Happy Birthday Brian

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I don't know what I did different.  But this time it worked.  The only problem is that I don't have very many pictures of you on the computer.  You really need to come and see us so I could get some new ones!  But hope you had a Happy Birthday.

More Neighborhood Sights

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I thought last Sunday that the rainy season was upon us, but it hasn't rained for a week.  Still having sunny weather with a little overcast in the afternoons.  So I took some more pictures in our neighborhood.  The first one is the downtown part of the town of Belen from the hill kind of behind our house.  You can see the towers of the cathedral.  The next one is also looking toward Belen.  The "Lagar" you see is the closest hardware store.  Then there are a couple of shots of a hybiscus bush.  We have one of these in our yard in Lindon but of course the bush is about a foot high. This one and it's blossoms are extra large.  The next one is of a tree with some bumpy green fruit, I don't know what it is. Then a pretty green house with a cute fence.  All the houses here are fenced, usually with a lot of wrought iron.  We have decided that the people who sell wrought iron here are the ones who have gotten rich.  Then a want ad for a girl to work in the bar.  The next one is an old Buick with a California license plate.  When I lived in California so many years ago, I had a blue license plate like this one on my car.  The gate that says "Gocha"leads into a coffee plantation.  I liked the wooden fence with the purple flowers and the sidewalk with irregular broken tiles. The Coca Cola sign is over a grocery store where we have done some shopping because it is close and we can walk there.  It is the only place where we have found the particular mango drink mix Laurie likes.  I had to learn what the next sign meant even though I don't do much driving, No left turn!  Another fence with pretty purple flowers and a mango tree where the fruit was just falling on the ground. 

Our Temporary Pets Hatched Two Babies

 

 

 

The doves on top of the garage door opener have hatched their eggs.  We think there are just 2 babies.  They must have been there for a while before we knew of them because they are fully feathered and quite big.  Here we have been thinking we were unique in having a nest on our garage door opener, but several of the couples in the neithborhood say they have had the same experience.  I guess we will have to figure out some way to discourage them from doing this again.  One man said he put a box on top of his garage door opener, but they just built their nest on the box.  We will let them stay til they leave on their own, but would like them not to come back next nesting season.  They do make somewhat of a mess.  Any ideas? 

New Favorite Costa Rican Food

 

I was actually looking for a lemon pudding mix but couldn't find one.  All the "pudding"mixes they had were flans.  So when I found this pie filling mix, decided it might work.  I was making a recipe that was supposed to be really easy, but of course couldn't find all the easy stuff.  It was supposed to start with a lemon cake mix and had to just make one from scratch, but they don't believe in lemon extract here either.  So I used lemon juice and zest.  But their lemons are different than we are used to , they are round and green, more like a lime and they aren't very juicy so didn't get much juice.  Baked the cake, poked holes in it with the handle of a wooden spoon and then poured over the prepared lemon pie filling.  What makes this pie filling so special is that it is made with sweetened condensed milk, and anything made with sweetened condensed milk is really yummy, especially if you are the one who gets to lick off the lid and the can. Then the next layer was supposed to be cool whip, but I used whipped cream.  I think I alreaady told you about the UHT treated cream here that you can keep for ages and it doesn't spoil so I always keep some on hand.  We had a party for one of the couples who have been working in the temple and left for home.  So this is what I took to the party.  Even though it was a bunch of substitutions, it turned out really good and everybody liked it. So I will be coming up with more excuses to make this lemon pie filling again.

I Think the Rainy Season Has Started

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our GPS cut out again around Cartago like it did when the Bagleys were here and also once before.  I am beginning to think it is something to do with Cartago--maybe some alien electical signals or sunspots or something.  Laurie was able to fix it after we got home like they did before by resetting it all with the computer.  But we found our way better this time just because we are beginning to find our way around better and there isn't so much traffic on Sunday afternoon!  But right in the middle of San Jose it started to rain and turned into a real downpour.  Fortunately everybody seemed to recognize that they needed to slow down and we made it home O.K.  But water, water everywhere.  The rain was all gone by this morning and it wasn't even very muddy.  We will see if this becomes the norm.  It is a little cooler and that is good because all of April has been hot!

Sunday Trip to Turrialba

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Turrialba is a relatively small town south east of here.  Laurie and I had the assignment to visit the ward there and speak in Sacrament Meeting.  Following the directions of our GPS we made it there OK.(  Then the GPS quit like it did that time when the Bagleys were here, but that is a different story!)  We went throught a lot of agriculture country on the way there and saw some of the same things we have seen on other drives through the country.  The first picture is of a cane field.  The second is of a cart full of cut cane.  They grow lots of crops here under sheets of plastic like huge green houses and there are a couple photos of these.  Then I just wanted to show some of the houses we pass as we drive throught the country.  They people here like to paint their houses really bright colors.  One is of a police station painted white with blue trim.  Then there are a couple of pretty churches we passed by, and a picture of our church in Turrialba.  It is a small church, the photo doesn't show the whole thing because it is long and narrow.  There isn't a central hallway,  you have to go outside to get from one room to the other.  We enjoyed our meetings there.  The people  seemed happy to have us and were very friendly.  There were several women who were sisters and told us that their mother was the first to join the church there when the kids were young.  Now these women are older and they are the leaders and pillars of the ward--one taught the S.S. class and another taught the R.S.  We estimated there were about 125 people there including one American family, some visitors, and a couple of missionaries. It is a very beautiful area and we'll have to go back sometime.