Category: Photography

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Forest Details

At the end of Avenida 8 on the “Country Lane” part of the land is forest even though private property. As everywhere here in Costa Rica, if you look deep into the forest you see more details and colors like the orange Heliconia in the foreground of this photo and towards the back left the Red Ginger flowers. Yes, these flowers do grow wild in the forests as well as being cultivated in home gardens. Tropical Costa Rica! And even the variety of leaves and shades of green bring me joy as I continue to love forests more and more!

“In a forest of a hundred thousand trees, no two leaves are alike. And no two journeys along the same path are alike.”     

~Paulo Coelho

See also my Flora & Forest Galleries.

¡Pura Vida!

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“My Radial Circle Walk”

One of my walking places I’ve shared a lot is Avenida 8 that turns into a dirt road that I sometimes call a “Country Lane” or “Country Road.” And if I go to the end of that dirt road down a hill I’m at a connector highway called “Radial 27” that runs only from central Atenas to our nearby toll road to the capital or the beach, Ruta 27. In town it is also Avenida 0 that runs in front of the central church, central park, central mercado and ends at Central Cementerio. 🙂

If I keep walking, like I did Monday, I enter the highway at the Farmers’ Market Pavilion and then, to get more exercise, I walk up the highway hill into Central Atenas where I turn left on Calle 4 and go four blocks to Avenida 8 and left down it 6 more blocks to my house in Roca Verde. I call that “My Radial Circle Walk” with more hills and more exercise! And though I don’t do it often, I need it now to get in shape for hiking at Arenal next week! 🙂

The Feature Photo of Radial 27 above is where I stopped and pulled out my cell phone to photograph the sign that lets visitors know they are entering Atenas – sponsored by Claro, one of the cable TV companies here. Just as I pointed my phone camera at the sign the moto (a motorcycle is called here) entered my frame and he must have known it because if you zoom in on him you see he is giving me the Peace Sign (V) just as I snapped. And “no,” it wasn’t the ugly finger sign or I would not have told you! 🙂 Most people are not ugly here! But they all like the peace sign! 🙂

“I love walking because it clears your mind, enriches the soul, takes away stress and opens up your eyes to a whole new world .”

– Claudette Dudley 

My ATENAS Photo Gallery.

¡Pura Vida!

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Merry Christmas!

And Happy New Year!

¡Pura Vida!

See all 7 Years of Costa Rica Christmas Cards in a gallery! 🙂

December 24, 2020 is my 6 year anniversary here! But the first Christmas Card was sent before I left on Christmas Eve 2014 as a combination Christmas Greeting & Change of Address Card, thus 7 cards+ since I’ve designed two for some years. In fact, this is the second one for this year! 🙂

The featured photo is of a Red-eyed Tree Frog in Corcovado National Park while at Danta Corcovado Lodge using my cell phone at night. See my Red-eyed Tree Frog Gallery.

¡Pura Vida!

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Pachacuti Mural

There is a fairly new art shop in town called Tienda Galería Pachacuti Arte across from Central Park next to Banco Nacional that is operated by two artisans, a Tico friend who makes jewelry from local stones and a new artist from Peru who is principally a painter though does other art forms too. He named the shop after Pachacuti, leader of an Inca tribe thought to have built Machu Picchu in his honor in Peru. Their art shop is upstairs in this building and has a lot of beautiful work. Its a shame there are almost no tourists here now because of the pandemic. They asked me to present some of my photography for them to sell, but so far I am resisting any involvement in retail sales. 🙂

The mural of a black panther means that evidently this form of the cougar or puma (just black in color) evidently exists in Peru (not that I know of in Costa Rica, but possible). They are rarely seen in Florida of the U.S.

Another bit of ethnic color in central Atenas, Costa Rica. Pura vida!

See also my photo gallery: Atenas Public Art & Graffiti.

¡Pura Vida!

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Only the Cow Knows!

One of my closest neighbors, across the street, seems to look at me and say “How can I help you?” Or is that just my good imagination? Only the cow knows! 🙂

Moo may represent an idea, but only the cow knows.

~Mason Cooley

¡Pura Vida!

Costa Rica’s ‘La Sele’ unveils uniforms inspired by biodiversity:

And well, an ad for New Balance too! They make the national team uniforms & the “official” fan T-shirts.

¡Pura Vida!

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The Cattle on a Thousand Hills!

God is speaking . . .

For all the animals of field and forest are mine! The cattle on a thousand hills! And all the birds upon the mountains! 

~Psalm 50:10-11 The Living Bible

On that overcast morning of so many other hazy photos of birds I see this group of cows on a nearby hill just waking up. Yep! I’m up before the cows! 🙂 At least the ones on that hill shot below on my cell phone. The cows above were zoomed in on my big camera. It was truly an inspiring morning as I tried to photograph “all the birds upon the mountains (the last few days of photos) and the cattle on a thousand hills!” God provides a lot for me to photograph! 🙂

The sleeping and waking cows are under that central tree on the horizon. A nice wake-up scene! 🙂 I zoomed in on that central tree for the feature photo at top.

And God concludes that Psalm and my walk by saying . . .

But true praise is a worthy sacrifice; this really honors me. Those who walk my paths will receive salvation from the Lord.

~Psalm 50:23 The Living Bible

And with that I’m preparing to spend time with God in Nature for Christmas next week, my favorite kind of worship and photography that I will share daily. 🙂

¡Pura Vida!

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The “Sculptured” INCA DOVE

To me, this second most common dove/pigeon around my house looks sculptured, almost as if he were carved out of wood. Read eBird on Inca Doves for more information or to see more of my many photos, my Inca Dove Gallery with some better photos.

 “Every bird, every tree, every flower reminds me what a blessing and privilege it is just to be alive.”

– Marty Rubin

Costa Rica launches crowdfunding campaign for reforestation ~A Tico Times article

¡Pura Vida!

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“The Robin” of Costa Rica

Yigüirro or Clay-colored Thrush (eBird link) in English (at one time called “Clay-colored Robin”) is one of the most common birds in Costa Rica, found everywhere, and is also the National Bird, not because of his/her beauty or color (we have so many more colorful), but because he/she sings so beautifully in late April and early May before the rainy season begins. Tradition is that the Yigüirro sings in the rain every year and thus is loved by farmers and gardeners alike and became the national bird.

This weak photo is of a juvenile or young adult made on that cloudy overcast day. They vary in color from this rich dark brown to a lighter brown with a lighter colored breast, sort of creamy white and more rarely a touch of yellow, but always that same beak! I’m calling it “The Robin of Costa Rica” BECAUSE it is as common here as the American Robin (my gallery) was during my days in the States. 🙂

The top link is to an eBird article on them or you can see many better photos in my Clay-colored Thrush – Yigüirro Gallery. Happy birding! 🙂

 “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?”

— Nature historian David Attenborough

Why plant trees?

¡Pura Vida!

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2 “Rare” Birds in Neighborhood

At least “Merlin,” my eBird identifier says they are “rare” for this location, though I know there are manakins in Atenas and I have seen the grosbeak in nearby Alajuela, so I don’t think they are really that rare here! 🙂 They are a female Long-tailed Manakin (feature photo) and an immature or female Rose-breasted Grosbeak. And I believe the latter is an immature male because another poorer photo shows a touch of rose color coming on the breast and the females do not have that. NOTE: The name links above are to eBird descriptions. You can also see more of my photos of these in my bird GALLERIES: Long-tailed Manakin and the Rose-breasted Grosbeak galleries.

It was an overcast morning with no good light, thus the poor quality images when against the sky:

  • Long-tailed Manakin Female
  • Rose-breasted Grosbeak Immature

Reusing, recycling, rethinking ~The Washington Post Article

¡Pura Vida!

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Central Park Open to COVID Quiet

Last week they took down all that yellow plastic crime-scene tape that surrounded the Atenas Central Park, but it is still mostly empty with no concerts or fiestas scheduled. There were a few old men on the opposite corner where they usually “hang out,” but that was all. And the colorful Marigolds that were planted on this corner that I shared earlier have been removed. Hmmm. And there has been no continued work on the park remodeling, probably because of a lack of tax money.

Atenas is still in the Pandemic Shutdown Mode with few people in Central Atenas on the above cloudy day and many shops closed, some permanently. A difficult year for many here and worldwide!

I feel safe walking to and through town with my mask (required by law here) and anyone else who is out is also wearing a mask and maintaining a 1.8 meter distance, also required by law here. It is a bit of trouble but at least we are not having the daily increases of cases and deaths like the USA! It is still beyond my understanding how so many people still support that stupid, lying, self-centered, racist Donald Trump who clearly is responsible for thousands of deaths he could have prevented and the equally evil Republican Party supporting him. God help America! At least one Republican expressed a little bit of common sense today on Trump’s refusal to concede the election:

“It’s just simply madness,” Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) said. “The idea of supplanting the vote of the people with partisan legislators, is, is so completely out of our national character that it’s simply mad. Of course the president has the right to challenge results in court, to have recounts. But this effort to subvert the vote of the people is dangerous and destructive of the cause of democracy.”

~Washington Post, 10 December 2020

Thank God I live in Costa Rica!

¡Pura Vida!