The Sea is a Salty One

 ....that I felt like leaving the internet it was this week and very very little of it had a damn thing to do with the internet. Driftwood washed up on Brasilita Beach. I felt about as useful as this piece of dead wood. I feel like throwing hands at life right now, like that tree is throwing hands. Last Christmas night I developed a sore throat and fever, spent the better part of this week dealing with it. At the same time we were having big work done on our car, the dash pulled out to have a broken coolant line replaced, and now some adjustments to the transmission, filter changed, fluids changed. Meaning that as I got sicker and sicker and started freaking out (yet again!) sure I had Covid I couldn't get to the doctor without a long cab ride. I'd been exposed several times last week, through my husband's idiot fellow church members.  Negative Covid test on the Tuesday before the border run, and now symptoms.  Since the Pandemic I've been playing "Covid or Asthma/...

  The beach in Nicaragua near San Juan del Sur. I would love to visit this resort again, but between the political climate and the random spots of violence in Nicaragua make this impossible right now. On Wednesday we did our border run to Nicaragua and back again. The good - I managed to hoof it the odd mile and so back under my own steam. No riding around in a pedicab. The bad - Jim twisted an ankle and so did I. I just didn't know it until later. I tore ligaments years ago and when I re-injure the ankle there is painful hell to pay. Plus the prices on all aspects of the border crossing have increased. We spent with the parking fees approximately sixty bucks instead of the usual forty eight. The ugly - the Nica agent at the exiting Nicaragua desk tried to shake us down for an additional twenty bucks, claiming it was a 'new fee' for crossing back within minutes. All the while the sign at his cubicle said that the fee was a mere three bucks. He picked the wrong two gringos t...

  The loaded grapefruit tree in front of the bedroom window. Soon we're have ripe grapefruit coming out of our ears. At least whatever we manage to save from the parrots. We get flocks of yellow naped green parrots all over the grapefruit every year. This week has been sort of low key. I've been having a few weeks of strange free floating anxiety. I know it's chemical. It's meaningless, but it just is what it is. I am wondering now if it's been triggered by my blood pressure medicine snafus. It's dropping my pressure levels too low so I'm sort of just napping off and on a lot of the week. I find when I'm rather frustrated, sad or angry it's my stupid body trying to get me to notice something. Talking to my neuro about this right now as every blood pressure med they try me on eventually drops it too low and I turn lethargic. Monday we took our friend Dave to Liberia, just to take him to Price Smart, and show him all the places to pick up the best of e...

  An abandoned building at the beach in Brasilita. We were walking the beach Saturday night there. So I had a very odd experience on Saturday. I was in the pool doing my 5 trillion laps, cursing exercise and thinking about a writing project when I heard a series of loud splashes. The big iguana on our property was hanging out on big branch over the pool and let 'er rip, bomb bays fully open and discharged. The iguana crapped in the pool man sized pieces. Eww! I had to clean the pool and add extra chemicals. Sadly that was the most exciting bad thing to happen this weekend. Saturday after that was a progressive series of exposures to fires, smoke, dust and people's colognes that started making the asthma creep back. By the time we were walking on the beach at Brasilita I was not in a good way. I keep explaining to Jim that all exercise needs to happen by 1 to 2 pm at the latest during this early part of dry season to no avail. I'm winded and weirded and wacked out by 5 pm, d...

Playa Grande just the other day. My husband has decided on a new weight loss scheme after viewing his gut on YouTube just the other day. It involves an hour long walk on the beach. Now I know I need to walk daily, this fits what I need to do too post stroke. But Jim is discouraged after one day when his weight goes up by over a pound, unable to want to understand he cannot keep gulping down potato chips and peanut butter, that exercise alone does not work when you are older. No walking today, we walked Monday and Tuesday. Today he had too much class prep and I'm very much under the weather. Sitting here killing time until the jury comes back in the Josh Duggar child porn trial. Not the only reason I'm nauseous. I cannot lay down. I've been felled by a stomach bug late last night. Up every hour on the hour all night long trying to decide which end to throw on the john. Hey, at least I wasn't having asthma while it was going on. No idea where this came from, but I cannot ...

 Today was epic! As epic this tree trunk that washed ashore a few years ago. Why? Read on, I may stay permanently embarrassed beet red now. This morning doing a little of this and that, decide to take a dip in the pool waiting for the first load of clean clothes. Go into my bedroom, pull out my old beat up suit, strip down to don said suit and look up. The trash service did not come around in the regular garbage truck. Today they had a tall flat bed truck with two dudes standing in it and looking over the wall at me in all my au naturel glory. I don't know if they tossed their cookies while tossing my garbage bags into the truck. That's bad enough, but I knew I didn't have to worry about seeing those guys again, and being embarrassed at my naked assed glory. But this tale gets worst, oh so much worst. After a swim I decide to work on a new pour painting. Took off my suit, didn't bother to put anything on, just didn't want acrylic paint on the suit. I am alone, a lon...

   Tamarindo Beach at sunset from Eat at Joes/El Vacaro. Tonight some crazy person shot into the crowds outside the El Vacaro where kids were performing. Luckily no one was hurt, but I am hearing reports there was a lot of screaming and running. You never expect these things to happen at laid back places like the beach. Deeply saddened that anyone thought the correct thing to bring to the beach is a gun. Keep that violence in the U.S. and Mexico. That was a side ramble. I'm just now hearing the news of it. I try not to go to Tama during high season, which starts in a few days. Right now the town is as full as a tick so I'm wondering where they are going to put everyone if anyone else shows up. I tend to stick to Grande, Las Ventanas, Playa Panama and parts north with unspoiled beaches not loaded with tourists during high season. Better for my emotional health. Yesterday I was afraid was going to be very bad for my emotional health. We had to pick up Jim's friend from the ai...

  Took this photo on Thanksgiving Weekend four years ago. It's the waterfall between Copey and Santa Maria. From the main road you'd get a millisecond glimpse of this waterfall while riding the bus before it vanished into the greenery. I tried futilely for months to get a shot. It took stopping at the bus stop and hiking down the path towards the falls to get a shot. Thanksgiving this year was interesting. It finally dawned on Jim to say "No" to everyone beseeching him to help them while offering nothing in return. And I didn't even have to do or say a thing. Silly neighbor has left us alone for a few weeks now. I think that has come about because Jim and I both started saying no to the things we cannot do well, or safely.  Jim told her no several dozen times when she's wanted him to do mechanical things. Jim is useless at many things mechanical and he's smart enough to know it. After I drove her daughter to ballet and the daughter reeked of cigarette smok...

  Sunset on Tamarindo Beach this week. Jim frogmarched me to the beach because I insanely cranky and just not having it. Watching sunset creeping in over the water swept that all away. I know, I know, I haven't posted in month. Its been rather boring in some regards, asthma bouts, mad scrambling on non asthma days. Part of the days have dealt with Jim's tshirt ministry at his new church, endless meetings to decide on the shirts, order them, inventory the several hundred shirts, fold and organize.  I am still not back in church with him. The why is complex, and just a sense about the new place he's picked as being very wrong for me. I'm not much impressed. They seem like nice folks, well, as nice as rich Americans living in a protected bubble walking on imported air can be. Jim tells me no matter what my conversation was with the pastor there is someone that brings their poodle. I seem to be the most allergic to poodles.  It seems to me that the pastor says to each perso...

  The wall at Playa Grande in the parking lot that used to read "Let There Be Peace on the Land and in the Water" I was sad that they recently painted over this sweet sentiment. Sadly this wasn't the day for peace. My messenger on Facebook blew up today, and it wasn't all people wanting to steer me towards that religious group, or this bad behavior by a high demand organization. What happened on my messenger was people I barely know, or rarely talk to spamming me conspiracy theory videos about the Covid vaccine, and the pandemic. How it's merely a government plot to inject us all with mind control computer chips and stranger things. I've been pretty open about it on Patheos, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. I am pro scientific thought and evidence. Pro lengthy group studies and very anti fear mongering junk science. Masking works. Washing your hands and keeping a nearby box of Kleenex is always a great plan. Vaccines work, in fact they've always been require...

  From our time in Copey de Dota looking through the back window of the coffee shop and out into the coffee coops bagging floor. That's all coffee beans, including in the enormous silo. I feel like I need that much coffee right now. Wednesday is always a crazy day around here. So it has been. Jim planning his classes in the morning and dealing with people contacting him. We had one of his students from Copey contact us and ask if they could stay at our house, thinking we were still at Casa Madera with the lovely little cottages and the big house. Last time a Copey friend came to visit it was an awful shitshow. Over fifteen people crammed in our house and in four cottages. I was on edge the entire time and our German landlord was upset over some of their behaviors. Jim started asking questions and this time they needed accommodation for 19 people. No effing way! Our house is big, but I don't even have beds in all the bedrooms, there's not one in my sewing room, just a faux s...

 Yep, these gates! Yesterday morn I went to take a shower after my husband went to church. In the shower I heard a sudden loud MOOOOOOOO! I went outside to see what the heck was happening, just in time to see a beautiful healthy looking black and white cow in my yard. I think when Jim opened the gate and left the cow slipped in there before the gate closed. I was able to get the spare remote and open the gate. The cow rushed out to rejoin her herd. There's someone that once in a while runs his herd down our street. This morning Jim left to help out Cissy get her cars to the shop. She's taking about running out of narcotics and having to get more plus having no working cars, just three broken down ones. I made my views on the helping plain to Jim again, and he told her he'd help get the car to the shop, but that's for today. We will see. Turns out the car was out of antifreeze/coolant AND oil. When Jim pointed that out to her she shrugged and said some ignoramus shit abo...

  Okay, I am going to rant. Why? My Mast Cell, and I ran up on a situation yesterday that is a repeat over and over again. Yesterday Jim and I went in the morning to pick up t-shirts ordered for the church. We walked in and I had an immediate reaction to the screen printing inks being used on the tee shirt printing machine. Not an immediate anaphylaxis reaction, but my lungs tightened down. I got out of there quickly. I've been there before a number of times and never reacted, but they were actively printing this time. The smell was overwhelming. Get out, get home and medicate. The reaction starts building, getting worse as the day moves on. My lips and tongue started tingling, my face started swelling, my eye lids started to swell shut. Push a second and then a third round of meds. Go with Jim to run an essential errand that cannot be put off, and I start reacting to dust on the road, exhaust, the smell of road tar, you name it. Skedaddle on home, take round four of meds. Ju...

  No lovely view of Costa Rica today, just Jesus tinged bbq flavored political confusion. It's been quite the few days, and no, Cissy is not involved. She's only spamming us about some games party we're all supposed to attend tonight. I'm still undecided if I will even attend because its being thrown by someone I don't know and I'm unsure how many people will be there from the plague ratting church of non maskers in a country marked Level Four - Do Not Travel by the U.S. State Dept. Decisions, decisions! No, on Thursday Jim and Buddy slammed up against a cold hard reality at our old church. They attended that circle jerk of end times paranoia known as the men's Bible study. I figured something hadn't gone well when Jim and Buddy arrived back at the house within about a half hour. Boy, did something not go well! What? Joe Biden and Covid vaccinations. Add in that day's announcement by the Costa Rican government. Just that morning the CR government ann...

  This is what happens when you go to take a panoramic photo of Playa Grande and you lose your balance and start to fall. A good illustration of life right now. More days, more requests. A lengthy one appeared on Monday with our silly neighbor messaging us that her lawnmower was broken. At the end she tried for the gaslighting guilt button pushing by reminding us anew that her husband had left her. Jim is no mechanic and he's damn near all thumbs doing practical things. He finally messaged back that:  - He knows nothing about mechanical things  - He has never worked on a lawnmower  - There's a mower repair shop less than a block away Tuesday night. We're at a special Canadian Thanksgiving dinner at Playa Flamingo, at a restaurant when the requests for various things start. We tell her we're busy. This noon the messages start again, demanding Jim go pickup the daughter from karate classes, and other requests. Jim says no, we're busy. But I'm beyond annoyed now be...

  This morning during low tide in Tama. Finally, blessed peace, even if Jim did have to run around and make the Velma/Dave/Cissy Jim's taxi run. I went to the beach to walk. I meant it when I said I wasn't going back to church until infection rates drop significantly. I am foolish about huge piles things, but not about the 'Rona. Vaccinated or not. I went to the beach, Jim went to church. Square deal. Yesterday was lovely and peaceful with zero things that had to happen. We caught up on tv. Jim watched LSU get their butt stomped by a team that they usually beat handily.  Jim came back from an errand in the afternoon. He returned very puzzled. He ran into Jonathan Banks again, and apparently fan boyed up to him and said "Hey are you Mike?" Banks replied to Jim that nope, he gets told all the time that he looks like Mike but he's not Mike. I had to point out to Jim that the guy likely does not want to be bothered by fans, but yes, it is the actor that plays Mike...

    The last two and a half days. Blissful beautiful silence. Even Buddy settled down and was doing well. Right up until we were to the beach this morn, and Cissy called around noon. I was feeling relaxed. Cissy had started driving again. They changed internet companies and all was well. The beach was wonderful.. It always is, but I need to walk in the ocean waves to feel right. Something about the salt water on my feet and the surf breaking about my shins ...  ...and right as I was writing this my messenger blew up. While we were out at the beach, enjoying grilled zucchini, shrimp and rice the first message arrived. It was Cissy wanting us to do a grocery run. We said okay, sometime this afternoon or evening. We finished our errands and moseyed back home about 2:30 pm. Jim took a nap, I was busy with a fascinating book by a former Trump administration member, and looking at the books I reviewed for NLQ for my next YouTube book review. While I was reading and as I started...

  The fruit stand near the house. So our silly neighbor and her daughter are here. Right now. Why? Well, like I said previously, a pile of problems. There's no internet at their house. Poor girl has to study somewhere. Again Jim and I keep having conversations about boundaries and saying no, and yet again he's not saying no, not all the time. Sunday and part of Monday we were left alone thankfully, but it's started up again. Last night she spammed him about a million messages about a million favors she needed. When he gets tired he doesn't always understand things right, so he put her off. What did she want? She wanted him to drive her in the middle of the night to the Caja hospital in Punta Arenas, around three and a half hours away. She wanted to get back x rays and iv meds. He finally said wait and see how she was doing in the morning. This morning he checked with her and she'd driven herself to the private clinic last night for the x rays and got stronger meds. ...

  Traffic jam around 3 pm today on the road between Huacas and Villareal Costa Rica Today was the great car turn over and PriceSmart/Costco run. Jim must have his gross peanutbutter. He has to eat that in another room away from me I'm so peanut allergic. Our Canadian buddy asked to store his old purple rattletrap jeep-esque 30 year old tenement on wheels at our house. For free. Starting in early March 2020. Today marks the first day he could be back during the Pandemic. He wanted us to bring his old jalopy to the airport, park it, put the keys under the floor mat and stick a ten mil note in the visor. We did. I freely admit I've been saltier than the ocean about this situation. Why? Because we somehow went from keeping it on our property for free and starting it every now and then to keep the engine from seizing up to (in his mind) renting the car from him.  When the riteve came due three months later it took multiple repairs and trips to get it to pass. Buddy said he'd pay...

  This is my rocking chair, mahogany and tooled leather. I sure would like the opportunity to sit it in every now and then. Brace  yourself. I'm going to rant. I'm going to rant long and hard about my husband's inability to say no. We were still in the States a few weeks ago and the pinging of help requests didn't stop. From the pastor of the new church and from our neighbor, the hapless abandoned wife of Jim's scampered off BFF here. As much as the requests for help veered into pita (pain in the ass for all  you non acronyming folks), it was good to be able to say "Sorry, no. Not in country now" This week has been a doozy of calls. First from the pastor, right down to wanting us to allow a member we know with 'marital problems' to camp out in our guesthouse indefinitely until he decides what to do.  Jim, lovely pastor pleasing people pleasing Jim, told the pastor he'd have to talk to me, and the pastor thought it was a done deal, telling the g...