 |
| The Triquitraque is in 2nd period of blooming just in time for my visitors coming this week! Atenas, Costa Rica |
 |
| Just sorry that most of my others are not blooming this week. But this is colorful! Atenas, Costa Rica |
Aloe Vera Blooming?
 |
| Aloe Vera with Bloom My Garden, Atenas, Costa Rica |
This particular aloe plant was one of only 2 or 3 plants in my garden when I moved into this house 3 years ago this April. When I planted my big garden I moved this into a big pot, first on my terrace and then here at the end of the sidewalk of my wrap-around garden, the punctuation mark if you please! First the pot was here, then it outgrew the pot and I placed it in the ground and so maybe that is why it is blooming; it likes the ground better than a pot? Or it drains better and they do prefer dry soil. Anyway, I thought this was interesting because I have had aloe plants most of my adult life in TX, TN & FL and this is the first I have seen bloom! Reminds me of a cactus bloom and it may be a type of cactus. Of course it is also important to me as part of my medicine cabinet, my source of treatment of all burns, both physical and sunburn. There is nothing better on the market! And I have another aloe plant not quite this big, plus this one is growing babies! Stop by for a baby aloe!
an interesting article in
garden. create. make the world a more beautiful place.
Captured at Home This Week
 |
| Desert Rose Is becoming a favorite while it blooms! Home Garden, Atenas, Costa Rica |
 |
| Heliconia Home Garden, Atenas, Costa Rica |
 |
| Heliconia – Fewer of these blooming now. Home Garden, Atenas, Costa Rica |
 |
| Red Ginger My most faithful year around bloomer! Home Garden, Atenas, Costa Rica |
My photo gallery FLORA & FOREST
Banded Skipper
 |
| Banded Skipper Butterfly In my garden, Atenas, Costa Rica |
Photo Gallery of Butterflies & Moths
 |
| Selfie of Old Man on Daily Walk Atenas, Costa Rica Strangler Fig Tree in Background |
And a gallery of Other Photos of Me for those who say I only have bird photos
Early Bloomers
Our “winter” or el invierno (rainy season) generally goes through November with “summer” or el verano (dry season) starting in December, with some flowers like the yellow & orange below not blooming until January. Even though we still have some rain (less now) the flowers indicate summer. It has been a very wet rainy season, so I guess a very dry season coming! 🙂
 |
| Bougainvillea Atenas, Costa Rica |
 |
| Yellow Bells Atenas, Costa Rica |
 |
| Triquitraque Atenas, Costa Rica |
 |
| Once de Abril Atenas, Costa Rica |
Flowers are restful to look at.
They have neither emotions nor conflicts.
~Sigmund Freud
All of the above flowers snapped on my cellphone in my personal garden yesterday. Love it!
And for more flowers, see my Flora & Forest photo galleries! Beauty year around here!
And for more flowers, see my Flora & Forest photo galleries! Beauty year around here!
¡Pura Vida!
Chachalacas in Guarumo Tree
 |
| Two Gray-headed Chachalacas in the Guarumo Tree at my Terrace My Garden, Atenas, Costa Rica Note that the orange blooming tree is more than 100 yards away on a hill. |
 |
| Closer view of one Gray-headed Chachalaca My Garden, Atenas, Costa Rica |
I realized that If I had to choose, I would rather have birds than airplanes.
~Charles Lindbergh
And since it is Thanksgiving in the states, my American friends can pretend these are my backyard turkeys! 🙂 Though Thursday is just another normal day here! Unfortunately a few businesses are doing “Black Friday” here. Anything to make a buck! And a lot of these rich American expats here still can’t turn loose of the states and feel obligated to buy a $40+ imported American turkey and try to recreate an American Thanksgiving here. Not me. Just a regular day thursday! So, happy Thanksgiving or happy regular day to all my readers! 🙂
And for the fellow birders, I just learned today that the Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Lab of Ornithology just released a Costa Rica Pack, so now you can use it to identify birds in Costa Rica and I’m hoping it will be better than the local app for identifying birds, but either way I will have two choices now! You have to download the Costa Rica Pack separately to the app. Just got it today, so no time to test it yet except for one bird from the terrace. Merlin ID is free from your app store and then within it you download the free Costa Rica Pack that includes info and photos of 750 Costa Rica Birds! Cool!
Yellow Warbler
 |
| Yellow Warbler joined me for Breakfast Friday My garden, Atenas, Costa Rica |
I believe it is a migratory male from the states. The year-around male here has an orange/rust colored head. The female is usually lighter colored than this. This is not an uncommon bird, but all species are fun to see and to have in decent light for a photo. The next shot is not as good, but he’s flying and that to me is always fun to catch! 🙂
 |
| Yellow Warbler Atenas, Costa Rica |
My Costa Rica Birds photo gallery for more bird photos
THANKS for sending your birds south for your winter as our summer begins! ~Charlie
North America has more than 50 species of warblers, but few combine brilliant color and easy viewing quite like the Yellow Warbler. In summer, the buttery yellow males sing their sweet whistled song from willows, wet thickets, and roadsides across almost all of North America. The females and immatures aren’t as bright, and lack the male’s rich chestnut streaking, but their overall warm yellow tones, unmarked faces, and prominent black eyes help pick them out. ~The Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Nat Geo names Costa Rica as Happy Place
Read about it in the online National Geographic article:
These are the World’s Happiest Places
These are the World’s Happiest Places
NOTE: It may require you to log into your Nat Geo account to read the whole article.
or for an overview of how they measured happiness and 9 ways to be happy, see these videos
 |
| My garden is one of my “Happy Places” here. 🙂 As is my total Photo Gallery! What makes you happy? |
Other organizations & universities have listed “happiest countries” similarly and always Costa Rica is in the top 3! It is nice living where people are happy and not complaining all the time like in states. It adds to me being healthy as does the universal healthcare here! “What? Me Worry?”
¡Pura Vida!
Heliconius Hecale Zuleika
 |
| Heliconius Hecale Zuleika My Garden, Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica |
This is not a new species, but It seems like I haven’t been photographing as many butterflies this year, so wanting to include one. I got a better shot of this Heliconius in August. Butterflies are fun!
Happiness is a butterfly . . .~Nathaniel Hawthorne
Rufous-tailed Hummingbird
 |
|
Rufous-tailed Hummingbird
Waiting for his turn at the feeder in my garden
on a cloudy, rainy day in
Atenas, Costa Rica
|
A family of these Rufous-tailed Hummingbirds have taken over my two feeders, meaning I watch them literally every morning at breakfast, nice, but . . . also meaning I do not see other varieties of hummingbirds like I used to. I do still get a wide variety of other kinds of birds in the trees.
See my Costa Rica Birds photo gallery.
Sports News:
- Costa Rica qualified for the International Futbol Event in Russia by tying Honduras last night.
- Costa Rica will have 522 persons running in the Chicago Marathon, 3rd largest group from Latin America after Mexico & Brazil and more than some European countries!