Continuous Improvement

It's been 4 months since I have updated this blog. We were back in the States - 7 of them to be exact - to attend weddings, visit family, and plant a pumpkin patch.

Costa Rica is as green as I remember. The 5 banana plants that went in the yard before we left are already approaching 12 feet high. Three of the papaya trees I planted are each about 3 feet high. A fourth papaya is growing in the planter in front of the house - it already has the beginnings of 4 papayas fruits on it - and I don't even remember planting that one!

Our new "project" on this trip has been a kitchen update and remodel. And, of course, if you remodel one room it ends up affecting several others as well. So, the living room is now larger thanks to repositioning of the entertainment center/bookcase, which opened up the wall between the living room and kitchen. The kitchen has a new, sleeker sink and new shelves. Plus the refrigerator and stovetop cabinet have been repositioned. We're not quite done - still need to tile the work counter, finish the tile behind the sink and replace the old storage shelves with the larger ones we varnished today. It's so open and roomy - I love it! One of the photos shows the "old" version with concrete sink. The other photo shows an in-progress shot of the "new" kitchen. I hope you can tell the difference.

Payback

This past month has gone by very, very quickly. As a matter of fact, the past 3 months have flown by. I am waiting for a bus to take me to Panama to meet my 90-day visa requirement. Even with the recent changes to the immigration laws in Costa Rica, it is still necessary for North Americans to leave every 90 days. 90 days. I can’t believe I have been down here that long already.

While we were in the States a “beach” friend of ours from Puerto Viejo, made sure all of our utility bills were paid and paid on time, while another , a “jungle” friend from Carbon Uno aka Hone Creek, kept an eye on our house in the jungle. So, when we came back down it was “payback” time. The beach friend went to the States for 6 weeks to visit family and the jungle friend became ill and left for a month as well. As luck would have it, these times overlapped so Gordie spent his time at the beach watching a house with 2 dogs and I spent my time in the jungle watching 5 dogs. We'd meet during the day and enjoy a swim and sometimes lunch, then back to our respective "jobs." Both friends are back now so it's back to “normal” in our lives as well. So, you can expect to see more stories in the days to come. It is so nice to have friends you can count on. We consider ourselves blessed.