I took my camera out for a later breakfast today and though earlier is better, I did get shots of these three familiar friends. I include two of the dove because front view and back view is always different! Click image to see larger.
Tres amigos
Gray-capped Flycatcher
White-winged Dove
Melodious Blackbird
White-winged Dove
Hope is the thing with feathers
‘Hope’ is the thing with feathers – That perches in the soul – And sings the tune without the words – And never stops – at all –
And sweetest – in the Gale – is heard – And sore must be the storm – That could abash the little Bird That kept so many warm –
I’ve heard it in the chillest land – And on the strangest Sea – Yet – never – in Extremity, It asked a crumb – of me.
The other day I grabbed a banana from the fruit bowl on my counter to cut up on a morning bowl of cereal and there was a chunk missing. I did not think Geckos ate fruit nor any insect was big enough to do that – so it is still a mystery or I was wrong about Geckos! For now my bananas are in the frig! 🙂
For the second time in 4 years living in Costa Rica I am enduring the disgrace of a robbery that simple precautions could have prevented. You may remember that the first one was during my first year here and I went with the local community band to photograph them marching in the Puntarenas Carnival Parade leaving my camera bag by my chair in a sidewalk cafe afterwards to experience its disappearance! Someone said that I paid my “Gringo Tax” by not protecting my bag in a very crowded place. Well, I’m paying it a second time this week.
1. I always leave my phone & Kindle on kitchen counter when home (or did)
It is the center of my house and I can hear the phone ring from there while anywhere else in my little house. And the Kindle is always there for me to put on the meal tray and take out on the terrace to eat every meal, my main dining companion! So a very convenient location. PROBLEM: In the center of the house those popular electronics can be seen by anyone “casing” my house from any of the windows except my bedroom and the bathroom. So a thief looking for an easy grab has found it with a quick glance into my house from driveway or anywhere else. So I will no longer leave them there.
In the photo I was in the office in that desk chair within 10 to 12 feet of the kitchen counter when items were lifted, plus my sunglasses are on that hall shelf near the door
2. I have not been locking my doors, seeing no reason.
About 8 pm I got up from my desk and went to the bathroom which is next to my outside door. I found the outside door was standing open and was puzzled with no wind yet to blow it open and I was sure I had closed it well. As I go back by the kitchen counter I discover the two electronic items missing and now know that I have been robbed silently within 10 feet of where I was sitting with my computer. At least my cameras were in that room with me and not touched nor the laptop computer! The door stays locked now!
3. Later I discover my “cool” reflective sunglasses missing also
Well, they make me feel younger if not look younger and they work and are cheap at only one mil, about $1.75. The photo is of the replacement pair I got yesterday after replacing my cell phone. And as soon as I discovered these missing, I knew it was a young man who walked in and took the 3 items quietly while I worked on my computer enriching my photo gallery with some 1998 Kenya Safari photos! 🙂 These are the kind of sunglasses young men in Costa Rica love to wear! Hope he enjoys them!
4. Further indignity – he/they tossed my Kindle!
Yep! the next morning my neighbor Jorge was out walking before me and he found my Kindle tossed in the drainage ditch near our gate. They evidently decided they could not get much if any money for a very worn, 5 year old small Kindle that can be purchased new for $49 and as leaving our property they just tossed it in the ditch. Glad it did not rain that night which would have ruined it for sure. But I was ready to replace it anyway. They say the battery lasts 3 to 5 years and you don’t get new batteries but just a new Kindle, so at 5 years it is about gone anyway. But still! Stealing it and then throwing it away!? My baby! I’m incensed! 🙂
5. I reported and learned it was 3 young men who hit another house also that night and got away when discovered
I reported the theft to my landlord and the Roca Verde Homeowners Association and front gate guards who reported it to the police. And like some Americans, some of the Ticos here immediately blamed it on Nicaraguans (foreigners) rather than admit there is evil in all of us.
And life goes on despite the indignities we somehow must put up with occasionally! I am actually looking forward to a new Kindle that will be a little bit larger (1 inch) for my old eyes! 🙂 And I’m healthier now because I forgave whoever stole my phone and pray that they will be relieved of their poverty soon! Poverty is the real evil we need to focus on! ¡Pura Vida!
For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
~Matthew 6:14-15
Trying out my new cell phone camera on my vista. Hope it is as good as the old one. Hard to tell here.
Last week they finally began the construction of the new remodeled Central Park Atenas with the shocking removal of several palm trees in the central circle which will be enlarged and a Kiosko built – that’s a Band Shell or Gazebo for most Americans. After the structure is built, new trees will be added, then they will work out through the four quadrants with new sidewalks, benches, recreational activities, gardens, etc.
Across the street from the park on city property in front of the University Extension Building (old high school) there is a presentation of 4 large signs depicting the designs for the remodeled park. See the photo gallery below for those signs and a couple of shots I made of the construction area from a distance. Or they have a Facebook Page presenting the remodeling for more drawings and a slideshow.
Remodeling Atenas Central Park
Click any image to see enlarged and to begin slide show of larger images.
This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it.
~Psalm 118:24 Living Bible
Photo above of sunset on Calle Barroeta, Atenas, Costa Rica tonight just before dinner with the Maizan’s. Below are some shots with Paul & Keri Maizan, their daughter Kara and her nanny at their vacation rental house in Atenas. We had a very nice Tico Dinner prepared by their chef of the evening Guillermo. A not-touristy vacation in Atenas!
The Bronzed Cowbird above fooled me at first because his eyes or irises are not red, but then I read that the juvenile has a dark or black iris. ID is always a challenge but also part of the fun. Both of these birds joined me for breakfast this morning around 6:30 or later, along with a Kiskadee and a Yigüirro.
Below is the Blue-crowned Motmot, one of my favorite birds here. But I have had better shots than this. Here he is in the shadows and a good way off with his magnificent tail partly hidden and it appears broken. Still, this is part of the joy of living in the tropics! And my terrace!Plus this morning is practice for tomorrow’s trip! 🙂 Another post to follow this, introducing my next trip.
Blue-crowned Motmot
Blue-crowned Motmot with one tail feather missing
And since the header format cropped off his tail, here is another shot of the Bronzed Cowbird:
Everyone likes birds. What wild creature is more accessible to our eyes and ears, as close to us and everyone in the world, as universal as a bird?
Variegated Squirrel – La ardilla centroamericana (Sciurus variegatoides)
Yeah, I know, that’s what old men do – watch squirrels in the park! 🙂 But I haven’t done that until recently and snapped a few shots with my phone camera. These are called Variegated Squirrels in English, the most common squirrel all over Costa Rica. I hope that in the future I will sit in the park more whether watching people or squirrels or just relaxing or reading. It is a good place to be! To be in nature and to be in community. And eventually we will have a newly remodeled park which will necessitate more photos! 🙂
Note that we also have a lot of birds in the park also with parrots coming to the tops of one group of palms at one particular time of year and we also have had some Montezuma Oropendola nests in another part of the small park. I’m hoping they keep the trees with the remodeling!
Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.
~John Muir
Rough translation of sign in park: “Celebrate your life, take care of nature”
This vacant lot looks like it is being made into a parking lot and if so, parkers will have the colorful mural on one side of where they park. We don’t have a lot of parking lots in Atenas with the old-fashion expectation of parking on the street, but as we grow and more people get cars, parking lots are becoming a necessity. I’m repeating the image here since the use in the large header crops too much off the ends of my panorama shot, plus with photos inside the article you can click to see fullscreen:
And the meaning of the mural? I don’t try to interpret art. I just like that it is bright and colorful – representative of the spirit of Atenas! 🙂
A large number of expats living in Atenas depend upon a local Facebook Group called Atenas Costa Rica Info and the administrator recently asked for photo submissions to be used as the header on the group page – photos made of or in Atenas. I submitted about 10 and 2 of mine placed in the top 10 as voted on by local users of the group. The above sunset photo placed 3rd and the below dancers placed 5th in the contest.
And the winner is . . .
And the winning photo was of this Oro Tree in the front yard of one of the local expats, Walter Wengrowich. It is beautiful and a good choice, representative of Atenas! I’m glad he won and owns such a beautiful tree!
“Photography is the story I fail to put into words.”
— Destin Sparks
Sometimes the people watching the parade are the most interesting thing seen! 🙂 The family portrait above tells a story, I think! And of course the children are always the most photogenic! This slideshow is my last on this year’s Independence Day Parade. See if you can find the 4 people with eyes glued to their device screens (2 are above). Cell phones dominate people around the world! 🙂
And next year I’m adding a new parade by going to the Caribe during Carnival! I’ll photograph the smaller one in Puerto Viejo and not the big one in Limon where I’ve heard it can be dangerous. I don’t want to lose my cameras again! (I was at the Puntarenas Carnival Parade my first year here when my camera bag was snatched from a sidewalk cafe.) But anyway, more parades coming!
¡Larga vida a Costa Rica!
Slideshow: Independence Day Parade Atenas – Audience
