Feb 6, 2008

Dear Dad,

After I parked my car in the area in front of the office, I said to myself that I wished I had stopped and had it washed; then, 15 minutes later it began to rain. Rain in February is not common; it is very unusual sort of like raining in July in California; but after watching the news this morning and seeing all the tornadoes, maybe 75 or so; that happened in the US last night isn’t common either.

Weather is strange and unpredictable lately. What is going on?

David and I watched with interest the primary elections on TV last night. It was and I guess still is an amazing race for the White House. One thing we all agree on is that it is time to get rid of Bush.

After a while we went to sleep and woke up to the news that it seems to still be anybody’s race. I am sure that the months until November will be very entertaining and the public will learn more and more about each candidate.

We stayed home this last weekend and I did some jobs around the house that I never seem to get done. I won’t bore you with the details, but I am glad to have scratched a few

¨to-do¨ items off my list.

Sunday, David left early to go and play golf. Bryan and I were entertained with the latest catch of Junior the female cat. She brought home a rat and as soon as we saw it and tried to shoo she and the rat outside she let it go. Then it was a Marx Brothers movie with two cats and two humans chasing the rat around the house and from behind furniture, etc. until the rat was once again in the jaws of Junior and she went outside. Junior is the huntress. It was difficult to keep the cats interested when the rat was out of sight. I guess I feed them too much.

Anyway after about 10 minutes of the chase both cats and the rat were once again outside

Whew!!

David got home from golf in time for the Superbowl. What a game, especially the last quarter. A touchdown by New York Giants in the last 35 seconds was amazing. The

catch in the end zone is one for the record books.

I really enjoy watching the commercials during the game. They are never disappointing but I must admit that they were not as good as years past. Which one did you like?

You did watch the game, didn’t you?

Monday morning I went in search of Boomer who didn’t come in for breakfast. I called and called and finally saw him in the driveway of the neighbor’s house. He looked at me and took a few steps and stopped. He was holding up one front paw. Uh oh. What now?

I walked to where he was waiting and picked him up carefully not knowing what injury he had. I gave him a hug and he hissed at me like a cobra when I touched his paw, but I had to look and touch for broken bones or cut or god forbid, another hole left from a bite of the black and white arch enemy of my cats.

He limped for two days and seems better now. I have no idea what happened or how, but the vet is making a fortune off my visits to his office with my cats.

Finally David fixed the hose and I no longer am drenched after I water my plants. In fact now I am enjoying watering and watching the garden thrive. I even heard a few Mott Motts – beautiful birds - in the trees behind our house.

Today the gardener is there cutting the lawn and planting more Lantana to attract more butterflies or as we like to call them- cat toys. I can’t wait to see the garden when I get home.

I also bought and had ready to plant some herbs including some lavender plants to place in the flower planters that I took off the window sill in favor of the Poinsettia that are on the window sill now. It will be nice to go in the yard and pick the fresh herbs when cooking.

This weekend we are very busy. We will go to Punta Coral on Saturday and return on Monday, late afternoon. Why? We have a wedding to do onboard Manta Raya on Monday. It will be the first time that we have a wedding on board the catamaran.

The couple getting married live here but the groom is French and the bride-to-be is

from Belgium. They have a small hotel on the Nicoya Peninsula and only want three hours on the boat for the wedding ceremony, a toast, some ceviche and of course some chocolate baked fudge, the famous dessert we serve at Punta Coral.

I have ordered new plastic glasses for wine and champagne and charging a discoche or charge for opening and serving the liquor they are bringing.

The plan is riding around for three hours only. It will be different and should be fun.

David has invited Sherry and Tim, the couple who helped with the Luau and video we took in December. It will be nice to go and relax.

I just received a nice shipment of books from Barnes and Noble. It is the only thing I have managed to figure how to order off the Internet and get shipped here. Postage was a fortune too. I better enjoy reading the books.

Yesterday was my day to go to the salon. I had my hair cut again, for the third time in a month. I didn’t like it the first two times, but now I think the cut is perfect and Mario in reservations said I look younger. This is great to hear.

Today we are celebrating. Mauricio who is head of reservations, is the new proud father of a daughter. I can’t wait to see her. Her name is Mariangel and is the second child.

I have been letting him know that his days of sleeping are over. This is true of any child but especially a daughter. He has been on pins and needles waiting and now she is here.

Today the goldfish got a bath - really the tank was cleaned. I have the woman who sold us the fish come here and clean the tank. We are very busy and besides she knows what she is doing with water temperature and anti-chlorine treatment etc.

The fish are like little puppies and everyone really enjoys having them in the office. All of us are careful to maintain the 8 gold colored fish and 1 black fish for good Feng Shui

energy. It seems to be working well as we are extremely busy and everyone is happy.

Happy Chinese New Year to you. Today starts the year of the water rat and also the beginning of a new 12 year cycle.

I had a very busy morning at home. Boomer jumped onto our bed and I noticed his front paw was still sore. What does this mean? Right, a trip to the vet. First I had my coffee and then made a typical Costa Rican dish prepared with a green papaya that the gardener brought to me from Punta Coral. I made it for dinner.

David helped me make a delicious hot sauce out of fresh ginger root, garlic and red hot chiles. Believe it or not, the combination is soothing to the stomach and better for digestion than regular hot sauce. Now that it is finished, I can add soy sauce and vinegar and make a more mild sauce for fish.

I finally got boomer into his carry on and headed for the vet. This means I missed doing my 45 minutes exercise on my Nordic track – old machine maybe- but the best exercise

as it is a machine that is like cross country skiing.

I have been better and better getting into the routine and although I have not lost any weight (bummer) I have more energy and tightening up a little.

Because I eat no meat I went and bought a soy protein drink and make a fruit shake in the morning top boost my metabolism.

Back to boomer, luckily the vet didn’t find anything broken but a little inflammation.

Boomer got a shot and I got the bill.

Today we were surprised at the office with a visit from Mauricio and his wife and 2 day old baby daughter and 8 year old son on their way from the hospital to their home.

New babies are always exciting to see and it was very nice of Mauricio to stop with his growing family here at the office so we all had a chance to see the new baby daughter.

Friday

Yesterday as I was getting ready to leave the house in the afternoon, the doorbell rang and I was surprised because I was not expecting anyone. I opened the door to find 5 little kids, 3 girls and 2 boys. They live in our residential area, but I only see them from a distance or on Halloween when all were dressed as witches. One of the little girls had a shirt rolled up and I could see a banana and what must have been oranges tucked in her rolled up shirt.

All of them began to talk at once when I opened the door. They all spoke Spanish with an accent. (all our neighbors are foreign and most European except for us)

I heard them ask for a fruit salad, when I replied that I didn’t have a fruit salad, they all spoke again to let me know they want to make a fruit salad and were looking for another piece of fruit. I wondered if their mothers knew what the little group was up to; but went and got a tangerine – knowing thy would not have to cut it.. I went to hand it to one of the girls and a little boy took it out of my hand. I looked at faces filled with delight as the little barefoot group left with their stash of fruit.

Boomer is no longer limping.

This is the news for the week. I love and miss you.

Remember we are going to Miami on Wed next week and I won’t be writing until the following week when we return.

Hope all is well. I love and miss you.

Besitos, Cecs