Oct 26, 2012

July to October, Finland to NY to Costa Rica


As always, we spent July in Finland. Four weeks full of visiting family and friends, enjoying Finnish food and landscapes.

Tuomas and Jaakko in the forest. The enemies were attacking!!!
Solid as a rock.

Birch.
Pine.
Bug.
Sangria. Why not!
Linnea borealis.
On our way back to Costa Rica we stopped in NYC for three nights. It was a perfect way to get rid of some of the jetlag!

NYC is often associated with shopping and plays. Not when traveling with our family. We did some shopping at FAO Schwartz, long-awaited Lego's for the boys and spent a day at Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum. Wow, what a place!!!
A real astronaut.

Tuomas and Jaakko inside the Gemini capsule.
Heaven for the boys!
Somebody had painted my portrait!
Hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil.
Yellow cabs' hiding place.
I love NY
I never thought I would fall in love with NY, but I did! Can't wait to go back!

After three days we continued our trip back to Costa Rica. The boys went back to school the next day. Guanacaste Day was celebrated with a traditional parade going through town.

Parade cows.
Basketball in the park.
Construction work started the next day after coming back. The mirador up on the third floor was partly redone, adding a bathroom, a shower, new floor tiles and a partial roof. The pool was emptied.

Ready for new tiles.

I made some manta rays and a sting ray for the pool.

The mirador almost ready.
You can probably see the bathroom door ajar inside the room. Probably the best view from a bathroom you can ever get. We put a couch and a chair under the fan. A beautiful spot to sit down and read or enjoy a sunset. Welcome!!!
View from the back of the garden towards the house.
Spanish boys and ours´playing by the creek.
We have met a wonderful Spanish family with three boys approximately the same age as ours. Perfecto!!!

September 5 we were scared by a 7.6 earthquake. Luckily nothing bad happened to our family nor friends. The house got a few minor cracks, but not all have been so lucky. Since then we have had smaller tremors that we have not felt, but also a couple of bigger shakes the we most certainly have felt! Scientists say that the first big one released most of the tension so it is unlikely that there will be a big one in the near future.

In late September we adopted a five month old street dog, Gordon Gekko. He is the cutest puppy around!
I can't see you. Go away!
Gekko with his girlfriend Ditsy.
Rainy season was pretty dry to begin with, but now at the end of October we have had plenty. One night we had about 10 cm in a matter of a few hours. Some leaks in the roof, but nothing alarming. Lightnings are beautiful!
ZAP!

Early morning in Coco.
View from the balcony.
I visited a butterfly farm. These jelly beans are actually cocoons.

Gently flowing creek.

A beautiful caterpillar.
Tranquil moment fishing on the beach.


Jun 12, 2012

Home, sweet, home


The month of May was eventful with things taken for granted suddenly changing. But the biggest change was that we decided to buy the house we are living in! Once the house changes ownership we will change the name. Casa Loveless is just.... no, not a name for our house. The house is less than 200 m from the beach, we can hear the waves. The lot is big with fruit trees and a huge pool. There is a lot of work to be done. We started with having the leaking roof fixed!
View from the balcony
Once the rainy season started as early as April there have been more clouds in the sky. And that makes sunsets more interesting and beautiful.
Coco sunset from our mirador.
The sunsets are never the same. And they never get boring.
A different sunset


And another one!
La luna
 Our house is at the end of a gravel road.
View from the balcony to our gravel road.
The beginning of the gravel road.
A Tico house on our road.
 This is down town Playas del Coco a.ka. PDC.

View to the east.
View to the west.
 That's about it. It really does not get much more interesting down the road. A couple of grocery stores, banks, souvenir shops. The puddles are the same.

First of May I surprised the boys by making traditional Finnish 1st of May funnel cakes. They loved it, though they more more on the soft side rather than crunchy. It was the first time I made them. Thank goodness May 1st is only once a year!
Funnel cake, tippaleipä in Finnish.
 Jaakko wanted to take part at the talent show at school. He played in front of an audience of about 300.
Jaakko playing Spanish Guitar.
 The boys have played in a couple of golf tournaments, one in San Joe, the other one in Jaco. Great experiences.
Risto on the green in San Jose.
I play golf every now and then. But I have a different approach to the game.
Body-centered cubic lattice.
Face-centered cubic lattice.
Hexagonal close packed lattice.
We are finally living in a neighborhood with children!! The girl from next door loves to play war games with the boys.
Hands up!!!
 A year ago the boys decided not to eat candy for a year (and earn some money). And they did it!!! Grandma sent some Finnish candy to celebrate this achievement.
Sweet boys!

DH's friend came over for a week and we spent one morning fishing and snorkeling. We saw a sea turtle, dolphins and sail fish, too.
Mr. T with his catch of the day.
One fish.
Two fish.
Dolphins swimming next to our boat.
 Wildlife continues to amaze me. This butterfly was hanging on the balcony ceiling for a couple of days. I thought it was just a dead leaf until I looked closer. I'm glad I took some photos, because the following morning I found pieces of the wings on the floor.

Dead leaf butterfly.
Risto found this Harlequin beetle hanging on the awning. The body was about 7.5 cm and the front legs and antennae a lot longer. A beautiful creature!
Harlequin beetle.
 There are a lot of different types of doves/pigeons around our house. The inca doves hang around the pole the masked tityras use for their nest. A white-winged dove built her nest in a palm tree next to the pool, but the kiskadees were giving her a hard time and she abandoned her nest. A red-billed pigeon made her very well air-conditioned nest in the tree next to the balcony, perfect location for observation and shooting with a camera. Her baby hatched.
Inca doves.
Masked tityra
White-winged dove at her nest.
Red-billed pigeon
Her building skills are not worth mentioning.
The baby hatched!

This is either a Tropical Kingbird or a Western Kingbird. I am guessing the former.
 My friend's horse had a baby. He was named Mañana Jake since it took forever for him to be born. The Prince of Hearts would have been an appropriate name, too. His mother has a similar heart-shaped patch in the same place.

Mañana Jake.
 I know we should have the car washed more often.
Our green car.
I got a sewing machine for my birthday and it feels like I can finally breathe. I made this bag. Love the fabrics, not the combo that much. And the design is not good; I still have to look for things inside it.
Hippy bag.
 I made this basket out of coffee bags. Useless, too, as a hand bag.
Coffee bag bag.
 I made Jaakko a bag for his Nintendo DS. I used this pattern I found. Once again I ignored the old rule about "measure twice, cut once" and ended up with two black trapezoids instead of rectangles. I had to fiddle with the pieces a bit, but did manage to sew them together in the end. Unfortunately the only type of interfacing I could get my hands on was very thin and the bag ended up being a bit floppy. And the pattern had pockets for 36 games. I doubt Jaakko will ever have so many, but I did all the pockets anyway. Appliqueing the name was a pain. It was so small with tight corners. But the most important thing is that Jaakko loves it and now his games, DS and charger are all in one place.
The bag closed
The bag opened with the 24 pockets for the games.

The name.
 Jaakko also joined the world of writers. He can now write in Finnish, English and Spanish. I made him write this.
How to Behave in a Family.
How to Behave in a Family: no shouting, no loosing your temper, no kicking. 1. I was at the compter. 2. I did not obey. 3. I shouted. 4. I kicked at my father.

I hope he learned a lesson. At least in writing!