The Sea is a Salty One

Today as seen in Burger King Liberia. He walked around masked with nothing over his nose for a good hour. Wal Mart run today in Liberia and we drove by the new Pricesmart to see if the sign was up yet with the opening date. Looks like June 17th. Cannot wait! No long drives to San Jose to get American hot dogs and bacon. One thing about our monthly run to Walmart is that it is the only opportunity we get to have American fast food.  Within a half mile you have a McDonalds, a Burger King, a KFC, a Taco Bell, a Quiznos and a Papa Johns. Pizza Hut is in the downtown area, near the good fabric store and the guy that works on my sewing machines. It's a rarity we enjoy. Screw calories, cholesterol counts and nutrition on shopping day. Except that the local Walmart has a wonderful selection of all things gluten free, sugar free and organic. Yeah, I know Walmart, who would have thunk? Gimme that five pound bag of sugar free cocoa roasted almonds! A mixed day of bad eating and planning for t...

After a glorious four days of no asthma it came roaring back in the worst way. Yesterday was so awful I started wheezing when trying to apply baby oil. My eyes swelled shut when I started working on a new quilt I am naming "Octopus Garden" from the finishing on the fabrics, and the wheezing started up again.  Literally everything provoked it. Iron clothes, start wheezing from the starch. Mop the bedroom floor and wheeze from the very mild soap I was using. I just cannot get a break. Five long months of this crap, I'm getting beyond upset about it and have no life that does not revolve around the drug regimen and allergen avoidance. I drug around miserable yesterday and today. I've been saving a couple of books by some of my favorite authors and I've been reading a lot and laying in bed. Jim is freaking out because this has been dragging on since January. He's never been around me so much when it's been this awful, like back in 2007 when I kept waking up in...

Just discovered I had oodles of comments sitting in moderation! I've flubbed up something with the comments that I cannot figure out, so I just went ahead and approved most them, just not the ones offering penis pills, magic spells or abusiveness. Those went down the garbage chute. I'll try to do a better job of approving.

Kitty boy taking a morning nap. Far more relaxed than I am. "New Blogger" what gives? Why did you take away the photo size function? I am so damn annoyed today. Why? All the local American Christians here posting crap about it's time to reopen and who cares if the sicky mcsickalots die. Dude, you're talking about me! How on earth can anyone possibly think that abortion is wrong, but sacrificing fellow humans to a virus just so they can get to Starbucks and get their hair did is anything God might approve of? I don't get it.

Yesterday started early. We went to the beach. A few local beaches are now open Monday through Friday from 5 am to 8 am. Lots of surfers, lined up along the shore awaiting that perfect wave. At 8 am sharpish the policia showed up and roused us off the beach. Including my friends playing volleyball not even on the beach. Surreal experience. Gosh darn it all! My internet is too weak and messed up to post photos of the beach or the quilt I just finished. Later I guess. Jim's gone today. Gone into Nicoya to get his yearly riteve on his motorcycle. This is pretty much an all day process. First he'll need to get to the motorcycle shop to have them reset the idle low, going back and forth until it passes. I love my husband, but I'm sort of glad. Right now I have the bed torn apart and I'll be able to wash not only the quilt and sheets, but also the mattress pad, pillows and mattress topper. Plus wash down the waterbed mattress with that pleasant disinfectant fro...

  What they do in Costa Rica instead fix the road holes. Pack with dirt and pile rocks onto the unfixed portions.    Today was irksome all the way around, starting this morning when I went out for my weekly grocery run. I was happy to find a few non food things I needed, like a cheap surge protect and Goody brand hair elastics, and to see so many of my Tico neighbors out and about. Rounded the corner and saw my cowboy neighbor saddled up on his horse. Lots of waving and happy "Holas!" I guess it wasn't completely awful, just partially so. Right up until I got to the main village road. I knew something was happening there because of the past few days we've seen city buses and trucks on the dirt back road past the front gate. Turns out they are 'fixing' the roads again, the village road, by packing dirt into the potholes, which fixes it until it rains again. Rainy season just started. They also  piled rocks and trash onto the portions that are still unfi...

Iggy says not cool at all! I really want to rant I'm so mad this evening, but no sleep because of the asthma drugs means I slept little last night and I'm finding it difficult to keep the eyelids open. But I have to say....... what the hell church what the hell????????? Pizza party today when all religious gatherings are still banned in Costa Rica. At a restaurant that is supposed to be limiting the the number of customers and were not AND letting people swim in the pool. The pools are still closed. Supposed to have private gatherings of no more than ten social distancing people. There was way more. I didn't attend. I heard from my husband who did attend. Who witnessed people shaking hands and hugging. Bunch of idiots during a pandemic. I almost hope they all get COVID 19 for behaving so poorly. Here comes second wave. They are still having online services, but somehow a giant gathering was aokay. I will never understand people

I decided as I remember bits and pieces to post them here on this post as they come back. I'm so addled with asthma drugs right now that it sometimes comes through into my memories that way. I have no desire to fight with this person, but I'm not going to lay down and play dead either. This is my truth, the only one I know, and those of you coming in here from Reddit  and  other places know who this is. Not mentioning her directly by name because I do not want to feed any narcissistic supply, but I need to vomit up this entire history of awful. I can't recall exactly at what point I met her virtually. I think it was not long after we moved into this house. Pre stroke? I think. She popped up, and we started talking. I believe she'd been pointed towards me when she came onto Patheos as one of the old hands who'd been writing for Patheos for a long time, that I could answer questions and help out. It wouldn't be the first or last time I have functioned in tha...

Today we just sort of let everything go and spent the day up at the Las Catalinas resort at Playa Danta. We have a good friend that works there and the place is almost completely deserted except for the Tico workers doing some low season remodeling. I didn't get within ten feet of anyone, didn't even bother to don a mask. A few photos. An iguana walked up begging for food. He's used to the tourists feeding him. The Guanacaste trees are in full glorious bloom. I love Las Catalinas because it's like walking through a lovely European village ending down at the ocean. Self care is so important. While we did little but hang around with a friend this was just the reset button I needed to push today. This afternoon starts another brand new day when we got home, and swam in the pool between rain storms. It was the first time I ventured out maskless in over two months. I think it was fine, the place was deserted, almost entirely ours. If only we were wealthy ...

Welp, it's been quite an almost week for me. I've gone through a complete spate of emotions during this time, from hurt and disappointment, through anger, to apathy, to a desire for revenge, all the way to grace. In the flesh I was tempted to construct a box of torture for a narcissist. I'm fully capable of that too. I helped take down two other huge internet liars, one of which was a plagiarist of some renown.It would be a piece of cake to use a lifetime of knowledge on how mental illnesses work to go after someone hard enough to make them crack. But I would have to care a lot more than I do. I've also suffered my own dumb slings and arrows for writing online. I have learned I have to ignore what others say about me.  One of my favorite sayings that I repeat when coming under internet reprobation is " The dogs may bark, but still the caravan moves on... "and I have mostly stuck with that. I've written and edited for Patheos for very nearly ten years...

My mother is trying to insist my asthma came from her father. She says he had it. I knew him pretty far into my adulthood, until I was almost 30. And I never once heard her, him or anyone else refer to his asthma. I knew he'd had emphysema, and had part of a lung removed from cancer, but not this. On my dad's side though, it's chockablock filled with crazy asthmatics. I remember being a very impressionable 11 years old and arriving with my father and a friend to my aunt's house before we went to a movie. The movie idea was scratched, once they had to carry my other aunt Carolyn out of the house. She'd turned a weird blue around the lips. It was scary. All the adults rushed out, leaving my friend and I alone with my weird cousin Kevin. But I didn't contradict my mother. I'm allowing her to believe it's inherited from her side of the family when it genuinely does not matter. It's a useful skill I picked up, allowing others around me to spout ridi...

Trying to photograph howlers in the overcast day does not work out. You just end up with moody green foilage. Today was a funny sort of a day. I woke up, stumbled around in desperate need of coffee before my weekly grocery run during old timers time at the only American type grocery store here. The expensive place with American and European foods. You know what their ounce per ounce most expensive food I'd seen there? Canadian Maple Syrup works out to  about 46 bucks a quart. Needless to say we don't eat that. After I finished shopping, writing this morning and finished lunch for everyone I was amused and occupied by phone calls from the 225/504/985 group. The aunties and others. Endless stream of calls. I was surprised by one of the calls, from a rare reclusive family member who happened to be hammered at 4 pm in the afternoon. Look, I know it's Louisiana where everyone stays drunk to deal with the humidity and heat, but come on. You're in your eighties lady! W...

So now I'm having other Patheos writers asking me about what's going on with the former Patheos writer now on YouTube.  And that particular writer is getting ready to do a video explaining 'the rumors' She can explain all day, but I am awake now. What happened is she asked me to come on her YouTube channel to talk about the Duggars. Set a day and time. She stood me up, and then blocked me. I have no idea why. No nothing. No contact. It's rude to do that to a normie, but to do it to someone that had to med up, get up early and do various things is just rude as heck. There is no going back. Just that simple. I saw her latest Duggar video this morning, and it was very poorly done. But at least it completely proves my point that she does not even create original content. She merely vomits up other people's work as her own. She gave Michael Pearl's book "To Train Up A Child" the wrong title something like five times. She's clearly not read t...

Our backyard just as it started to rain. It finally did rain today after weeks of clouds and some thundering. The howler moneys were hooting up a storm in the hour before it rained. I was outside getting video of the monkeys hopping around. I didn't count on seeing a full moon. I did a Facebook Live video of the moneys for about three minutes and towards the end of the video I did that camera reverse thing to talk to my friends and relatives. Unfortunately I did not realize at the time that Jim went streaking past me on his way from the pool to the house. Sans any clothing at all. He swims naked. I do not. We've actually had unfriendly conversations about this. It just is beyond my comfort level and I need support for my breasts when I swim. I am losing the battle with gravity there, and they are big enough that it's not comfortable not support them. I thought nothing of it, hit "post" and up it went. I went on with the rest of my afternoon, so happy it ...

Originally published back on May14th I'm sick right now. If you have not picked that up from the piles of copious whining I've done over my asthma. Since January it's 5 to 10 vials of neb solution and enough assorted pills, potions, powders and creams to get everyone in my beach town high and greasy (asthmatic dermatitis). The days with the most inhaled vials make for the nights with little or no sleep. Like last night. Pass out at 10 pm, sleep until midnight. Get up and do not get back to sleep until 4 am because all those nasty little vials of asthma meds are merely amphetamines, with all the resultant problems you get recklessly consuming speed. Sleep till 6 am, meaning I got the not nearly enough 4 hours in total. Normally on mornings like these I stay in bed, decide to try to snatch a few more hours before arising, but I could not this morning. I had to arise, swill coffee, find something unwrinkled, unholey and unstained. Get dressed, do a little hair and makeu...

I remember about half way through my years with my old toxic church coming upon a beloved friend, cowering behind the big plastic trash can, crying profusely. Loud sobs with big wet tears rolling down his face. I remember I said few meaningless comforting words, but ultimately ended kneeling next to him, putting my hand on his shoulder and simply praying for him. Hoping that the presence of someone that cared deeply about him would be comforting in that time. It was during the visit of a certain "conference" preacher that did deliverance ministry. Some of you may know him. I've had conversations about this minister with people at NLQ. His big schtick was his portion of the sermon where he would manipulation his fingers into a "W" shape and go "WOW MOM!" to illustrate some long forgotten point. I remember thinking even then that this minister had taken a few too many tackles to his brain during his years playing and coaching local football. I'...

One of the three strays that have suddenly decided they live here. Cats tromping around all the time now This sweet girl, a lighter gray girl and one very beat up black and white tom. Last few days I've been riddled with asthma. Again. Big whoop. Meds. Whining.  Lying around. I wish it would effing rain so this would end. January to now, almost every single day in physical misery. Add in immersing myself in that vat of Crisco like goop to hold down the asthmatic dermatitis and there you go. My effing entire existence now. Which might be good for one thing. All the long messenger conversations I've been having with friends, and some family. Who I refused to talk to - The ex family member that remarried days after the divorce, his new bride has attempted to friend me on social media. I rejected her, and I just do not get why she would do that. We don't know each other, and I hate that particular ex family member pretty badly. I have to wonder why. Is she going to try ...

It never fails to amuse me that the posts here where I'm angry or disappointed with my husband get oodles of hits. Oodles and oodles of hits. I can almost hear the post being shared willy nilly among certain folks. *Shrugs* it's the human condition, we're all going to knock heads occasionally. It's how you handle the aftermath that shows the difference between bad marriages and good marriages. Take this morning for instance. A rare argument. Here's the recipe. I feel passionate about feeding folks. I've volunteered everywhere we've lived with the soup kitchens and feeding pantries. I gave our local food bank my entire stimulus check because I'd just add the money to a CD or investment and times are tough here after the lockdown for the locals now that the tourist dollars have stopped. I cannot do much, but I can make sure others eat. It's the Cajun way. Jim and I were having a discussion while I was cooking breakfast about writing the food ...

Horses near our house on the main road to the beach. Beach horses getting a nice long rest from toting tourists around. Today was rough. I have some stupid stomach flu. Different than Jim's thing. Different symptoms. I laid in the bed much of the day reading about the Ruby Ridge tragedy and working my way through my new Sudoku book. Big excitement, I know. Now we are feeding three different strays and one of the strays has figured out how to use the cat door to access the good stuff instead of the leftover dry food. Stinky is so so spoiled, he will only eat one brand of dry cat food. He turns up his nose are Royal Canin. He ignores Hills Science Diet and will only eat a brand out of 100% meat dry food from Canada. Hard to find. So I'm feeding the strays our accumulated piles of dry food. But the real fun happened around dinner time. A couple of days ago I got a friend request, a curious one. It appeared to be from one of my uncles, who I was already Facebook friends wit...

Our papaya tree in bloom. It's official folks, Jim has contracted a very mild case of Dengue fever, or as I like to call it 'Dingy Fever' Per the doctor he is getting papaya juice and extract of the papaya leaf. There is no real official medicine for it, just those to treat the symptoms. I had it as a kid, along with a pile of other things common here mosquito and bug borne. Living in South Louisiana before they started the wholesale spraying whole communities for mosquitoes means I (for once) have immunity to many of the nasty things one can contract in Costa Rica. I figured there have to be some small benefit growing up in a hot hellscape amidst Exxon's fumes. Who knew it would be this? Here's the funny thing. It's not like you can walk into a pharmacy here and say "One bottle of papaya leaf extract please!" You have to cut the leaves yourself, wash them, strip off the stems and break up the leafs into tiny pieces and boil the whole mess up...