When did I ever find time to work?

What a great summer this is turning into. The last two Sundays there has been a George Lundquist tour in for dinner at David and Arden's home. This past was the largest crowd. Arden is a wonderful hostess, and meeting new people who are retiring and considering Costa Rica as a possible place to live...just a delight. Several couples help out on a regular basis, and I, being single, have decided that this is a great outreach for me also. Most of the people I had first contact with here in Costa Rica, were friendships gained through CRL (Costa Rica Living, a Yahoo Group). We became fast friends, and have helped fill the void left after leaving my friends and family in the states. By continuing to meet new friends, I find I am enriched by each ones life and tales. Laurie was a delightful person! She and her husband, Jim are considering moving abroad from New Jersey. Her tales of living all over the world, as a student and child, were fascinating and most enlightening. What an interesting life she has had. Truly our lives are enriched by gaining neighbors and friends who have such wide, diverse backgrounds to bring to the mix. We are a varied bunch of risk takers, entrepreneurs, and some even, thrill seekers. To pick up and move away from all the things we have know for so long, and to a place which is a 'step back in time', takes a 'special' kind of personality. Yes, there are a few my friend likes to call the 'wanted and unwanted' (I'll let you think about that one), but for the most part, we add a new dimension to our lives by living here.

Monday, Annie and I packed up a lunch, sandwiches and Texas chocolate cake, and headed out to Parker's home. She has the ideal spot, in the woods, secluded, view of the ocean, and she has created a work of ART in her home and yard. She has the touch! Think we found a place for Annie to rent also, she needs to be closer to her building site. Parker and I had 'happy hour'...or two at 'The Poet', and caught up on things over a shrimp dish. Great by the way!

Tuesday, I made lunch, a delicious lettuce wrap and fresh fruit/jello salad, for my Tica neighbors. Lunch was terrific and as I am still learning Spanish, they bare with me as I look up words to explain things. I am still amazed at how much I am understanding. Found out that the road construction is underway again, not far from here. The road will take the traffic going to Arenal, away from the road near us, and place it on the far side of the valley. Not only will it be less noise for us, (which is a minimum to start with) it will make our trips to town safer also. No more large trucks taking their side of the road, and mine, on the narrow hairpin curves. Another plus will be that it will be a better, straighter road to the hot springs we love so much! Hurrah! I guess Costa Rica has come up with the funding from China now that they offended Taiwan. Does everything have to be about politics?....yes, pretty much. Money and politics are so closely woven, that you can't have one without the other. It is a two-headed animal.

Today is a birthday party for several of the neighbors, and we will have a feast together to celebrate another year and still kicking!!! Tai food, and great conversation is my bet. Plus, Ines will come over for another English/Spanish lesson. This is my best platform for learning, getting right in there and trying to say things the way she does, and teaching her the English words also. Conversation is my best modem.

Tomorrow is the Knit-In...and I am really looking forward to it! Isn't that what keeps all of us going anyway? Being able to look forward to the events in our lives, and the expectation of the great time we will have. My friends (whom I have not yet met) in Heredia have scheduled a Stitch and Bitch time for Sunday March 16th, so I am going to to test the bus schedule to get there for that. There has got to be an easier way to get to Heredia than through San Jose, but it may take longer, will have to check it out. What else do I have to do anyway? It is great not to have to fit working, baseball, soccer, and college homework into the picture any longer!!! Yes, this is retirement!

Summer is Here!

The days are so beautiful, warm and breezy now. And I love it. Has helped a bunch to get rid of the holiday blues. I think it being my first year here, and not many friends that I feel are family yet, had a lot to do with the blues. With it so bright from 5:30 a.m. on, it would be hard not to smile and be happy. I hang out my laundry and enjoy not having to run the dryer because the wind has them dry in no time. The humidity is much lower, and the temperature is very comfortable. I guess the only down side would be having to chance the dirt out each day, but a little dirt never hurt anyone.

I have been emailing and re-connecting with friends from the past, many years ago, when we were in school together. I spend several hours each day at the computer, and I have found so many sites I never had time to search before, or never knew existed. It has been fun getting caught up with their lives as well. Retirement can be a time for re-connecting again. When we were younger, seemed there were so many things needing our attention, our children, our careers, our communities, schools, and if we had a minute left over, we could soak in a bubble bath. No, I don't remember having time for that either. Now, I do pretty much what I want to, and other than paying my bills, I don't have many time lines that must be met.

Ines, a neighbor girl, has been teaching me to speak Spanish, and in return I have been helping her with English. Her family are wonderful people, and I have grown to love their friendship. We recently went to the parade in Palmares, and you might say I connected with nature again. I don't even remember seeing so many horses all in one place, even in my childhood, and I grew up in Montana. Something else that I did not know was that horses can dance to music. We were standing near the stage where the music was being blasted from. I say blasted, because I could feel it pounding in my chest. Even when the horses were standing in one place, they were picking up their feet to the beat. It was pretty cool. The part that amazed me was the massive number of people, and I hear that a local paper estimated 800,000 people were there for the parade. I can't even imagine how many horses were there, I can only guess, perhaps 300 to 500... And it is only a guess. I took pictures, and not the normal way either. I had to put the camera over my head as far as I could reach and shoot. People were body to body, and the streets were packed. There were 5 to 8 horses abreast across the street for the entire 2 hours it took for the last horse to pass. The red coats signaled The End. And horse shit, oh my Gosh! Being shoved by the crowd one direction and then back again, the whole time trying to not get my feet stepped on, or kicked by a anxious horse, were only part of the problem. The parking attendant, upon seeing I was a gringa, double charged me $10 to park. It reminded me of some of the October Fests in Missouri, when open containers were not against the law. Bottles were being passed to the riders, some had clearly had enough already. Many, young and old, were drinking heavily. We were standing on the street at a T in the roads by the park, and I think every policeman was standing right at the point also. I think there are perhaps, no rules to this game, and only if something very tragic happened, would there have been any intervention, IF, they could have even reached the place. I know they have these festivals each year, this one lasts 10 days. Most towns have numerous festivals, but I have not seen the number of people as there were at this one. It is a cultural thing, and one that... I went, I saw, and I probably will not go again. I'm sure there were days in which there were less people, and it was less crowded, I will choose to attend on one of those days, next time, instead of the horse parade day. People watching was very interesting, they have all kinds here too. These are just some of the pictures I shot. As you will see, there was not a spot of street, sidewalk, or grass that did not have feet standing on it. And yes, the horses were that close to us, I did not zoom in on any picture.

Guisel and Ines

The white horse was beautiful!

Dancing and yes, drinking

Yes, they were that close to us! And look at how many abreast. They shine because they are Hot!

Men in Black, the police...vest and I bet they were warm too.

Every spot up through this street is a person! I could not believe it.

Mostly cowboys, but look at the man with the ear ring...in his ear, not on it. The skin is around the 2+ inch circle.

Men in Red...signal The End!