Got My Vaccination Appointment!

They have been calling people for Covid Vaccination Appointments by age, starting with the many people here in their 100’s down through the 90’s and 80’s until they just got to me at age 80 for an April 1 appointment! Yaaaaaay! BUT . . . will it make a difference that I’m about to start radiation? I don’t know! But I will find out tomorrow when I discuss everything with the logistics person at Radioterapia Siglo XI. I hope there is no conflict, but with my second shot due during my radiation treatment, I’m wondering if they will conflict. If so, we will do whatever is necessary and get it when we can. Just another little bump in the road! 🙂

I know that people much younger than me in the states have already gotten both shots and they are just getting to my first shot here. Why? Because rich countries like the U.S. can get anything that money buys quicker! You are approaching 200 million people vaccinated in the U.S. and little Costa Rica just passed 300 thousand. I just read that another 300 thousand doses have arrived this week so we will slowly catch up with a very efficient system that had healthcare and other first responders first, then everyone else by age, oldest first. We all get it from our local public health clinic, with all shots provided by the government.

National Geographic Joins Tik Tok with First Post a Costa Rica Video

That’s according to this article in Tico Times Online. “National Geographic launches TikTok with video of Costa Rica” To view, click on the second video in this article. The first video is a Tico Times promo video. 🙂 You’ll know the difference! 🙂

National Geographic photo of Green Macaw, Manzanillo, Costa Rica — Yes, I have a similar photo from the same place, just not as good as Nat Geo’s! 🙂

You can be sure that Nat Geo knows where to find nature and adventure! 🙂 And of course Costa Rica is the best place in the world! 🙂

¡Pura Vida!

Wind-blown Kiskadee

Earlier yesterday, before the rain came, I was sitting on the windy terrace hoping a brave bird might come out. A couple of doves flew by, but this Great Kiskadee was the only one brave enough to land in my Guarumo Tree (Cecropia) with a pretty strong wind bringing that rain cloud we got later. Notice how the feathers are affected by the wind. Not a normal pose, but an interesting commentary on the windy day we had yesterday before the afternoon rain.

Read more about the Great Kiskadee on eBird. He is one of the most common birds here and his song or call sounds like his name, “Kiss – ka – deeeeeeee.” He is found almost everywhere in Central and South America, with only a few strays making it into the Southwestern U.S.

Biopsy Report in Tomorrow’s Post

It is intentional that I have been very honest and factual about my new adventure with cancer while living retired in Costa Rica. And I will continue to be. This afternoon at a 2 PM appointment with my surgeon in downtown San Jose, Costa Rica I will receive the biopsy report and his “plan of attack” including possible radiation treatments.

He doesn’t know that some of you have been praying for it to be benign or not a cancer and we might receive that surprise blessing this afternoon, but if it is like all the others he has removed similar to mine, then we will do whatever is necessary and still give God the praise anyway! 🙂 He’s going to see me through this!

I’m wearing an eye patch all the time now because it hurts to have an eye open that can’t blink or close. We will be discussing possible solutions to that also this afternoon and the left side of my mouth. But they are secondary to dealing with cancer.

And because several blog-followers are considering retirement in Costa Rica like I did, I am going to share the costs of this major surgery and what my other options could have been and discuss 3 or more options for radiation, whether needed or not.

¡Hasta mañana!

¡Pura Vida!

Rain!

Is it a freak “Dry Season” once-off rain or a very early starting of the “Rainy Season” this year? We will see! The Jigüirro or Clay-colored Thrush (CR National Bird) has been singing his heart out recently and indigenous tradition is that they are the ones who “sing in the rain!”

It is generally said for the Central Valley (where I live) that Rainy Season is May-November and Dry Season December-April. My first few years here we did not see our first rain until mid to late April and not a lot until May. Last year the first rain was March 24 and this year now March 22, so is it starting early? Almost certainly not daily afternoon showers now (usually by May) but at least I do not need to water the garden for a few more days! 🙂

Always Trying to Capture Rain in a Photo!

And never very good at it! 🙂 The featured photo at top shows the dark cloud this afternoon shower came from and some of us hope it will be regular now (though very early)!

I’ve always preferred the rainy season because it is greener with fresher air and the wind quits blowing! And most of the time we get rain only for an hour or two in the afternoon. Lowland rainforests along both coasts get more rain than we do here and it can be year-around, especially South Pacific and South Caribbean. For more weather information, check out your favorite weather channel or these websites:

And to let you know that this first rain is a real rain, since it started I have loaded and processed the photos to web-size, prepared and written this blog post, all in an hour or a little more AND IT IS STILL RAINING – HARD! 🙂 Love it! The tropics! 🙂

¡Pura Vida!

The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain.

~Dolly Parton

Blue on Blue

Yes, it is a Blue-gray Tanager (e-Bird link), but my first impression of the photo was “Blue on Blue” with him against the blue sky, while sitting in my Cecropia or Guarumo Tree, then flying away in that feature photo at top. A common bird in Central America and northern South America.

Blue-gray Tanager, Atenas, Costa Rica

See also my Blue-gray Tanager Photo Gallery.

¡Pura Vida!

Variegated Squirrel

I’m back to sharing nature from my garden again for a while and this morning the first thing I saw from my terrace was this Variegated Squirrel (Sciurus variegatoides) is a tree squirrel in the genus Sciurus, the most common squirrel of the 4 or 5 species of squirrels found in Costa Rica. He can be seen at many elevations and is more numerous than any of the others and varies somewhat in looks and color combinations with black, white, gray and reds or oranges.

This Variegated one is found only in Central America from Southern Mexico to Panama and is the most common throughout Central America. For anyone really into squirrels, the 4 others said to be in Costa Rica are the Central American dwarf or pygmy squirrel,  Microsciurus alfari LR/lc; Deppe’s squirrelSciurus deppei LR/lc; Red-tailed squirrelSciurus granatensis LR/lc; and Bangs’s mountain squirrelSyntheosciurus brochus LR/nt.

IN OTHER BLOG POSTS: Search Results For: Squirrel

And in MY PHOTO GALLERIES:

¡Pura Vida!

Hills of Atenas

Here I zoom in on the hills northwest of Atenas as seen at three levels from my terrace.

The Broad View

First glance as I walk out on my terrace.

Zoom Level 1

Focusing in on Centro Atenas and hills West/Northwest of town.

Zoom Level 2

Using a telephoto lens on the distant hills of Atenas.

This was the last post I did in advance of my surgery, hoping to be back online by today! 🙂

¡Pura Vida!

And then there are the Atenas Galleries.

🙂

Watching Wildlife

Something I’ve always enjoyed is catching a bird with live food like this Anhinga with a fish at Caño Negro Reserva on that river in the feature photo at top.

Anhinga fishing in Caño Negro Reserva, Costa Rica

If all goes according to the doctor’s plans I am today at home still recuperating from surgery and hope to give more “live updates” in the next 2 or 3 days. Thanks for putting up with a week of “pre-scheduled” blog posts! I hope to be current again by the end of this week.

The Trip Gallery for the above two Photos:

December-2020 Arenal & Caño Negro

¡Pura Vida!

Walk Through My Garden

While I’m still in the hospital recuperating from surgery today, please take a walk through my garden via a slideshow of flowers that were blooming last Wednesday, 10 March.

And if you like flowers, check out my gallery: Flora & Forest.

“To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.”

– Audrey Hepburn

¡Pura Vida!

By Wednesday or Thursday I hope to give a report on my health. This was another “Pre-published” blog post done before I went in for surgery. I’m not home with my computer yet.

“It All Came Together!”

That is what I said about this particular pix when the way the Montezuma Oropendola perched in relation to the tree limb with both in focus is not always the way my bird photo come together! 🙂 But this one did!

And since this is the morning of my serious 6-hour surgery to remove a cancer from the left side of my head, I am praying that this surgery too “will all come together” for a successful removal of all cancer! Thanks for your prayers! No updated posts on my health for probably 3 days or more! 🙂 But here is where I will post it first!

¡Pura Vida!

This photo was made on my last December Trip to Arenal Observatory.