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!

    Photo Gallery of Bosque del Cabo Trip

    As much as I hate to omit it, I was not well during my week on the Osa Peninsula, still tired or low on energy with limited taste due to 7 weeks of radiation treatment and not my usual “gung ho” self! I chose to not talk about how I felt and I still got a lot of photos, and some are pretty good in spite of my limited mobility on the trails (I fell twice). You can find my efforts in the Photo Gallery, under Costa Rica TRIPS, or click the seascape image below or this web address: https://charliedoggett.smugmug.com/TRIPS/2021-07-22-28-Bosque-del-Cabo-Osa-Peninsula

    Click Image to See My GALLERY: Bosque del Cabo Rainforest Lodge 2021.

    “Climb up on some hill at sunrise.  Everybody needs perspective once in a while, and you’ll find it there.”

    ~Robb Sagendorph

    ¡Pura Vida!

    🙂

    Overdoing it? Exhaustion?

    Feeling tired is a common experience. It can be caused by disrupted sleep habits, a change in routine, or the appearance of stressors in your life. No matter the reason, tiredness can push us to our limits emotionally and mentally. In some cases, extreme tiredness sets in. This is called exhaustion.

    ~https://www.webmd.com/

    Or in my case, I think I was just doing more physically than my healing body was ready for. When I finally got home Wednesday night, after a delayed flight and 7 days of hiking up and down hills through the rainforest, I collapsed in my bed and slept for 11 hours! Of course I had errands to run yesterday and then today I’ve just chilled, not leaving the house, with laundry my most strenuous activity. 🙂

    Tree on the Creek Trail, Bosque del Cabo Rainforest Lodge

    I still recommend Bosque del Cabo Rainforest Lodge, but now add the disclaimer that it is an “active place for healthy people” that requires a lot of walking just to and from your cabin, not to mention all the trails and other activities, etc. My cellphone said I walked more than 14,500 steps one day – which normally is very good! But I was not healthy enough for that, not fully recovered from cancer treatment. But I will be soon! And by the September trip to the Caribe, I expect to be my normal active self, enjoying more walks wherever I am. 🙂 Pura vida!

    “If you would know strength and patience, welcome the company of trees.”

    ― Hal Borland

    And oh yes, more photos yet to come from this trip!

    ¡Pura Vida!

    “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

    🙂

    Fern on the Rocks?

    Along my “Country Lane” extension of Avenida 8 road they at one point cut through rock to make the road and just a week or so ago it looked like this:

    On yesterday’s walk I noticed that much of that rock was now covered in a new fern to me that the best I can tell from an internet search is the Delta Maidenhair Fern – Adiantum Raddianum (Wikipedia link). Please correct me if you know better. It was the closest match on the web and I don’t have a fern book! 🙂 Here’s what much of the rock looks like now, followed by a small gallery of more images. Very beautiful plant to me!

    Continue reading “Fern on the Rocks?”

    My CANCER Adventure Book

    Mostly my real time journal and blog posts plus photos and other information that is meant to be inspirational for someone else going through cancer, especially my specific Parotid Tumor Cancer with 68 pages and 87 photos, including a few of my nature posts during that time. 🙂

    I also emphasize the value of nature in healing for me. And the title “True Grit” is explained in the book and on back cover, kind of funny! 🙂

    You can see a free electronic preview at https://www.blurb.com/b/10778284-true-grit Or click the cover image below:

    Me in front of Radiation Machine on book cover.

    You can also browse through all my nature photo books while in the bookstore or click on Bookstore on the menu bar above.

    ¡Pura Vida!

    Flowers! – what more could I ask?

    When I walk through my garden of by others in the neighborhood, I think of Victor Hugo’s statement in Les Misérables . . .

    “A garden to walk in and immensity to dream in–what more could he ask? A few flowers at his feet and above him the stars.”

    ― Victor Hugo

    Torch Ginger or El bastón de emperador, My Garden contrasting dead and vibrant one.

    See my little Gallery of Saturday’s walk among the flowers, 8 in my garden and 3 from the neighborhood . . .

    Continue reading “Flowers! – what more could I ask?”

    Butterfly & Holiday/Health Report

    Like me recovering from cancer and the just-as-bad cancer treatment, this pitiful-looking damaged butterfly is still flying and eating! 🙂 He is a Ilus swallowtail or Dual-spotted swallowtail, Mimoides ilus (Wikipedia link) and note that it is very similar to another butterfly that I originally labeled this as, the Emerald-patched Cattleheart. The main difference is the Cattleheart has emerald or light-green spots on the upper wings instead of white as this Swallowtail has. (And by the way, Cattlehearts are in the Swallowtail family!) See my Dual-spotted Swallowtail Gallery or all of my CR Butterflies. Note that in the additional photos below this feature image there is one of a non-damaged Dual-spotted that got in my house on the window screen before I opened it and let him fly out.

    Damaged Dual-spotted Swallowtail, Atenas, Costa Rica

    And some more shots including of one not damaged (+ health update) . . .

    Continue reading “Butterfly & Holiday/Health Report”

    Post-Radiation Funk

    Some have written to see how I am since I’ve only posted twice since completing my radiation treatments (radiotherapy). Simply put . . .

    I haven’t felt like writing!

    Tomorrow will be two weeks since they rang a bell and showered me with gifts and a certificate and even my mask to take home after the last session of radiotherapy. Now here’s my update on the last two weeks . . .

    Continue reading “Post-Radiation Funk”

    San Jose Finale

    Final for this trip or purpose here, but I will be back! Everyone who lives in the country has to go to the big city sometimes. 🙂

    And because nature walks have helped me get through this cancer treatment more than maybe anything else, I chose nature shots from my last couple of days here. And for those who don’t know, today was my last radiation treatment and that is why I can return to Atenas and enjoy the nature there while taking possibly months to recover from the side effects of radiation. I will report on that progress along with the joys of nature in my little coffee farming town of Atenas. Pura vida! And now, MY LAST NATURE SHOTS FROM THIS SAN JOSE TRIP . . .

    Continue reading “San Jose Finale”