Father's Day

Mother's Day in Costa Rica falls in a different day and month than the US. However, it appears that Father's Day comes on the same day.

My two daughters Christie and Amanda, each called me this morning to wish me a happy Father's Day. It was great that they remembered me in spite of being 2,800 miles away. A few of our friends have the same situation with their kids not being close to be with them, so we decided to head to Grecia to have a late lunch at what is supposed to be a great steak house. Because it was Father's Day, we had to make reservations that were secured for 1:30 PM. Well, we all met up in Grecia (about 1/2 hr. north of Atenas, and known for being the cleanest city in Central America)

The Galeria restaurant turned out to be very nice and clean. It is located by the famous Grecia steel church that was a gift from Belgium. It was assembled in Belgium and shipped to Costa Rica where it was reassembled in Grecia.

I went back to get the camera out of the truck to get some pictures - This is a picture of the front of the building, Standing in the doorway is my friend "Big Lee" - remember the post where I told you that he played and coached football at UT?

The only problem with the restaurant was that it took a very long time to get our drinks and food. The first round of drinks took about 45 min. Although we were very thirsty, I can tell you it was worth the wait - and besides, we didn't have anything else to do today.

Seated around the table (going to the left) is the Big one himself, his lovely wife Kathy, the soon to be famous artist Stef, our friend Bek from Arkansas who is building here and will move down in a couple of years, Dennis and Karolyn Matthews who are a great couple from Colorado.

This is 2 1/2 hours after we ordered our meals. But, I can tell you that it was about the best steak that I have had since coming to Costa Rica. - In spite of the fact that we ended up having more Rum & Coke than we intended, we survived. No... Lee is not passed out, he is just ducking so you can see Dennis & Karolyn.

Based on the quality and price value for the food, we will be back again to eat here.

This Girl Has Talent

Stef has been taking art lessons every Monday morning for about the last several months. Now, she didn't know it and neither did I, but the girl has some talent. She is into water colors and in a class taught by our friend Mary Park.

Below, are a couple of samples of her work that we had framed and put up on the wall in the salon area.

Being a very well-known art critic...I can tell you that I am impressed. She has been working on floral objects and now graduating up to sketches of people, but she ain't going to sketch a picture of this ugly old man..

The Girl With the New Green Thumb

Well, my lovely wife has finally did it - She joined a Garden Club and got interested in growing herbs and vegetables. After 3 unsuccessful attempts of starting a garden - she finally got it on the 4th try. - I will let her explain it to you because besides not being able to cook, I have no idea of how to grow food. This is what she put in an email to some of her friends here in Costa Rica:

For those of you Nay-Sayers, my thumb is getting greener!!!! Yeah!

These were just taken this week of my new raised garden. The first time ever I have grown much, and I lost the last 3 gardens for various reasons - - - -bad soil, bad drainage and bad shade - - - -but after researching raised beds and a lot of advice from experienced ones, I came up  with this plan.

Look at the difference in the beds of lettuces, they were taken 3 days apart and I think they are growing about an inch a day!! They sell really bad soil here, so you have to get real creative and just about make your own. I used half soil and half coffee shells in the one on the left and then they ran out of the coffee things, so the bigger one on the right is 1/3 soil, 1/3 charcoal and 1/3 rice shells - who knew!!!!!

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This is the curb view to the garden. It is made of bambo poles with a 50% sun shade over the structure. The two tables you see are where Stef is getting her plants into the soil

She can thank Pete, Gerald & crew and the various suppliers for the new walk to the area, the new sod on each side of the walk, and the new plants that are present.

These are some of the plants she planted only a couple of weeks ago.

Ms. "Green Thumb" coming back to the house after a long day in the garden :-)



Anyway, I'm sure she will keep you all informed of the progress!

May We Have Your Attention

Stef and I moved here what will be 3 years in November. We bought some property and built what we thought was going to be our last home. Well, we put so much into it that it has become much more than we want to handle - We have made the decision to down-size on the lot and house. The objective is to sell the property, buy a lot in Hacienda Atenas with a smaller building area and build another house. I already have the ideas for what we are going to build and have a great builder to build it exactly the way we want. However, to do this we must first sell the current property.

By selling this house and building a smaller one, we will have the time to start doing a lot of traveling throughout Costa Rica, and the rest of the world. I once promised Stef that I would take her to the places in Europe and Asia that I have been...She is still waiting.

The property is listed with many of the local realtor's and we will soon be going on the new MLS with a specific realtor. The link below will take you to one of the realtor's ads that I think is especially cool because it includes the house being shown on You Tube. - let me know what you think.

http://www.property2.realestatecostarican.com/index.php?action=listingview&listingID=417

Wish us luck, and don't worry - we will always have a place for you to stay

The Nashville/Jaco Man

We met Dale Patterson through Bob McDow many years ago. When he found out we were moving to Costa Rica - He told us that he was building a condo on the Pacific Coast in Jaco. This bustling town on the beach is only an hour away from our home.

Because of his busy work schedule, Dale scoots in and out to Jaco and back to Tennessee on a regular basis. He will usually drive through Atenas and meet up with us for lunch or something on his way in or way out. This time, we were fortunate enough to have him stay the night on his way out so he could catch an early flight the next morning.

Here we are having dinner at LaTroja's where Frank grilled up some great food. Dale had a filet and said it was probably the best steak he has ever had - Great job Frank!

When we got back home, Dale showed us pictures of the devastation from the recent flood in Nashville - This was unbelievable, and we are very happy that all of our friends and family made it through with no major problems.



Early the next morning, Dale headed out to the airport to catch his flight. - Don't worry, he will be back soon - We are looking forward to it.

Making Homemade Pasta

Several years ago, our daughter Christie, and her husband Rob gave Stef a pasta maker for Christmas. Christie and Rob are both excellent chefs so they knew exactly how to use this thing. However, it took Stef a couple of years to get the guts to try and make some homemade pasta. With the help of her friend Karolyn, they proceeded to start the process and the end result was outstanding. Check it out..

 Now that they have the hang of this art, Stef is wanting a separate table to mount the pasta maker so they can make much more pasta - Thanks Christie & Rob - The pasta is great!!