This morning I’m back at it, updating you on the past few days of doings and ponderings — but only the good stuff, I promise! I’ve already crossed out the downer stuff in my handwritten notes (political) to make sure they don’t see the light of day.
On Monday Jan 26 I wrote
3:17 p.m. 7158 steps so far today.
Swept the floor. Put the chicken soup that I concocted in the crockpot in the fridge and then boxed the crockpot since I don’t anticipate using it again until after the move next Sunday.
Jasmine Crockett and James Talerico — two excellent candidates — are vying for the same Senate seat in Texas. Whoever prevails will get full DEM support. That’s good! A united front is what’s needed to get a sane Senator elected in Texas.
Someone wrote on Grecia Expats ( I think it was) that Rescate Wildlife Rescue is just like LaPaz without the waterfalls so now I’m wondering if we should skip the La Paz trip. I’ll ask Lisa if she’s all that enamored of a waterfalls hike following the La Paz Gardens and animal center. If not, we could choose another adventure or just veg that day. I think she’s after critter pix more than waterfalls. I’ll ask Jon’s opinion on the comment, too. He’s been both places and can let me know if both should be on our must visit list, other than the feria.
Decisions, decisions!
BUS TRIPS
I need to ride the San Isidro bus at least twice before Lisa arrives so I can familiarize myself with the landmarks that tell me I’m close to my bus stop in San Isidro. The numbered telephone poles will certainly help with that! Pole 66 or 67 is nearest Dale and Crystal’s home and mine isn’t far beyond that. I know what their home looks like, and that it’s across from a wellknown “landmark” of sorts, so it should be pretty straightforward. But being anal, I want to KNOW that I know before I jump on it with Lisa to go into Grecia for our in-town doings.
I also would like to find out which telephone pole the nearest mini mart is to see if I think it’s within walking distance of my place. It probably isnt, but I could catch the bus there and wait til it comes back up to SI to take me back after I shop. (Although Deb says she’ll take me shopping when she goes, so that’s cool.) I also want to know where the nearest soda (Tico owned cafe) is from my place so I can go there for a meal occasionally. Deb will know. I want to support the locals as much as I can.
SIX DAYS TO THE MOVE, 16 TO LISA’S ARRIVAL!
It’s agony having to wait. My anticipation level is off the charts. I feel like SINGING!!!
The days Lisa will be here will pass too fast. I know that already. Nine days isn’t much time since we’re asleep during at least a quarter of it — but it’s a helluva lot better than NONE!!! I miss my best friend. How I wish she could — and would want to — move here. It’s a pickle. But she’ll visit when she can — hopefully every year! Whatever it is, it’s better than NEVER!
MORE SPANISH STUDY
4 p.m.
Just did a little Spanish pronouns review so I’ll be primed to tackle the book that Jon will be giving me on Friday. That took about 30 minutes. The book should be an illuminating study.
I wrote something off the cuff about Charli
You came to me as a scaredy cat
trembling and traumatized
with large, fearful oval eyes,
crying piteously.
For two weeks you were a total basket case
— dashing, jumping, running, climbing, hiding —
and frankly I thought you’d never settle,
that you would always hate your fate.
But then, one day, you took stock of
your new situation, and you decided,
“Hey, maybe I can relax here —”
and you tried it. And it was a revelation:
“I’m safe here, even when I let my guard down.”
And you slept soundly for the first time ever in your new home.
From that day on, you adopted me
as your safe haven and I was overjoyed,
because (frankly) I had almost given up all hope for your happiness,
and frantic pets make me so sad!
We’ve been best buds ever since.
You are my sanity and I am yours.
Home Sweet Home — and Never Alone!
7765 steps so far today…
I Wrote a Letter to DeForest Kelley, Too…
But it was too depressing and alarming to share — about the country that he and Gene Roddenberry and Fred Rogers loved so and defended during WW II. I won’t publish it here because you can already well imagine what is in it, and it’s a total downer.
But it ends this way:
“I don’t know how we got here, but your examples (Kelley, Roddenberry, Rogers) were not to blame. You always sought and saw the good in people. I’m sad and sorry to say that this is all too rarely the case anymore. What’s happening makes me feel like puking, literally.
“I no longer live in the United States because the United States that you knew, loved and defended may no longer be possible if things continue as they are.”
On Tuesday January 27 I wrote:
7:18 a.m. 1550 steps so far today. Took wet trash to the canasta on Calle Los Angeles and chatted with Diane for a few minutes. Diane says she’ll put me through the rest of my paces this morning by having me help set up the Bloom’s potluck venue when we get there. That makes me very happy! I LOVE being useful!!! Let me at it!
I’m excited. It’s going to be a fun event. She says usually 20 to 30 people show up for it. Jennifer and Val will ride up with us, too. Eileen isn’t coming. (Her follow up cataract surgery appointment is this morning.)
2:43 p.m. 3827 steps so far.
POTLUCK REPORT
The potluck was absolutely wonderful. 45 people attended, the largest turnout by far since before COVID.
Diane officiated and an author, Edie Bakker, spoke as the main guest.
Link to Rendezvous with a Rainforest:
When we arrived, we were introduced to the venue owner/hostess and then worked quickly to set up the tables, chairs, Sarchi’-inspired cart, couches, etc. It took about 20 minutes. The storage area was very well arranged so it was a breeze and the owner was wonderful.
I’m not allowed to say where the event was held or the hostess’s name for privacy and security reasons, but it was at an elevation higher than here amd very breezy, so a lot of acclimated ladies felt very chilly. I almost felt overly chilly myself a few times, especially when the gusts of wind passed through carrying misty minuscule water droplets!
The event officially began with meals and mingling. I spotted a couple that I recognized from a Rainbow Refuge Facebook posting and when one of the ladies looked my way, I gave her a “come hither” finger-wagging cue. I could tell she was confused, because she didn’t know me from Adam. But she came over anyway and I said, “I recognized you from your Rainbow Refuge photo!” Oh! She grinned and I invited her to sit with me after she and her wife got their meals, which they did.
At about this time, as people were finishing getting their meals, Diane and others had scads of announcements to get through before Edie Bakker could make her presentation. Many other ladies were touting special events (donations for school uniforms for poor Tico students in small outlying school districts, tax prep for expats, still-in-date prescription drug donations for indigenous people who need them, and more). Diane also had the new members introduce themselves, so I got in on that one.
When the announcements were complete, Diane (who, by the way, is a terrific emcee!!!) introduced Edie Bakker, the author, who asked for a minute of silence for what has happened in Minneapolis. Everyone bowed their heads for the somber, sobering, emotionally-wrought 60 seconds. Then she spent an hour talking about one of her books. She read several excerpts and Diane asked her some follow up questions. The author almost single-handedly saved the very rainforest that she grew up in for 18 years from rapacious, deceitful international businesses that wanted to denude and destroy it. She is literally a hero and should be recognized as a national treasure. I highly encourage you to get her books. Her passion — including tears in several places during her presentation — for her subjects and for the people that she grew up with in the rainforest is very, very real!
I’m sorry I didn’t get a picture of Edie to share with you. The owner of the venue said I could take pix but that I couldn’t share them on social media, so I only took the one picture of Diane, with her permission.
Following the event nearly everyone pitched in to help put things away, so everything got wrapped up and stored in what was probably record time.
On Wednesday Jan 28th I wrote:
Went to Grecia for bloodwork at the Sanchez Lab (hurray! My INR is exactly where I want it to be now, 2.2) and then I stepped over into the Sanchez Clinic to have them add Jon Graham Mitchell’s phone number to my chart info as my emergency contact.
I was using Google Translate for some of the conversation until a young man volunteered to translate for me. I gratefully accepted because the CSR wasn’t completely understanding what I was wanting.
I thanked him for helping me. When I walked back outside, he was still on the sidewalk, so I thanked him again. He introduced himself as Randy and says he has lived in both the U.S. (New Jersey) and Costa Rica and that he wants to go back and visit his family there but it’s too risky right now. I totally agreed and commiserated with him about that. I begged him NOT to return until the current regime is gone, and he said he wasn’t planning to go back until that happens. I was enormously relieved.
Then he asked where I was headed and I said, “down to the church and park.” He said, “I’m going that way, too. Can I walk with you?”
I had already taken stock of him and felt very secure saying, “Of course!” But I think that scared him a little bit because during our several block walk, he began to counsel me: “It’s usually safe here in Grecia in the daytime while things are bustling and people are everywhere, but be sure you don’t accept everyone at face value. Especially after dark and especially after eight o’clock. There are individuals who can charm your socks off and steal you blind at the same time — or worse.”
I told him I’m trained in self defense, that I was an Emergency Warden at Warner Bros Studios, and that I have great instincts and discernment when it comes to people. I also told him I’m buttoned up at home before dark every night. He was relieved to hear that. We exchanged WhatsApp numbers. He mentoned the upcoming Feb 1st elections and I told him I’m new here and have not yet been accepted as a pensionado, so I’m not eligible to vote, but I could see he is poliitcally savvy and involved, so I asked him to let me know on Sunday — or as soon after as he can — if his candidate won. He said, “I will, and I hope so, because otherwise we could be in similar straits as the U.S.!” I said, “God forbid!” right there standing beside the world famous red church with my open palm facing it!
I messaged him later that day to thank him again and to remind him to let me know if his candidate wins on Sunday. He sent me an audio message saying he will.
Diane gave me SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE by Kurt Vonnegut to read (I finished it tonight) and CAT’S EYE by Margaret Atwood, which I’ll finish before I move so I can get them back to her to give away again at the next Bloom’s potluck. Which I plan to be at!
Melaney Phillips and Laurie Barron from Rainbow Refuge were there
I hadn’t seen Laurie in ages. She looks soo much happier than she did before. She had lost her beloved dog not long before and was having a very hard time recovering from that. I think — and hope — that the two three day old pups that they adopted and raised (they were abandoned on the side of a street) since then have helped her recover her joie de vivre and spark. It was wonderful to see her smiling and even glowing.
I love those two soooo, soooo much, Melaney and Laurie!!! Their hearts are as big as Saturn.
Lisa Did Some Legwork for Me Today
Lisa tried to get my “proof of life” document notarized at BECU (our credit union) this afternoon, but because my document listing her as my POA isn’t registered there yet, she has to fill that out and take it back next Wednesday during her next day off.
But the slack time gave her the chance to read the accompanying MPI information pages and it turns out we can do the proof of life thing via a Zoom call while she’s down here, so she’s bringing the paperwork down with her so we can do that.
I have Adilio, my driver, scheduled for Feb 11, 12 and 20th
I have scheduled the pick up and drop off of Lisa (with me accompanying the driver both ways) at the airport on Feb 11th and 20th and I’ve scheduled him for the 12th to drive us into Grecia at 8 a.m. so we can meet Jon so he can drive us to Rescate from there. It’s HAPPENING! Very, very soon!
And I am HERE FOR IT!!! Soooooo excited!!!!
9190 steps at end of day.