smiling in south carolina

the are pictures of some of the things robin and i are wishing for this christmas. c'mon santa! send us 2 tickets to south carolina! plus, we want to see snow! maybe just for a day or 2-then it can go away. and we can't wait to see all the family and hold new baby lily and kiss her tiny little toes.... robin's latest (3 months) wish dream is wanting a black miniature poodle, a girl dog, whom he intends to name Roxy. and outfit with a black spiked collar. and of course, doesn't EVERYONE want a wii? so that we can pretend to play tennis and drive fast and fly and do all that? robin needs new tennis shoes, so i offered to look for converse high tops. instead he decided he HAD to h ave the all black ones. they aren't available in his size 3, for some, and besides, they are really expensive. so dream on! ALL the kids seem to have mp4 players these days, so of course robin wants one...music's not good enough for ya anymore? ah, the age of technology. what is...

Wishing you....a love-filled Winter Solstice. Did you know? Stonehenge is a perfect marker of both solstices. In Ireland, the megalithic site of Newgrange is said to be over 5,000 years old. Older than Stonehenge AND the pyramids. On the Winter Solstice, its central chamber receives at dawn a shaft of sunlight. The light illuminates a stone basin and inticate carvings of eye shapes, solar disks, and spirals. Hugs, Stephanie and Robin

Last Sunday was the graduation ceremony for Robin's school. Since the school has no auditorium, it was held in a hall adjacent to the town's bull ring. The 6th graders graduated to junior high and the preschoolers graduated to elementary, or something like that. In addition to singing the national anthem, state anthem, city anthem and school anthem the kids sang "joy to the world" (all the verses! in english!). the schools director gave out some awards and a the students then played music and sang some more while we watched other students parade their themselves in nativity costumes up the main aisle and back. Robin was the son of the innkeepers. His costume was fine but i thought the sheep were the cutest. Afterwards the school had snacks and coffee and tea for the families. It was a nice event. The picture just above is of Robin and his new buddy Alberto (of the 3 mohawks fame).

robin and i made it back to tilarán early this morning...time for me to unpack the suitcase and make a pumpkin pie! this afternoon, bobby, robin and i finally had our better-late-than-never thanksgiving dinner. the works....it was so good! and there are lots of leftovers, too. love, steph

robin's saturday afternoon antics included spelling his name with chicken soup noodle letters. there didn't seem to be any H noodles, so my name didn't make it out of the bowl.

okay, i know it's a bit early for thoughts of christmas (it's early for ME, anyway. the stores here are already stocking gold glittery ornaments and stuff) but the christmas poinsetta in front of our house is on its own time schedule and it's blooming! i wanted to post this picture before the neighbors start sneaking off pieces of it for their christmas decorations. there is also a white poinsetta bush peeking out from behind it which will also be quite pretty whenever it decides to bloom. last year i transplanted it and it withered down to a pathetic nub in the ground, so i'm just happy it's still here! it grew back healthy and happy. the little tiger striped butterflies are all over these plants right now. have a happy day! love, steph and robin

sick, that is.... he looks pretty healthy and happy for a little boy who claimed to be "all achyandsick" a few hours ago. now that he's officially out of school for the day, it's another story. but it's been windy and rainy and cold here and he HAS complained of an on-again, off-again tummy ache all week. at the moment he is teaching the neighbors dog to sit and shake. hm. anyhow, i thought you'd like a happy picture of my special guy. have a happy weekend!

NOT boiled peanuts, NOT turtle eggs, and NOT doodoo! those bags contained coffee beans. actually, they are coffee berries. aren't they cute? apparently someone around here made their harvest and sent it off to be processed. some guys picked up the bags later that afternoon. inside the berry is the bean and it's not black, it's greenish gold. they call that the "grano de oro", or grain of gold, since it's so valuable. valuble in more ways than one! i can't imagine my mornings without a cup of hot coffee-or 2.

yesterday, these bags were unloaded onto the street in front of my house. or more correctly, in front of the little store next to my house. so of course i had to check it out. can you guess what is in the bags?

boo! sorry it's been so long since the last post. the rain (15 solid days i think)has finally let up and we are starting to dry out a little. thank gawd! and god bless my clothes dryer for keeping our laundry system functioning. i did spent last sunday cleaning my living room walls with bleach to get the mold off! last week, robin had some exciting things happen. first, he participated in his school's science week. not that it was optional. his project of choice was to build a model of a volcano and simulate a lava eruption. did i call that one or what? so i got him set up with plaster, paint, cardboard, alka seltzer, dish soap, red food coloring. oh my, what a combination. incidentally, we did have a brief incident at the beginning with the red food coloring. it looks just too much like blood for a 9-year old to pass up a chance to dribble some on the arms and fake out mommy. in addition he made a large poster outlining the 6 terms of the features of volcano arenal, which BTW ...

today after school robin and i went to the new library in town. a group of lady expats who call themselves the Ladies of the Lake hooked up with some international library building program and it's been open for a few months. i love all kinds of libraries but this one is extra special because it's really the only "real" library in town! mostly it's for the kids with books of all kinds in english and spanish, art supplies, tables, chairs and soon- a big computer lab! BTW, robin is just pretending to use this computer. it's not even plugged in. even though it's a new library, they have a pretty good selection of books. today i read to him "today i feel silly" and "when i was little"-books written by jamie leigh curtis. really cute stories with hilarious illustrations. robin also read from a book on fishing and a magazine on last year's world soccer cup. also, i re-discovered amelia bedelia, remember her? the stories about...

not much happpening here in sabalito, but i thought i'd include this pic of robin, taken a year ago at the waterfall. notice he's sitting still....happy tuesday! love, steph

just another morning up here in sabalito. as per the typical tico time, we are now on the 25th day without a road to tilaran. the 10 man+ crew is down there most days (and some nights) with cranes, tractors, shovels, giant plastic pipes....because they have to dig out earth in order to bury these giant pipes in the ground for the river water, the hole has only gotten BIGGER so far. there have been days where there are 20 guys in orange vests standing around smoking and 2 guys down in the hole with shovels, digging thoughtfully. it reminds me of a family vacation to cozumel mexico in 1989 right after a major hurricane had struck. there was mucho rubble surrounding our hotel building and the view from my window every morning was of an elderly mexican man slooooooowly moving rubble with a shovel and a wheelbarrow. his job i think was to transport it from one pile to another. after 5 days i still couldn't tell which pile he was moving the rubble TO. last week they started one of those ...

today, september 23 is the Autumnal Equinox, which marks the end of summer and the beginning of autumn. on this day, the sun rises exactly in the east, and sets exactly in the west....it is also one of two days in the year when day and night are equal, each twelve hours long. The neo-pagan harvest festival associated with this day is called Mabon-not that i'm a neo pagan or anything, i just think it's interesting. AND! according to my calendar the harvest moon is this wednesday the 26th. of course, we down here in costa rica are experiencing NOT autumnal chillyness, but warm tropical thunderstorms alternating with plenty of sunshine. i guess we still get to participate in the equal days thing, though. the astrological meanings of this season are of protection, prosperity, security, and self-confidence and restoring harmony and balance. i'll take some of that, please! wherever you are, enjoy your day. love, stef and robin

this saturday september 15 was costa rica's independence day. part of the celebrations for this holiday always include a morning parade featuring the children dressed up in red white and blue costumes. this year robin got to participate in the tilaran parade with his new school, as part of the boy's marching squad. the night before, incidentally, i was up until 11pm sewing the stripes onto his little white pants. i found out the day before that he needed special pants and had to scramble to put something together. it reminded me of when i was 16 and told my mom 2 days before the big school band trip that i need a navy blue long sleeved, long dress. she had to DYE the fabric and rush the sewing job, but i had my dress in time. thanks mom. anyhow, white pants? who puts little boys in white pants? in the muddy muddy rainy season no less! so robin and his squad marched with their school- the marching band, the girl batonists and the little girl ribbon dancers- in the parade for abo...

on wednesday robin, bobby and i decided to take a much deserved mental health day. robin had the sniffles and sneezes anyhow so i wasn't about to send him off to rainy tilaran for the day. so instead we headed out to our new favorite place in the world, our secret hot springs. the weather was gorgeous (it doesn't rain til about noon), the road was new, the volcano arenal was haloed in a misty cloud. i call it a secret place because we are usually the only people there! our own private hot springs for a total of $30. what a bargain! 5 ginormous soaking pools of steaming geothermal hot water, clean and unchlorinated, in the middle of the jungle. there are massaging waterfalls, cold pools for when you get too hot, little jungle walkways, chaise lounges, a bar, a restaurant. it is just the prettiest place and soooo relaxing. and they have these mushroom lights on the walkways, so cute! so we soaked, we relaxed, we played, we laughed, we got water up our noses. and after ...