Category: Atenas

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“Bully” Woodpecker?

The featured photo above is a Lineated Woodpecker pecking away on a woodpecker hole that I think was already there with him enlarging it. It’s uphill from my house yesterday morning, an overcast day not really good for photos. But I tried anyway. Then along comes the smaller Hoffman’s Woodpecker (below photos) making a big fuss with the bigger woodpecker. I’m guessing that the hole was maybe the smaller bird’s home and he was fussing at the bigger “bully” taking over his home. I don’t know that for sure, but he was sure making a lot of noise and ruffling his feathers threateningly while the larger bird just kept working, ignoring the smaller bird. So, does another bully take over?

Hoffman’s Woodpecker fussing at bigger Lineated Woodpecker.

“The smaller the creature, the bolder its spirit.”

― Suzy Kassem

See my galleries for both the Lineated Woodpecker and the Hoffman’s Woodpecker photographed all over Costa Rica with much better images than these! 🙂

The world’s rich need to cut their carbon footprint by a factor of 30 to slow climate change, U.N. warns !The Washington Post

¡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!

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Country Lane Birds

I’ve been walking that route with only my cell phone as a camera and the other day missed a beautiful Squirrel Cuckoo bird in a tree that my big camera would have caught. Thus yesterday morning I went with my big camera and no cuckoo! But I did get rough shots of these four. The feature photo is a Great-tailed Grackle and the other 3 are labeled in the slideshow. It is not as good a place for birds as up the hill from my house, but I tried! 🙂

  • Great Kiskadee
  • White-winged Dove
  • Grayish Saltator
  • Great-tailed Grackle

See my BIRDS Galleries or my COUNTRY LANE Gallery.

¡Pura Vida!

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Snips of My Garden

There may not be anything in my garden I haven’t already shared but I keep trying for some “New Looks” as I walk through it daily.

See My Garden Gallery or the bigger Flora & Forest Gallery.

¡Pura Vida!

Costa Rica’s President Alvarado talks with President-elect Biden about the urgency of both the Pandemic and Climate Change. A Tico Times article. Thankfully we prioritize the important things here!

¡Pura Vida!

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Country Lane Flowers

I’ve featured the cana flower and the zinnias from this road and here are some more:

  • Bougainvillea
  • Daisies
  • Daisies
  • Hibiscus
  • Zinnas with Banded Peacock Butterfly

These photos are a part of my collection called “Country Lane” – Avenida 8 Photo Gallery.

¡Pura Vida!

Costa Rica celebrates 72 years without an army, a Tico Times article.

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Pothole = Free Flowerpot?

Everywhere in the world governments are slow to fix potholes in roads. This Tico found an interesting way to reprimand our government here in Costa Rica. Just use the potholes for flowerpots! 🙂 I love it! In your face government people, “these potholes’ are in front of my house!” They are on the gravel extension of Avenida 8 in Atenas where I walk sometimes and find things to photograph. This is one of the more interesting photos to me. 🙂

¡Pura Vida!

🙂

Also seen on that walk yesterday:

These 2 photos are a part of my collection called “Country Lane” – Avenida 8 Photo Gallery.

Washington Post Article: Pace of climate change shown in new report has humanity on ‘suicidal’ path, U.N. leader warns

¡Pura Vida!

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Artistry of Tree Limbs

Cows find shade here and . . .

the Cattle Egret roost in these limbs! 🙂

Trees

BY JOYCE KILMER


I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in Summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.

All three trees were photographed by me at Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica. And if you like trees too, check out my Trees Photo Gallery which is a sub-gallery under Flora & Forest Gallery.

And PLANT TREES! They absorb carbon dioxide & give us oxygen to breathe!

¡Pura Vida!

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Village Church

Like the hills yesterday, I never tire of trying to get a better photo of the Atenas Central Catholic Church, especially from the Roca Verde hills, so here’s another one! 🙂 The official name (en español) and website link is Parroquia San Rafael Arcángel.

The cluster of palms in front of the church is the Central Park which has been closed since March because of the pandemic, as has the church for large crowds, just open for solo prayers and small groups distanced and masked. Costa Rica has taken the pandemic seriously with national mask and distancing required, no large gatherings and strict restaurant rules, though unfortunately many restaurants have closed permanently for a lack of business. A sad time for many people world-wide. But the central church is still a symbol of hope for many. And fortunately Costa Rica has fewer cases of COVID19 than any other Central American country.

And some trivia . . .

Most Catholic Churches face west so worshippers are facing east towards Jerusalem. I haven’t put a compass to it, but have been told that is the case here. In Costa Rica it is also tradition for most central parks to have the central church on the east side of the park and on the west side of the park, opposite the church, is a Banco Nacional, the main national bank in Costa Rica. That is the case in Atenas and Alajuela I know and in many other towns when I’ve thought to check. Hmmmm . . . is that elevating money? Sounds more like the U.S. 🙂

Well, maybe TMI – too much information! But I find it fascinating living in a culture that I did not grow up in and thus notice little things like these and I love living here! For more pix of just Atenas, see my Atenas Galleries and CR People, Fiestas & Arts (mostly Atenas).

“Let the villages of the future live in our imagination, so that we might one day come to live in them!” ~Mahatma Gandhi

¡Pura Vida!

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I Keep Shooting the Hills

I never get tired of photographing the hills across our little valley and just keep trying to make a different image or view of the same hills I see daily. I would prefer them without the cell phone towers, but the modern society would argue that they are absolutely necessary! 🙂 Debatable! 🙂

If you like hills too, you might also like my CR Vistas Gallery.

¡Pura Vida!

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Fiery-billed Aracari — A Costa Rica Bird

On yesterday morning’s walk this was one of the few birds seen and the only one that really interested me, a Fiery-billed Aracari, maybe a young adult or older juvenile because he seemed smaller than many of the others I’ve seen. This one was just 3 doors up from my house and solo which is unusual. I’ve had them on my terrace only once and they are known as a Pacific coast only bird, though Atenas is just an hour drive from that coast. The very similar Collared Aracari is considered an Atlantic Coast or Caribbean-side bird and he too comes into the Central Valley sometimes. Read more about this one on the e-Bird Fiery-billed Aracari page. And/or see my Fiery-billed Aracari Gallery with the best shots made on my terrace the one time they came. This bird is in the toucan family (a smaller cousin) and almost exclusively found in Costa Rica with a few in Panama along the Costa Rica border, also on the Pacific side only.

Fiery-billed Aracari, a Toucan found exclusively in Costa Rica.

“What I saw was just one eye
In the dawn as I was going:
A bird can carry all the sky
In that little button glowing.

Never in my life I went
So deep into the firmament.”

― Harold Monro

¡Pura Vida!