About Myra
I'm retired in Costa Rica, having lived in Philly, State College, Salem Mass,
and Kawagoe Japan. You might call me a career gypsy, but my last and best job was teaching English to some of the best and brightest kids in Philly.
I'm new to blogging and websites, and will probably make all the mistakes there are, but now I'm sharing my writing.
I moved to Costa Rica in June of 2009 with my husband Jack, my dog Buddha, and Jack's two cats, Hobbes and Noir.
Last April, while attending the wedding of my friends Mark and Keiko, in Tokyo, Jack and I met Mani and Jono, a young couple from London, who were friends of the groom, and there for the wedding. We swapped stories … Continue reading →
Posted in Costa Rica, Life, Life abroad, Rural Living, Travel
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Tagged Belsize Park, Costa Rica, Gwyneth Paltrow, London, London Street Atlas A to Z, Oyster Cards, Swapping houses, Swiss Cottage, The Central Valley
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In Roxborough, the Philadelphia neighborhood where my family moved in 1963, the first fast food restaurant to litter the landscape was Gino’s. We’d eaten steak sandwiches and hoagies from Delassandro’s, in Wissahickon, for years, but Gino’s was the first hamburger … Continue reading →
Posted in Cooking, Costa Rica, Food, Life, Life abroad, Retirement abroad
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Tagged Burger King, Escazu, Fast food, Gino's Delassandro's, Gino's jingle, Heredia, Holligans, Japan, Mc Donald's, Multiplaza, Philadelphia, Pizza Hut, Roxborough, Samurai Fusion, Soupy Sales, TGI Friday's, Wissahickon
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On my first trip to Ireland, in 1997, people were still blowing things up in Belfast, and so I gave that city, and the rest of Northern Ireland, a pass. This time, on a visit with Jack, I wanted to … Continue reading →
Posted in Life, Politics, Travel
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Tagged Badhran, Belfast, Berry Street, Fiddles, Ireland, Kelly's Cellars, Madden's Bar, Northern Ireland, Rohan Young, Scorpion Jack, The Troubles, Traditional Irish music, Ulilleann pipes
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For the past two weeks I’ve been either standing in line or racing for trains, buses and planes; dragging my old bones up and down stairs and city streets; asking friendly-looking natives for directions, then getting lost anyway; waking up … Continue reading →
Posted in Life, Travel
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Tagged airport boarding procedures, airport lines, asking for directions, early flights, getting lost, getting there, ill-behaved children, rude adults, teleportation, Travel. standing in lines, TSA
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BufferIn an effort to absorb more of the cultural life in San Jose, we decided to attend “The Best of the Opera” at the elegant Málico Teatro Salazar with our friends Wayne and Marguerite. We bought tickets for a five … Continue reading →
BufferRecently, I ripped through three seasons of BBC’s Robin Hood. The fabulous thing about Netflicks: Watch Instantly is that you can see one after another, all free from commercial interruption, until you can’t sit still for another minute. I’ve always … Continue reading →
Posted in Current events, Life, Politics, Uncategorized
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Tagged Americans living in Poverty, BBC's Robin Hood. Netflicks, Bernie Sander's list, Bill Gates, Citizens for a Sound Economy, Forbes four hundred, George Mason University, Heartland Institute, Institute for Justice, Koch brothers, Libertarian Party, Reason Foundation, The Cato Institute, Warren Buffett
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BufferThe US embassy in Tokyo has issued a Warden Message for US residents living in Japan. It recommends that those living within 50 miles of the Fukushima power plant either leave or stay indoors if “departure is not practical.” I … Continue reading →
Posted in Current events, Life, Life abroad
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Tagged abundance of caution. Potassium Iodide, becquerele, Iodine- 131, Japan Times, millisievert, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Nuclear testing, rad, Refuge: An Unnatural History of Time and Place, Terry Tempest Williams, thyroid cancer, US Embassy Tokyo. Fukushima Power Plant, voluntary departure, World Health Organization
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BufferI have met the enemy, sort of, and I’m confused. I read the whole, schizophrenic platform of the Tea Party, and didn’t know whether to laugh or lie down on a highway and let the cars run over me. If … Continue reading →
Posted in Blogs and blogging, Current events, Life, Politics, Retirement
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Tagged average life expectancy, discouraging mediocrity, entitlements, redistribution of wealth, socialism, Tea Party Platform, The Giant is Awake
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BufferThe Koch brothers are actually succeeding in manipulating public opinion in America. I’m happy to finally learn this truth, because I’ve been wondering in writing and aloud what we in America can be thinking about when we embrace self-destructive policies. … Continue reading →
Posted in Current events, Life, Politics
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Tagged Battlestar Galactica, corporate self-interest, Cylons, Global climate change, health care, Jane Mayer, Koch brothers, Libertarianism, pollution, public opinion, self-destructive policies, tax cuts for the wealthy, Tea Party, The New Yorker, war on Obama
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BufferMy mouth is a silver mine, once you get past the front teeth. Still, years have passed, decades even, since a dentist has uttered the words, “You need a filling.” My new dentist happens to be the choice of a … Continue reading →
Posted in Costa Rica, Life, Life abroad, Rural Living
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Tagged cavities, Costa Rica, Dentistry, Little Shop of Horrors, Puriscal, South Philly, Steve Martin, TMJ
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