After the article was posted in the little Paraíso paper I posted it on the site of the craft ladies in Paraiso since that is where the work started. Johana, one of the ladies, contacted me and said her mother wanted to help. Her name is Laura. She sent pictures of a couple hats she has crocheted. She is very talented. Couple complications. She is busy on Tuesdays and she has arthritis so taking the bus to Orosi is difficult. I contacted Ligia and Jeannette and we all agreed to skip our Tuesday meeting this week and go to their house in Paraiso on Thursday. We said we would be there at 2:30.
I needed to go to the bank so I went to Orosí early carrying my red bag and my green bag (thanks to Heather I have a new bag. The original red bag got tossed.) I pay rent for the next 3 months the end of this month so I have to get ready. It didn’t take long and when I came out I needed to touch base with Jeannette about the bus we would take and where we would meet. I sat down on the step in front of the bank to message her. A few minutes later I got a call from Jose. Hello, I just drove by and saw you. Are you OK? Wasn’t that nice! I explained and we laughed.
We took the 2:15 bus and I messaged Johana we were on the bus. Jeannette explained Ligia was in Paraiso and we would meet her there. We walked across the street and in front of Flory’s house and Ligia and Johana were there waiting. It was just a two block walk to their house. It was such a good afternoon and I did more listening and watching than talking but that is normal. It was Johana and her mother and her sister and her mother’s sister. There were many younger people also but I am not sure how they fit in. They served us lemonade to start and we sat and talked and looked at pictures of the hats we have donated. One of the pictures I showed them was taken in the chemo room and turned out to be a friend or relative of theirs.
I had brought a lot of yarn and said she could take some for a few hats and get more later or she could take all of it. She took all. We were invited into the kitchen for coffee and a wonderful assortment. I brought a loaf of mango raisin bread and they had two different kinds of bread/dessert. I said how much I liked the one and the next thing I knew the young lady had written the recipe for me - in English. I wrote out the bread recipe for them and we all worked together to translate it.
We talked about getting together again and agreed on March 5 at my house. I will have José pick them up and bring them if he is available. If not, Fran lives in Paraiso and knows where I live so I will ask him. There was a lot of talk about me being a good cook but not cooking the things a Tica cooks and Jeannette mentioned I do chalupas so that is what we are having. I have plenty of taco seasoning for both beef and chicken and I just put out bowls of all kinds of things and they load up their crispy tortillas. I need to decide on a dessert.
Today I head back to Paraiso to pick up my glasses. I had the right lens changed to just plain with no prescription. When my other eye is done I will have the other lens done. Tomorrow I am going to Cartago to visit Ziomara and take her the things I brought from the US. Tuesday I am going to give a lesson on Tunisian crochet and since I have never done it I have to spend some time studying and practicing this weekend.
Can’t wait for Easter. I decided to make bunny ears to put over the antlers on my reindeer and new bows and put them out in the yard again. The neighbors will be sure I am crazy but it will give them something to laugh at.
I am working on a project that is turning out really good. I have crocheted a mandala for Otto and now I have to attach it to a bamboo frame. He wanted the colors of the chakras and I think I came close. He paid me the greatest compliment on Tuesday. He said it is too wonderful.
Cats are good, I am good. It is dry season so plants aren’t quite as good. I have been doing some watering. Adrian has been busy for two days doing cutting and trimming so I am set for a couple months. All is good in Paradise.
Friday, January 25, 2019
Tuesday, January 15, 2019
I cannot believe
it has been a month since I wrote anything. I keep thinking I will wait till this happens or that happens or I go to the doctor again. Now I will be lucky to remember half of what I did.
I baked cookies to take to Heather’s - her one request was Spritz cookies. I had to, even though I wasn’t supposed to. I put a hat on and sunglasses and spent as little time as possible with the oven door open. I made a double batch and halfway through I realized they only had vanilla for flavoring. I added what I thought was almond and turned out it was peppermint. Then I added almond. 5e next day I made another batch with just almond and added food coloring so we could tell them apart.
My last visit to the doctor was the 21st and he said the inflammation was much better but still some. I go back on Friday. It is still irritated so I don’t know what the report will be.
The 23rd José took me to the airport very early morning and it was al
most 11pm by the time I got to Heather’s house. We had lunch on the 24th with Kent’s son, Justin and Kent’s mother, Sherry. Christmas Day was at Kent’s mother’s house and it included a wonderful Honey Baked ham. Next on my schedule was a trip to Hutchinson and Little Falls. I have to say first that I thank my lucky stars that nothing bad happened. I picked up the car on Thursday at noon and headed right out. Now remember, I can’t see, it is winter, everything is gray and it is raining and water is splashing up from the road. Traffic wasn’t heavy and I pretty much stayed away from other cars. Made it to Hutch just as it started to snow and by now it is dark.
Saturday Roz and I drove to Little Falls for lunch with my sister in law, Sandy, and two of my cousins, Yvonne and Alexia. Had a great time and a great meal at the Black and White downtown. I took Roz for a tour of Belle Prairie and we headed back to Hutch. Sunday morning I headed to St. Paul for lunch and a visit with Aunt Janice and then back to Heather’s.
Now this was a big driving trip for me because it may be my last for a while. My license expires in March and since I don’t live anyplace in the US I can’t renew it. The suggestion was made that I get a license here and use that in the US but the little checking I did says they won’t give a person with diabetes a license. I need to do more checking to make sure.
Most of my time in Wisconsin was spent trying to get 3 tubs and 2 suitcases full into 2 duffle bags and have them not weigh over 50 pounds. They ended up weighing 49.2 pounds and exactly 50 pounds. That means I wasted 12 ounces. That’s another bag of chocolate chips.It kept getting worse because all the after Christmas sales were on and Heather is the bargain queen.
One of the things I usually make, that Heather loves, is toffee. Tastes just like Heath Bars. This time I watched and gave suggestions and Heather made it. I had brought my cookie press to make more Spritz but she had one too so we used that and again, she made them with my supervision. Everything turned out great.
Our last night I made meatloaf, baked potato for Heather, baked sweet potatoes for Kent and me. Heather did the green beans and we both did the salads. Kent is gluten free so I was careful with the meatloaf. He loved it and for several days she was sending me messages. He wouldn’t let her have any because she didn’t like it as much as he did. He even had it on pizza and for breakfast. I was delighted. A big meatloaf sandwich is what I took with me for the bus ride to Chicago.
The trip back had an hour delay in Houston and it took forever for my bags to show up. For the first time they asked me to open my bag and kept asking about fruit. I said I have lots of chocolate, no fruit. Thank heaven José and Gloriana and Ishmael were right outside waiting for me. I had most of
my things on a cart and I was pulling the duffle with 4 wheels. Ishmael took that and headed for the car. I took a minute to pull out the box of chocolates so they would have something to snack on during the drive home. I had other things for them but those would have to wait till I unpacked.
This is getting very long so I will skip to today. We met at Jeannette’s and Ligia gave us each a copy of a free publication from Paraiso. They had me keep turning the pages and there was half a page on Chicas Buenas. I posted it on the page for the craft ladies in Paraiso and one of them contacted me to say her mother crochets and would like to help.
PS the sewing machine made it safely and Jeannette is so so happy. I did a lesson last week and today she took me around to show me what she has done. When she is comfortable with it she will teach her daughters and granddaughters.
I baked cookies to take to Heather’s - her one request was Spritz cookies. I had to, even though I wasn’t supposed to. I put a hat on and sunglasses and spent as little time as possible with the oven door open. I made a double batch and halfway through I realized they only had vanilla for flavoring. I added what I thought was almond and turned out it was peppermint. Then I added almond. 5e next day I made another batch with just almond and added food coloring so we could tell them apart.
My last visit to the doctor was the 21st and he said the inflammation was much better but still some. I go back on Friday. It is still irritated so I don’t know what the report will be.
The 23rd José took me to the airport very early morning and it was al
Toffee
Cookies for Heather
Domingo wants to come with me
The Paraiso paper
Our article
The whole group was making bracelets.
Saturday Roz and I drove to Little Falls for lunch with my sister in law, Sandy, and two of my cousins, Yvonne and Alexia. Had a great time and a great meal at the Black and White downtown. I took Roz for a tour of Belle Prairie and we headed back to Hutch. Sunday morning I headed to St. Paul for lunch and a visit with Aunt Janice and then back to Heather’s.
Now this was a big driving trip for me because it may be my last for a while. My license expires in March and since I don’t live anyplace in the US I can’t renew it. The suggestion was made that I get a license here and use that in the US but the little checking I did says they won’t give a person with diabetes a license. I need to do more checking to make sure.
Most of my time in Wisconsin was spent trying to get 3 tubs and 2 suitcases full into 2 duffle bags and have them not weigh over 50 pounds. They ended up weighing 49.2 pounds and exactly 50 pounds. That means I wasted 12 ounces. That’s another bag of chocolate chips.It kept getting worse because all the after Christmas sales were on and Heather is the bargain queen.
One of the things I usually make, that Heather loves, is toffee. Tastes just like Heath Bars. This time I watched and gave suggestions and Heather made it. I had brought my cookie press to make more Spritz but she had one too so we used that and again, she made them with my supervision. Everything turned out great.
Our last night I made meatloaf, baked potato for Heather, baked sweet potatoes for Kent and me. Heather did the green beans and we both did the salads. Kent is gluten free so I was careful with the meatloaf. He loved it and for several days she was sending me messages. He wouldn’t let her have any because she didn’t like it as much as he did. He even had it on pizza and for breakfast. I was delighted. A big meatloaf sandwich is what I took with me for the bus ride to Chicago.
The trip back had an hour delay in Houston and it took forever for my bags to show up. For the first time they asked me to open my bag and kept asking about fruit. I said I have lots of chocolate, no fruit. Thank heaven José and Gloriana and Ishmael were right outside waiting for me. I had most of
my things on a cart and I was pulling the duffle with 4 wheels. Ishmael took that and headed for the car. I took a minute to pull out the box of chocolates so they would have something to snack on during the drive home. I had other things for them but those would have to wait till I unpacked.
This is getting very long so I will skip to today. We met at Jeannette’s and Ligia gave us each a copy of a free publication from Paraiso. They had me keep turning the pages and there was half a page on Chicas Buenas. I posted it on the page for the craft ladies in Paraiso and one of them contacted me to say her mother crochets and would like to help.
PS the sewing machine made it safely and Jeannette is so so happy. I did a lesson last week and today she took me around to show me what she has done. When she is comfortable with it she will teach her daughters and granddaughters.
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