making coffee

Hi there
For those of you who know me, I have one real addiction and one that I don't feel anywhere near giving up, nor do I feel guilty about it.... that is coffee. Here in Ecuador, coffee is grown. The other day a friend of mine offered me the opportunity to pick/harvest coffee. So with happiness in the opportunity to make a Xmas present for my partner, I went out and picked coffee with the kids. What I never new is making good coffee is quite the procedure. First thing which is obvious is the picking. You can only pick coffee berries that are red or mostly red and none of the berries are ripe at the same time so you see the coffee but it is not quite ready and you have to go back later for more. How unsatisfying is that? I am of the mind of all or none and it is difficult to get over that. Then when you think you bucket is full, it is not quite. But being the over achiever that I am, I had to get as much as possible. So I had my back pack less than half full. I was saddened because I though that it was so little. But not really considering all the work for later. When that was done. One person said let the berries soak in water for three days and the other said let soak without the berries for three days. So I split it. After a day and a half, I removed the berries from the beans with Rachelles help and it took a couple of hours to do, while watching a movie. The berry is hard on the outside and the bean is in a kind of sweet jelly/slime. When ripe, they easily pop out when squished. There is a kind of dye that is released from the berry and onto you hands. That is the cost for you labor of love and addiction to coffee. Then, the the beans are set out to dry for another three days and then you peal off a skin like outer coating and then you can roast them to the degree you like in terms of darkness/bitterness and strength of flavor. We are at the drying stage. I am told that we will find our happy point with the roasting of the beans for favorite flavor. We will wait for that when Rob comes back so that we can explore that together. We both love coffee. I really love and miss starbuck Cinnamon Dolce, that is the best ever. I recommend that as a real treat if you have the opportunity. Have one for me, please. That is one of the things that I miss living here. But I will create my own specialty now that I am making my own, organic real coffee.
One of the things that I will clarify is that we make our own gifts for Xmas for each other , hence the importance of finding/creating or processing a gift for Rob. What we found out when we were really poor and living in Canada, was that when we had absolutely no money for gifts, we made them for the kids, and it was far more pleasurable. We were far more resourceful and creative in our gift giving. We recycled more and we looked for what they really needed and would like rather than a quick fix of a bought thing to get you off the gift giving hook. We were far more into Xmas and were really looking for the happiness of the kids when they opened their gifts because the gifts were a labor of love and the kids were also the same. The gift giving become almost more than the receiving in terms of pleasure. When that person said thank you with a smile and a hug it meant much more. The kids really appreciated the gifts more and because we didn't have cable tv the kids didn't have the toy companies telling them what were the presents that were the "best". So now it has become a tradition in our family. We also are a bit of "greenies" in that we all felt bad that a tree had to give its life for us so that we would decorate it and then toss it out without a thought when we were done with it. Life is life even when it is a tree. Sooooo, Rob created a really fun and silly ideas to deal with holidays and special days. It all started with getting bored with traditional ideas. When the kids were little and we decided not to embrace conventionality with being ADD, that Dane was the first to have a birthday after the "labeling" of ADD. Rob told him the birthday platypus came and had dropped off a few gifts for his birthday, then it ended up with the easter Kangaroo. One year, we were in an arts and crafts show and Rob and the kids fell in love with these very cool kites from Indonesia and traded some art for a kite. We would do that if there were things that we liked, Rachelle was especially good at negotiating and trading. So Rob and I were faced with not wanting a tree and not wanting to wrap the gifts. Rob being resourceful and fun, hung the "butterfly" kite from the ceiling and hung a bed sheet from the butterfly to be a pouch and stuffed all the presents in there. The next morning was soooooo much fun and filled with laughter as the kids dived into the pouch. Since then the butterfly has migrated here and unfortunately has not made much of an appearance as the last two Xmases have been on the coast and it would have been broken if it were transported. But the memories are good and that is the most important. For us, Xmas is still important although maybe not for the same reason as others as our daughter, Rachelle was our Xmas present and that is the best gift ever along with our son.
So, we have a job to do of creating Xmas gifts again and trying to be clever again. You know it is not always a date on a calendar that is the importance thing but the entire time that you share or don't share. Everyday is a celebration of life, I guess that is my point. I don't want to celebrate and appreciate life on only one day, I want it to be everyday.
Embrace you uniqueness and enjoy you eccentricities
Robin

a coooooo

Hi there
We are just fine. I have received a few e-mails in regards to our safety. Being in this little town is better right now. Apparently the president decided that the military and the police needed a cut back in wages. Not a smart thing to do when they are the ones keeping you safe and you citizens somewhat safe. I have not seen whether Correa is still the president today but we will know in the next several days whether he is or not. Ecuador has had 12 presidents in the last 10 years with Correa being the longest on the seat. I understand that it is a kind of pass time to bet on how long the president will last......
I understand that in the larger cities of Quito and Guyaquil there has been looting and that they had closed the airports. In the news that everyone is playing in the streets, they had done the traditional form of protest by burning tires in Puyo. I don't quite get this action because all it does is pollute the air and create a big hot fire.......
For a while we noticed there were no police in the streets and then after a short time they showed up again. The banks and schools had closed and apparently, that is the norm for this kind of action. As a rule there is always police at the schools or in their areas. They should really do this in Canada too to help keep out the drug dealers from selling to the kids. The banks here always have security guards posted and they are usually ex-military, so they were present when the banks were closing.
All we did was increase lock down and security in the house and had the pepper spray and tazers at the ready. Apparently, pepper spray and tasers are illegal, but you can always buy them. I bought the pepper spray in a large outlet store much like home hardware, and they were blatantly on display at the front tills. So, I guess it is not that illegal..... Anyway, we slept well and woke up a little bit tired. It was very quiet in the streets last night.... so there you go. As we were walking in the streets yesterday during the day, when I asked everyone they all said the same thing "no pasa nada" and have a great big smile, as to say it was a big joke. That is the answer for living here in Ecuador.
Be kind to each other....
Robin