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Over the river and through the woods




A stunning display of Costa Rican coffee/(tea?)-making technology
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My grandma invited us (me, Mom and Robbyn) out to her place for pre-knee-replacement surgery pizza and beer on Saturday night. Ok, well the knee-replacement isn't happening until next month and is, for the most part, unrelated to the pizza and beer that were consumed.

Sometimes I forget that my grandma is so old and I often have to stop myself from telling her about certain things that I do. She's just so chill -- I mean, for an 81-year-old. Definitely my favorite person related to my father.

She sprang for two large pizzas for 5 people (my Great Aunt Lois was there as well). If you've known me for awhile, then you know...I'm not even that into pizza, but Grandma told me and Robbyn, "Ok girls, I hope this pizza is gonna be enough for y'all, because that's all there is...until the coffee, cookies and ice cream later...oh well I guess if y'all are still hungry I could whip up some ham sandwiches. Oh and I have caramels, too."

You so crazy, Gram. We ended up leaving a few hours later with almost an entire pizza leftover.

One of these days, I think I'm gonna make a video of a gathering of my dad's relatives and another video of a gathering of my mom's family -- it'd be bonkers. I mean, my dad is related to people who have names like "Jimmy-Wayne" and who think that a pizza with ham and pineapple is "exotic", while my mom's side has never really fully grasped the concepts of "inside voice" and "personal space". I almost fear the day when both sides will finally be forced to meet face-to-face, as the universe may just collapse in on itself.

Anyhow, my Uncle George (Papa Brooks' brother-in-law) travels to Costa Rica on a regular basis. He brings back Costa Rican woodwork. I got a kick out of the little souvenir pictured above, which, I've been told, is used to make coffee -- but mostly just resembles a pain in the ass.

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