We’re sopping wet in Costa Rica. The backyard becomes a deserted playground. The ground squishes with every step, and it doesn’t get much time between rains to dry out.

Give my daughter a little bit of space, and she can live in a fairyland - wiling away hours with a bit of dirt, a garden tool, a small cup to put things in. But during the last months of this rainy season, she goes out less. Garden parties get abandoned and left for days, then weeks, then months. Just sitting there patiently waiting for us to come back and play.

Although yards are lovely here, the truth is, it’s hard to play on them for 1/2 the year because it gets so muddy. Everyone gravitates toward patches of cement instead. Covered patios are a must. Since I don’t have much of one now, we shall wait for the Trade Winds to dry out our little patch of earth so we can once again frolic about like the little fairies and nymphs we truly are.