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.

Hola

Back in November I thought I'd be ready to leave winter by April 10.  I'd done at least one race (make that 'JUST one race')*, skied everyday and was sure the snow would be long gone.  Instead of the snow being long gone, the skiing was the best of the season (not to mention we'd just gotten running water in the kitchen and season 4 of Mad Men).  Suddenly I couldn't remember why I had decided to go to a Spanish and surfing school in Costa Rica for 5 weeks.  I've always wanted to learn another language so I remember that being a big reason for my decision...and  just to see what it was like, I wanted to go somewhere that I could surf everyday.  Realizing the snow was going to be around for awhile, I looked into shortening my trip or not going all together but it was too complicated so my reason for going became not the I wanted to learn Spanish and surf everyday but that it was too difficult not to go. 

A breakfast of my favorite food at the DC airport

Security at the Tambor airport

The trip started with a 4 AM hotel wake-up call that never came.  Luckily my bladder was unbearably full at 4:15 AM.  A breakfast of my favorite food in the DC airport at 7:15 AM set me up for the rest of the day.  The big flight to San Jose was good and I managed to hyperventilate my way though the white-out in the 12 seater to Tambor before the 45 minute taxi ride to my destination in Montezuma.

hotel/school lobby

At the desk of the funky open air hotel lobby (which is also the school) I learned that there wasn't a room for me.  At least I thought that was what I was being told.  All I could pick out of what sounded like one long Spanish word from the person behind the desk was Chica and manana over and over.  I don't know what I was thinking when I registered for a double room and a roommate.....I stood for a moment contemplating the scenarios a roommate could add to my trip and requested a single room.  The desk person seemed satisfied and put me in a room all to myself.

 

This is a whole bike.  2' x 2' x 8"  Fooled you airline people.

After struggling 3 and a half hours in bad light, 100 degrees, 4:15 AM brain and trying to make no noise in a room where the wall didn't go all the way to the ceiling, I decided that I would dismantle what I had managed to put together on my bike, (I had never seen so many cables) put it back in it's case, and forget about it while I rented a 50 pounder at $15 a day for the time I was there.  Then, along came Jose' with his blond waist length dreadlocks and 30 seconds later I had a working machine.   The universal language of bike fanatics and derailleur cables....

I was a little uncomfortable about keeping my computer in a room that has a just-for-show lock but found a fool-proof hiding place so I could relax.  I asked the stranger that was url-surfing (not to be confused with ocean-surfing) in the hammock next to me where he kept his computer.  I must look trustworthy because he told me he hid it in his room under his backpack.......which is the same fool-proof place I was hiding mine.  I don't know, but if I was going to steal a computer from a hotel room, I know where I'd look first.

Mile 5 of my twice daily ride.  Notice my fully assembled working bike.  If you want, you can look closely and see the couplings holding the frame together.  They're the reason it fits into that little case.

The inside of mile 5.

The riding here is mostly HILLY!!! and it's just too hot to enjoy HILLY!!!.  But.  There's a spectacular 7 mile flat road along the ocean with a local bakery at mile 5 and a National Park at mile 6 and a half that I can put up with.

Our Spanish classroom.

The school is a safe environment for a solo female traveler.  Learners of all ages (I'm still the oldest but not my that much) from all over the world make a pretty good group.  I thought that I looked the same age as everyone else here until one German college co-ed said that she hoped to be doing things like this when she was my age.  I did have to ask a few classmates (that I see several times a day) to respect the 'no smoking sign' (wow, did that news travel fast).  I assumed they would snub me and smoke anyway so I'd have to drop out or something but it seems to be OK enough and the smoking stopped.  It's not that I don't think anyone should smoke here if they want to (however if I was king there would be no smoking :) ) and it's good for me to put myself in a situation where I have to lighten-up to survive...it's just that it was 3 folks right outside my no-option open window.

I can deal with monkeys waking me at 5 am since I get to drift asleep to slapping Pacific waves.   I'm still not sure I'll ever speak Spanish.  The other night I was secretly congratulating myself about my Spanish progress until the waiter asked me how my meal was and I proudly said 'bonita' which means pretty.  That being said, the radio was playing in the supermarket and I understood a few words which was a few words more than I'd ever understood before.  So now I know that, even though I'm not sure what, there is something going on in Montezuma at 8:30 tonight.

You don't have to bump your lip very hard with a surfboard to split it (the lip) which is my only injury.

 See lip.

Yesterday Jim, Greg, Brandon and I went to a new-for-us local beach in a noisy, dusty, rattletrap of a van.  Afterwards, tired with salty board shorts and hair, a few new abrasions, listening to salsa music sneaking through the static on the radio and bouncing along on a dusty dirt road...ever seen the movie 'Endless Summer?'  I'm still no Laird Hamilton on the surfboard but after a week of surfing, I'm still sitting here still basically uninjured (maybe I shouldn't have said that?).  I wonder if Laird has salt water running out of his nose when he bends over for hours after being in the ocean ?

The air is thick with the smell of mangos.

Now,  if I can just lift myself out of this hammock.

*Race note:  When the pre-race wax-of-the-day chatter consisted of wax numbers instead of the wax colors I was used to, I knew I was probably in trouble.  The gun went off and soon I found myself surrounded by shoulder height 10 year old boys that I'm sure they were really fast.

I'm writing like I don't miss Vin and Max BUT I DO.