Marilyn's Birthday Pool Party

Our Thursday lunch group, the Bruhos, celebrated Marilyn's birthday in her back yard. The invitation read, Come to a birthday pool party. Bring your bathing suits, towels, and pool toys.

When we got there, the pool turned out to be an oversized inflatable wading pool. Avram, Marilyn's husband, had blown it up for us. It may have been small, but it was just the right size for getting wet and playing.

It was a cool and cloudy day, so most of the dozen women didn't want to brave the water. But Lisa, Corinne, Bethea and I dove in. Well, stepped in is more like it.

Lisa led us in water aerobics - she takes a class, while I couldn't help myself with the little yellow rubber ducky that was floating in the pool. I filled it with water and got great joy out of spritzing Lisa, Corinne and Bethea.

The birthday cake was an orange cake from Robin's. Happy Birthday, Marilyn!


Bathing Beauties: Lisa, me and Corinne

Academy Awards Party

It dawned on me the same time it dawned on Patty - I should have an Academy Awards party at my house!

I have been seeing a lot of movies lately. Joining me are Patty, Lisa and Corinne, and sometimes Marilyn, plus Bethea makes noises that she wants to come with us, but she hasn't made it so far. So we all had opinions about which movies and actors should win Oscars.

Most parties here are potluck, so I made chili and provided some wine and beer. Patty brought olive tapenade on bagel chips, Sharon made melted cheese on yummy bread, Barb and Rich made corn bread muffins with bacon, and Bethea brought three desserts: chocolate candy with candy cane pieces on top, banana bread and M&M brownies. We ate so much we about burst.

I handed out ballots that I had printed from the Internet, so we could keep track of which of our favorites won.

It was great fun watching the show, eating, and talking. What a surprise that The Hurt Locker beat out Avatar for best movie! We were all glad that Kathryn Bigelow won the best director award.


Patty and Sharon

Party Weekend

Frank and me



Costa Rica is such a party place. Last weekend I went to two and had one of my own.

Friday night was Frank's birthday party. My friend and former student turned 45, and invited many people to his home/beauty salon to help him celebrate. For the occasion, I made peppery cheese sticks using puff pastry for the first time. They were yummy!

I spent the evening talking with a Belgian, Peter, who has lived in Marbella, Spain, for the last 25 years. He was staying at the Cariari B&B, and the owner, Laurie, who is Frank's best friend, brought him. Since I am going to Spain in May, I was very interested in learning what Peter had to say about Spain.

On the way home from the party, about 10:50pm, there was an earthquake - not a bad one, just about 4.4, but it was felt throughout the Central Valley. What I felt in my car was just a little something, like a bump. I saw a van in my rear view mirror and thought it had just barely kissed my bumper. It wasn't until the next morning when I read about the earthquake that I realized what had happened.

Then on Saturday Diane had a going away party for her Yvonne. I had met Yvonne at Diane's last party, so that was reason enough for me to go.

Someone had brought a red wig and people were taking turns posing with it on. It was the source of great amusement and laughter.




Also at the party, I saw Shell for the first time since I won our SuperBowl bet.


After Diane's party, I put on my dancing shoes for the first time since I broke my little right toe four weeks earlier and headed over to Coyunda's. It felt good to dance again, although the toe still hurt.

Jane's Baby Boy Shower

Jane and Aideen



Jane is going to have her second baby - a boy! Jane is the youngest member of our Thursday lunch group, the Bruhos. We threw her a baby shower at Corinne's.

Of course, this eating group starting with mouth-watering appetizers (including one containing smoked anchovies brought in from Scotland). For lunch, we had salmon, rice with vegetables, and salad. And dessert was spectacular with Naughty Nuggets and a chocolate cake with cherries.


Lisa, me and Laura






George, what Lisa calls the soon-to-be-born baby, received many adorable presents, including clothes, booties, stuffed animals, baby books and book ends.



Karina, Jane and a stuffed animal




Then we adjourned to the living room where we played baby-related games. First we had to guess Jane's girth by cutting ribbon that would fit around her and her belly. Karina won that one. Karina won the next one too - matching celebrities to their children's names. Then we had to identify celebrities by their baby pictures, and finally we had to unscramble baby-related words. Marilyn got the most right. A big thank you to Laura for coming up with the games!


Lisa holding up a scrambled word

I Rode a Horse!

Unfortunately, no one had a camera to capture this fear-overcoming event, but it happened just the same. Horses are B I G creatures. I like to talk to them when I pass them in a field, but mounting them and holding on for dear life is not something I've wanted to do.

Until tonight. We were at El Picadero, a new horse place in Rio Oro, Santa Ana. Susan, Yalile, Lupe, and others plus I were sitting at the bar, tossing back a few on a Friday evening. This place has stables that board horses and a ring for riding and for breaking horses. A pretty (can a horse be called pretty?) beige horse was standing in the ring, and Lupe said she wanted to ride. The horse's name is Cariñosa, which translates into "affectionate."

The owner of the place, Santiago Montes, helped Lupe mount the horse, and off Lupe went on Cariñosa, walking around the ring. Lupe has a bit of performer in her (she was La Reina, the Queen, of Santa Ana a few years back), and waved an arm with a flourish at the crowd.

When she got off, my friends pushed me to get on. The stirrup was so high up, I needed a boost to get my foot in it, and then I could barely swing my other leg over her back. But I got on and it felt great! Scary at first, but freeing, as though I were casting aside a long-held fear.

Santiago gave me instructions for how to turn - in Spanish, of course - but it didn't click for me right away. Yet Cariñosa figured out what I wanted her to do. She is a gentle horse, probably used to neophytes like me.

We rode around the ring three times. When it was time to get off, Yalile helped to hold the horse steady, and Cariñosa stepped on Yalile's foot - oh no! I sort of slipped down the side of the horse (not the right way to do it) to dismount.

I felt so great! I plan to go back to ride again.

Riding on the high (excuse the pun), Susan and I went to Coyunda's later where karaoke was going on, and I sang a duet with Francisco (he has a great voice) in Spanish! I have only sung karaoke there once before - Satisfaction by the Rolling Stones - a duet with Jefferson that we both sort of screeched. This time I sang A Mi Manera = My Way by Frank Sinatra. Everyone applauded in support. Susan and some others looked shocked that I could actually sing. I just need to find a song that lets me sing in my mezzosoprano voice. Usually songs are too low for me.

I overcame two fears in one night. Now I want a karaoke machine with Spanish and English songs for my birthday so I can practice at home. I might want a pony, too.

Election Day

The first female president of Costa Rica was elected on Sunday!

One thing that I love about elections here - this was the second that I have witnessed - is the positive, happy attitude that ticos have about electing their representatives. Sunday was a party day. Cars honking their horns with political parties' flag waving drove up and down the streets. Party was in the air, and there was no animosity between the parties or the candidates.

In fact, I watched a little of the TV debate with the top four contenders, and several times the candidates walked over to another candidate and hugged them. That would NEVER happen in the U.S. Here, it's possible to have different positions and to still treat each other with respect and love.

Alongside the election for adults Sunday was an election for the children. It was done electronically, same as for the adults, to teach the children that voting is important and easy. Some 70% of the population of Costa Rica voted on Sunday, and Laura got 46.78% of the vote. She needed to get at least 40% to avoid a runoff between the top two contenders.

La Presidenta Laura Chinchilla will take office in May and run the country for four years. Neither the president nor the members of congress are allowed to run for consecutive reelection.

SuperBowl at the Fiesta

This year a small bunch of us went to the Fiesta Casino near the airport to watch the SuperBowl. The last couple of years we went to Diane's house in Cariari, but for some reason, we switched venues this year. I started going to the Fiesta a couple of years ago to watch some season football games and met a few guys who were regulars there. One of them, Christopher Howard, the #1 authority on retiring and moving to Costa Rica, said he'd reserve a big table for his and my friends for Sunday's big game.

Since my team, the New England Patriots, weren't contenders, I threw my hat in for the next best team, the New Orleans Saints. Actually, I just wanted any team other than the Indianapolis Colts to win. There's something about the Manning dynasty - one year Peyton, another year Eli, another year Peyton - that rubs me the wrong way. Plus, the Colts pair up against the Patriots during the season and are the hardest team to beat.

The Saints were the underdogs this year, well, at least that's how the betting was going until the middle of last week, when a lot of people must have plunked down a lot of money to make them the favorites. The Saints had never been to the SuperBowl before Sunday. Thus, I bet on the Saints.

It was so much fun! Diane, Sam, Carl, Carolyn and I sat together. Laurie, Allan and some others sat at a different table. Not sure why. Some of Chris's friends spilled over into the seats across from us, and we got to know them. There were big-screen TVs all over the room, and one was directly in front of me. The picture was crisp with brilliant colors. The nachos were a little cold, but the pizza was good. As was the Imperial beer.

Diane had made up a football card, and I bought two squares. Sam and I pulled numbers randomly from a deck of cards to set up the rows and columns. I won the second quarter bet, which made me $11 richer.

There was a table of three young guys near me, one wearing a Patriots shirt, so I went over to talk to him. He was tico, which surprised me, since most ticos don't know the rules of American football. He, too, was rooting for the Saints.

At halftime, we unglued a big SuperBowl balloon from the table and started tossing it around the room. What fun!

It was a very good and close game, until the fourth quarter, when the Saints pulled out way ahead. The final score was 31-17 in favor of the Saints. Yay - my team won!

To make it even better, I won this year's bet with Shell. He and I bet every year on the SuperBowl. Whichever team I don't want to win is the team that he bets on. The last two years I had to pay him. This year he finally owes me. Our bets are small, only mil colones, or about $1.75.

So all in all, a good time was had by all.


Our table


Picking numbers for the football card