Orquideologia

Willy & Pat invited me go to an Orchid show in Grecia. It really was spectacular! Flowers in every color of the rainbow. They have a wonderful collection thmeselves, tiny ones to extrordinary ones. So I feel an "orchid" series coming on real strong. Boy this studio gets so hot in the afternoon, three fans going. Still working on my "passion flowers" piece, new this year. Hope to get more new ones done as well as finishing up all the others I bought down here with me. I decided to stay in tonight, others went to a concert in Colon. Drawing is on my agenda.

Bernarda took us for a ride to see a potential spot to paint near the canyon. The spot was a B&B, really beauitful called Casa Bella Rita, but really did not len itself to setting up in to paint for the dasy, so we found our familiar spot of last year to go back to realy soon. Not many places to pull of the road to paint, roads are thin and lots of cars whizzing by. So we are in a predicament sort of, looking for special places to paint other than the colony. I had some "ceviche" today for dinner, it was awesome and also a fruit/vegetable indgenious to Costa Rica, a small pepper-like shape and tastes like a cooked potatoe. Very good. Pejibaye , a relative of the coconut, is one of Costa Rica's most unusual treats. Pejibayes grow in clusters on palm trees, like miniature coconuts. The part that you eat would correspond to the fibrous husk, while the hard pejibaye seed, when cracked open, reveals a thin layer of bitter white meat around a hollow core. The bright orange or red pejibayes are delicious boiled in salted water, then peeled, halved and pitted and eaten alone or with mayonnaise. You'll see them sold on San Jose streets year a round. Their flavor is difficult to describe. They are not sweet, but more a combination of chestnut and pumpkin with a thick, fibrous texture. You can buy a racimo (bunch) of raw pejibayes at the Mercado Borbon and boil them up for parties, or you can buy them in the supermarkets peeled and canned to take home as souvenirs.

Passion

Well, the bells are ringing in the town because it is 6:00 o'clock, they ring twice a day, who needs a watch. Painted today...Passion flowers are in bloom at the poolside along with some purple flowers, white and orange too and of course green trailing leaves abound with litle curly vines sprouting about. Gorgeous, everything is green right now, December is green after all the rainy season has ended. There is talk about the orchids blooming too, have not seen them yet. A sight to see tomorrow, always something new to see everyday.

Now looking forward to going to an opening at the National Gallery where I will be exhibiting in January 2010.

In the Beginning

Settling in for the winter here in Costa Rica again. It's warm, the red passion flower blooming around the pool. There are some changes, new faces at the colony, some new roads leading to the coasts. Did some grocery shopping, prices not any dfferent than at home. I am ready to paint, experiment, discover and see things in a different light.