Life in Costa Rica: December 2017

to all my friends and family all over. I was going to say the sun is shining and it is nice and warm but now it is raining. Hopefully that will change again soon.

The major celebrating is done here on the 24th with eating and prayers and gift exchange going on late into the night. I was originally going to spend yesterday with Ziomara’s family but her father has been very ill and she decided to cancel her dinner. He is in the hospital and just had surgery so she is spending her time with him.

So, I packed up 8 styrofoam containers of goodies and gifts and headed to town. I dropped everything off at the pizza shop and went to visit Katherine and the girls. Heather had brought a good assortment of gifts for them. Books, stickers, a sun hat for Lexi, purses and little animals for both of them. She also brought a bunch of large bags and cocoa butter oil and I gave one of each to Katherine.

Back to the pizza shop where I unpacked and set up on one of the tables. Peppermint patties, fudge, tootsie rolls, chocolate coconut peanut butter snowballs, gingerbread cookies, chocolate peppermint cookies dipped in white chocolate, pretzels dipped in white and dark chocolate, Christmas cheesecake cookies and Christmas Crack. Anyone who came in got goodies. I also texted Jose and his family came and got one of each. Today, if it stops raining I will take containers to the neighbors.

I also brought a gift for Rosita. A big bag, cocoa butter oil, cookie cutters and a small spatula . She gave me a lovely belt. One of the things Heather brought for me was a new supply of beads. One of the strings was large black ones for Emilio. I also had some large green ones so those were his gift. I am going to their house soon and he will give me my gift. Rosita loved one of the strands so I will make her a bracelet of that.

I have lots of work to do outside and the grass is jungle length but with it raining so much and it being coffee picking time not a lot of other things get done. They have my skylight and screening and when they have some time they will install them.

I have had trouble here with beef being tough. I bought a lovely piece a few days ago. I put it in the crockpot at 11:00am and when I went to bed it was still tough. I left it on all night and by morning it was so so fall apart tender. I have several bags of it in the freezer that I can grab and use. Maybe that is the problem. It just never gets cooked long enough.

Jose is bringing me white and pink bougainvillea and I bought orange. I also have white and red poinsettia and 6 hydrangeas to plant in the front in the rocky area near the gate. The hydrangeas are moving from my herb planter so I can plant more herbs in there. I also have cucumber and green onion to plant. The garlic is doing great and I have celery and a couple other herbs to add. These concrete culvert halves are working great for planters. Everything is doing great. The cactus one is set close to the house so it doesn’t get near as much rain as the other ones. I also have 2 more pineapple and 3 mango seeds sprouting and ready to go in the ground. Farmer Gayle - my grandfather would be so proud of me!

The neighbors must think I am crazy. When I hear a noise during the night I grab my long stick and beat on everything within reach to hopefully scare away whatever is making the noise. Sometimes it is several times a night. Besides sleeping with all the lights on except my bedroom light. I am thankful that right now the house is quiet. I didn’t hear anything last night but there was a victim on the table this morning. Apparently it didn’t make it back to the woods to die. Emilio’s father is making me a paste they use since now the poison Adrien put out is gone.

There are no crochet ladies meetings or classes in Paraíso until February so I have time to work on my projects and hopefully get my residency ID card and my passport renewed in January. Emilio and Douglas’s oldest daughter and I are going to San Jose for an excursion before they go back to school. This is like the summer school break in the states so it has been a long one.

I hope you all have a safe and happy holiday season full of love and blessings. Sun is shining again.

At the pizza shop last night.

My Christmas decorations.

I supplied the beads, he made it.

My crown of thorns in bloom.

Still plenty of coffee to ripen and pick. I haven’t had my lesson yet.

Irazu volcano -- yes it is snow

November has been a very busy month for me. Lots of shopping trips where I have to come home by taxi because I have too much for the bus. Lots of cooking. It amazed me I was able to manage with 2 20 pound turkeys in the refrigerator. 4 parties and lots of people. Those who know me well know I am a loner, a hermit, and having lots of people around drains me of energy. So, I now have a chance to replenish that energy. I have only one more event scheduled until Christmas with Ziomara and that is Tuesday morning at 10;00am at the senior center. We are making cinnamon stick Christmas trees and I am bringing all the pieces. Glue, string to hang, cinnamon sticks, greenery, buttons and hearts and shiny things. The classes in Paraíso will begin again next year as will the crochet gatherings.

I have projects to finish including the nap mat for Katherine’s baby which was born early Saturday morning. In the car, along the side of the road, on the way to the hospital. She had a tough week, in and out of labor and was worried so they headed to the hospital. After the baby was born they turned around and came home. Tesla is a little over 8 pounds and Katherine is very small. Both are doing good. They had other excitement also. Courtney, who is 5 decided Lexi needed a haircut. Lexi now wears a hat I crocheted Courtney because the only solution was to shave her head and start over. Courtney is a talented artist, especially for her age. Not so much hairdresser. Besides having no hair, Lexi is having a little trouble adjusting to not being the baby anymore. Katherine has her hands full. There is a hat pattern for a cabbage patch hat. I have the yarn pulled out to make it. A good project during hibernation.

We had music and karaoke for all the parties. Arnaldo for three and Emilio using my laptop and his speakers for the last one. It worked really good and the ladies had so much fun. I did a quick change from thanksgiving to Christmas, but only on the deck. Emilio helped which was great. There were no decorations in the house and the sheer curtains were closed to the deck. When they opened them they could see everything we had done and loved it. Lights strung, stockings and big shiny balls hanging. Three tables with centerpieces. Covered tubs to put their gifts. A beverage area and a quilted tree skirt around a giant poinsettia on the washer. Ziomara gave it to me when she came for thanksgiving. It all looked lovely.

Heather and Kent got to San Jose about 1:00pm on the 23rd but between immigration and traffic it was almost 7:00pm by the time they got to Rio Macho so they went right to the hotel and Jose brought the suitcases here for me to unpack and put away. They had been up since 3:00am. They decided to stay at the Chalet Orosi which is a 22 minute walk from me. They did that several times and took a taxi when they had lots to carry. There are only 3 houses, different sizes and each has a hot tub on the deck. Lots of dogs and cats which they loved and outside town. The house was stocked with food and there are sodas or restaurants within an easy walk. They loved it and would definitely stay there again.

This year was my first experience with using and cooking real pumpkin instead of canned. I couldn’t find canned in a trip to PriceSmart or 2 trips to WalMart. So, at WalMart I bought what I was told was pumpkin. They were small and shaped more like one of the squashes. I cut it open, took the seeds out and roasted it. It turned out so good that Saturday morning Kent and I took the bus to the feria in Paraiso to look for more. This time it looked like a green pumpkin and was called ayote. Was I making pies you say. No, I made soup. 3 batches and they all tasted different because I had to use different ingredients. Roasted pumpkin, apples, onions and garlic. Liquid was vegetable broth or chicken broth and apple juice. All that in the blender. Then on the stove I added some cream, some milk and spices. Oh yes, Emilio made me add butter and a little s alt. It was really good, all 3 times. Even Kent loved it and had 2. Kent is a little picky. I also sprinkled chopped pecans on it when we served it.

The rest of the dinners turned out good too. I cooked the turkey a day early and took it all off the bone. I heated it back up with some chicken stock in the pan. The ham was sliced with pineapple and cloves. A crockpot of dressing each day and 10 pounds of potatoes. I roasted 6 heads of garlic each time and used it all in the potatoes. I sliced the ka mote the day before and it gets cooked with butter, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Not the typical way here but really good and they liked it very much.

I didn’t manage to memorize the blessing but I was able to read it and pronounce it so everyone understood me.

A big hit was the sangria. The first dinner Rosita made it and I had a hibiscus drink for the kids. The second dinner I mixed a carton of sangria, a bottle of red wine and a jug of the hibiscus drink. Sliced oranges and frozen blueberries and raspberries. Everyone raved! After dinner there was Bailey’s and Amarula. Everyone left happy. Kent played the role of the Pied Piper and kept all the young people entertained with games, excursions and trips in the water. They all seemed to have a great time.

My tables have been moved back in the house and as soon as I find them my clothesline’s will go back up and I will get some laundry done. I am going to leave the lights up on the deck. I love the look. I have to bring my extension cord back in for my sewing machine so I have to figure something out.

I had 2 days this week without WiFi and then yesterday the calling part of my phone wasn’t working. Jose called to say he was outside and it rang but he couldn’t hear me and I couldn’t hear him. I thought maybe I had used up my service when I didn’t have WiFi. I just tried and a call went thru. Jose said he had reported it so they must have done something to fix it.

That’s enough for now. I think I will have a bowl of the ham and split pea soup I made yesterday using the ham bone. Turned out good.

The pictures got a bit mixed up.