Hello from New York

My NYC News—June 2009

Hi—I miss everybody but NY is amazing.
Went to two plays over the weekend with my friend Anne from CA--HAIR and “God of Carnage”….both plays were very high quality and very expensive. We also spent a lot of time in the Village, where we used to go as teenagers. It is great that we had this time together in NY--she and her family may come visit us in CR.

I have been to some wonderful music venues in the city. Joe’s Pub and Cornelia café are my favorites, though I also like the Bitter End. I find that if I go out once/week, I get a mental lift which balances the city’s shortcomings. These being my 3rd time here, I now have some friends— though working eves and alternate weekends limit free time for social outings. I went with my friend Betty to see Lion King last week—we went to a Moroccan bar afterwords where people were smoking hookah water pipes at the tables—not sure what was in the pipes but it did not come into the air. And Lion King with those puppets and African music was incredible.

As stimulating and exciting as it is here, it is hard to be away from Joe and my life in Costa Rica. I miss everything about Costa Rica—the clean air and water, time to be in the present, and my friends. It feels like I breathe with my whole body when I am there. I am getting over a cold here in NY with a dry cough which I think is related to the cold damp weather and dirty air.

Our plan is for me to go to Costa Rica on July 27th for three weeks and then come back here for another three months, assuming I can get another contract. It sounds like a lot of time but we do need the money. Our plans for Costa Rica are still to sell our place in Nosara and move to more affordable, closer to medical care, San Carlos. Joe found a property he loved in San Carlos (scroll down the blog for some pics)—hopefully we will find a similar property when we are able to buy—his visit helped us confirm that we want to move there.

Joe tells me our fruit trees on our property in Nosara are maturing and that we now have mangos. We have had oranges and limes in the past—and of course, bananas. He is working on a vegetable garden. We need a buyer who wants this kind of life all ready made---I know they are out there. We need a realtor to help us find a buyer.

We have a new kitten, Sonia, named after Sonia Sotamayor. Ainsley is the only one left of the 3 cats we brought down from Boston. Our dogs are cute as ever—Frieda continues to tremble in fear and hide during thunderstorms—and Nina remains relatively stable though she does stalk and stare at poor Ainsley. Joe tells me that Sonia licks Frieda’s forehead during her fear-spells.

Write back when you have a minute—I love to hear from everybody. Or call Joe…Our numbers are at the top of the blog….And I am now on facebook…Love Helena and Joe