Life goes on in Orosi.

I was told it was gray and overcast and raining the whole time I was gone but it has been sun shiny and beautiful since I got back. On Sunday I took stockings full of goodies to Emilio and his mother and on Monday the Canadians and I made a trip into Cartago. We met Emilio there and had a fun day. The gardens at the ruins were open and the animals around the nativity were live. We then went on to visit Ziomara and take her a stocking of goodies. I had also given them to Ana and Tia. I still have them for Gerardo and Dora and Marta. In Cartago we went to the Feria, had coffee in a wonderful pastry shop and walked to the Basilica. It was very busy all over as school is out and a lot of people are off work this week. We had a great lunch and then headed back to Orosi. 

Tuesday morning Debbie and I went to the pools for a couple hours. Again, they were very, very busy and if you were a kid you were having a great time. Maybe it will have quieted down next week although the kids are out of school until mid February.

In the afternoon I passed out chocolates (fudge) all around town and paid my rent for the next 3 months.

Wednesday is massage day this week and I am done and Debbie is having hers now. 

We have been taking turns cooking. We had chicken from Christmas on Sunday, beef from the cockpot on Monday, smoked pork chops last night and tonight will be Eggplant Parmigiana with ground beef. It has all been great and fun to take turns. I opened the can of whole berry cranberry sauce I bought and cut up Mandarinas and squeezed in some orange juice and it was a big hit. Today I need to buy ingredients for a salad to go with the eggplant. I made biscuits last night but they were definitely not my best. I don't know which ingredient wasn't working. Have to try a different recipe next time.

I have a dreamcatcher class lined up for Monday at 2:00pm. The man who does all the yard work and tree trimming kept trying to talk with me but I had no idea what I was agreeing to. He is the nicest man and I think he is one of Gerardo's brothers. This morning Otto translated for me and it turns out his Senora wants to come to the next class. I said there could be 5 ladies. Now I need to check my supplies. I think I need ribbon and thread but I have plenty of beads and feathers. I will have to come up with a snack and see if Emilio is available to translate.

All of the fallen area along the soccer field has been taken away and the rest of the wall has been trimmed. Trees have been trimmed and I have some great guayaba branches to use to hang the sheer curtains over my doorways. Can't wait to get that done.

I brought my recipe and now have all the ingredients for Tom and Jerry drinks for New Years. I hope the batter turns out. I remember them from when I was little and we only got hot water, no rum and brandy.

New Years Eve is supposed to be a big deal with fireworks and everything so we will see what tomorrow brings. I hate to see this year end it has been so wonderful! I can't imagine how next year could be better!

At the ruins.

The cleared wall.

One of my Bougainvilleas in bloom again.

I am back in Orosi.

What a great trip it was! The only bad thing is Heather wasn't feeling well. Hopefully the trip here in January will help.

Christmas at the Reamses was great and I received lots of great chocolates to bring back with me. Dinner was honey baked ham, mashed potatoes, green beans, broccoli, asparagus salad, cranberry sauce, rolls both gluten free and regular and a wild rice casserole. Desserts were Sherry's pumpkin and also pecan pies with gluten free crusts. They are more complicated than regular crusts but taste great. I also brought a tray of what I had baked and the Muddy Buddies. Elizabeth especially likes them. We each took turns saying what we are thankful for. My list went on and on. 

We weren't sure Heather and Kent would be feeling good enough to drive me to Chicago - almost 3 hours so we had a backup plan for me to take the shuttle bus which stops about 20 minutes from their house and would take me right to Midway. I would have had to catch it at 7:15am and it would have been tricky with all my luggage. Heather was feeling good enough to drive so we left at 8:45am and arrived before noon without any major delays. I got in line and made it through checkin without any problems. The bags were 47.5 pounds and 49.5 so I didn't have to juggle anything. It was great to be down to my carry on and my red bag. 

I did have something new happen going thru security. When I got out of the scanner they stopped me and asked me to take out whatever was in my back pocket. There wasn't anything. Then they used a paper tab and swabbed the palms of my hands and put the paper in a machine. They opened my carry on and swabbed the cooler with the butter and insulin and tested that swab. Everything came out fine and away I went.

It was a short walk to the gate. The airport was very busy and long lines at all the restaurants and restrooms. When we arrived in Houston Hobby airport, Calvin was waiting to take me to the other gate. What a nice man! We chatted all the way. He is not a fan of cold weather! He thinks after I get my tamale making lesson I should bring some back to Calvin in Houston. I asked him if he likes chocolate as well as tamales and gave him a couple of my wonderful chocolates.

It looked like we would be leaving right on schedule but once we got on board we learned they needed a few minutes to fix a broken landing light. It only took a few minutes but the paperwork took over a half hour so we were late.

One of the things that was great is with Southwest, if you have transfer assistance, you board first and have a choice of any seat except the exit row. I sat in the 2nd and 3rd row so it was quick getting off.

I was met at the airplane in San Jose by a man with a sign with my name and he was just great. Down in the elevator, to the handicap lane which has no line and out to baggage. The luggage seemed to take forever but finally it came. I showed him the pictures of my bags and he got them with no problem. He hooked them together and pushed me with one hand and pulled them with the other hand. I am sure it was quite a sight.

Jose was right outside and we headed for the car where Gloriana and his son were waiting. I pulled out the chocolates and gave some to everyone. Jose enjoyed them all the way home. 

I have had a good nights sleep. The sun is shining. I may just have to fill one of my new big cups and sit out on the porch. It is good to be back.

Heather wondered if they were as big as my big cup. Pretty close. One says every little thing is gonna be alright and the other one says never apologize for who you are.

The best of Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Merry Christmas

To those who read this but don't follow along on Facebook. The baking is done, most of it without mishap. The last oven full of cinnamon bread did run over a bit and smoke up the house. Thank heavens it is mild out cuz we had all the windows open. 

I have done some juggling and I think my suitcases are ready. I won't be bringing my sewing machine. It is in one of the suitcases Heather is bringing the end of Jan.

We leave here at 9:00am to drive to Chicago tomorrow morning for me to catch Southwest. I am scheduled to arrive in San Jose at 10:00pm. Hopefully there won't be any major complications or delays. I have been hearing horror stories about problems and days the last few days. Jose will be there too pick me up fo the drive back to Orosi.

It has been a good, fun trip. Next trip Oregon in March. No snow this trip in either Minnesota or Wisconsin.

I am back in Wisconsin

What a fun weekend. I headed out about 8:30 Saturday morning with Kent taking me to the airport to pick up my car. It ended up being a cute, bright red Ford Focus. Off I went and my first stop was Perkins in Tomah for Potato Pancakes and bacon. Good bacon is one thing I do miss. Traffic wasn't bad and the roads were clear. I got to Hutch about 3:30 and stopped at Shopko to talk to the pharmacy and then headed to the theatre to say hello to Red and Linda and drop off goodies. Next stop was DuWayne and Roz's house where I stayed.

It was great to see them again. Dinner was homemade chicken noodle soup, cinnamon bread and goodies. I had only put a few in their container so I got another container ad emptied it in. Roz really liked the coconut balls and DuWayne seemed to like them all.

Father was very surprised to see me Sunday morning. I keep popping back up. I stopped and talked with Don and Bonny Hartung who said they really want to visit Costa Rica. I told them to come on down, my bedroom is available.

Lunch was crispers at Main Street Bar and Grill and then a trip to WalMart to pick up some things. back to the theatre to spend a couple hours with Linda and then I swung by Tokyo Grill to pick up 2 dinners for the three of us to share. One was shrimp and scallops and the other was salmon and scallops. We don't really like the soup but everything else was great.

Monday morning I left about 9:00am and stopped at both my banks, then Shopko to pick up prescriptions, a little visit at Bursch Travel, Runnings and Menards to look for a hammock kit (no luck) and off I went. When I got to Chanhassan I called my aunt to see if they were available for a half hour visit. They were so I headed for St. Paul. I was down to one small loaf of cinnamon bread. You know me - once I get started talking I can't stop. They served me lunch and I talked away and the next thing you knew it was 2 hours later. It was great though.

Heather was meeting me at the airport and with only a few wrong turns I got there about 7:00pm. Signage isn't great and of course it was dark. The guys at Enterprise are so nice.

Lots to do the next few days. The spritz cookies and English toffee are pretty much gone and I need to make more cinnamon bread and muddy buddies. Some shopping to do, 6 suitcases to fill. Plenty to keep me busy. Looks like I only need to make the mashed potatoes for Christmas dinner so that makes it easy. I do still need to put my gifts together. They are quite simple this year. Some are cinnamon bread and guayaba jelly. No tamales!

We have goodies

I am done for the day and have all the goodies I need to take with me tomorrow. We have fudge, Mounds Balls, English toffee, cinnamon bread, frosted and plain coconut macaroons, spritz cookies sugared and plain. When I get back I will be making more bread and muddy buddies and anything else I run out of this weekend. Now I have to divide some up into containers and I will be set.

Fudge and Mounds Balls and English Toffee.

Peasant bread for Heather, sugared spritz and frosted coconut macaroons, plain macaroons.

Plain spritz and cinnamon bread.

My plans have changed a bit.

I have been invited, along with my goodies, to spend a couple nights with friends in Hutchinson so I have rented a car to leave here Saturday morning and come back Monday evening. The bit about the goodies was a joke but you know me and goodies. Have chocolate will travel. I started the baking/cooking today. I made a pan of fudge, a pan of English Toffee and Mounds Balls. Poor Heather ran all over for melting chocolate. It isn't near as easy to find as in Costa Rica. She got it at the same place I got the candy molds.

Tomorrow I will make coconut macaroons and Amish Cinnamon bread. I also have guayaba jelly to bring along. 

It will be a long drive for a couple days - 6 hours each way but it will be fun to see old friends again. Yes R and L I am coming to see you too - with goodies!

I am here

It took me from 8:00am leaving Orosi until 12:08am arriving in Madison. Long, long day. Out of Chicago we were late because there were 2000 extra pounds of fuel on the aircraft. They had to either take it off or 11 of the passengers. When we got to Heather's it was like Christmas with 3 months worth of mail and packages. It is now 1:00am and everything I touch makes noise. I was scolded and had to wait until morning. 

Yesterday was a pretty quiet day. We picked up Kind bars as requested and went to a couple areas to take pictures for an appraisal Kent was doing. Waunakee is the cutest city. I had not been there before.

Dinner was from the Kopp's Deli. They have such a good assortment. We each had something different, mine was Shephard's Pie. We did buy everything for the crockpot chicken, potatoes and green beans. That may be tonight's dinner. We also decided what baking I will do. Heather wants Spritz Cookies. I will also do English Toffee, Mounds Balls, Coconut Macaroons and Muddy Buddies - the gluten free version of Puppy Chow.

We are still working on who will do what for Christmas. I may be doing dressing and garlic mashed potatoes.

I still have some Christmas shopping to do. I did bring guayaba jelly with me to include with the gifts. I also want to make some of the cinnamon bread. I also have shopping to do for things I want to bring back with me. And 6 suitcases to pack up, and business to take care of. Busy week ahead.

Just a tip for you travelers, I take a picture of my suitcase before I leave. That way if it doesn't show up I can easily show what it looks like. Or, if I have baggage handlers they can easily find it. I make sure it has something on it to easily identify it from all the other bags that look just like it.