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We said goodbye to our B&B guests, Veronica and Konstantin, on Thursday. They were very nice and seemed to have enjoyed their stay. They left a lovely comment in our guestbook, too. You can read it here.  We also had guests visit on Friday for the day. We had welcomed a group of students and their teachers from Arizona last May and one of the teachers came back with a friend to Costa Rica during their winter break. They came up to visit us, which was really great. I Skyped with my kids, Phoenix and Jude, last night... they were together enjoying their Christmas Eve dinner with their paternal grandmother. And today, we celebrated Christmas with our friends, Cindy and Larry, who live in Santa Maria. Their daughter, Vanessa, her boyfriend, R.C., and their friend, Jen, and Cindy's sister, Dawn, were also there. They flew down for two weeks from Arizona. We had met Venessa and Dawn before, but it was great to meet R.C. and Jen. Cindy made a delicious traditional Christmas meal with turkey, stuffing, mash potatoes, vegetables and gravy... so much food! I brought banana bread and an apple crumble for dessert, but most of us were too full to eat any of it haha. And, the gang is coming to our place tomorrow to get the tour of the property.  Jen, Vanessa, and R.C.  Kevin, R.C. and Jen
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I won't lie, it's been a longer than usual rainy season. The rain usually subsides by mid-November, but it has rained most days up until two days ago. Our last guests seem to have brought the sunshine with them, so we're very grateful. Hopefully, this is truly the beginning of our summer. It sure feels glorious, especially when I'm reading all the Facebook posts of my family and friends who live up north and reporting about the deep freeze and snow. Finally, we get to snicker a little. Our most recent guests came from The Netherlands and were super nice. They left us a lovely note in our guestbook, which you can read here.  In other news, our community had a graduation celebration for the 6th graders of our small school. These kids were in second grade when I first met them and sat in class trying to learn Spanish... I can't believe four years have gone by already!! And they look so grown up. In February, they will travel 4 km to Copey to attend high school. At the graduation event, the community centre was decorated and diplomas were awarded, and speeches given. Don Alvaro (to word "don" is used as sign of respect... kind of like the Godfather) is always invited to say a few words to impart some encouragement and sharing his wisdom. It's a lovely tradition, unfortunately, our Spanish is still not fluent enough to catch his whole speech, but we understand the sentiment behind it well enough.  Martin and Clara are so very proud of Nicole.  The graduates showing off their diplomas with great enthusiasm... with their parents' support.  We are hosting more guests on Tuesday for a couple of nights, so we'll be busy again this week. It's a busy time for many people this time of year. I'd like to take this opportunity to wish all our readers a very Merry Christmas and safe holidays. May you be surrounded by family and friends... full of love and laughter. Although we will be missing our families terribly, we will be spending the day with dear friends, which is always good fun.
This week, Kevin and Martin selected the fish from the chicken pond... they used the large net to corral them close to the concrete tank. The big ones were counted (1,200 in all) and brought to the cedro pond (the pond next to the big cedar tree). The small fish followed the current down the slide into the big pond (just over 2,000). It's always good to put the system into practice and finding out that it works!  Our guest, Allen, left us on Tuesday. He wrote a lovely comment in our guestbook. We await more guests next week.
It was another busy week for us. Once the remaining 60 fish were selected and transferred into the appropriate ponds, Kevin, Martin and Jairo worked on cleaning the canals around the island and the big pond.    Jairo also dug out the hillside to create a pool below the conduit that was built last week. There were a lot of heavy rocks that needed to be removed. Not a fun job. There was one especially large rock that was smack in the path of where the fish would land... a rather unfortunate place for it to be. You can see the orange colour to the left of the splash....  Well, we had no idea just how big this rock was. It took all three - Kevin, Martin, and Jairo - to dislodge it. Martin cut some tree limbs to use as levers. That rock was stubborn... it took a couple of hours to move it out of the way... into its final position. Job well done!  While the men were working hard, I was busy planting my garden. I planted broccoli, onions and beetroot seedlings in our outdoor garden, and lettuce and spinach in our greenhouse (the lemongrass in the background is growing really well). I'm still waiting for tomato, cauliflower, snow peas, and fennel plants.   We're currently hosting a gentleman from Oregon, Allen. Our place was recommended to him by Krista and Dave... the Oregon couple who visited twice since January (Krista came a third time with their son in August). Allen arrived on Friday and will be moving on to Manuel Antonio on Tuesday. Tomorrow, Allen will follow me into Santa Maria so he can experience a small local town.
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AuthorDave and Krista are a couple from the Pacific Northwest that led overwhelmingly busy lives. 
Click here to pick up your copy of Anne's book! It's all about their adventure and the establishment of Hush Valley Lodge: from leaving their middle-class suburban lifestyle in Canada to reinventing themselvess in the beautiful mountains of Costa Rica. Check it out and if you enjoy it, please spread the word! Thanks!
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