Magdelena

Magdelena
We finally got a maid, which we needed very badly. She worked miracles on the house. God did not grant me neatness.
One of the surprises she encountered was our computer flying out from under the kitchen table when she moved it.
A little explanation. When we got to our abode, we were quite distressed that there was no safe. In past years, we never left our house without locking everything up. Even to just sit by the pool. So, no safe meant we were at the mercy of every robber in town.
Our landlords felt this casita was not at risk for several reasons. Surfo Juan, a Tico, lives on the property, excluding it from the robbers' targets. And the whole building is like a safe, with the barred windows and doors anchored to the cement building. If robbers had the tools to get into our house, they would have the tools to break into a safe. Ticos would look for a safe to rob, not a hiding place.
To make us feel better, they suggested Tom might build us a secret drawer. We came up with a simpler idea. He built a little shelf under the dining table.
So when Magdelena moved the table, two iPods and one ancient computer tumbled to the floor. She did not tell us about it. We knew because of the way they were replaced and by the broken latch on the computer. In her defense, she does not speak English and we do not speak Spanish.
Her wage is $2.40 an hour!!!!! Minimum wage is $.80 an hour.
And we are finding the cost of living outrageously high. $50 of groceries is one bag!
Magdelena just walked off with our hose. I called to her and think she is returning it in one hour.
I need it very badly. For the very rare orchid (which Howie brought form the mountains) twice a day and the potted plants less often. And the yard in general.
Lili said to water as much as I like. That is a very different mentality from Bobbi's. Bobbi lets her beach house garden go dormant for the dry season. Lili's is a Garden of Eden always.
Louis is Lili and Tom's full time gardener. Six days a week he blows leaves off the driveway and lawns. So much for quiet in the garden of Eden. Will electric blowers get banned here?
Right now he is clearing dead palm fronds, etc. from our yard. I dread the day he surely will come to hack back the lush foliage that has sprouted over a foot in the last three weeks. I can't bear to see the hacked remnants even though I know they will be invisible in a very few weeks.
I bought my pruning shears for my potted plants, but it is everything I can do not to shape Lili's trees and bushes.
My orchid suffered a set back after Howie gave it to me. I didn't spray it one morning and the two incredible blooms began to crumple. They are now completely gone. But two of the fours rhizomes are looking quite healthy and I am hoping for a recovery.
Tom said he will take care of it when we are away. He has an amazing collection of orchids. One of his prize orchids seemed to be missing half of it's mass when they returned here for the winter. When he asked Louis about it, Louis said, "Tom, Ticos do not steal HALF an orchid."