My Biggest Job Nearly Finished – TO SIMPLIFY!

Because of the better sunlight, I photograph most of the album pages
outside on my terrace, one page at a time, soooo slow it seems.
So far it is 7,880 photos taking up 10 GB of space on my computer!
And it is all scrapbook pages from before my birth to 2008, soon to 2014.
It is an incredible personal and family history, but I cannot keep them all!
And 30 boxes of albums is too much for someone to deal with when I die.
I do not have children or anyone who could deal with that many books.

Here is my office/guest room today with just 5 more books to photograph.
Compare this with the photos below a few months ago.
And the new couch makes into a full-size bed for guests.
The old one below was a too-short single bed for little Ticos.
All these boxes have been emptied and contents destroyed
as have all the ones in the next photo by the door of this same room.
All of these are also gone now!
The space is free, the house open and
uncluttered! True joy in removing stuff!

The high quality binders used have been donated to schools, libraries and others. And then I have some genealogy stuff and a stamp collection to deal with and I am truly finished! And remember I got rid of a lot more stuff in Nashville including all my furniture! Plus a lot of art earlier here. I have made real progress! Anytime I want to change rent house, it will be a simple move!

I’m applying the lessons learned in many books read: The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo  (I read a review copy summary), Celebrating Time Alone by Lionel Fisher, Simplify by Joshua Becker, Freedom of Simplicity by Richard J. Foster, Always We Begin Again, The Benedictine Way of Living by John McQuiston II, Living the Simple Life, by Elaine St. James, Seeking Paradise by Thomas Merton, Walden by Henry David Thoreau and in many ways the Bible. Eliminating “stuff” is so freeing! Now I’m almost ready to die, but think I have a lot of real living to do first! 🙂

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.
~Henry David Thoreau 

Charlie Doggett
Retired in Costa Rica (My “Woods”)
Pura Vida! 

Nashville Costa Rican Maestro Starts with Rock Here

Giancarlo Guerrero
Nashville Symphony
Music Director

Giancarlo Guerrero helped me to love classical music more than anyone as the conductor of the Nashville Symphony and his pre-concert “Conversations” I attended every time with my season ticket! Well, if you did not know, he is from Costa Rica! And his love of music started here as a fan with his brother of the Canadian Rock Band Rush. Read this interesting article in the 21 January edition of The Tennessean, my first day of a renewed subscription to digital.

Ticos love music of all kinds as indicated in this interesting article on the wide variety of Costa Rica Music.

It is fun to keep learning about Costa Rica and what it means to me.  🙂   Pura Vida!





Where words fail, music speaks.
~Hans Christian Andersen

Layering My Private Jungle

Year-around blooming flowers for my terrace rocking chair view.
And behind my terrace planters are three layers of plants in my yard
and another in the neighbor’s. Soon we will be separated by a jungle!  🙂
One of the round pots I moved from inside because of a lack of sun there.
The other had ornamental grass which I will replace with something green.
Like my garden, the yard and terrace are always a work in progress!
And my poinsettias are still blooming to the right at terrace entrance!

Heart Arrhythmia

The Symptom
A couple of weeks ago I went to Dr. Candy because my right foot had been swollen for several days off and on, mainly when I stayed around the house rather than when walking! Strange?

The Standard First Level Treatment
She gave a diuretic to take for 10 days to see if that would reduce the foot inflammation. It did not.

(Side Note on Heel Spur)
You may have caught my earlier report on bone spurs in both heels but hurting only in the right one. This was taken care of by me stopping my 8 month habit of walking all over town in nothing but sandals. (Like walking barefoot!) I now wear tennis shoes, hikers, or regular shoes with a gel orthopedic insert in the heel. Absolutely no pain or problem now from the bone spur! And two doctors now say my new problem is in no way related except for being in the foot!  🙂

Complete Physical
Dr. Candy, my primary care doc, is very thorough and systematic and said it was time for a complete physical with an EKG because she now thinks the problem is circulatory. And I may have done a post on going to the Atenas Laboratorio Clinico for the blood and urine analysis. I walk these reports back to Dr. Candy and she says everything is normal or healthy including blood pressure EXCEPT that the EKG shows an arrhythmia which she thought she heard when listening to my heart. She emailed the EKG to the cardiologist in San Jose she works with and that doc wants me to come in and get wired with a 24-hour heart monitor.

24-Hour Heart Monitor
That was done last Thursday and Friday for my first two bus trips to San Jose and only saw a nurse to be hooked up and then uninstalled. Today I went back for the cardiologist to give me her evaluation. (Note that with a female primary care I’m being sent to female specialists! 🙂 Dr. Bouzid is so good, professional, thorough and explains everything so I can understand it! In English! Thank goodness! I’m slowly improving with my Spanish but not ready for this! She is a part of CIMA, arguably the best private hospital in Costa Rica. My private insurance covers everything after the first $300 which I reached today only when the ultrasound was added! Wow! medical costs are so much less expensive here! And when I get the CAJA, free! And by the way, some people come here from the states for cardiology including heart surgery. They call it “Health Tourism.”

The reason for 24-hour EKG basically is that it shows my real life and not just a couple of minutes in a doc’s office. I do have Heart Arrhythmia as shown in these two contrasting clips from the 24 hours:

This is a fairly regular rhythm which is good – what we want.

This one shows the irregular rhythm and other pages were worse. 

āˈriT͟Hmēə,əˈriT͟Hmēə/
noun
1.         a condition in which the heart beats with an irregular or abnormal rhythm.
Or for a more thorough definition and more info in a sidebar, see Mayo Clinic
Then a Heart Ultrasound
Then she wanted to do an ultrasound of the heart and like everything else, I am given copies of everything. She pointed to parts of the picture on her computer which was moving or a video and tried to explain why not enough blood was being pumped to my right foot. I did not really understand that, but accepted it. And here is my printout of that which doesn’t mean much to me: 
This is actually 5 photos taped to a sheet of paper.
Ultrasound of my heart today. Whatever it means.

More Blood Tests

The cardiologist sent me to Lab San Jose (another Laboratorio Clinico) just two blocks away to check 4 things in my blood related to the heart: NITROGENO UREICO, CREATININA, TSH, PEPTID NATRIURETICO B (BNP) which will be reported to her tomorrow by email. One of these has to do with the thyroid gland which if either over-active or under-active can cause arrhythmia and I’m not sure what the other things are. 
Gave Me a Prescription
I take this for two days twice a day and report to her how I am feeling. This may or may not help. Then
I Go Back to Cardiologist Friday Afternoon
She will then discuss the blood test results and with that may change the prescription or take a different plan of attack. She seems confident that she will get me back into rhythm! 🙂 
And by the way, she says I HAVE A VERY STRONG HEART! It just doesn’t have rhythm!  🙂
🙂  Well, a different kind of rhythm!   🙂
But you should know that they celebrate Elvis’ birthday here!
And most Ticos have lots of rhythm! And love music!

“I look up to the mountains”

Dinnertime view from my terrace reminds me of the mountains Psalm . . .

Psalm 121The Message (MSG)

A Pilgrim Song

121 1-2 I look up to the mountains;
    does my strength come from mountains?
No, my strength comes from God,
    who made heaven, and earth, and mountains.
. . . . . . .     



 
7-8 God guards you from every evil,
    he guards your very life.
He guards you when you leave and when you return,
    he guards you now, he guards you always.

. . . . . . . . .
Tomorrow night (Tues) I will give you a report on my physical and cardiologist visit which is in the morning. (I’m writing/posting this Monday night.)  Pura Vida!   -Charlie

You are safe traveling to Costa Rica!

If you are thinking of traveling to Costa Rica, don’t let rumors of Dengue Fever and Zika Virus scare you! The U.S. Issued Warnings for Pregnant Women Travel to 14 Latin America Countries because of the Zika scare, BUT COSTA RICA IS NOT ON THE LIST! We have not had a single case of Zika and besides it only affects the unborn children of pregnant women. In the past we have had 2 or 3 cases of Dengue Fever, but it is considered under control now with mosquito eradication. Some of you may remember that I came back from Gambia in 2002 with Dengue Fever but got over it quickly. If treated it does not kill, just miserable with high temps for awhile.

The CDC Website basically says that for Costa Rica travel you should just be up-to-date with your regular vaccines just as you would in the states. The most common diseases for tourists to get here are the sexually transmitted diseases, so simply avoid that kind of tourism!  🙂

It is interesting that our neighbor Panama is on the Zika no-travel list above and have had many more cases of dengue. And somehow North Americans think Panama is more developed than Costa Rica! Take note if considering Panama for retirement instead of Costa Rica!  🙂

PURA VIDA!

Musical Chairs at Post Office Now!

A miniature version of the 30-chair line at Banco Nacional.
It has been a line of standing which is hard for some old people, I guess!
For every transaction the clerk goes back to his/her desk to enter it into
a computer, even the purchase of postage for a letter. Can’t get stamps here,
they print a postage strip and stick it on each letter. Sloooow!
Like the bank, when next person is served, you all move up one chair.

I would rather show you the “musical chairs” line at the bank but the high security with armed guards there doesn’t allow me to make a photo or wear my cap or my sunglasses and I must have my real passport and not a copy like other places will use. They keep our money good and safe!  🙂
The above post office (Correos) gives very good and friendly service, just very slow. But I mailed a large box to my sister in Missouri and it got there in less than two weeks! And I get mail in a reasonable time usually. My Apdo. 441 is one of those gray boxes on the left of the above photo. 
Charlie Doggett
Apdo. 441-4013
Alajuela, Atenas, Atenas
20501 Costa Rica

Hiding the Dog Fence

My landlords who live on the hill above me have a cute little dog that kept getting lost out in the neighborhood and was in danger of being run-over. So, fence time! And about the same time they got a second small dog to keep the first one company and maybe added motivation to stay home. Well, the dog fence was right out my kitchen window across the driveway and I was dreading it. But Jean-Luc is so thoughtful that he immediately had the gardener plant morning glory vines along the fence and now it is beautiful!

It will soon be a flowering hedge

From my kitchen window

Nice!
And by the way, Costa Rica continues to become more eco-friendly as urged in this article: 
5 Tips for Helping the Planet from Costa Rica    (Hint: They help in other countries too!)