It had to happen eventually...Aria and Sasha left for home in Albuquerque

Sigh...

we had a few last shots of them before they hit the road for the airport.

Here's Sashita waking up groggily.

Then a little more awake...

Then a coupla last poses in the garden near the

fountain with Gramma...

Then one last pose in the kitchen with the three ladies...

We're really gonna miss you two, but we're so grateful for the time we had you here!

Today is a celebration of the life of Allen Klinger

Our dear, lifetime family friend, Allen Klinger, finally made it to
the Kingdom. I've know him since as far back as I can remember. He and Mom were the closest of friends since the 40's. They would talk on the phone for hours during the last years of my mother's life.
When I was about 8 yrs old I remember so clearly an old thin-tired touring bike which he used to travel around Europe after the War. I wanted to ride it, but the tires were flat. When he came back to see us he would explain to me, as if I were an adult, all about the workings of that bike (and he fixed the tire). He always spoke to me as if I were an adult, even when I was one.

He had bushy eyebrows and fur in his ears, and all over his back. And he gave you hugs like you'd get from a bear!

However, all of us knew him very affectionately as "Turtle Old Man", because he did everything so precisely and carefully and, well, slow, like a turtle. He got that handle from Garrett Rozeboom, another great family friend.
Allen once got a ticket on the East Bay freeway for going too slow!

In the roaring 60's, with "flower children" all over the Haight-Ashbury, he called me over to his little house in Martinez, Cal. to hear something he'd recorded. With such amazing gusto he shared with me the entire new collection of Bob Dylan's songs (the first time I'd heard them, since I was always away somewhere--this time Hawaii and Japan).

After I left to live in Honduras we always kept in touch by mail. He'd compile tapes from KPFA in Berkeley (he was a very active contributor of labor and funds to this Listener-Sponsored station founded by Lewis Hill and many of my Mom's circle of friends in the late 40's) on many themes of interest that intrigued him, and send them off to me. His handwriting was just as precise as he was, and always readable. Some of those tapes were spoken letters as well. What a joy it was to receive them!

He came twice to visit us in Costa Rica and loved every minute of it. He was perfectly fluent in Spanish (as well as Russian, French, German and Portuguese) so he really got into practicing his language skills here. He loved the colloquialisms and jokes and was a delight to everybody.

He would share with me his favorite lastest new reading material. Things like "How the Irish Saved Civilization", by Thomas Cahill. I read some of these at his suggestion.

I remember that Allen was many things, besides being a linguist, life-time scholar, and a lab technition. Until his health started fading he always carried his smokes around in a band-aid box in his shirt, and used a lab beaker for his coffee. He was a true lover of food! He'd make his own black and heavy bread, soupes and lightly steamed veggies. If he came over for dinner he'd practically shout for joy over some delightful new or rich flavor.
He was a meticulous mechanic as well, and at one point used
to own a classic Lincoln four-door sedan with a V-12 engine. (Like the photo on the right, but the color was black.) I remember how he would show me how solidly those doors would close and the fineness of the quality of workmanship. He named that car Ivan, probably for Ivan the Great.

I'm sure I got my love of cars and machines from Allen.

We named our son David Allen after him.
I'm sure he's way beyond delight now that he's left that old worn-out body behind and is hanging out with Mom and all those old friends. He used to call Mom "EB" for Eleanor Brown, her maiden name.
We love you Turtle Ol Man!

Sasha and Bumpa

One thing Sasha doesn't go for is being cradled by the likes of Bumpa! But if she's in a sitting position she likes to tug on my beard or glasses. Here she is getting her way.

Nice dinner out with latest guests

Bob and Linda Fall invited us out to Tex Mex for dinner a few days ago.
Thanks dear friends, it was great to hang out with you both!

Mom getting a lil' break from studies and being MOM

Lastest Sasha adventures

Here I caught her miliseconds before she gave us a big smile...

She really gets into her "toys" (anything will do)! She's getting very mobile now. You can't turn away for long before she's scooted clear across her blanket and heading out the door!

Hi guys. Ya keep interupting me while I'm chewing on stuff!

A day at La Paz Waterfall Gardens

We decided to show our guests our favorite Costa Rican spot, the Waterfall Gardens, which is located on the road to the Poas Volcano and about an hour and a half from our home. Here are two visiting families (not including the Phillips who left for the Ighani farm at dawn this morning), Bob and Linda Fall and Dick and Colleen Venizia. The Venizias, from the Florida Keys, are doing an interesting house swap with some friends of ours for a couple of weeks.
Here is the bunch heading down the stairs to the butterfly garden portion of the tour. This day there were hundreds of blue "morphos" fluttering all over the enclosure (which is about the size of a football field).

Here's Dick with a morpho on is finger. When they open up their wings they're a gorgeous sky-blue color.
Below is a nearby dish with raw bananas on it which has attracted this huge batch of morphos:














After the "flutterbys" we stopped for a long while and thoroughly enjoyed the hummingbirds who are easily attracted to the hand-held feeders.
(You can see one in mid-air near the two feeders if you blow up this photo.)














Here are the friends walking down the steel stairway to the waterfalls. (This amazing structure took 20 workers about two years to complete!)
See the site for more details: www.waterfallgardens.com

...More at La Paz Waterfall Gardens

The typical yoked oxen and ox-cart have been around for generations and are a big tourist attraction. This one is available for rides if you want to.


The house in the background is a replica of the old country-style homes of the past. (At least the hand-hewn beams were pretty authentic.)





Then, right next door, is the new rain forest frog ("frong" a better term--which comes from the old "Pogo" cartoon) exibit. These lil' guys are so tiny, but so bright!















Here we all are enjoying the all-you-can-eat meal at lunch time. The cloud forest, just like it must have looked a hundred years ago is just below this outdoor deck.

Bob and Teresa Phillip's visit

Here's Teresita doing her thing in the kitchen! She's whipping up a delightful (and spicy!) mango sauce which gets spread over rice and applied to a tortilla. Then you roll it up like a taco. She must know how good this stuff is because she made enough of it that we didn't even have to fight with anyone over seconds or thirds!
Below is the crowd who were attracted over for dinner (including Dick Hicks, Anne Ighani who brought Adam and Sonya, Year-of-Service youth working on their project with the Guaymi indians in the Southern Zone, the Phillip's daughter, Ashley, Bob and Linda & their daughter, Johanna, plus Jaleh Ruhe).

More on Bob and Linda Fall

As mentioned on the previous post, Bob and Linda are here for their daughter Johanna's graduation. They have been deeply involved for many years with the Indigenous Community in the Northeastern part of the U.S. . They both are active in Sundance activities and travel around the world especially to do presentations of their singing and drumming as well as talks on the themes of unity of all peoples. They are not Native Americans but explain that they have been accepted by native peoples in the U.S. and around the world because of their sincerity of spirit, love and constancy.

Linda has been involved in many Baha'i singing tours with "Voices of Baha" (under the direction of Tom Price). Those included Asian tours, the Caribbean, and various US States, plus the inauguration of the Terraces at the Baha’i World Center in Haifa, Israel. (See links on the right for Baha’i.)

The photos show them mellowing out at sunset with the drum, and chanting (we could hear them next door and had to go see what was going on).

Still working on the old family scans...meanwhile,

Here's a shot of our most recent visitors: Johanna Austin's mom and step-father, Linda and Bob Fall. They are here for Johanna's graduation ceremony at the University for Peace which is located near our home in Ciudad Colon, Costa Rica.
Bob and Linda are very active in the Baha'i Faith, especially in music (more about this later).

Tea with dear friends

Our dear friends, the Eshraghis (Roya, Houshi and Nezhat in the photo to the right) invited us over to their home for tea and chat one night. Roya and Aria are good friends and everyone wanted to see the new baby too, of course.
Thank you for the great hospitality, friends!

Working on a big family project..

I'm busy these days sorting through and scanning in great old family photos to put on the blog. Meanwhile, so y'all have something new to look at, here's Sashita Layli getting her bath.

Wow, a week goes by like a day around here!

Bueno, my load has finally lightened up a bit! We decided to take Aria and Sasha to the beach for Sasha's first beach experience. What better place for this than Costa Rica ("Rich Coast")?

Here's Gramma seeing that Sashita is dressed well for the trip. (Sasha's main concern, however is to check out that she's on camera!)





Well, we had another change of clothes and got from the house out to the picnic table--much closer to the car for the trip--but still not on our way. Sasha was doing some chin-ups and arching like an athlete! I'm sure she was bored with waiting and wanted to wiggle her way right out of the carseat...







With "Tia Titi" (Aunt Jaleh), having escaped from the carseat trap...










After an hour of winding down our favorite Costa Rican blacktop highway, from our town to the coast, we wanted to stop for a bite to eat. (Also we wanted to check on the score of the World Cup soccer game going on--since the first game was our CR team playing Germany's on their turf--and the whole country was practically shut down to see the game). We bought some delicious "enpanadas" (cheese-filled fritters). Here's Sasha saying "I wanna bite".


"No enpanadas, sweetie, gimme a kiss instead!"











"Mom, sand sucks!" (Poor lil' thing! She loved the water at first, but then a loud and large wave splashed her in the face and that ruined the beach trip for her today...)








We set up the "toldo" tent, beach chairs and the works. Then the wind came along and flipped the tent across the beach like a leaf. Then it started clouding up and finally rained. Nevertheless we got our feet wet and had a nice time together! So we decided to go to another beach (Jaco--super turisty--and lots of surfers, etc.) for lunch.





We're so sorry you guys'll have to return to the desert country of New Mexico in a few weeks! Please keep this memory alive of the beautiful CR beaches so that you'll return again soon!













A sleeping baby means a contented mom! Here, waiting for lunch in the town of Jaco...










After a short wait here's what was placed before me: Arroz con camarones (rice with shrimp). Yummy. And, of course, the cafe con leche!










Next to our table was this lil' dude. We call this sort of doggie a "dober- bunny". She's full grown but the size of a Chijuajua. This is a very popular dog in Costa Rica (doesn't eat much...barks at intruders). You see them everywhere. They'll start yapping and come running across the street to let you know that you're violating their territory! Another name could be "sabre-toothed mouse" :^)




It rained all the way home. Here's our infamous hammock bridge. The best route from our place to the coast is via this bridge. Some people (mostly tourists, new to Costa Rica) panic when they see this at the end of their mountain trip--the only route to the coast without backtracking an hour and a half! It's missing a few planks and shakes alot when crossing but, hey, it hasn't dumped anyone in the river yet!

(I wanted to stop at the beginning of the bridge to get a good shot, but Sasha was sleeping in the back seat with Aria so Julie asked me not to. That's why you see just half the bridge, and the wiper blurred on the windshield.)

McKinneys Hosted the Fiesta

Here's a partial view of the last Baha'i Feast gathering at our house.

And here's my lovely lady (vice coordinator) in the only blouse I ever risked buying for her (such sophis- ticated taste---she's hard to please--but I came through on this one!).

"You guys are so funny!" This was a photo taken at a great dinner we were invited to at Dick and Brenda Hick's place in Santa Ana (see their blog link on right) Brenda whipped us up some fabulous Pita bread, Hummus, halapeños, etc. Yummy!

Here's that Humus spread I mentioned. Are you salivating yet?

Gramma in her favorite place!

"Gee, Gramma, are you gonna give me this nice shiny thing?" (Julie rockin the baby on her day off...they love each other so much!)

Another great talent (besides being a professional psycholo- gist) is whipping up pancakes. Here's Larry making a huge batch which we all pigged out on for breakfast.

Some great visitors arrived!

More of the extended, complicated and diverse family of the McKinneys arrived for a short visit. Here are pictured the Ruhfs from Mass. Larry, out front, his wife, Kris, on the right and their daughter, Dani, scrinchecd between our daughter, Jaleh, and Julie. (Aria and Sasha in front.) Larry's a world champ boomerang thrower. He'll make you a workable 'rang' in a few minutes if you ask...

Still up to ears with work but here's a couple of shots

Grammas are better with babies when they are in the brand-new "lump" stage. Not me. But Sasha's getting holdable now and I feel more comfortable with her. It's hard to avoid nibbling on her pink lil' feetzies and puffy lil' cheeks!
(If I look spaced out it's 'cause I am!)