Charlie, Author at Retired in Costa Rica

November 19, 2016

Maybe My 2 Most Frequent Visitors

These two I see from my terrace every day and possibly more often than any other birds.

Rufous-naped Wren
Seen at breakfast from my terrace, Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica

White-ringed Flycatcher
Seen at breakfast from my terrace, Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica
Similar to the very common
Social Flycatcher, Great Kiskadee & Boat-billed Flycatcher.
But white on head makes a complete ring around his head
and Kiskadee & Boat-billed are noticeably larger with larger bills.

This Morning’s Garden

Each morning I walk through my garden and then eat breakfast on my terrace. Today I liked:

There are many more blooming of course, especially the red ginger and porter weed all the time, but not sure I’ve shown the above recently, so enjoy! I love life in the natural, slow lane in Costa Rica! With no car! 🙂

¡Pura Vida!

See also my photo gallery call Flora and Forests for more flower photos.

November 14, 2016

Biggest Moon or Magic Moon?

The news media told us the moon would be bigger tonight than it has been since 1948! (November 14, 2016) Well, it was definitely a full moon, and big, and bright! But since not close to our horizon when I tried to photograph, it did not seem that huge to me. But for the “magic” see my second image where it appears that I photographed the moon and the earth together! I’m assuming that is a reflection of the moon somehow in my camera, but interesting! 🙂

Shooting directly at the moon & cropping for this position.

Pointing camera away from moon I get the earth too? Magic? Reflection?
And you can even see a star in the distance. I don’t know how I did it!
Cool! Bazaar! Weird! Fun!

Here’s a better full moon shot I made in Nashville a few years ago.

And a shot of a quarter moon sitting on Lower Broadway in Nashville

November 13, 2016

Montezuma Oropendola

Montezuma Oropendola
Across street from my house, Atenas, Costa Rica

Read article on Montezuma Oropendola on Wikipedia & click for sound of their bubbly song and see photo of their cool, long nests that prevent monkeys from stealing eggs.

I usually go to exotic birding lodges for these guys but now they may be taking up residency in our neighborhood of Roca Verde in Atenas, Costa Rica. Kind of neighbors I like! 🙂

And I have better photos from other locations on my BIRDS PHOTO GALLERY (in both the Costa Rica and Nicaragua galleries, including a nests photo)

November 11, 2016

Heliconia or “Lobster Claw”

There are 194 species of Heliconia and most must live here!
Atenas, Costa Rica

A Pleasant Evening in Atenas, Costa Rica!

Overlooking my house on a cloudy sunset around 5:15.
“And all is well on the western front!” 🙂
Yep, the sun shines from between 5 & 5:30 AM to the same in PM
Every day, year around – 12 hours of dark & 12 hours of light! Nice!
That’s because we are close to the equator. Same sunrise/sunset daily.

And to my fellow Americans, forgive me for saying I was ashamed last night. The election did not go the way I thought was best, but God just may have something much better in store for us! So today I posted on Facebook the following quote and Scripture verse that better reflects my faith:

“God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble.
So we will not fear when earthquakes come and
the mountains crumble into the sea.” Psalm 41:1

¡Pura Vida!

November 9, 2016

Embarrassing to be an American

You guys who live in the states need to be aware that it is not easy to explain to people in or from other countries why America does stupid things like elect Donald Trump President. Today (day after the election) I have had questions like “What’s wrong with your country?” or “¿Por qué Trump? Está loco.” (Why Trump? He is crazy.) or “I hope you did not vote for Trump!” “What will happen to your country?”

One Tico friend sent me a cartoon drawing with the quote “We survived Bush and we will survive Trump too.” I do hope you guys in the states do survive Trump, and that you are prepared with some answers when you travel to other countries, especially Hispanic or Muslim countries. I will resist the temptation to rage about your right-wing politics & religion, but I am so glad I no longer live there! Blessings on you who do! “And this too shall pass!”

November 9, 2016

Last of My Biography Books

I have finally finished condensing many years of scrapbooks into 4 printed books. I also did a photo of each page of each original scrapbook. The original scrapbooks are all destroyed and I’m rid of about 30 boxes. My goal of simplifying life to little or no “stuff” has mostly been reached. Of course some stuff is needed and a few things you just want. But wow! It is a great feeling to not be loaded with so much stuff collected over a lifetime and now no one has to go through it when I die. 🙂 This last book is about 2006 to 2014 when I moved to Costa Rica: