From left to right: Tia (Aunt) Edna, Socorro (their cousin), Tia Paulette, Mama (Marjorie).

What was I doing in Costa Rica?

I recently traveled to Costa Rica with my husband, parents, siblings, and their children for two fabulous weeks of visiting lots of family (some of whom I had not seen in 35 years), sight seeing and of course eating lots of wonderful food. My mother was born in Costa Rica and and my dad met her there while he was on a 4-H exchange trip in 1956. They were married in San Jose, Costa Rica in 1957 and the primary purpose of our trip was to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary in the country where they were married. Most of my Costa Rican family lives in or near Cartago which is about 15 miles west of the capitol city, San Jose.

June 29, 2007 - Lankester Botanical Gardens

These first two pictures show Greenbush and Nancy admiring orchids at Lankester Botanical Gardens, Cartago, Costa Rica. The gardens were established by British orchid enthusiast Charles Lankester who was a friend of my grandfather. Mr. Lankester gave my mother the orchids for her bridal bouquet. I have heard about Mr. Lankester for years so it was a treat to see the results of his work and research. The beautiful red flower is an example of a flower in the bromeliad family. A familar bromeliad is the pineapple.