I think it MIGHT be the "rainy season"!

Just sayin, if I had a fireplace, I would be curled up in front of it with my kitties and my Kindle!  Not cold, but damp.  Not that it rains all the time, mind you ... but almost every day, we get some of what looks like this:

See that river between our driveway and the road?  That is a LOT of water!  Sure keeps things clean though:-)

Work on the "cochera" continues.  Nice that there is a roof, so Roy can weld when it is raining and stay dry!  Here is a shot of the (not yet completed) gate and the stem wall that Roy has already accomplished today:

It started raining early (like 11:30) today, so he covered his fresh stem wall with a couple of pieces of tin roofing ... THAT works!

I can't really plant any sort of garden or landscaping yet, given that the property is a construction zone, but I haven't been able to help myself.  So, small containers are what it has to be for now.

Our new garden consists of, left to right:  An unidentified plant that we saved from the cochera excavation ... might be a baby plantain, might be a weed ... who knows yet;  a Lily that a neighbor dropped by with the other night ... bloomed right away;  a Tomato plant that was also rescued from the excavation, which has quadrupled in size and has blooms after only a week & 1/2;  a pot of Chives ... only a couple showing so far; a pot of Marjoram and one of Rosemary, neither of which have popped up yet;  a pot of little bulbs from the same neighbor, which have pretty pink flowers when they are in bloom;  yerba buena (aka Mint) that I started in water from some I bought at Feria;  Basil, from the same source;  a starter tray of garlic ... why buy it?;  a tray of Sweet Peas, couldn't resist;  and a pot of Cilantro, which isn't doing so well, I think it may have root rot because I planted whole plant, not seeds.  Not pictured are the Hydrangea starts that the same neighbor gave us.  They are along the hedge.  Not starts exactly, just sticks ... but just about anything you stick in the ground will grow here.  

Roy put up that wire fencing for the Sweet Peas to climb and almost immediately, we got a new pet!!

I had never seen a stick bug before!  Roy stuck his (really large) hand up for scale.  It stuck around for about a day and a half and then, sadly, it was gone.  Sigh ... I guess we'll just stick with kitties!

A few weeks ago (back when Roy actually got to leave the property occasionally, before I chained him to the cochera), we were shopping and he found some of these (we think).

Bigger than a pinto, but smaller than a baby lima; here they call them Frijoles Cubanó ... I tried researching them with that name and got nothing, but Bolita Beans are the closest I could come.  Anyway, cooked 'em up with some smoked pork chops, onion, garlic, etc.  and YUM!  Smoked pork chops are the closest thing you can get to a fresh ham around these parts, so they just have to do.  Should have taken a photo of the finished product before we devoured them all!  I will post the "recipe" on that page.

Today is Black Bean Soup ... sensing a trend here?  Beans & Rice are the staples of the Costa Rican diet, so in an attempt to fit in (and save money), I have been trying to use them both ... a lot!  Wish I had my oven functional so I could make cornbread or drop biscuits, but oh well!  Will try to remember to snap a shot of the BBS with Avocado & Sour Cream before it gets inhaled tonight!

You may remember the saga of the 11K colones + that I was double charged by a grocer months ago.  Got a call from Banco National yesterday saying my money was finally back in my account!  Gee, only 2 months later, but $22 bucks is $22 bucks!  Still, I don't plan to shop there anymore, at least not with my debit card.

More later,  Katalina