The Sea is a Salty One

Water feature from the Orchid Garden near San Jose. Well, it's been a strange week or two. I've lost days to this silly ankle thing. Took off the boot at a week to start doing physical therapy movements, made it two days and now the boot is back on and I'm down to two pain pills. It's healing so slowly this time. Have to do a medical follow up this week. Several days ago we went to a party for a lady we know who is throwing in the towel and going home to the U.S.A. Katie was trying to do that thing that is impossible here on the Gold Coast -- live as a gringo without a steady monthly income. Even a social security pension will not cut it here. It's expensive, but likely not as expensive as life in the U.S.A. is getting lately. Read that there has been a 40% jump in the price of vegetables and fruits last month. Deporting the folks that do all the grunt work there was one very bad idea mixed with those insano tariffs. We have high tariffs here and it inhibits the amo...

  If anything I should have stayed in bed the last almost week even without the ankle situation. Why? Three things that happened while I am just over here trying to live my life. First I bought a beautiful polished chrome set for my bathroom, A large pipe assembly coming off the wall with a large rain shower head that you could swivel and bend any direction along with a shiny hose and a hand held shower head. Installed it. Made sure both ran well. Turned off the tap and walked away only to hear a huge CLUNK!! The thing was so heavy it snapped the pipe in the wall. Plumber coming next week, the endless Tico "Manana" Second I am allergic to the stupid orthopedic boot. Apparently parts are latex, and when I sweat, which is a daily thing in Costa Rica, it leeches through to the latex part. Leg, ankle, foot all covered in an itchy rash now. Tried going with just the ace bandage this morning and spent the day eating pain pills. Back in the boot, itching scratching at it all. My lun...

  Arenal Volcano near La Fortuna, Costa Rica A few days ago a psychologist I follow mentioned something about the nature of PTSD and CPTSD. Sometimes it  keeps showing up long after the original event and wrecking you. Thinking about that led me to volcanoes. Why? Well, with volcanoes it's not just the initial explosion that causes you harm, it's everything afterward. I'm fortunate enough to live near volcanoes here in Costa Rica. There's several about an hour away, the biggest being Rincon de Vieja.  I've climbed Arenal Volcano several times now. Climbed Turrialba. I've seen the smoke and glow of  Poas from our hotel room near San Jose. Been up close and personal with volcanoes. Something I never dreamed I'd do when I grew up as a child in Louisiana, but I have. It's not just that explosion that will get you, it's everything after will continue on the damage. I like to use the analogy that when a toxic person explodes on you. When it happens it can ...

  View from our room in Copey eight years ago. Was I ranty on Sunday? I was livid after someone else invited folks to my pool followed by an accident that wouldn't have taken place had the husband just done what I asked him to do involving concrete stepping stones and our garage. We bought pavers today. Monday morning clinic, x rays, consultation with an ortho surgeon and exam by the lady that runs the clinic. Nothing broken, just a ton of degraded bone and old injuries, new sprain and new ligament detached. The pain had amplified so much by the time I got up that morning it was straight to the doc. Last time I did something like this to myself it was back in Virginia. Woman ran over my foot with an electric mobility scooter. It hurt worse, but not by much. The funny thing of this is my doctor oh so seriously and mournfully informing me that I had lots of old damage in the ankle/foot, the torn ligament and I wasn't going to benefit from ligament surgery. D'oh! I'm old! ...

  Massive gardening project going on right now at the house. We've been having the security wall painted a rich dark brown and now I've decided we need more flowering plants along the wall. Too bad it's going to be a few days before I'm walking again. Spite wall behind the pool getting a nice coating of those fake plant walls. Just to break up the brown on the metal wall extension that takes the wall from ten feet to almost twenty. Contractors in and out right now, new gate, new security system, bathroom expansion with a tub and a sun room just to name a few.  Today church. I go only to support my husband. 30 year old worship music, and a sorry excuse for a sermon that was the thrice divorced pastor preaching to himself again. All pretty standard. This is how it goes every week. The problem started after church was over and the bane of my existence, the church secretary, came over with 15 YWAM kids. She was prancing around, showing off, and squealing that she was hostin...

  Written in mid June 2025 I disappeared into the ether. I genuinely didn’t mean to but life handed me some psychedelic-soaked dramatic lemons and the lemonade is warped as a result. My mother. Before this is all over I may end up in a psychiatric facility myself. Ready a bed down at the state mental hospital in Mandeville, Louisiana! Ha! Where my long departed mean as fire great grandmother taught art. Oh, almost a month ago. Right around the time we returned from Jim’s radiation treatments I got a call from the Aunt Heap telling me that my mother was in the hospital with A Fib. Talking with her doctor I started to get a more complete picture of what was going on – she’s going into end stages of anorexia. Her body is breaking down the muscles, including her heart. It’s that serious. I don’t think she’s long for this world at this point. One thing that the doctors could all agree on is that she cannot continue to live in her dusty mausoleum of a haunted house alone. They didn’t...