All we’ve been working towards was over in about 2 hours with a lot of happy kids!
Thanks to the many people who took one of the 300 angels or otherwise contributed to the project!
Yellow Bells Begin Blooming
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| Dry season begins and these trees in my yard begin to bloom and if like last year will continue through March or April. |
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| I zoom in for the flowers because . . . |
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| They are on the opposite side of trees from my terrace where the afternoon sun shines, but maybe later they will bloom on this side too! Summer has begun! |
“Where flowers bloom so does hope.”– Lady Bird Johnson, Public Roads: Where Flowers Bloom
Busy days ahead!
Tonight I go to Su Espacio’s “Arts Festival” which is more of a dance recital. I’m the photographer.
Tomorrow, Thursday, I go to San Jose early to be fingerprinted for my residency application, which is no guarantee that I will get it soon, but at least it is in the process!
Friday I may have to help shop for any angel tree kids we have not received gifts for.
Saturday is the Angel Tree party in the morning and I get a rent car in the afternoon for my Sunday to Wednesday birding near Volcan Turrialba.
Then just a couple of more Spanish lessons for this year before I get a break from conjugations and verbs! I’m considering a trip to Nicaragua over Christmas but if I don’t do that, I will make the border visa run on December 30.
Thanksgiving and Angel Tree Completion
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| Our Angel Tree still had 6 left yesterday a.m. but by afternoon all 6 were taken! |
Friday, Saturday and Sunday I am one of about 4 volunteers staying at Su Espacio to receive the gifts as they are brought in. They are kind of trickling in with still 99 not here yet out of the 300, but Ticos do everything at the last minute David keeps reminding me – so by Monday or Tuesday most will probably be turned in (Sunday is the deadline). We have plenty of money to buy gifts for any children that are missed and until next Saturday, Dec. 5. I got more deeply involved in this than I really intended, but it has been fun with a purpose helping a lot of poor children get some nice Christmas presents – possibly the only gifts they will receive this Christmas. So a good thing! And I like to do good! 🙂
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| Thanksgiving Turkey Dinner at my neighbor’s house next door Thursday. Don & Lynda on right are from Oregon & live across our shared driveway. The lady and her daughter on left are “snowbirds” from Wisconsin renting a house 2 doors down for 2 months. |
Snowbirds are beginning to arrive, though some wait until after Christmas. One Canadian couple I was with in the apartments are already here and will stay until sometime in January. Others will come in January. It kind of reminds me of my two years in Miami where the population increases in our summer or your winter with the cold weather residents. And I’m sorry to say that the rain seems to have stopped. We will probably get a few more showers up into December maybe, but “Dry Season” has started.
One good thing about dry season is that I won’t have to put my leather shoes out in the sun to keep them from growing mold! And I recently found a new place for mold to grow – on the sweat bands of my ball caps. They are now hung upside down to help the sweat bands air out! And I have been throwing some of them in the washing machine too! Pura Vida! 🙂
Angel Tree at Halloween Party
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| 5 of us from Su Espacio raised a 100,000 Colones ($200) at the Gringo Halloween Party (I’m in the Red Scream Mask) We sold Sangria, had a raffle at about $100 each and had only 11 angels taken from the tree, but more will go later. |
Angel Tree Committee Met Today
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| I should have never let her shoot us with that bright window behind us! Tried to fix! Oh well, we got a lot planned anyway and I am now the treasurer. |
We all thank my friend Aaron in Canada who read my last post on Angel Tree and sent money! Wow! We are off to a good start financially!
Angel Tree Project
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| Trees in two places to get sponsors. |
I volunteered through Su Espacio and met today with some of the other committee members to discuss the approach this year and how we will secure sponsors of 300 very poor children (no parent working full time). We also need to pay for food and entertainment at the party in December when they receive their gifts. I suggested that in addition to angels which is the child a person buys a gift or gifts for, we sell “party angels” to pay for the party. Susan (also from Su Espacio) suggested we make those stars. So now people can take an angel from the tree and get gifts or pay cash for a star to pay for the party. My first contribution to this project. 🙂
Of course Susan and I are in charge of the stars and tomorrow we go to Escazu to see if anyone has silver and gold poster board from which we will cut the stars. Silver for 5,000 colones ($10) and gold for 10,000 colones ($20). David and Corinna at Su Espacio are interviewing the parents to see if their children really qualify for the free Christmas gifts and will host the party. We will all help cut out the angels and write names and Christmas wishes on them. Susan and I want to recruit children to color the angels. We will have a big tree at Su Espacio and a smaller one at Kay’s Gringo Postres where we met today and where we should sign up a lot of gringos. Plus we are promoting it at Kay’s Gringo Halloween Costume Party with a raffle to earn some of the party money.
I’ve become David’s flier maker, so expect I will be doing that again pretty soon about the Angel Tree. And some of you thought all I did was sleep late and sit on the terrace photographing birds!
On Aprendo Espanol en Atenas I tell about Spanish learning for free at Duoling.com