Yikes! What is in my shoe wiggling around my toes?

I have in my retirement years, along with the blessing of living a pura vida lifestyle a short walk from the Pacific ocean and the tranquil Playa Bejuco, started a regimen of walking every morning to rev up my heart rate, increase the flow of oxygen to the brain (they say that helps ward off dementia) and hopefully shed some of the pounds brought on from the wonderful bakery items available here in Costa Rica, not to mention a very tranquil lifestyle.


Some days I just throw on my sandals and head out while Jim loads Bimbo on the golf cart and they meet me at the beach where I dump the shoes and we continue on in the sand at the waters edge.  But other days I feel the need to perform more along the lines of a runner and don my sneakers and get a little more with the program of physical fitness.  On this day I was feeling the snugness of my shorts and decided the running shoes were the ticket.


I grabbed my shoes off the garage floor, pulled on my socks, then my shoes and laced them up tight.  But wait a minute . . . what is that wiggling around my toes?  I wiggled my toes . . . it wiggled back!
Then I had a scary feeling as I remembered the stories of the many scorpions that had been found all around the house in the yard, on the porch and in the garage and even a few inside the house.  Oh NO!
I untied my shoe and carefully slid it off my foot and peered down inside the dark cave like cavity to see what it could possibly be when out popped a gecko lizard!  He looked me in the eye and then jumped out of the shoe and landed on the bench.  It was the typical scenario of not knowing whom had scared whom.

Being the photo enthusiast that I have grown to be,  my camera is always nearby so I quickly grabbed it to take a picture before the little guy scurried off.  That is when I realized that he did not appear to have a tail.  My memory of these little guys scurrying around on the ceiling of our porch seemed to recall that they did indeed have tails so back to the shoe I went to investigate further.  And there it was!  This poor little guys tail . . . amputated from his little body . . . possibly by my little toe!  Alas, poor gecko, as he scurried off into the bushes, I can only hope that it will grow back in time.   And I will continue to observe these nocturnal little creatures on the ceiling of our porch at night as they feast on the bugs and mosquitoes that we appreciate so much and wonder if I will ever again see my little friend with no tail.

To learn more about this interesting creature found in abundance here in Costa Rica click on this link
TROPICAL GECKO LIZARD  where you will also see noted under diet that they also eat SCORPIONS!  Yep, I really like having these little guys hang around. 
And also this link COMMON HOUSE GECKO where I happily learned that like many geckos, this species can lose its tail when alarmed and though fragile, the tail regenerates to its original shape if detached.

Pura Vida from Costa Rica!

Our first starfruit off of our new starfruit tree!

LOOK!  

We just picked our very first starfruit!

One of the charms of living in the wonderful tropical climate of Costa Rica is being able to grow your own tropical fruits in your backyard.  
There of course is an abundance of so many fruits and vegetables at the farmers market, on most every corner fruit stand and a great selection in the grocery stores, but there is just something about growing your own and picking it right off the tree to enjoy!

When designing the landscape of our new home we of course went all out with the many tropical flowering trees, plants and bushes that give such pleasure to the ambiance of outdoor living but also included a nice assortment of the edible varieties.


In our back yard we have planted a lovely herb garden complete with basil,  rosemary,  oregano,  peppers and even a vanilla bean vine!  Our assortment of fruit bearing trees includes a lemon and lime tree, the starfruit tree and a guanabana tree which bears a strange looking sweet fruit that is used locally to make smoothies.

I was amazed that our starfruit tree was bearing so much fruit so quickly and at such a short height,  it is only about 4 feet tall.   The limbs are loaded with flowers and when you look closely you can see how each flower is transforming into a lovely little fruit.  Some of the fruits are quiet large but still green so they need to ripen before we pick them.  The tiny little fruit pictured below is the size of a thimble.

So now that we know we will soon be blessed with a lovely crop of starfruit I guess I should start looking at some ideas on how to prepare this interesting fruit!  Let's see. . . fruit smoothies. . . well of course! . . .   fruit pizza,  fruit platter,  fruit salad,  fruit cocktail,  fruit relish,  Sangria (yum).... Let's serve it over some fish,  cook it in some bread,  saute it in a stir fry,  make a lovely sauce. . . oh the ideas are endless!  But when all else fails we can just slice it up and eat it or use it to decorate the rim of a nice fruity adult beverage!  

       Please share with me your ideas of what to do 
                        with starfruit. . . and better yet
                                  . . . come and have some with me!
                                                            
                                          PURA VIDA!