Tag Archives: Costa Rica

Scribblegal signs off

I retired to Costa Rica in 2009 with my husband, Jack Kaiser, his two cats, Hobbes and Noir, and my dog Buddha. A year later, I wrote my first blog. Rereading it today, I’m a little embarrassed, but Scribblegal eventually … Continue reading

Posted in Blogs and blogging, Costa Rica, Family, Life, Philadelphia, Retirement, Retirement abroad, Websites, Writing | Tagged , , , , , , | 12 Comments

Is Progress our most important product?

Lancaster Pennsylvania, west of Philadelphia, is home to some 237,000 Plain people, including the Amish, Mennonites and Brethren. These folks eschew modernity in favor of keeping the old ways and traditions. You’ll see them, if you visit, as I used … Continue reading

Posted in Costa Rica, Current events, Family, Life, Life abroad, Philadelphia | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Bovine bliss

As a child growing up in Philadelphia, I neither knew nor cared much about cows. When the family piled into our car and headed west through the dairy states towards Minnesota, my dad’s home, I enjoyed seeing them, and idly … Continue reading

Posted in Costa Rica, Life, Life abroad, Rural Living | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Rejecting conventional wisdom

San Juan de Dios Hospital, in San Jose, Costa Rica is a place I’ve come to know fairly well since my breast cancer diagnosis in June of 2012. Or at least I know the places that have to do with … Continue reading

Posted in Costa Rica, Health, Life, Life abroad | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Free medicine

When Jack’s life-long potassium deficiency disappeared, everyone, especially the doctor, was gob-smacked. His condition had required him to ingest mega-doses of the mineral all day long, or risk not being able to get out of bed. For twenty years, each … Continue reading

Posted in Cooking, Costa Rica, Food, Gardening, Health, Life, Rural Living | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Bitch-slapped by life

Life reached out and gave us a bitch slap recently. We’d taken an overnight trip with friends to Puntarenas, on the west coast of Costa Rica, a couple of hours away from our Puriscal home. At eight that morning, we’d … Continue reading

Posted in Costa Rica, Life, Life abroad, Retirement abroad, Rural Living, Travel | Tagged , , , | 11 Comments

The Sting

I had a big day planned yesterday: lunch and a movie in the city (Escazu, Costa Rica) with girlfriends. We may be seniors, but we’re still girls, right? But I begged off, due to a headache and upset tummy. The … Continue reading

Posted in Costa Rica, Health, Life, Life abroad, Rural Living | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Clean, or happy?

Before we moved to Costa Rica, we learned that we could find someone to clean the house for about a dollar an hour. I was ecstatic. Back home, I cleaned when company was coming. It’s not that I don’t love … Continue reading

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I’m back

Perhaps you, my subscribers, have noticed that my blogs haven’t been bouncing into your inbox with the same frequency as last year and the year before. You might have read that I’ve been waging a bit of a battle with … Continue reading

Posted in Blogs and blogging, Costa Rica, Health, Life, Writing | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Breastilicious?

The headline in the Costa Rica Star read, Topless ziplining and naked horseback riding. Really? Naked horseback riding? Imagine the condition of your inner thighs after an hour or more of clutching a leather saddle between them. Not to mention … Continue reading

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