(Number Fourteen) GOOD LIFE

I had a bad feeling about ending the year with 13 posts.....


Just got back from a week of visiting my dad at "GOOD LIFE" a resort for active seniors...(seniors meaning 55+!) in Mesa, Arizona where the gum chewing drove Vince crazy.

Twelve hundred, 400 square foot trailers 5 feet apart and if there were neighbors that hated each other, I wasn't aware of it.

Dad pretending to understand everything Vince is telling him about his (Dad's) new tablet.

Dad (cane) and me (crutches).

Dad pedaling at level 10.

I met Harris, 90, from Balaton, Minnesota. He'd ridden his bike with a basket to the fitness center then ridden the stationary bike for 30 minutes before riding to the post office to mail his lavender enveloped Christmas cards.  I mentioned something to Dad about Harris's degree of activity and he said "Yah, but he only has the exercise bike at level-one." 

This sign, posted at the Good Life fitness center, must have been effective because I didn't see anyone wrestling the whole time I was there.

On the flight back the flight attendant acted like the plane couldn't take off until I put my Galaxy Bookshop bag, holding a sandwich, under the seat in front of me.  Meanwhile, the woman beside me had an un-anchored one year old in her lap.   That doesn't make sense to me.

For Sale, One Seed-Sprouter

"I forgot to lock the car," said Vin as the plane's bulkhead door slammed shut. Our car was in the Bradley/Hartford airport parking lot with my passport and two heirloom diamond rings.  It would be there, unlocked, for a week while we were in Phoenix visiting my dad.  (Before you ask why I would keep diamond rings in the glove compartment...have you ever moved something from a place it's always been to a 'better' spot, never to see it again?)  I had just enough time, before I screwed up the planes navigation system with my cell phone to call the number of the Toyota dealer on our key chain.  Good news.  He said you could lock the car without the keys.  Now all we had to do is find someone who would drive two and a half hours to the airport to see if that was actually possible.  In the meantime our best bet was to point the automatic door locking gizmo at the car as we flew over the parking lot and push the lock button.  We were transferring in Charlotte and as soon as the plane landed I called Jay, one of our best friends ever, who thought the situation was epic/funny/typical enough to drive the two and a half hours to the airport to lock the car for us.  We told him that there was a chance it may already be locked which to him made the situation even more epic/funny/typical.*

I spent two entire days learning how to list a few things on ebay.  I figured out if I sold everything at the 'buy-it-now' price I would walk away with $46.97. 
Example: I had the starting bid for a 'seed-sprouter' (are you wondering what a 'seed-sprouter' is?) at $1.99 with a ' buy-it-now' price of $3.99.  It had 34 hits and 7 watchers (ebay language)....what I wondered was....why didn't someone just buy it for the $3.99?  In the end, no one bought it which was good because the amount I was charging for shipping was a lot less than it would actually cost me to ship it so for me to get rid of my 25 year old never-used 'seed sprouter', it would have cost me $2.40.   I'm taking a break from ebay for a while.

I remember 25 years ago, how excited I was, when I realized there was such a thing as a seed-sprouter.

Vin and I are applying to a few more film programs.  Florida State is the only application we've sent in so far.   The 'Statement of Purpose' (where I used the word 'thus' for the first time in my life) is the letter where you tell the people that require a 'Statement of Purpose' everything you've done in your life and how it relates to being the ideal film student.  Being 55, it was hard to keep my life to the 1000 word limit...the same number of words a 20 year old applicant is allowed.  How is that fair?

*Jay and Denise (Jay's wife) drove to the airport.  They found the car (they said "because it was the dirtiest one there") and it was unlocked.

Hear Goes Nothing

Max is ready for hunting season.

Had Vince and I been accepted to the Binger Film Lab in Amsterdam I would have had some exciting news but we didn't so I don't.  We knew we were under-qualified the whole time (three weeks) we were filling out the application but thought maybe we'd fulfill some obscure admissions requirement quota for them.  Guess not.  It would have been fun to spend 4 months in Amsterdam rubbing elbows with Spike Lee but what about Max?  We figured he wouldn't have liked flying so we'd have had to take a boat.  And then once in Amsterdam, while he may have enjoyed all the smells, but he wouldn't have enjoyed sitting in an apartment all day just waiting for us to come home.  I want to cry just thinking about it.

Our Christmas cactus has one blossom this year which is one more than it had last year.

Our default location is Vermont (we go north for the winter) where we are attempting to feel productive by doing at least one thing on the house everyday.  Vin's week long cinematography workshop at 'Maine Media'  didn't help our timetable any but whatever.*    We are about 2 task-weeks behind but stay closer to our schedule better than my online Spanish 'A Word A Day' people.  Yesterday's word was zanahoria which means carrot and when they used it in a sentence I'm pretty sure they used it incorrectly...like I would know.

Kitchen lights from Etsy.

Last week Vince installed the lights above the counter which should count for at least a week of projects but I'd never tell him that.  Me? I order things and then figure out where in the neighborhood UPS has dropped them off.   We're going to finish the fireplace as soon as the beam we picked out for the mantle is dry.  The guy at the mill left a message saying it's at 25 and he wants it to be at 10 which doesn't really tell us much since we don't know when it was at any other numbers.


Riding and Dogs:
1.  If I'm really quiet I can get past the two nasty dogs on Center Road without them chasing me.  They've never bitten me or hit my front wheel which surprises me every time.   Today my plan was to try holding my breath until I got even with the 'Save the Lowell Range' sign on their lawn and then sprint.  They'd never know.  Sprawled on the sidewalk with their backs toward me, I sneaked by.  My timing was perfect.  And then I sneezed.

2.  There was no way to tell from the map how many unleashed dogs would be on the new loop I was riding that day.  Near the end of the ride, having outrun a dozen poised and ready-to-pounce mutts, I started to let down my guard.  As I approached the last dirt road crossing, out of the corner of my eye I saw the biggest dog of the day coming up full speed on my left.  He cut right in front of me, just missing my front wheel, and that's when I noticed I'd been chased by a goat.  Swear to God.


Other News.

Aunt Marlene (holding prints from her film camera), Vince, and Uncle Roy at Good Life last Christmas day.

•Dad is already down at 'Good Life' the age qualified/55+ (Vince and I are 55) 'resort community' in Mesa Arizona for the winter.  He told me he got an ipad that's "really more than an ipad" because when the guy in the store talked to it, "it could write what he said in any language".  Sold.

•I'd always wanted to be able to whistle but never could.  A few weeks ago my jaw shifted a bit and now I whistle a little when I talk so be careful for what you wish.

•I don't know what made me think of this but the day we left Metaline Falls I was outside swallowing the last of my tea and with it the grasshopper that had sneaked into my mug...so when I say there are no bugs here, it's not entirely true.

Enough of trying to make 'nothing' interesting.


* I meant to grab my credit card from the wallet (we share one wallet) before he left but didn't so my week was spent seeing how long I could go in the Vermont countryside with no car and no money.

Let There Be Light and Recycling

Finishing Vermont.

Just when I was sure I'd looked at every pendant light ever made, I involuntarily clicked on a link that brought me to another 1436 of them.   It didn't help that I wasn't really sure for what I was looking but thinking that I'd know it when I saw it made me look at every one.  Filled with hope, while wondering why 'view all' isn't always an option, I trudged through 24 items per page sixty times.    An hour later I decided that the pendant light I was looking for must not exist and went to the dump.

Finally.  I decided to go with the one millionth pendant I looked at.

I guess it's called  transfer station.  Whatever it's called, the one in Washington is like a carnival compared to the one in Vermont because of the glass pile.  True.  In VT you can recycle everything in one bag which is it's own reward but nothing like being encouraged to shatter a month's worth of wine and beer bottles without having to sweep them up.  But, if you want to recycle your number 5's (like yogurt containers) you have to mail them somewhere and I'm not sure where that effort ends up in the good-for-the-earth recycling pay back stream.  

The Metaline Falls bottle throw

One Saturday on the way to the post office with a box of empty yogurt containers we got to talking about what would happen if we drove our plastic up to Nelson, British Columbia for recycling and decided to head north to find out.  Sitting at the border crossing feeling guilty for no reason like usual we told the agent that 'recycling' was the reason for our trip ( now, I would've thought that sounded fishy ) and they waved us through.   The transfer station in Nelson was closed when we got there but it looked like it wold be pretty easy to climb over the gate past the signs that said we were being watched and would be prosecuted if we dumped anything when the gate was closed. Idle threats?  It was a chance we were willing to take.  Now, after a couple months of looking over my shoulder I'm letting myself assume we won't be spending Christmas in a Canadian jail cell.

Our sixth road trip across the country in two and a half years started with a 'hi-bye' stop at my cousin Linda's in Spokane to make excuses for not visiting while we were out west and to move a heavy hutch from smack-dab in the middle of her living room to it's real home in her dining room.  Two days later, in Tyler, we were at Uncle Roy's making excuses for missing his 80th birthday party at the Legion and moving a china cabinet from his garage to a flatbed.  After that, caught up on the excuses, I played gopher while Vin fixed a couple tornado-torn roofs on my brother Dale's farm.

When we're in Tyler we stay at my Dad's.  We called him from the road to say we were on our way but it was Thursday and he had to get to Men's Night at the golf course so he couldn't really talk. 

Growing up, 'for cryin' out loud' was the only swear word Dad ever used.   I don't know what happened but this trip it seemed like every other word was 'fricken'.  Where did he even learn/hear it?  Vin says he probably learned it from his girlfriend (80).  I think it might have been Men's Night.

I think I promised to post a few pictures from our Greece trip.

 

They told us they never crumble feta in a Greek salad...and they would know.

Linda and I were born the same day in the same 12 bed hospital.

We never ate inside.  Not once.

The chef.  We drank wine he made and ate potatoes he grew.

It really looks like that. (Island: Naxos)

View from out balcony (island: Santorini).  Scary.

Another view from our balcony (island:Santorini) Everything is very old.  The mountain goes straight up and the houses are built into the rock.

Everything is connected with stairs.  Steep stairs. (island: Santorini)

If you don't want to walk the steep stairs you can ride up on a mule.  (island:Santorini)

A little harbor town below the Santorini buildings above.

In hind sight maybe the Greece trip wasn't so bad.

The Visitor(s)

'The Visitor' was the feature at our Saturday night dinner and a movie blowout.  It's just about my favorite movie ever so I liked seeing it for the second time and Vince went along with it.  John and Kathy couldn't make it for Saturday so they came Sunday.  I told them how good the movie was and that we could watch it again when they were here but Vince didn't like it as much as me so we talked instead.

Speaking of visitors...
Twelve hours after I arrived in Spokane on a red-eye from Athens I was sitting at a hotel in downtown Spokane with Kathy and Gaynelle, both Mankato State college roommates.*  Helen was the only college roommate missing from our 1978 apartment down the hill from campus where even though we had two bedrooms, we all slept together in one (the other sat empty except for the turn table and 8-track player) because we couldn't decide how to divide us up.
Between the three of us we were able to dredge up the names of a lot of college friends that we knew we never forget but did.  We convinced each other that we all looked the same as we did in 1978 and maybe even better.
Nineteen hours later,  Janet**, an earlier college roommate and stepsister (long story) pulled in from Minnesota on a motorcycle with her husband.
You can't have too many close girlfriends.

Writing.
Thinking the meeting would give me the motivation to wrap-up (i.e. start) a little screenplay I been thinking about, I went to my first 'Metaline Falls writers group' last week but since all they talked about the whole time was how expensive things are nowadays, I may not go again.  There must be some reason I can't work on the writing project at home but I don't know what it is so I rode on my mountain bike on pavement with really new, really wide knobby tires and an unpadded, lopsided 20 pound pack that didn't conform to my back (miserable ride) to Nelson, British Columbia and stayed at the Dancing Bear youth hostel for few nights to see if that would inspire me.  It did, and now I have a screenplay about a girl that enters a cooking contest.  It should be better than it sounds and shouldn't be too complicated to do except for the scenes with all the animals.

The Dancing Bear inspired my 'girl enters a cooking contest' masterpiece.

There was no easy way for me to get into that top bunk.

A Big Week:
The movie theater re-opened on Friday with 'Super 8', the smell of new paint and popcorn and a near record crowd, many of whom had to park somewhere other than the main street because all the parking spots were taken.  Except for the sci-fi parts the movie was good. 

Next week.  Is anyone else tired of Harry Potter movies?

We won 2 local kayak races on Saturday.  One race had 4 boats, the other had 2 and the blue ribbon we came home with was the first of the summer.

We got some new red chairs.  This is just one of them but the other one looks just like it.

After a fifty-five year delay, last week during a paddle, I got up the nerve to execute my first rope swing launch.  Describing is as a 'launch' is pretty misleading but I can't think of a better word. 


*I told you about Greece and I told you about Kathy my best friend from college and now Sleepy Eye, Minnesota home of Buttered Corn Days in my last post.  Both Kathy and I majored in Parks and Recreation/Natural Resource management.  She was a Rec major because she was passionate about it.  I was a Rec major because it was easy.  I was one of her bridesmaids.

**I was one of her bridesmaids too.

***Trying to come up with a good way to make sure that the three-quarter can of refried black beans I couldn't eat wouldn't go to waste, I walked over to Justin, the Liverpool, England-ite that had been traveling for 4 years and working on a website about how to travel for a long time with no money.
Beans in hand, I asked "Do you wan......" and before I could finished my sentence, he'd grabbed the can and was writing his name on it with the group sharpie while holding the refrigerator door open.

International Event take 2

The second annual Selkirk International Film Festival is at 6 pm, August 25th at the Cutter Theater in Metaline Falls, Washington.  Counting the volunteers, last years attendance was 60 so we need 61 this year.

Metaline Falls, Tyler and Greece

Metaline Falls, Washington.

An hour after we rolled down the driveway we were sitting outside on stone steps looking into Canada with no bugs or humidity feasting on a year old can of organic garbanzo beans transformed into hummus with tahini from somewhere in Idaho on 2 day old bread from Montana.  

They told us the rain stopped the day before we pulled in to Metaline Falls.  Our field was tall and green and there was still snow in the mountains.  Vin's stone walkway hadn't moved...like the stone walkways other people make, he told me...and other than a few flies the house was apparently just as we'd left it*.   Two days later friends Bobbi and Eric from Bozeman popped in to share good meals, movies and bike rides and the next day I left for Greece. 

Our Metaline Falls 15 minute clothes dryer

I am soooo spoiled.

We make it a point to support the local economy.  Shown here is Vince with a slingshot from the local health food/ammo store.

Greece.

Sarah, Linda and me.  Best friends from high school.  When we were 40 we decided that every 10 years we would take a trip together.  When we were 50 we decided we'd better make it every year.  This year we decided to go to Greece.  Partly because of Mamma Mia and partly because Linda's sister Nancy lives there.  While looking into flying from Vermont I noticed that if I flew from Spokane, Washington I could meet up with Sarah and Linda in Denver since that was their first stop after departing from Boise.  Then, we could all fly together Denver/Toronto/Athens.  So.  After paying a little more for a ticket from Spokane, Vin, Max and I drove to Washington a month earlier than we had planned. 

Yada yada....you know how fun it is when you get off a plane and there is someone waiting for you?  My plane landed in Denver.  I had butterflies.  Linda and Sarah would be there and I knew they wouldn't care that they would be making fools of themselves when they saw me.  But I deplaned to a quiet group of airport maintenance workers instead of a couple of ex-cheerleaders screaming and jumping up and down.

'I'll bet they're hiding', I thought, as I scanned the boarding area for a cowboy hat (Linda's trademark).  They weren't there.  My phone rang.  It was Vince.  Sarah had called him.  They'd missed their flight from Boise.  The name on someone's ticket didn't match the name on someone's passport! (insert sinking feeling)  Orbitz told them they would have to buy a new ticket in order to continue.  So what I wondered was, if they did decide to pay $3000 for another ticket, when could they get on another flight?  (more sinking feeling)  Now what?  Are they still going to Greece?  Should I continue east or fly back to Spokane and bag the whole thing?  I was only going because they were going. **  I had a half hour to decide but how could I decide with no information.  I got in line and kept moving forward toward the gate agent until I was standing face to face with her and no one behind me.  The phone rang again.  It was Linda.  She'd been talking to Air Canada and....click (that is, if cell phones made click sounds....) I lost the connection.  I tried to phone her back...'no service available'..."what the..."  That can't be, I was just talking.   Seeing that I had an exit row and an aisle seat, I decided to go to Toronto. 

Toronto.

I had two and a half hours until my Athens flight.  A seemingly luxurious amount to time.  During that time I talked to Linda and Sarah close to a million times.  Soon two and a half hours was 15 minutes.  Still no conclusion.  Deja vu.  In line, I moved toward the gate agent.  I knew I didn't want to go to Greece alone...but they might still go.  And they might not.  I could still fly back to Spokane....the phone rang.  They got re-booked and in TWO DAYS! they would be in Athens through Munich.  TWO DAYS!  I decided to head back to Spokane.  Walking toward the person behind the counter that takes care of things like that, I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask, 

"Can you rebook me on the same flight as my girlfriends?" (paraphrased!) 

and in less than an hour I had a ticket on a flight to Munich where I'd be sitting across from Sarah.  In two days we'd all be getting off a plane together in Athens.

Even though olive oil sits on cafe' tables in Greece like ketchup sits on tables here and the food is fresh and simple, I found Greece too hot and busy for me to really enjoy.  Dah?  It waaaas July.  

(neither did I like that it sounded as if people were always yelling at each other when they spoke or that 'no' meant 'yes').

    

But there were some good parts...  

• upgrading to first class (+$12) on ferries to a couple of islands (Naxos and Santorini)*** and playing rummy based on childhood memories.

• seeing the Parthenon and the Acropolis from a bicycle (a 3 hour bike tour with a guide that was leading us places that had to be off limits to bicycles and would have taken 2 days to walk).

• watching fishermen come in off their boats and cook octopus over wood fires.
• hiking on ancient stone paved trails on Naxos.

• communicating with smiles, waves and hugs while I helped an local 80 year old woman wring out and hang her laundry because her arm hurt

• being with Linda, Sarah and Sarah's sister Ruth

Sorry, no pictures from Greece on this post.  Can you believe I didn't even bring a camera? 

*When the plumber came to winterize the Metaline Falls house last October he did everything on Vince's list (and follow-up email) except #2.

2. put glycol in the concrete floor radiant heating system.  

I don't want to spend much time on this one but what it means is that the system froze, the pipes IN THE CONCRETE FLOOR burst and how do you find and fix leaks IN A CONCRETE FLOOR?

**Tyler tornado. 

The day before I left for Greece my brother Dale called to tell me they'd had a couple of storms back home in Tyler, Minnesota.  He said they were OK but one of the silos blew over.  Plus the hog house was gone.  So was a hay shed.  He said the silo landed on one of the tractors which was good because it could have landed on the pick-up and he was sitting in the pick-up.  He said he tried to get from the pick-up to the house (where my sister-in-law Brenda was in the basement wondering where Dale was) a couple of times but every time he opened the pick-up door to run to the house a hunk of metal roofing went flying through the air.  So tragic.  Even though I would have been of no help whatsoever, I felt like I should be going there instead of going to Greece. 

The hog house used to be somewhere around here.

Tractor with silo on it

Tractor and silo parts

This is not a sculpture garden.   It's the hog house roof having almost made it over to Uncle Mik and Aunt Leona's farm.

Another 'not a sculpture garden' view

***You know when you see pictures of Greece (a huge clump of brilliant white buildings covering an almost vertical mountain and sitting above ocean?), it's usually Santorini and it really does look like that.

Supper Clubs and Parades

Still heading west. 

We're in Tyler, Minnesota (pop. 1267)  for a few days with my family now. 
Driving through Sleepy Eye, Minnesota (home of Kathy Flom Bergs my best friend from college) the other night at midnight I noticed we were going to miss Buttered Corn Days so I was happy we were able to spend yesterday at the Saddle Horse Holiday parade in Lake Benton.*  No marching bands this year...mostly fire trucks and antique John Deere tractors.

You have to get there early to get a seat with the sun at your back.

Following the parade, there is a horse show.

For noon lunch (people here call it dinner) today Dad decided we should go to the windowless metal building called the Kronberg Supper Club (under new management).  Word around town was that the 'beef commercial'** was very good.   Having already eaten, Vin and I watched Dad eat.  We hadn't seen Aunt Marlene and Uncle Roy yet so I borrowed Dad's phone to invite them to join us.  I looked for Marlene's name under 'M' and she wasn't there which was odd since he probably calls her 3 times a day.  When Dad realized I was struggling to find the number he told me it was under tmarlene because when she punched it in his phone she hit the t and didn't know how to delete it.  Roy and Marlene joined us and we all watched Dad eat.  It was fun.

Aunt tMarlene spoils my Dad (Tyler's Huck Finn) by cleaning out his backyard shed.

Dad made a little wooden car to drive in parades.

I counted 11 clocks in Dad's house even with forgetting about the clocks in the new 3-season room.  None of the clocks had the same time, in fact, none were even working but the one in the kitchen (off by only 5 minutes) and the one in the guest room (off by 4 hours and 23 minutes).  Maybe that's why time seemed to stand still when we were there.

Vin doesn't like to play 20 questions as much as I do but he'll play trivial pursuit for miles.  We have one of those trivial pursuit decks with hundreds of questions and I read the questions while Vince drives.  When he gets one wrong he tells me how the card is wrong. 

I recommend Madison, Wisconsin to anyone that likes perfect places.  Forty-three miles of bike paths in the city that are filled with cyclists, a Wholefoods and two funky food co-ops, a university, coffee shops, cool little restaurants.... 

*Lake Benton is 7 miles from Tyler, my hometown.  They were our high school rivals.   It's smaller and much rattier than Tyler (just causing trouble) and has some hills.

**beef commercial (n.) a roast beef sandwich cut in two diagonally, pivoted open at one end to form a triangle of plate which is then filled with a dollop mashed potatoes and smothered (the whole thing....sandwich and mashed potatoes) with roast beef gravy.  many calories per serving. upper Midwest specialty.

Where Are We Today?

Two or three times a week, I get 'Your Daily Spanish Word' in my inbox.  Yesterday my word was avergonzado.  It means 'ashamed' and reminded of how ashamed I am at feeling sorry for myself after my recent little knee surgery.  Even though it's just for a week, having to 'lay low' (which mostly means 'don't ride your bike') is driving me crazy.  You'd think with all this extra time I could be doing things that I never have time for when I don't have to lay low but I can't because I'm fixated on what I can't do instead of what I can.  It's not like I ride my bike all day, it's more like an hour or two, but the thing is, it makes everything else I do during the day so much better.  Sort of like butter.  You know how fresh sweet corn or warm homemade bread is pretty good all by itself?  OK, now add a little butter.

More About The Knee.
During pre-op, half way into the description of needle insertions and injections into the lumbar area, I interrupted my spinal anesthesiologist with an 'I trust you' which he immediately correctly interpreted as 'shut up' and left it at "you won't be able to feel anything below the waist."  I would have to say that was an understatement.  In the recovery room out of the corner of my eye I could see a nurse holding something in the air above her head.  When I focused I saw it was my leg.  

This is what they took out of my knee (the white thing that looks like popcorn, not the nickel)  It's blurry, sorry.

Real Estate For Sale.

I'd always wanted a purple door.  (Plainfield, Massachusetts)

Stairs and wall by Vince, a self-taught stone mason.

3 years is a long time to have a house on the market but 6 months ago we had 2 houses on the market so it could be worse.  Every winter we take the house in Massachusetts off the market and close it up because we don't want a potential buyer seeing all that unmanaged snow then every spring we spend a week opening it back up.  We've been doing it so long now that we just do it without even thinking that the reason we do it is to sell it.  I think subconsciously I don't want to sell it because it's my favorite place to sleep (and shower and ride) making the week we spend there every spring more like a luxury vacation than the drudgery it should feel like.  In a way I hate the thought of selling the house and cutting our last tie to western Mass after twenty-five years of a really good life.

Can you see why this would be my favorite place to sleep?

Washington State May Seem Like A Long Way To Go To Get Away From Deer Flies.
Neither of us play an instrument so when I saw Vin carrying our guitars out to the trailer I knew we weren't taking just the bare necessities and it was going to be a while before we left.
By 7:30 (that's 7:30 pm) we were packed and ready to hit the road.  We made it to Rutland, Vermont, Vin figured about 105 miles.*  The first thing I did when we got to the motel was lock the key in the room. The sign on the motel office door said 'We're Closed. In case of emergency dial 123' but since I was locked out of the room I had nothing to dial 123 on so I found a room with the lights on and knocked.  The door opened momentarily blinding me with a thick gray wall of cigarette smoke.  The guy holding the growling pit bull didn't take his eyes off the TV and the guy at the door just looked waiting for me to speak.  He dialed 123 for me.  I saw his lips move into the receiver but all I could hear was the TV.  30 seconds later the manager was cheerfully opening our door.

The Room.
Across from 'Simply Meat' and between the 'Joy of Nails' and 'Adam and Eve Hair Design', sat our $44 room.  It smelled sort of funny at first but I got used to it.  When I sat on the side of the bed my feet were in the bathroom so I didn't have to touch the carpet with my bare feet and without much effort I could almost reach the decal on the shower door that promised  a Thermasol In-room Steam®' that wasn't really there.

So.  We've started our road trip.  It's good except that we have to have the AC on high continuously for Max even though I'm freezing all the time.


*at that rate it will take us about a month to get to Washington.

Humor Me

I wanted to do another post while I was still 54 and I am still 54 even though my Spanish classmates think I'm already 55.  On day one we had to announce our birthdays to the rest of the class in Spanish.  I was first and said Mayo cinco (May 5 with the words in the wrong order) when what I meant to say (or thought I was saying) was Mayo quince (May 15, again, the words are in the wrong order).  Everyone was so psyched that my birthday was Cinco de Mayo that I just let it go.

Looking out at the wooded hills from a sun warmed granite step outside our Vermont kitchen I say to myself "it's a good thing I like the color green".  It's hard to believe there can be so much green.  A million different shades, textures and layers.  Everyday it's greener.  This is where I decide to write just one more post where I pretend I'm in Costa Rica and be done with it.

Since I've been back I've been asked what a day in Costa Rica was like a bunch of times.....

,

Jose' lives at Rainsong , the local animal sanctuary, and has one arm after trying to swing across the road using a powerline.

It's 5:30.  The rooster wakes up the monkey and the monkey wakes up me.  It's hot but not as hot as it will be by 7 so I ride out to Cabo Blanco, the first ever nature preserve in Costa Rica, and back...about an hour-ten.   The fat cold stream of water from my shower head feels good as I rinse the dust from my haphazardly tanned body.  A hardy bowl of oatmeal and almonds prepared in the communal kitchen should hold me over until I get another chance to eat.   Then 4 hours Spanish.  Because 'they' just keep moving you forward according to the amount of time you've been at the school and not according to how much you actually know, in my 4th week I ended up in Spanish Level 2.  The nightmare began when I got to class on that 4th Monday before my sole classmate, Simon, and Edgar, the professor, started talking to me in Spanish....just Spanish...just me and him.  Even after 3 weeks it still sounded like one long word and didn't take long for either of us to realize that I wasn't Spanish Level 2 material.   Instead of concentrating on the content of the questions he was asking all I could think was "Where is Simon?"  Finally Simon got there just in time to hear the last question directed at me.  I answered in broken, but only, Spanish, "Last night I studied my Spanish."  Edgar and Simon laughed which was OK because the focus then shifted to Simon.  Later I asked Simon what the question was....."Do you have children?"  I somehow made it through the week and Spanish 2 partly by making sure I never got to class before Simon again.

Then.  Back on my bike and out to Cabo Blanco again with a stop at the Cabuya Bakery on the way back where I'd sit and read a chapter in my book while sipping on a club soda with ice and no lemon.*
Getting back to the school/hotel on oatmeal fumes, I had just enough time for the fat stream of cold water rinse and an egg sandwich or guacamole and chips prepared, again, in the communal kitchen (the avocados were always perfect) before surfing.   Depending on where we were surfing that day, our surf time from strapping the boards to the top of the van or hiking to the beach was about 4 hours.  While most of the women surfed with bikinis and complained about bruises, abrasions and having to take days off or quit early, with my board shorts, rash guard, knee bands and wool socks attached to my ankles with electrical tape (it wasn't my age that set me apart from the rest of the group) without even thinking about it, I was the last one out of the water every day.** 

After another cold water rinse, different (though not clean) clothes, I was relaxed and ready for the highlight of my day....an hour Skype to Vince where we would talk about nothing really.  We would both get hungry about the same time and hang up.  He would heat some of the lasagna I'd made for him (out of love and guilt) before I left and I would go to El Sano Banano for the same thing every night, (lettuce, heart of palm, avocado, olive oil, chips, guacamole, sometimes grilled chicken, club soda with ice and no lemon*) and either eat it during the nightly movie***, while reading my book or studying my Spanish. 

And that was it...everyday except Wednesdays when we had only 2 hours of Spanish and I could go to the Montezuma Hotel for a club soda with ice and no lemon, sit, look out at the beach and write postcards that I would give to the bookstore owner that would bring them to a town with a post office.

*By the end of my stay I was really really good at ordering in Spanish at the Cabuya bakery and El Sano Banano.
**In atypical fashion I returned home after 4 weeks without a scratch.
***the nightly movies were current and shown in English with English sub-titles because of the street noise.

Lots of pictures with the free camera....


OK.  It's time to move on and while composing this post I did turn 55.

I knew if I kept looking I'd find some great roads for riding.

And more great roads.

I came down a hill on my bike, the cows were in the middle of the road drinking and didn't move.  I had to weave through them.

Remember the mangoes everywhere that I was telling you about?

The Montezuma Hotel cafe'.  High ceilings with fans.  Open air and on the beach.  I felt like I'd turn around and see Ernest Hemmingway sitting there.

A street scene.  No Starbucks.

Another street scene.

More of the street.

Last one and another place that sells mango smoothies.

The End for now.