Fabulous mornings!

Just to post something, since I've been so busy with fixing up and repairing things around the house, here's a typical view from my office of our sparkly mornings. The garden flowers have pretty much pooped out and the vines have taken over, but you can see our tall orchid plants (these grow in the ground) in the middle of the picture. The Acatia tree on the right has gotten so large that it's now hanging over our second storey roof.
Here's an ancient picture of the same tree when we first planted it. You can scarcely see it, but it's between the original garden posts (bamboo) and the pile of dirt (which is where our house is now sitting!, and just to the left of the post for the electric cables).

Testing video post to "Multiply"

I made an unexpected trip to an area near Jaco Beach on the Pacific to do a home inspection yesterday and took a little video clip from my digital camera of the infamous hammock bridge enroute. Some people make the hour and a half drive from our town on this beautiful road and come to the only exit to the coast at the hammock bridge and are not too sure how safe it is. You'll notice that a bunch of boards are missing from the bridge! Funzies! Some people just don't dare drive over it.
Check it out:
Video of Hammock bridge (Turn on your sound button!)

Promised Loaf

What more can you ask? This is the yummiest and healthiest product any machine can make (with a little help from a human). You'll have to come to our house to try it out!

Busy day

After working all day Julie and I decided to whip up some pizzas for David and Gianni, plus Dick Hicks (who's still out of water at Ruby Seal's place where he and Brenda are house-sitting--Brenda's in the States for a few more weeks), and our renter, Jennifer.

Here's my great bread-making machine which also makes great pizza dough. After cranking up enough for two large pizzas I ground up some wheat berries, added whole wheat and a little white flour, sesame seeds, black-strap molasses, ground up walnuts and almonds, cocanut oil, sea salt and a bit of butter and mixed it all together with yeast for tomorrow's 2 pound loaf of bread. (I'll try to take a photo of it in the morning.)
Here's the Lady who produces these pizza gems with my dough
Oven ready! Are you salivating yet?
This is the dinner gang mentioned above. (David had to stay in his office battling a computer attack through the Prolexic internet security company, but showed up a little later.)

It's great to be home!

Since I arrived earlier than scheduled it was Julie instead of David who came to the airport to pick me up last night. She's driving with an expired license, plus she can't see very well at night! Anyway, the weather was good and she arrived just as I sat down outside the terminal.

What a joy it is to walk into my cozy lil' home...Julie's great about making everything spiffy and clean and full of flowers and plants, so you can't help but melt right in! She's always rearranging stuff, so that's a neat surprise too.

In spite of us both being pretty zonked by midnight, we slipped into the brand-new "600 thread count" sheets (which I got hooked--on from Ali's Ft. Lauderdale place. He keeps them on the bed there for when he travels down to work on the house. They're smooth as Satin) and talked on til even later. (I didn't steal his sheets; just bought some exactly like them :-) )

This morning I had my fresh fruit smoothie, got all unpacked, fixed the phone lines with help from David, installed a new phone in the apartment for our renter girl, Jennifer, (University for Peace student) and picked a fresh gardenia from the garden for my office...life is good!

Now I need to install an internet cable to Jennifer's room so she can hook up directly from her desk. She's been connecting to wireless, but has to sit out on the patio to get a good signal.

I was astonished this morning to see how fast Sasha has been learning. Check out Aria, James and Sasha's blog (link on the right) for the latest on this precocious lil girl!

VA Update

Today was my last VA appointment with the Oncologist. He suggests that, even though there are light signs of metastasis on my hip and left rib, and the PSA is up to 21+, I should switch medicines and continue with the hormone-blocking shots I get every 3 months. He's scheduled me for an appointment in January and told me to let him know if the PSA holds or starts rising again.

This is the answer I was hoping for! It means that I can return home to CR tomorrow as planned. Yayyy! I'm really missing life there.

I have to say, however, that I'm deeply grateful for this opportunity to have been with Ali many times during these three weeks. We've had some real quality time together (which means a lot of laughs too!).

So, I'm off tomorrow, Tuesday, arriving at 9:30 PM in CR.

Marder Visit-Sarasota

I mentioned in my last post that I'd have more info about my health situation on Thursday. Even though I was able to have more Xrays taken and got to see some doctors I won't know where I stand until Monday. I was able to get a last-minute appointment--miraculously the day before I leave for CR!

So, I'm taking advantage of the long weekend and headed up to visit James' biological dad, Barry Marder, and his wife, Kathy, in Sarasota, Florida. It was about a 4 hr drive north from Ft. Lauderdale. On the way I saw a sign pointing to Venice, FL. where I was stationed 44 years ago at a Coast Guard Loran station, so I had to detour over there for a look.
Couldn't recognize anything at all! The Loran (Long Range Navigation system) has been replaced by GPS now, so the station is probably long gone. Venice used to be a quaint little town...

Here's a photo of Kathy and Barry in front of their house with one of their two lil' doggies.
They live in huge gated community which surrounds a private lake. Here's the dock near their home. There are alligators, bass, birds and all sorts of critters living in it.
Along the lakeside path I saw a blossoming tree with these fire-engine-red seeds. Kathy explained that it was a Magnolia. I'm taking some of them home to see if they'll take!

Kathy's an amazing cook! She prepared a delicious dinner for us which included a yummy broccoli cornbread, and Barry cooked some marinated chicken on the patio BBQ.

The next morning I took off for Orlando and on down to Ft. Pierce where Ali gave me a tour of his shop and his house there. We had a great day together on Saturday and then drove down to Ft. Lauderdale. Here's one of the typical steel posts which his company makes for the housing projects in the area (the redish primer colored post): While Ali showered after work at home I was reviewing his great collection of Baha'i books. Here they are with his excercise equipment and typical bachelor clutter:
I didn't show the outside view of Ali's Ft. Lauderdale house, so here it is. It's in a very centralized location which some day with be prime territory and probably worth a pile. The white Dodge "Caliber" in front of the house is the car I've been renting all month. The other car belongs to Ali's half-sister, Deanie.

That night we got together again with Osmond and Darren and dined on a scrumptious Persian meal:

More on the beach...

I've been walking about a mile up the beach and back again after my morning prayers. The goal was this hotel which has the peaks at the top illuminated until sunrise.
The goal for tomorrow is the dock in the far distance. You might see it if you blow up the picture. It seems to be about once again the distance from my starting point on the beach to the first lighted hotel.
This bottle had no message in it, but the outside barnacles give you an idea about how long the thing has been afloat...
This was one of two little washed up fishies I saw.
Tomorrow is my big day at the VA in West Palm Beach. We'll see what they have in store for the aged Bumpa!

Fasting while disintegrating

One of the books I'm reading on this trip is "Eternal Health", a book that Andra Grant gave me (the author is her grandmother). It has inspired me to do some light fasting, which is always an easy way to assist the body to heal itself.

Basically, I'm continuing with my eternal fruit smoothy every morning, but am eliminating my evening meal altogether (at least until Ali returns...I know he'll wanna turn me onto something new here).

Today I got a long-awaited call from the VA care provider doc who told me that the latest bone scans have revealed more metastasis (left rib and part of the hip). This is obviously the reason for my PSA rising recently. It's amazing how this blood test always warns!

Now I don't know what's going to happen with my plan to return to CR on the 19th. If they can schedule radiation treatment it takes about 3 weeks of light, daily, zaps. If not, then I'll have to return here sooner than planned.

I will appreciate your prayers!

Devotional invitation

Gerardo Vargas, always thinking of others, gave me a call Sunday to let me know about a special devotional gathering in Hallandale Beach. It was held at the home of Iginia (sp?). There were a number of Ticos there—all friends of David and Gianni (Gerardo, Margery and “Chalo”, plus some other who are somehow related). There were over 20 people there, so I didn’t get to know everybody. One couple, with their two teenage daughters, were apartment neighbors and had been invited to this, their first, Baha’i gathering. They arranged to borrow a book on the Faith, in order to learn more.

Here’s a shot of one part of the crowd:

New morning invention

It’s not easy to have my regular morning prayers in a bedroom with a 4 ft. television unit staring at me (Ali bought the thing some time ago and it needs a part replacement to get it working) and no significant window view, so I’ve been travelling over to the Ft. Lauderdale beach for dawn prayers lately.

In spite of the travel expense (20 minutes by car each way from the house), I’ve been making this a routine.

I get there every morning early and, aside from a soul or two sleeping on the sand from the night before, am pretty much alone at that hour to have some nice time for prayers while watching the sunrise.

There are always a few freighters anchored off the coast here and sometimes a passing sailboat on the horizon. Here’s one such shot:

I found a beach chair and can sit there quietly as long as I like. Then I take off down the beach, barefoot.

I’m also thinking how healing this is for my feet, body and spirit. Abdul’-Baha mentioned that there is a magnetism, or electronic field, given off by the waves on the shore which is great for one’s health.

I walk a ways up the beach and when I return my footprints are all washed away by the incoming tide.

It’s neat to watch the sea birds skimming just a wingtip away from the surface, and the little Sand Pipers skittering along on blurry-fast feet just ahead of me…then a little letdown when I see a plastic bottle or cap mixed in with the seaweed on the sand…

There are a few people arriving for early morning swims or jogs or just walking like me, but they come after the sun starts up, just about when I’m ready to go home.

One fellow is there pretty early to search with a metal detector for any lost valuables. He’ll listen in the headphones as he walks along, sweeping the sand, then stop and jamb his scoop in and sift through it for some little item. I’d like to ask if he’s ever found anything significant…

This makes me think of how some are looking down for treasures while others are looking up.

Then, as I leave the beach, there is a couple on Harleys, pulling away from the curb--his and her's:

Kitchen update: bottoms are done

Here’s the way it all turned out with the lower cabinets. Next weekend (my last here) we may install the upper cabinets.

Florida Fiesta

Last night I enjoyed my first Fiest in Florida (at the invitation of newly appointed Counsellor, Gerado Vargas (Costa Rican brother). It was held at the home of Jade Ardila who, together with Nika Ferdowsi, shared some time at the Baha'i World Center with our David. It's always a small world--anywhere you turn there's a connection. (It helps to be 66 years old and a Baha'i for 43 of em!)

Here's the Fiesta gang: Hiram (named after an Israeli King at the time of Salomon), Maxine, Ruth Vargas, Brad (just returned from a salmon fishing adventure in Alaska), Lua, Muriel Braure (from Trinidad, and one amazingly well travelled lady. She knows from CR to Alaska!).

Seated is Jade and Nika.

Kitchen Work

As promised, here's the update on the Ft. Lauderdale house kitchen work. This is before we started:
The first cabinets going in:
The second set. It will eventually be a full U-shape, with the stove being plugging into the 220 v outlet shown above.
Ali grunting and sweating. I let him do all the tough jobs!

Florida Adventures

I've been offline for days since there's no hookup at Ali's Ft. Lauderdale house, and have found the only convenient way to get on the Net is in a parking lot nearby where there's an open wireless signal. That means sitting in the car and typing at the steering wheel! (There's a Dunkin Doughnut place which offers free internet, but their system is on the blink. What can a guy do?)

Meanwhile, I've been having a great time hanging out with Ali and getting affiliated with the West Palm Beach VA hospital as well. (No health news until my labs and bone scan reports are returned except the dratted PSA has jumped from 6 to 20 in a month. Not a good sign, but these docs always seem to find a solution. )

Ali and I are remodelling his kitchen, since he had a long holiday weekend and I was free. We're putting in a full set of cabinets (assembling them from Home Depot kits) and a nice stainless sink. (Fotos later.) I'm continuing the installation today since Ali had to go back to work.

Here's a shot of us at an all-you-can-eat salad bar type restaurant. Hanging out with us is Darren and Osmond. Osmond and Ali are diving buddies and Darren is going to start a refresher course to be able to dive with them.
I was invited to Maria Rita's house for a fancy dinner (prepared by her brother, Orlando--her other brother and family were there as well)

Here's Ali with Maria Rita. We were all being intertained by Orlando and his son and daughter who were singing old Venezuelan folk songs. A real delight!
This is a shot of Orlando's daughter singing up a storm . These were really great old songs! He's playing a Venezuelan version of a Ukelele. (Unfortunately it's out of sight.)Here's the whole gang at the family dinner: