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.
Monteverde is one of the most popular destinations in Costa Rica. Good, albeit expensive restaurants abound; there are lots of folksy artisan emporiums for shoppers; and for the adventurous and athletic there are zip-lines, suspension bridges, sky-trams and horseback riding. … Continue reading →
Hurray Barney Frank, and (though I never thought I’d say this) Hurray Ron Paul. Why? Because they, along with some other legislators, have introduced a bill, HR 2306, entitled, Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act of 2011. This crazy coalition, I … Continue reading →
Posted in Current events, Life, Politics
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Tagged Al Capone, Barney Frank, cannabis, Cato Institute, Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition, federal drug laws, grass, Harvard, hemp, Henry Anslinger, HR 2306, Jeffrey Miron, pot, Reefer Madness, Ron Paul, The Federal budget for Education, weed
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One item glared at me when I opened my browser to Google news this morning. The headline from the Philadelphia Inquirer screamed the news: Schools, city lose in budget. But don’t worry, taxes won’t rise. And business taxes will actually … Continue reading →
Posted in Current events, Education, Family, Life, Philadelphia, Politics
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Tagged charter school funding, city lose in budget, education, funding for State schools, gas-drilling industries, poor school districts in Pennsylvania, School District of Philadelphia funding, social services, taxes, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Tom Corbett, Tredyffrin/Easttown School District
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The concept of Roller Derby never crept into my consciousness until my daughter, Bonnie, told me she was going to try out for a league in Sydney, where she lives. “Roller Derby!” said my brother, George. “Do you know what … Continue reading →
Posted in Costa Rica, Current events, Family, Life, Life abroad
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Tagged Austin, Burning Hell Dolls, Costa Rica, Damon Runyon, Dont They?, Hell on Wheels, Leo Seltzer's Transcontinental Roller Derby, Professional Wrestling, Roller Derby, Texas, They Shoot Horses, Vanity Bonfire, Whip It, YouTube
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Last year, during the rainy season, I seemed to wake up every morning with some new bite on my boob, in my armpit, behind my knee, or in some equally delicate and completely unscratchable area on my torso. It’s the … Continue reading →
Posted in Costa Rica, Life, Life abroad, Rural Living
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Tagged ant, chigger, drain fly, fruit fly, gnat, insects, midge, no-see-um, rainy season, rural Costa Rica, spiders
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If you’re a baby-boomer, like me, you’re probably worried about Alzheimer’s. Seventy-eight million of us are entering our sixties, and, according to SeniorJournal.com, someone in the States develops the dreaded disease every seventy seconds. Among my friends, we joke about … Continue reading →
My nephew Jake, or Jake-o-rama, as I like to call him, is autistic. He was diagnosed when he failed to develop language skills at the appropriate age. Autism is a relatively new diagnosis, although it was first described in the … Continue reading →
Posted in Family, Life
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Tagged Autism, Autism Spectrum, Beethoven, Behavior Control, Bill Gates, Bob Dylan, Cognitive Skills, Empathy, Executive Function, Forrest Gump, GAMP, Garrison Keillor, George Bernaard Shaw, Girard Academic Music Program, I Am Sam, Language Skills, little Man Tate. What's Eating Gilbert Grape. Einstein Alexander Graham Bell, Mahler. Emily Dickenson, Mozart, Pervaisve Development Disorder, Rain Man, Savant, Sympathy, Temple Grandin, Woody Allen. Al Gore
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Aging failed to absorb my thoughts too much until my friends began whining about wrinkles and expanding waists. Some of them even uttered the awful word, face-lift. Oh wait, that’s a lie. The first time I gave a thought to … Continue reading →
About a week after we moved to Japan, my daughter, Bonnie, and I experienced our first earthquake. As we sat on the floor, Japanese style, our legs tucked under the kotatsu for warmth, the apartment began to sway. “Look at … Continue reading →
Posted in Costa Rica, Current events, Life, Life abroad, Retirement abroad
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Tagged Costa Rica, Earthquakes, Epicenter, Japan, Kotatsu, Puriscal, Richter scale, Seismic activity, The Pacific Ring of Fire, Tokyo
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A few weeks ago, I received an email from Bloggers Unite, inviting me to write about the importance of compassion. “This is an event,” the email said, “created by social media geeks and bloggers.” Why not? I thought. Compassion is … Continue reading →
Posted in Blogs and blogging, Current events, Life, Politics
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Tagged Bloggers, Bloggers Unite, Compassion, Compassionate Conservatism, Dalai Lama, Fame, George W Bush, happiness, social media geeks
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