Costa Rica Real Estate Challenge: Party House With a Pool

The house-hunt goes on… and on… and on, or so it seems. For a while, there seemed to be few real estate choices or what was available didn’t have what we wanted or they were too expensive at more than $1000 a month, often plus utilities. Now we have a surfeit of options, all with most of what we are looking for -- extra bedroom, office space, a good kitchen, a swimming pool, close enough to walk to town or on a bus line and, of course, priced right. Not only are there now several to choose from, but also it seems that once the owners meet us or communicate enough by email or through a realtor to realize we are good tenants, they start courting us! We’ve had two homeowners offer to lower their price by $100 to entice us to rent their place.

Now THAT's a kitchen!

The first home is probably our favorite so far and if the owner -- a Russian, we’re told -- agrees to a few accommodations, such as paying for the gardener, we will likely take it. It’s a nicely furnished two bedroom, one a large master suite, with a gorgeous kitchen, an important feature for this semi-gourmet cook and enthusiastic party hostess. Plus, it’s in a great location, walking distance from town but with buses nearby as well. It has a swimming pool, which is shared with the other house in the compound, and a charming little “dipping” pool with a swim-up bar just off the patio. It even has an old basketball court in the front yard. Its main drawback is only one bathroom in the house, although there is a half bath off the big, shared rancho in the common area.

The Santa Eulalia "Tico" house 

That's NOT a kitchen!

The main competitor to this house is an amazing Tico house in Barrio Santa Eulalia, a jungley, hilly Tico community about a 15-minute drive uphill or in our case, a 25-minute bus ride. That distance is one concern for us as we want to have parties and entertain, and although the house is perfect for such events, even sporting a pool table in the lower level and extra guest bathrooms (a total of four!), the distance from town makes it less than ideal. The really big problem with this house is the kitchen, or lack thereof. It’s a “tico” kitchen - meaning only one sink, no hot water (quite common here), no cabinets or drawers, although it does have a pantry. There’s not even a range with an oven, just a built-in counter cooktop. The owner really liked us and we liked him as well; he has agreed to several significant upgrades, including a new stove, trying to make us happy but I’m not sure our objections can be overcome. Still, the reduced price from $800 to $700 and several other features keep it in the running, as we mull our options.

Still another possibility is a temporary three-month rental in an area of Costa Rica several hours from here that we’ve been told is very nice, just up the Pacific slope from Dominical beach. We had turned this offer down a while back -- even though the place is a total mansion with views and a pool and a huge kitchen -- only because we don’t want to be house hunting so soon after a move. But when the owner had no other suitable applicants, he contacted us again recently saying he really would like us to take it and to help us out, he has been trying to locate a suitable place where we could move at the end of the three months. He and his wife have invited us to come for a visit and stay at their place to look around the area. It’s basically a house-sitting situation and he really wants us to look after his gorgeous home.

It’s so nice to be loved. ;-)

Of course, we aren’t sure we want to move away from Atenas. Having been here over a year now, we know our way around, have made lots of friends, Tico and Gringo alike, love the weather and appreciate the fact that we can bus into San Jose in just about a hour for about $3.00 total each way or to the beaches at Jaco in just over an hour and a half. We like having good health services here in town and value the friendliness of the local people.

But living in different areas of the country also has a certain appeal, as it would allow us to experience living in a beachside community or up in the mountains. And in fact, we have been told that Atenas, being such a desirable locale, has more expensive real estate and rentals than in other parts of the country so we might be able to save money by living elsewhere. Particularly now that the new highway is open between San Jose and Atenas, realtor friends tell us that well-to-do Ticos are relocating here and commuting to their jobs in the city, a pattern that is also driving up prices.

Even in the short time we’ve lived here, we have noticed an increase in the Gringo population (not counting ourselves!) and a trend of development of gated upscale communities such as Roca Verde, which covers a beautiful green hillside overlooking the town in a way that seems somewhat supercilious to us. We have looked at houses there but turned them all down, partly for the reason that I am just not comfortable in such an enclave.

But there remains a charming small town feel to Atenas, exemplified by such ironic scenes as these two horses grazing happily in a lot just a block from downtown, and with only a ragged excuse for a fence and that missing a gate, allowing them to walk out any time. But knowing horses, they would probably stay there so long as a green blade of grass remained.  

So we continue to scour the real estate ads, websites and harass our local realtors in the hope of finding what we are looking for. We don’t want much: just the “perfect” place! 

(Remember, you can click on a photo to enlarge it.)

Smile, Mr. Iguana -- You're on Candid Camera!

By now I’ve probably seen dozens of Iguanas, large and small, in our year and a half here in Costa Rica but I never seem to tire of watching the prehistoric creatures. They look so fierce but are really quite timid, scurrying off into the brush as fast as their little legs will carry them whenever I catch one unaware. I’ve seen four or five different ones right here in our compound and I’m sure that’s only a fraction of the ones in our jungle outside the backdoor. When I caught this big guy having lunch on the steps just below our front patio, he seemed to know he was on Candid Camera and eyed me curiously as I shot this video before dashing up the stairs and away. I’m still working on holding the camera still but I think you’ll enjoy seeing his mealtime activities.

It seems that even here in the rainy season we can find ourselves water-less as we were a few months ago. (See that post here.) This happened again the other day and naturally, we had just put on a load of wash. Mind you, finding a day when doing laundry is possible during the rainy season is a challenge in itself. We have no dryer and must hang our clothes outside to dry but when the sky is cloudy and threatening a downpour, the better part of valor is to hold off on the washing. Well, this particular morning looked pretty good so we put on a load but when we went down to hang them up, we found the machine was stuck at the Rinse cycle with no water coming into the tub. Uh-oh. I called up to Layne to check whether we had water in the house and sure enough, the taps were dry.

And as luck would have it, we hadn’t yet had breakfast so rather than try to cook without water available, we headed off to town to one of our favorite breakfast places. Along we way, we came across these two gentlemen in the photo, hard at work on one of the pipes leading from our new water tank. After the de rigueur “Buenas dias,” I said to them: “Tenemos no agua en Los Angeles. ¿Es esta la razón?” (“We have no water in Los Angeles. Is this the reason?”) They smiled the affirmative. I asked how long the repairs might take and was told a couple more hours so we continued on our way to breakfast. Pura Vida!

Along the way we encountered a horseback rider, cruising alongside the busy main thoroughfare on his high-stepping Costa Rican pony. 

As he came alongside us, I asked if he would let me take a photo and he was happy to pose although the horse was a bit nervous at the whole episode. When I mentioned that the horse had his ears laid back, the rider patted him on the neck and tried unsuccessfully to push the ear forward, saying “yes, fear.” Seeing the huge trucks and buses and speeding cars that were moving on the road next to the animal, you could understand his trepidation.

As mentioned in my last blog post, the local organic market is back in full swing. We walked to Nathalie’s, all the way on the far side of town, maybe 2 miles, last Saturday to pick up our first basket of food, which included beets, red lettuce, carrots, wonderfully tasty tomatoes, a big bunch of bok choy, a chile dulce, a small eggplant, some celery and a head of garlic. Not bad for about $10! When we arrived, her daughter was engaged in some pretty amazing artwork with a friend. They were painting flowers and butterflies on the seat and back of what will undoubtedly be a chair. Pretty creative and so typically Tico.

Layne and I have been house hunting in recent weeks in our search for a larger apartment or house so when visitors come, we have a suitable place for them to stay. On some of our recent walks we strolled down side streets to see if we might happen upon a rental offered by a Tico, which would be less expensive than those on Craigslist that are targeting more well-to-do Gringos. We’ve seen some nice homes in our trips out with local realtors but most seem expensive to us, almost U.S. prices. Ticos often don’t turn to professional real estate people to find tenants, relying instead on word-of-mouth, so we watch for rental signs and ask all our Tico friends for help. Wandering through those back streets, it’s often a surprise to find a small plot of land crowded in agriculture, mostly coffee plants but also citrus and banana trees, corn, mango and papaya. It may be the rainy season but the plants sure love it! 

(Dear readers: Please let me know what you think of the little "Infolinks" that I've added. And remember, you can enlarge any photo by clicking on it.)

We Brake for Water Buffalo!

Watch out for the water buffalo!

We’ve been back in Costa Rica just over a week now and it sure is good to be here. This is the first July we’ve spent in country and we can understand why it’s called the “green season.” In the six weeks we were gone, the trees have filled out in lush splendor, flowers are in bloom everywhere -- even more than usual -- and the air is alive with butterflies. On our first walk last week, we passed a large roadside patch of zinnias and the number of butterflies of every description, large and small, black and yellow, brown and orange, red and white, was just astounding! I recorded this video and hope that you can spy all the wings fluttering from blossom to blossom. The musical background is the neighbor’s radio. Talk about abundant flora and fauna!

A local cornfield

Local gardens are bursting with the bounty of fruits and vegetables as well. It seems like the corn stalks increase a foot or two every day and huge squash leaves spread wide across the ground. Banana trees are majestic with their large new leaves and still-green fruit. If this is the rainy season, it’s not too bad. Most days the rains don’t start until mid- to late afternoon and mornings are sunny and nice.

Of course, for our own pantry we hope to get back to buying from the local organic cooperative market, now run by our friend Nathalie on the model of community markets in her native France, offering small or large size baskets stuffed with the week’s best buys. In addition to the veggies and fruits, she sells organic goat cheeses, Swiss cheese, jams, chicken and fish, eggs and dark chocolates. Yum!

Atenas recycling in action

And while we’re on the subject of organic farming and other important environmental issues, I recently wrote a column for The Costa Rica News about a relatively new effort here in Atenas to collect and recycle tons of materials, such as plastics, glass, paper, cardboard, to prevent them from ending up in landfills. Señor Alfonso Quiros V, chief of operations of W. Recicladores, CR, S.A., has recruited dozens of local volunteers to help his small staff in gathering and sorting recyclables the first Wednesday of each month at the Central Park in Atenas. He’s providing the same service twice a month in Grecia, the larger town up the hill from us. Such efforts are so important in protecting the amazing biodiversity and beautiful ecology here in Costa Rica. As Señor Quiros said to me, “It will take some time to educate the public and our youth on how critical this is, but we will continue to work toward that goal.”

Such projects are extremely valuable in helping Ticos understand the long-term value of preserving their magnificent country’s fragile environment. But one of the most promising developments in ecological progress here is the creation of a new political party focused on protecting Costa Rica’s vast biodiversity and ready to move the battle into the political arena. Formed in 2004 by reporter Carlos Arrieta and retired English teacher Rodrigo Arias, the Green Ecological Party has set its sights on winning a seat in the National Assembly representing the Cartago province where they got their start and have their strongest support. The party has put Arrieta forward as a candidate for office twice before, in 2006 and again last year, but failed to win a seat. He and Arias are optimistic that as Ticos’ political awareness of environmental issues grows, voters will demand strong governmental policies to protect Costa Rica’s ecology; party members hope that 2014 will be their year for a win. 

One of the main planks in the Green Ecological Party platform is banning plastics in certain Costa Rican industries in favor of biodegradable materials. They support mandatory environmental education programs in schools as well as the creation of an environmental “police force” to guard against litterers, polluters, illegal loggers and others whose activities degrade the environment.

 

On a lighter note in closing this post, I’ll mention a couple of funny animal incidents we observed lately. The second rider’s unusual mount is a water buffalo! As we were walking down the road, we saw this fellow along with two horseback riders jogging down the sidewalk then crossing the highway to continue along a side road. I’m sure my horse would have been freaked out to share the road with this creature but the Tico horses seemed less concerned with him than with a rough place in the sidewalk.

Roscoe and Layne socializing on the deck

Vicious Bassett Hound

And finally, meet Roscoe, the landlord’s young pit bull who often comes to visit us as we relax on the front deck in the late afternoon. He gives the breed a good reputation with his lovable nature. In fact, he’s so easy-going that a neighbor dog, an elderly Bassett hound that seemed an unlikely attacker, got the best of poor Roscoe on our back patio recently, biting him in the butt. Hard to imagine but the old guy gave the pit bull puppy a sore tail end!

Pura Vida!

Hot Golf, Cool Baseball, Green Dreams

My mom's parched backyard

Only a few days remaining in our stateside travels before a most welcome return to Costa Rica. It’s amazing just how good the “green season” sounds, even with its promise of thunderstorms, after a couple of weeks of West Texas weather: bone dry, boiling hot days of 100+ temperatures and long, slow-roasting evenings in the 90’s. How do people live here, I ask myself over and over. In fact, I’ve asked a few residents and no one seems to have an answer. They get a silly grin on their faces, roll their eyes and shrug their shoulders.

        

But live here they do and incredibly, they even go outside during the day and survive -- grocery shopping, going to work, visiting the library, running errands. They even play golf!

         

Goodwill golf clubs

Which leads me to my topic for the day, my new golf clubs. Layne and I had transported our good clubs and bigheaded drivers from California to Portland last summer, thinking that with all the family golf players in Oregon, we’d probably get the most use out of them there. Climate change has made us re-think that notion since during most of our June visit this year, the weather was rainy and chilly -- not exactly my idea of good golf weather. We had a few nice days and managed to make the most of them with nine holes at King City one day and eighteen at Tri Mountain another. But we also had in mind putting together a set of clubs for use here in Texas so we could play when visiting my mom and perhaps even transporting some down to Costa Rica as well.

         

Since I’m not a terribly serious or skilled golfer, it had occurred to me that I might find an inexpensive set of clubs here in Texas on Craigslist. Indeed, there were some offered but none that fit the bill. I needed women’s clubs and didn’t want to spend much. But I never expected to find the clubs I needed at Goodwill.

         

Mother and I had gone to an enormous thrift store in town, Christians in Action. They had huge racks of clubs, organized only by size -- all 4 irons, 5 irons, etc. jammed together on stacked wooden frames. To figure out which were women’s clubs was a gargantuan project. Although the clubs were bargain-priced at $2.39 each, I was overwhelmed by the sheer number of clubs and the undertaking I faced in finding what I wanted from the hundreds there.

         

So-called "fairway" on the 5th hole

So on we went to Goodwill to see what they might have. What a surprise to find only a small number of clubs, easy to sort through, standing in a large open box. I quickly noticed “First Lady” on an iron and realized it was a woman’s club. It looked in pretty good shape so I continued looking through the selection and found the entire set was there, from the driver to 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 irons and a wedge -- all of the same brand, all in darned good condition. The price? Wait for it… 99 cents each! And if that wasn’t bonanza enough, I also found a nice bag, in better condition than my own, for $2.98. I got the whole set for about $12.

         

That’s the good news. The bad news was the condition of the municipal course I played on. Fairway? What fairway? Oh, you mean that dried out corridor with scraggly grass here and there and hard dirt everywhere else? Given the desperate drought conditions hereabouts, however, one could expect nothing else. So I’ve played twice now, early in the morning to avoid the heat, making the best of the course conditions and finding myself quite satisfied with my new irons. The driver leaves much to be desired but that may just be “operator error.”

         

It seems the secret to survival in this weather is to find something fun to do inside an air-conditioned building. To that end, Mother and I jumped in her air-conditioned car and drove a few blocks over to the air-conditioned Quartermaster Building at Fort Concho where a fascinating exhibit is on display depicting the history of women in baseball. Linedrives and Lipstick: The Untold Story of Women’s Baseball dispels the myth of women’s baseball as only a brief phenomenon of the 1940’s when the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League was in its heyday, later celebrated in the movie, “A League of Their Own,” starring Tom Hanks, Madonna and Geena Davis. Through photos, original posters, framed postcards, game programs and magazine articles, the exhibit reveals the birth of women’s ball in the mid-1800’s through the onset of the sport at women’s colleges, such as Vassar in 1866 and Smith College in 1879, and on to the present day crop of outstanding athletes swinging bats and hurling balls. Organized by Mid-America Arts Alliance, which takes their exhibitions into just 100 small and medium-sized communities each year, the exhibit in San Angelo is the only stop for the show in Texas. If Linedrives and Lipstick comes to your area, don’t miss it. It was well worth going out in the heat.

         

Now it’s on to Costa Rica and the luscious tropical weather I love. Pura Vida, here we come! 

Cute Dogs, Good Golf and a Dramatic Veterans Memorial

Sergeant Preston

Packing… again. Ugh. Tomorrow I return to Texas to see my mom for a couple of weeks before our Fourth of July flight back to Costa Rica. Layne is staying here in Portland for those two weeks, at least. His sister Annie has suffered a couple of health issues of late, prompting Layne to consider the possibility of remaining here a bit longer to help her and her husband Jim -- as much in caring for their beloved little Bishon Frise, Sergeant Preston, as anything else. Tough duty. 

Knowing Layne, he will still find time for golf. We enjoyed a beautiful day on the greens recently with our nephew Jeff and his wife Lori at Tri Mountain Golf Club in Ridgefield, Washington. The name of the course is derived from spectacular views of three volcanic mountains on the horizon, including the infamous Mount St. Helens, which in May of 1980 experienced a catastrophic eruption, which literally blew the top of the peak into the stratosphere. Now, instead of its previously rounded dome, the mountain is flattened out in a poignant reminder of that deadly explosion.

Mount St. Helens from the 16th hole

Layne in the bunker

Personally, I can hardly wait to return to Costa Rica and the great weather, good friends and relaxed life we enjoy there. We have certainly enjoyed some happy times in our travels here in the States but the stresses of packing, unpacking, searching for lost clothes, books, glasses, sleeping on couches or floors, the expense of renting cars and eating out, all combine to add a film of fatigue to daily activities. It will be something of a relief to be back in my own comfortable bed, cooking in my own kitchen, eating mango and papaya and keeping an eye out for monkeys in the trees. Oh, and reading. Lots of reading, thanks to that wonderful free lending library at Kay’s Gringo Café in Atenas.

Washington County Library

But my reading habits will be changing now that I have purchased a Nook. Barnes & Noble just came out with a less expensive version of their high-end color Nook, and it seems perfect for my needs. Already I have downloaded a dozen or more free books from the BN.com website and I’m pretty wowed by the ease of use of this thing. With the new “e-ink” technology instead of a backlit LCD display, the screen will be easily visible for reading outdoors by the swimming pool. And unlike Amazon’s Kindle, the Nook reads text in the formats used by most libraries, offering me an almost unlimited collection of the world’s literature from which to choose. Along with my old Placer County, California, library card, I now have a Washington County, Oregon, card and hope to get a Tom Green County, Texas, card while I’m visiting my mom.

With all those literary options, it may be difficult to find time for travel writing but it won’t be for lack of subjects. On this trip alone, we have encountered some fascinating travel destinations, including a haunting veterans’ memorial just outside of Weed in Northern California, that’s worth a mention here. At the suggestion of our friends Penny and Joel (see my last post of our visit), we kept an eye out for the roadside sign they had described as we left their ranch in Central Oregon heading for California last week. Fortunately, they had pinpointed the location well or we might have easily missed the unobtrusive signboard.

Hot LZ Memorial Wall (photo from website)

The Veterans Living Memorial Sculpture Garden, located on 136 acres of forest in Siskiyou County, is a stunning collection of eleven huge metal sculptures by artist and veteran Dennis Smith. Used as a gathering place to honor veterans on Memorial Day and Veterans Day when names are added to an impressive granite wall, the garden labyrinth memorializes different aspects of warfare, including prisoners of war or missing in action, nurses, peaceful warriors, the wounded and coming home. One large piece set in the center of the maze asks the eternal question: Why?

The Nurses

Coming Home

Why?

Soaring ten to twelve feet in height and silhouetted against nature’s background of trees and mountains, the sculptures dominate the landscape. Traversing by foot or car along gravel trails from one circular venue to the next, the scenes are unsettling in their dramatic impact. It is a moving and memorable tribute to those who have fought our nation’s battles. If you ever drive along Highway 97 from Weed, don’t miss it.  

Our Cups Runneth Over!

If good friends are one of the great treasures of life, then Layne and I have been showered with riches in the last few days. After renting a gas-efficient Chevy Cruze last week and heading across the Cascade Mountains, we have had the good fortune of spending one night, including a mouth-watering home-cooked dinner, with our friends Sue and Christine in Crooked River Ranch, then breakfast with a beloved niece Cari and her two children, Jordan and Phylicia, followed by two uproarious nights with our long-time pals Penny & Joel at their beautiful ranch in Central Oregon. To top it off, we spent a wonderful evening on Sunday with other dear friends, Penny’s sister Ruth and her Sardinian sweetheart Antonio. Our cups runneth over, literally and figuratively!

        

Heading down out of the mountains towards Sisters, Oregon, last Wednesday we stopped off at the Museum at Warm Springs, a multi-media exhibit honoring, preserving and sharing the cultural and artistic heritage of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, including the Wasco, the Walla Walla (or Warm Springs) and the Paiute Indian tribes. The excellent dioramas and photographs, historical collections and archives, taped narratives by Warm Springs elders and poignant descriptions of the relentless devastating changes endured by these native peoples bring to life in a heart-wrenching chronicle the difficult and tragic period of Native American history that followed the intrusion of white settlers into the West.

Warm Springs Tule mat summer home, 1800

By the mid-1800’s, thousands of pioneers were crossing Oregon Indian lands, radically altering traditional ways of life for the Indians. In 1855, the U.S. government negotiated a series of treaties which established the Warm Springs Reservation, appropriating some ten million acres of land from the tribes while giving them the territory along the Deschutes River and granting them the rights to fish, hunt for game and other foods in their accustomed places. Federal policies were aimed at forcing the Indians to assimilate and to adopt what was essentially an alien culture, giving up their traditional languages and practices and adopting a foreign infrastructure of religion, schools, sawmills, agriculture and such. Only after Congress passed the Indian Reorganization Act in 1934 were these three tribes able to enter a period of self-government as a consolidated unit on the Warm Springs reservation. If you are ever in the area, this museum is worth a visit.

Layne, Jordan, Cari and Phylicia

After coffee and quiche with Cari and the kids on Thursday, we arrived at Penny & Joel’s in time for the first of several fabulous - make that splendiferous!! - meals by that gourmand Penny. Unfortunately, we made the mistake of indulging in some white wine as we whiled away the afternoon visiting on the patio, then moved on to gin and tonic for the cocktail hour. By the time our incredible pork roast dinner with the fabulous cherry salsa was served, along with still more wine, we were all a little over the top. But a good time was had by all, as they say.

The next day, a little fuzzy from the previous evening’s festivities, we were off to a slow start but Penny’s spectacular broccoli and mushroom egg cupcakes were a good energizer. With our vigor restored, we headed into Bend for an afternoon wandering the shops, trying on hats, judging jewelry and art and enjoying a lazy lunch at Toomies Thai Cuisine. (Penny recommends #8, the spicy chicken dish with basil. I agree.) We ended up beside beautiful Drake Park and Mirror Lake, in the middle of town and close to the historic shopping district where several buildings remain intact from the town’s early-1900’s founding.

View from Penny & Joel's ranch

That night, following another sensational dinner of grilled flank steak, tomato and onion plus a wildly complex broccoli salad, Layne and I had the honor of initiating Penny and Joel’s new rustic fire pit, a foot-high metal ring featuring sculpted galloping horses. Through their silhouettes, the blaze is exposed in dramatic fiery profile. To properly anoint the new ring, of course, required a photographic record of the toast, for which Penny and Layne were happy to pose. “Be sure and get the red color of the wine,” Penny advised, as she helped direct the shot.

Penny's grilled flank steak and veggies... Wow!

It was sad to see the evening come to an end, knowing it was our last visit together for perhaps a year. Such a lovely holiday with such good friends.

And finally, after a rushed day of sorting through dozens of boxes and storage containers in our barn, Layne and I relaxed with Ruth and Antonio in Auburn over a tasty vegetarian Papa Murphy’s pizza. I must have been too tired to take photos but, trust me, we had a fine time!

Thanks to everyone who has hosted us on this trip, attended a party or just wished us well! 

Party Time in Portland!

It was an entertainment edifice unlike any I’d ever seen. We basically had a four-lane bowling alley all to ourselves. The unusual facility was called Players and was located just a block away from the excellent Tigard West Motel 6 where Layne’s and my children were staying this past weekend. The family group included my son Damian, his vivacious friend Santina and her adorable baby girl Zaya, plus my lovable 13-year-old grandson Kai and their dog Achilles; then there was Layne’s son Jess and his family, amazing wife April, beautiful Sierra and precocious 10-year-old Orion.

Sierra and April 

Damian had discovered the place and found that it included a large video game arcade, shuffleboard, billiards, food, drink and the bowling alleys, all under one roof.  After a big extended family afternoon party at Layne’s sister Annie’s house on Saturday, Damian and Kai had wanted to check out Players and perhaps bowl awhile. Soon Jess and April joined them and when Layne and I arrived, the post-party party was in full swing - literally, as everyone took their turn swinging, rolling, throwing or guttering their balls down the lane. The younger kids, of course, found the game a challenge so when Kai stepped up for his turn and knocked down eight balls, leaving a split, he groaned in dismay at the odds of getting the spare. But he lined up carefully, made his approach and threw the ball, slicing the edge of the left pin just enough to flick it over and knock down the other one. A perfect spare! An even more unlikely occurrence came when Santina urged me to take her turn, just to see how I could do. So discarding my wedge heels in favor of bare feet, I picked up a couple of balls until I found a nice red one I thought I could handle. Now mind you, the only bowling I’ve done in some 30 years has been on our Wii game so it’s not like I expected to help Santina’s score much. But in a moment of Zen I threw the ball, and as we all watched with mouths agape, that red ball rolled straight and true and slid into the pocket for a strike! Nothing short of a miracle.

Grandma Kat & Kai - photo by Kai

Both our kid’s families are gone now, Damian and Kai headed back to San Francisco, Jess and April already back in Spokane, Santina and Zaya on a plane today going home to Spokane as well. But I’m sure all would agree that it was a fantastic weekend.

After Layne and I flew in late Wednesday night, the fun began on Thursday when he and I and Damian and Kai went out in a drizzling rain to play a round of golf at the nearby King City course. But by the sixth hole, Kai and I had had enough of such cold, wet “fun” so we headed back to the hotel to dry out and dog-sit Achilles. Meanwhile, hardcore golfers Layne and Damian continued on for the full 18 holes, preparing themselves for the more difficult course facing them on Friday.

Zaya graces us all with her smile

On Friday with Damian and Layne out on the golf course with Layne’s brother Ray, Kai and I spent the morning together, walking Achilles, playing video games (well, I watched) and having a leisurely breakfast -- from a grandma’s point of view, the perfect way to spend time! The golfers eventually returned, Ray having won as usual, and Damian headed to the airport to collect Santina and Zaya. That evening, we all went out for some excellent Thai food at Pacific Breeze near Annie’s house. Precious little Zaya kept us well entertained, bestowing her sweet smile on us from her purple throne perched up on the table. With the arrival of Jess and April and their children by car later that evening, the family flock was complete. We were up late that night drinking wine, laughing, talking and strumming a clever “backpacker” guitar Jess had brought along and gave to his dad.

Layne and his new guitar

But the highlight of the weekend had to be the Saturday afternoon gathering of the clan and long-time friends from all over the Portland area. From the youngest, Troy and Julie’s energetic twins Berik and Bowen, to the family matriarch Hazel, who proudly claims to be “98 and feeling great!” -- the backyard was brimming over with laughter and chatter, footballs and water pistols, good food and good cheer.

Friends & family:  Photo by Santina - thanks, Santina!

 Even the weather cooperated with a picture-perfect blue sky and a nice breeze. Layne and I got credit for bringing the good Costa Rican weather with us but perhaps the honor really belongs to the simple magic of a loving family. Pura Vida to all!!