Category: Culture

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Extraordinary Moments from My Past

In the right light, at the right time, everything is extraordinary.

~Aaron Rose

🙂

When I searched my old photos, all made before moving to Costa Rica in 2014, I quickly chose 125 photos without even going through all and decided to stop looking. Then I made cuts down to 40 photos that had “the right light” and I considered “extraordinary” and still too many! 🙂 I arbitrarily told myself “No more than 20!” (hopefully fewer) and the last cuts were the most difficult! 🙂 So forgive me for doing a post with 20 photos, but the chosen ones are all below in a gallery where you can click an image to see it larger. The feature photo in the header is my favorite Clouded Leopard shot from Nashville Zoo and this sample below for the email recipients (who have to click “Read More” to continue) is one of many extraordinary shots from 2 safaris in the Masai Mara . And these are not necessarily favorites but seem to fit in these two locations. 🙂

African Elephants taking their Children to bed for the night, Masai Mara Reserve, Kenya.
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Six on Saturday

One of the other blogs I’ve encountered because of their “like” of mine was “The Compulsive Gardener” who copied another blog’s “Six on Saturday” garden blogging phenomena with her own “Six on Saturday–A Flurry of Flowers.” If you want to learn more, go to the originator’s blog: The Propagator. Or to his 6 on Sat collection and Participant Guide. I don’t plan to do this every Saturday, but thought it would be fun to do it at least one time to help propagate the idea! 🙂 And ohhh, is it hard to limit myself to just 6! 🙂 But here is 6 of my favorite from My Garden Gallery:

1. Triqui-Traque or Flamevine Closeup

Triqui-Traque or Flamevine

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Old Enough to Read Fairytales

The WingFeather Saga

You may not know that my favorite kind of books or stories are the ones written partly for children or maybe it is “the young at heart!” JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis and JK Rowling. I was about to start re-reading Tolkien (the most difficult of the above) when through the sharing of friends in the Goodreads club/blog I discovered The WingFeather Saga (link to author’s description of the books). They are children’s books in this general fantasy/adventure style of the above three mentioned authors, with it quickly obvious that the author, Andrew Peterson, admires CS Lewis the most and would like to create a Narnia.

The 4 Books of The Wingfeather Saga

My Review of Sorts . . .

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Slowing Down

“There is more to life than increasing its speed.”

– Mohandas K. Gandhi

So what does an old man “Retired in Costa Rica” do with his time? Especially since cancer and the dreaded cancer treatment forced a slowdown? In short, I have slowed down! And those who know me well may find that hard to believe. 🙂 It is easier said than done for the hyper-active little boy who is sort of who I am. So this blog post will be My “Essay on Slowing Down” or more accurately on “what it is like for me to slow down.” I have now learned to “Enjoy the Moments” here in Costa Rica and hopefully I can share the joy of living slow in Costa Rica! 🙂

My Terrace Where I “Enjoy the Moments” Daily
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Resilience

From my “Merriam-Webster Word of the Day” email today:

resilience – noun | rih-ZIL-yunss

  • the capability of a strained body to recover its size and shape after deformation caused especially by compressive stress

  • an ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change

    • And this is the effort or goal of my body right now, much longer after the radiation treatment than I expected, as my trip the last week of July showed.

    For the rest of the year I have only 2 trips, both very relaxing places that I have already explored, so I plan to truly “take it easy” in September on the Caribbean or Atlantic Coast of Costa Rica in maybe my most relaxed hotel here, Banana Azul. I have reserved “The Howler Suite,” like a tree house on the second floor with a large private deck overlooking the forest and the beach where I plan to hangout more this time, with my “hikes” limited to beach walks and I may even use room service for some meals in my room and use the in-room Jacuzzi this time! 🙂 I was “too busy” the last time there! 🙂 Maybe read two books this time!

    Christmas week I’m back on the Pacific side at another favorite hotel, Cristal Ballena in Uvita, overlooking the bay of whales and the “Whale’s Tail Beach” (feature photo at top) along with a lot of birds right outside my room and with even better food! As much as I love where I live, I function better with a change of scenery every couple of months or so. And I believe both these places will help me immensely with my continued efforts of “Resilience” after cancer! 🙂

    Two Trees beachside at Banana Azul Caribe say “resilience” to me.
    And “Feature Photo” at top is a Pacific View at Cristal Ballena, Uvita.

    “The oak fought the wind and was broken, the willow bent when it must and survived.”

    ― Robert Jordan

    🙂

    ¡Pura Vida!

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    Playa Pan Dulce

    One of several beaches below the rainforest lodge last week, this one is the “Surfing Beach” or where the surfers hang out. The beach name translates to English as Sweet Bread Beach, which I won’t try to explain now. 🙂 I liked Matapolo Beach better because the Scarlet Macaws hung out there! Or the hotel’s beach at the end of Pacific Trail shown earlier.

    Playa Pan Dulce

    I’ll just do a slide show of the 5 shots of Playa Pan Dulce . . .

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    “King on the Mountain?”

    If you are anywhere near my age you may remember a childhood game where, usually boys, would claim a high-spot in the land or an object as “The Mountain” and one boy stand on it, declaring himself “King of the Mountain.” And though there may have been rules, it was usually brute strength that made you ‘king.”

    Yellow-headed Caracara on top of tree being attacked by a Fiery-billed Aracari.

    That is exactly what was going on between this Yellow-headed Caracara and Fiery-billed Aracari. In this photo (overcast day & bad light) the Aracari is diving at the Caracara with his much bigger bill. And though the Aracari took over the top perch of the tree at one point, the Yellow-headed Caracara came back with his much stronger claws or talons (much like a Hawk’s) and remained the dominant “King on the Mountain!” 🙂

    Though not one of my highest bird count locations, even on the Osa, I did get photos of 18 species of birds and will do a post later today or tomorrow featuring them with just one shot of each. And if I go there again, I’ll make sure I’m healthier and able to actively search for more birds! 🙂

    ¡Pura Vida!

    See my Yellow-headed Caracara Gallery.

    See my Fiery-billed Aracari Gallery.

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    Getting Social at Dinner

    Some of you know that I prefer traveling solo; maybe it’s selfish or maybe it’s the results of 20 years of marriage. 🙂 I also enjoy eating solo, reading my Kindle or just observing what surrounds me. Occasionally in the informal lodges people invite me to join them at their table and never wanting to offend, I often accept. This group from Florida asked me to join them on the second night and I think I told them I would, but for dinner only, since I liked to read at breakfast and lunch. They have also invited others to their table like this couple from St. Thomas with a teen son. It’s been interesting as long as I ignore political statements! 🙂 Our waitress made this image on a couple of our cellphones for us last night.

    Like pretty much everywhere in Costa Rica (except San Jose) all our meals here are open air, just under a roof because of mucho rain! 🙂

    ¡Pura Vida!

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    I’M HERE! — In the Rainforest!

    I got here in time to dump my stuff in my cabin before a delicious lunch that I was able to eat all of! Yay! 🙂 It’s overcast with some scattered showers but I explored the trails a little and scheduled 4 activities this week with the rest of time exploring on my own! And the 4? Well, boring old-man activities compared to some available here: Morning & Afternoon Birding hikes in 2 totally different locations, a sunset/night hike looking for night creatures, and a morning Primary Rainforest 3-hour conservation hike. The rest of the week is photographing a lot, resting, and finally eating real food for a week! My radiation taste is not totally gone, but greatly improved and I’m eating just about everything now! 🙂

    My thatched-roof open-air hut with a cool breeze off the Pacific now! 🙂
    The Pacific Ocean View from my room porch on an overcast day.

    I’ve seen a Crested Caracara (on the road here), and here: lots of Scarlet Macaws, lots of little birds not identified and a family of Spider Monkeys, all by my thatched roof cabin. And I’m looking forward to happy hour snacks before a great dinner. There are about 25 tourists in this lodge (from all over the world including children), which is not bad with Covid still raging around the globe! And it is a 45 minute drive (fording streams) from the primitive landing strip in Puerto Jiménez to the lodge or if you must, an 8-hour+ drive from the San Jose Airport. 

    On the Road to Bosque Del Cabo.

    Bosque del Cabo Website

    And finally . . .

    My Rainforest “Internet Cafe” for the Week!

    The “Boa Bar” at Bosque Del Cabo Rainforest Lodge . . .

    Your nightly report from the rainforest will be uploaded each afternoon from the above poolside location! And oh yes, the internet connection is great (at least today!).

    🙂

    ¡Pura Vida!

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    “TRANQUILO” – My Favorite Spanish Word!

    Tranquilo – calm, quiet, peaceful, relaxed, laid-back, unfazed – are some of the English words the online Spanish Dictionary (spanishdict.com) lists as equivalents.

    Above: Tranquilo Sunrise at Macaw Lodge, Carara NP
    Feature photo at top: Tranquilo Sunset on Calle Barroeta, Atenas

    At first I wrote a lengthy essay on my need for “tranquilo” and how it has changed me, then decided it was “too much.” 🙂 So I’ll just let the photos speak for . . .

    A “TRANQUILO” life of “Retired in Costa Rica.”

    ¡Pura Vida!

    Blog, Website, Gallery, Bookstore

    Or Just the Photos

    🙂