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West Indian Buckeye

West Indian Buckeye Butterfly
My Garden, Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica
I am glad that we are getting a lot more butterflies now! I had forgotten that it was mainly in June & July that the butterflies were numerous. I have a bad photo of one of these West Indian Buckeys, but this is my first good photo that shows the beauty of its coloration and design.

PREPARING NEW WEBSITE/BLOG AT WORDPRESS

I will be working on my new website at charliedoggett.net for a long time it seems, though my phone appointment with a specialist Tuesday may move me forward a little quicker. That may be when I move this blogger.com blog into WordPress. We will see. I have started a practice blog in WordPress, but it will not be the main one until they are merged there. The merging is suppose to include moving my subscriptions, but I never totally trust computers or programmers, so be prepared to sign up again if necessary!
Then I will consider moving my photo gallery into the same website so everything is together.  ¡Poco a poco! Little by little!
¡Pura Vida!
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Still Learning

20170807_120350_001'AMy Garden

 

WordPress is so much different from Joomla that it is like starting all over on website building. And I think I am a slow learner! But I will get there!

I’m having multiple menu problems and some page setup problems. Have an appointment with a tech on Tuesday. They say I can transfer my Blogger.com blog to WordPress Blog, but they have a long list of disclaimers, so we will see what happens after I build the site or maybe Tuesday. There is also the possibility of moving my SmugMug photo gallery to WordPress with similar disclaimers One thing at a time!

 

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Finding a Template

I have gone through so many templates today trying to find one that will work for me. Many looked different in the previews than they do with my copy and I still don’t know how to do a lot of actions – a slow learner!  🙂

This is my first blog in WordPress. Will not compare to Blogger just yet. Must learn first! I keep coming back to this basic free template because of the full page photo on home page. Others show a full page photo in samples, but don’t do it with my copy.

Maybe tomorrow I will choose and settle down to creating content!

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Rebuilding my Web Presence in One Location

The new Home Page image at charliedoggett.net now under construction
MY WEBSITE WILL CONTINUE TO BE PHOTO & INFORMATION RICH

I have just started rebuilding my website, meaning if will be skimpy for awhile as I learn the processes inside a WordPress Website. But I will bring to it most of the content from the old website, just presented in a better way I hope. There are several family history and cemetery articles that can be helpful to those doing family history research, along with personal stories and history and about my photography. Much of my content has been and will continue to be information for people doing research on several topics. Plus as a personal website it will continue to be partly about me, documenting my life and pointing to my interests.

MY BLOG WILL MOVE INTO MY WEBSITE
WordPress began as a blogging program and they excel at blogs. They say they can move my blogger.com blog into a new WordPress blog. We will see how they mesh. I believe that will strengthen both the blog and the website and basically blog posts become articles on my website that can be organized in categories or similar subjects as a seamless part of the site.
THEN I MOVE MY PHOTO GALLERIES INTO THE WEBSITE
WordPress has many good gallery templates and attractive presentations as well as organizing tools, though possibly not as many features as my current SmugMug Costa Rica Galleries, so it will be my last move and maybe most difficult. Though WordPress has tools to move my SmugMug galleries into WordPress and I think the same from my older PBase Gallery. Hopefully I will then have all my photos together and well organized. Plus they will be easier to use or link to in both the blog and website articles.
CONSOLIDATED
Maybe that is what it will be – consolidated – or everything in one place! And I hope more beautiful! I have been using Joomla for my web design and it is complicated and difficult to use and a lot of things I simply do not like about it. I like my web host, a friend in Nashville hosting out of his house in addition to his regular job. But now I will use one of the WordPress Hosts call DreamHost and will supposedly have more help, more plug-ins, and more possibilities! Though they host businesses and commerce and I could try to sell photos, I will not. I’ll keep my CafePress Shop and if WordPress adds 3rd party vendors of my photos without any production on my part, then maybe. But I am not in business!
ANOTHER FUN HOBBY
And maybe the best part is having another creative outlet for this strong desire to always be creating something of beauty or value. The creative part is fun! The technical stuff drives me crazy as the last few days trying to get my domain name moved over has. I almost changed my domain name to Retired in Costa Rica which will continue to be the overarching theme, but decided that I needed to stay with my domain name used since 2000 in The Gambia.
AND A NOTE ON LINKS TO MY PAGES

If you have any links to my family history pages, the Nashville Hardgrave Cemetery page or Uncle Earl’s WWII page, etc., then you will need to relink after I get the new site up and running. Links will be different.

AND SUBSCRIPTIONS TO THIS BLOG
You will most likely have to resubscribe to the blog once it is on WordPress. I will let you know in advance.
¡Pura Vida!
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Atenas Central Park to be Remodeled

Modern, open, bright, and a better performance venue in the center.
See 16 photos of proposal. 

They do not give a completion date but possibly sometime in 2018. It will be the most modern thing in town. Now if La Coopetransatenas will build a new modern bus station, we will be THE PUEBLO!
¡PURA VIDA!
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Reading

 

Just finished this book. Very good!

There are usually 2 or more books on my Kindle that I am working on, more if you count some I have started and will probably never finish. I have to “enjoy” or “get something out of” a book to continue reading it to the finish.

My favorite “little” books that I enjoy reading for pure fun are Agatha Christie mysteries. I’m now focused on finishing all the Hercule Poirot series in the recommended order of happening which is important only because some of the stories refer back to earlier stories that even figure into the details of the mystery. Then I will finish all the Miss Marple books not already read. I like her books because she is a very good storyteller with very entertaining stories that often have the element of surprise. Plus they are shorter than most “classic” books with shorter chapters, making them easier to read. Next up from her is Lord Edgware Dies. 

In addition I am trying to continue adding more of the “classics” which sometimes bore me or they are just too long, but often are the best writing. I currently have volume 1 of The Charles Dickens Collection which is just 3 books, Oliver Twist, Great Expectations, and Bleak House. I am currently almost bogged down in Oliver Twist which is a longer/bigger book than I realized, having seen at least 2 of the 4 movies made from it. And as usual a lot is left out of the movies! I remember the 2005 and 1968 movies and so decided to try the B&W 1948 movie online. I quit after 40 minutes. It is just not as complete a story or as good as reading the book, though a slow read. I intend to finish reading the real story and then may retry one or both of the more modern movie versions. We will see. I have already interrupted Oliver with one Poirot story and may do so again before finishing. Dickens is an excellent descriptive writer, almost too descriptive so that I get bogged down or bored with too much detail. But still better than that ’48 movie!  🙂

I used to read a lot of inspirational books but have found the last few I tried not so inspirational and not something I need as much now. Plus the politics of so many Christian writers now has turned me off reading anything they say. I now stick with reading the Bible every day and a few writers like C.S. Lewis or Richard Foster whom I know I can trust.

Most of my “real” or paper books are reference books on birds and other nature subjects and of course a collection of my own travel photos in little books. They are on my coffee table and something visitors can thumb through if bored.

Somehow I have not seen my reading as something to write about in the blog and that may be good because it could get bogged down in mystery plots and minutia. But reading is what I do instead of watching TV at night plus I can also read a chapter on the bus ride to Alajuela or while eating a meal, so Kindle is a travel and dining companion of sorts!  🙂  And of course I will never get through all the classics! After Dickens I may go back for more of Hemingway. I love his writing.

Books are a uniquely portable magic.
–Stephen King
Charlie Doggett
Retired (and reading) in Costa Rica
¡Pura Vida!
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Art Deco Department Store in Alajuela

A cloudy morning yesterday, Saturday, in Alajuela Centro – Llobet
A three-story huge department store – the old fashion kind
still meeting competition from the modern new malls!
And competes with Miami’s South Beach for Art Deco Design! 🙂
Alajuela, Costa Rica
And for more of Alajuela, see my Alajuela Photo Gallery

+Photos from all over Costa Rica in my gallery:  Charlie Doggett’s COSTA RICA



¡Pura vida!
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Watching Rain

I still can’t capture it raining in my camera, even with fast shutter speed, and slow is blurry. Oh well.
Believe me it is raining above and you can tell that the distant mountains are grayed over by rain.
From my deck for a late lunch, Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica 

Leaves up close are obviously wet, but you still can’t see the rain falling.
We call the rainy season “Green Season” because everything is greener.
It is my favorite time of the year! And most days it only rains 1 to 3 hours in afternoon or evening.
Atenas, Costa Rica
For photos from all over Costa Rica, see my gallery 
Just don’t expect to see it raining in any of the photos!  🙂




¡Pura Vida!
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Saw Güilas movie again today

Boy in another story “Amor de Temporada” – Fun!

 I went back to Alajuela today (Friday) to see the movie Güilas a second time. It is soooooo good! It is fabulous art and photography! It is seven stories about kids, one in each of the seven provinces of Costa Rica making it almost a travelogue movie and it is very entertaining, very funny, and very delightful as all kids are! My favorite movie of the year already!

And for those here in Costa Rica, I have decided that my favorite of the seven is “Cabin in the Watta,” a delightful story of a boy and girl in the Caribbean of Costa Rica at Puerto Viejo going fishing and bringing their catch back to Mama who runs a little Soda (small restaurant) where they help cook the fish and little plantain cakes and then share it with an old man  who then plays his banjo and sings the rhythmic caribbean song Cabin in the Watta. Plus it has the best nature photography!
If you haven’t already, see the Güilas trailer, you will like!
And unfortunately good films like Güilas are not filling the theaters and are getting pushed out by all the violence and superhero films from America like Avengers starting next week or soon and today was the first day of the newest Star Wars movie. I tried doing a selfie in front of the theater promotional display, then a friendly Tico offered to take my picture which was better. Not sure if I will see this movie, but a fun photo: 
Old Charlie Doggett with the Young Han Solo & Chewy!
Cinemark City Mall, Alajuela, Costa Rica