

There is a man up the road from me who sits on his front porch and weaves baskets. The big one was $10.00 and the two smaller ones totaled $12.00.

I love these but have only seen one here at la Cabana 

This is the plant Jose gave me and the ants ate the flowers. 

The walkway to the garden.

My new path 

My crew. Jose, Adrien, Brandon, Thomas 

Heather faced her fears and tried the hammock again. 

She also taught Pups to high 5

I got a call from Emilio saying he was asked to call to say the ladies couldn't come today. I agreed to 10:00am tomorrow. I went out and locked the gate and 5 minutes later I got a call from one of the ladies asking me to open the gate, they were here. Seems they didn't get a call telling them tomorrow. I let them in and they bought what they wanted. The rest of the ladies will come tomorrow morning.

Have you ever........

On  one of Heathers trips here she brought a down filled pillow and left it here for her to use when she came, along with a memory foam pillow. The next trip she came she was afraid the down was moldy and asked me to check it. Being the nice mother I am I cut it open. Have you ever cut open a down pillow??? Tiny feathers start going everywhere. I managed to shove it all in a ziplock storage bag and there it sat. There was no shoving it back in the cover so I hadn't done anything with it. Well, Heather is coming tomorrow and needs a down pillow so I had to figure out how to get the tiny, lighter than air feathers contained. And let me just say that except for the 4000 all over my yard they are contained. I decided I would empty most of the feathers into the ziplock bag with the cloth cover on top and ziplock the top. Then I would cut a hole in the bottom and shove it into a pillow case and transfer the feathers to the pillow case. That would have worked pretty good except the ziplock came open and feathers went flying. I finally had to hold it closed with one hand and try and get feathers in the pillowcase with the other. I got as many as I could and took it in the house to sew it closed. Yes I have feathers all over the house too. I then shook out the original cover, put the pillow case inside and sewed it closed. I then stuck it in another pillow case. It may be a little smaller, but totally usable.

We are invited on Thursday to the Independence Day celebration at the Senior Center with music and all kinds of traditional foods and then Tuesday we are invited to crochet ladies at Jeanette's. Heather doesn't crochet but she does knit. She taught herself watching videos. She is left handed so it is more difficult. We aren't sure yet what else we will be doing but it will be fun to have her here. She will be bringing 3 suitcases full of my things and fabric and yarn. The ladies are excited and can't wait to see it.

Tomorrow morning Otto will be here for my massage. I am also going to ask him to help me Shampoo Pups. They get along well and I bought dog shampoo today.

For crochet ladies today I made Mango Banana bread. It is very good and a little different in that I didn't mash the bananas but diced them along with the mango. I have another loaf for us.

That's about it. Life has been quiet the last few days. No problems with my blood sugar. I went to Ziomara's on Sunday and spent the afternoon with her family. The added second floor is just beautiful and I raided her plants and even came home with a lemon tree. I have planted all the things I brought from her but I still have other things to plant. Ana brought me 5 plants including 3 roses last Thursday and Jose brought me 6 flowers. I have to decide where to put everything. Also, my solar lights are doing great. They aren't that bright but give me a path to follow. My landlord really likes them.

It could be snow, but no, it's feathers.

The finished product.

So that no one is worried

And thank you to those who were, Pups and I walked to the bus stop and he waited with me till the bus came. I went to the bank to make sure I had enough cash and waited at Katherine's till it was time to go to the doctor. They apologized because he was running late and I would have to wait about 15 minutes. No problem, I visited with his wife and looked over the jewelry she makes and has for sale in a room in front. Lovely things. I will have to take Heather there when she is here. Not long before I got in and we went over everything that had been going. He decided I needed to reduce the diabetes med I was on from two to one a day and needed to remember to eat, even if I am not hungry. Since coming here I have lost over 30 pounds, which is good, have cut out one of the two insulins I was on which is very good and have discontinued simvastatin. Now another med reduced. All good things. My blood pressure was a little high but that is understandable with what has been going on. He agrees the low blood sugar problem was just a combination of working too hard inside and outside in the heat and not eating or maybe drinking enough. He doesn't think it is anything serious but we will keep an eye on my numbers and I will go back if needed. He did give me some bottles of glucerna which I can use in place of a meal. This all cost me 20,000 colones, or about $35.00. Being the nerd I am, I also gave him a jar of the cas/strawberry jelly.

Next stop was the pharmacy for a couple things. The pharmacist was there and we talked over about yesterday and I gave her a jar of jelly too. This jelly turned out very good and the ticos really like it. Lots of cas, strawberries, the juice of one orange and one lemon. It has a bit of a tang to it and is not real sweet like some of the jellies.

Since the doctor told me to eat, I stopped and had a burger and fries, children size which turned out to be perfect. It was a good thing I stopped because it started raining really hard and was done by the time I left. Stopped at the meat/fruit market and got some mandarinas and mangos. The Super hasn't had them for a while and I miss them. I also got some meat for me and a couple dog bones with meat. I am going to cook them for stock tomorrow with vegetables and then Pups will get one. The other will be put away for another day. He was on the deck waiting for me when I got home. I should have gotten more dog food but I will do that this weekend. I am going to Ziomara's on Sunday for a visit so I will get some in Cartago.

Cartago on Sunday, finish my baby quilt, crochet ladies Tuesday afternoon, Otto Wednesday morning and pick Heather up Wednesday evening. No craft ladies on Thursday and Friday is Costa Rica's Independence Day. No problems, no worries, I will take it easy. Pura Vida

Part two of this week..

So, ladies all over my house and deck and yard, food all over, a big pile of gifts for the baby shower and a beautiful giant cake pretty much describes the place. They just come in and know what needs to be done and do it. They find and use what they need and wash it and put it back when they are finished. A very big cooker was set up on the table on the deck. Rice with meat. Edith was at the sink cutting up tomatoes for the salad. Rosita was putting together appetizers, Anita was putting together the cas beverage. No fuss no bother. It was great. They all moved, along with the gifts and chairs to the deck for opening the gifts and cake and breads and the piñata. My gift was a patchwork baby blanket that is not quite finished. I brought it out to show them. I still have to sew the front and back together. The baby is a girl and it is lots of pink with a crocheted white heart in the center.

The piñata was so funny. It was filled with candy and took 3 women with a stick and Iliana moving it with the rope it was attached to before it finally broke open. Then they were all on the floor looking for candy. Not ladies of all ages, but kids.

I did centerpieces using what I have. Strips of burlap with baskets and candles and sprays of red berries and small branches of bamboo leaves. They looked quite nice.

After that, cleanup started. Chairs were piled and left on the deck, food was divided, silverware was washed, deck was swept, everything put back in order. Ana had me test my blood sugar again to make sure it was up before she left. It was. You wouldn't know the house had been full yesterday.

And, I got presents too! The same Ana brought me a box of roses and other plants and I was given a beautiful teapot and matching cup and saucer in a matching box, another cup and saucer in a matching box, wooden kitchen tools and a kitchen towel and a neat garden shovel in a little case.

A Buen Día all in all.  Today will be quieter with an afternoon trip to Orosi for the doctor and a couple errands.

I forgot, I had asked them to say a little prayer for a day with no rain - it has been raining a lot - because we wanted to do things outside. Thank you God, no rain till last night.

The craft ladies have a group on WhatsApp and they have posted about 100 pictures and videos and comments since yesterday. I think that is a sign of a time enjoyed. I will post a few here.

Cup and saucer and teapot with matching box

Cup and saucer with matching box

Garden tool. Handle comes off and it all goes in the pouch.

Towel and wooden kitchen tools

Cup and saucer with matching box

Looking for candy. I have a light on the deck but I don't know where the switch is.

Birthday girls and their cake.

Aura's daughter, the mother to be, opening gifts.

Along my house

You have to enlarge this to see my solar lights.

The path up. Yes, Pups is back, and stays close, usually laying by the front or back door.

The creek

The open sitting area by the creek.

And what a day it was! the area.

In fact, what a week it has been. Monday Jose and his helper came and set up my solar lights around my yard and cleared away my piles of brush and cleared out the area on the left side of la Cabana. There is still more to do but it is already looking so much better. The big rocks are showing and you can easily walk through the area. I had gone to the Féria Saturday morning and bought lots of herbs and plants and got them all planted. I mentioned to Jose that I wanted to show him the shortest path I found to the creek. It is over a hill of rocks and logs. It didn't take long and he had created a new path up and down the hill and all the way to the water. Tuesday morning I raked the area and asked Otto if he would come and check it out to make sure it is safe for the girls to go in and play. He is coming Thursday morning.  The path is now so easy to climb up and down and there is a large open area to sit and watch the water. It is close enough to the road for people walking by to see but maybe I can plant some fast growing things to help block the view. I love it and it is so handy. They also brought the chairs from la bodega to my house for Thursday. We also brought a round table for the deck.

Tuesday afternoon was crochet ladies at Jeanette's. I cut large buns into pieces and baked them till crisp and made a tuna mixture.  It was raining hard so I called Luis and asked him to come get me and plan on picking me up at 6:00pm at Katherine's hotel. Besides being able to visit with them, it is a great spot for me as the reception area of the hotel is open and I can leave things there and wait or continue shopping. They don't have to be around even. Katherine liked what was left of the tuna so I left it with her. Another reason it works good is I can take a cart from the Super, take all my stuff to the reception area, and return the cart. It is 1/2 block. Uphill and on the main road, but doable. Everyone just honks at me, which is normal here.

And, more big news! Heather is coming on Wednesday for a week. And, although I am very happy about that, the fact that she is bringing 3 suitcases full makes lots of people happy. I have Jose all scheduled to pick her up. I spent Wednesday getting ready for the craft ladies on Thursday. Tables and chairs all over, a corn and black bean salad using fresh corn on the cob that I cut off. I even used my plastic tubs all over to make sure people had things to set everything on. The hammock was left up and there was lots of seating on the deck besides in the house.

Otto came at 10:00am and I took him to my path. I still have a little trouble going  down the hill - I am so clumsy - but he moved one of the rocks and now it is better. He checked out the creek and removed some garbage. He is concerned people have been throwing trash off the bridge so if the girls play in the water they must leave their shoes on or their parents must check it out. I want to make sure it is safe. Even if it is just for sitting and watching, it is a beautiful spot. Not all Ticos appreciate and respect the rivers and some dump in the rivers. This creek seems to have very clean, clear water which I enjoy.

Now sit back, this may take a while. At a little after 2:00 the ladies started coming. They went by at first and called me -in Spanish of course. I was out by the road and two ladies were walking by so I handed them my phone and asked them to talk with Rosita. They did and I could see 2 cars coming down the road. We got them in and settled and I thanked the ladies before they continued on their way.  Several more cars, parked in my yard or on the road. I think 24 of us in all. My house was wall to wall people but with the deck and the wonderful outdoors, it worked out great. Because we were having a baby shower there was the mother, 2 grandmothers, and two great grandmothers. We were also having a birthday party for the September birthdays, and there were a lot of them. Everyone seemed to enjoy this spot and I have invited them back again so we can walk to the swimming area on the river.

The only catastrophe of the day was me. Unfortunately I had a blood sugar low episode. But, the good thing was it could not have happened at a better time. Ana, the owner of the pharmacy in Paraiso and Orosi was here and she stepped in and helped and kept a very close eye on me. She called the pharmacist here and found out who my doctor is and called him. I spoke with him and I have an appointment for 4:30 today. I followed his instructions and my numbers are normal today. All the craft ladies have been checking on me today and I have several numbers to call if I have a problem. I have been able to cut back on my meds since being here because of a healthier life so I may just need another  reduction. It has been hot and I have been working hard indoors and out so that may have caused the problem. Anyway, thank you Iliana and Ana for your great help.

This is getting too long so I am going to stop and start a second one