Category: Atenas

Posted on

Medical Thanksgiving + A Grand Feast!

The Medical

As I continue choose between the free government healthcare (with monthly payment like states do with Medicare) and the mostly affordable private doctors using my MediSmart discount card I have so far been well cared for in my various medical needs and either free or at very reasonable private costs.

In earlier reports I have explained how the public system includes a cardiologist I like and I feel well cared for. When my various “tags” and other skin growths began to increase, I decided to try a private dermatologist and have been equally pleased with his services and prices.

One growth on my right arm he suspected and did a biopsy which proved positive for a melanoma cancer, Tuesday afternoon he cut a chunk out of my arm and is pretty sure he “got it all.” His guideline is to take 4mm to 5mm all the way around the growth. That meant 10 stitches in my arm, but that will heal. I decided that a photo of it would be too gross. He also took a sample from a growth on my face that has not healed from an earlier nitrogen treatment (freezing it off). So when I go back for my stitches to be removed in 2 weeks I will get the biopsy report on that. Hoping for no more malignancies, but we do what we have to do and I’m still enjoying my monthly adventures with doctors working around my travel schedule!   🙂   And by the way, my rotator cuff surgery has healed very well, thanks a lot to the physical therapist Andres! Pretty much back to normal use, though now I have 10 stitches in that same arm!  Sigh.

I walk regularly and eat reasonably well if not maybe too much! 🙂 So my overall health and heart condition is great, just this little skin cancer bother that is caused by too much sun when I was a kid or teen, says the doc. I’m more careful about the sun now!

The Grand Feast

Tony & Rose Mary, the couple who plan our expat trips almost every month put together a group eating traditional American Thanksgiving Dinner at the Baron’s Resort on top of a hill here in Atenas with beautiful views. It was delicious in every way and the turkey was cooked perfectly – moist not dry! And they even had pecan pie! (My favorite if you don’t know.) The resort is now owned by my local attorney, Cecelia Tristan, and she is doing a lot of extras to make their restaurant appealing to locals. I will eat there again from time to time.

And no excuse for not snapping a cell phone photo – just didn’t!

Posted on

Hillside Flower: El bastón de emperador

El bastón de emperador

Or in English it is most often called “Torch Ginger” and is one of many plants and trees growing on the steep hill that is my “Front Yard” or what is seen from the street.

This shot I took with my good camera earlier on the same plant and the ones below I took today with my new cheaper cell phone camera that’s not as good as my old cell phone camera and/or the colors and looks change on these flowers.   🙂

 

 

 

Just living is not enough… one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.

~Hans Christian Andersen

Posted on

Yellow Warbler Visits My Terrace

We have both resident and migrant Yellow Warblers this time of year. This one looks like a juvenile and could be either resident or migrant.

 

I have started my online Photo Gallery on Rancho Humo, but just the BIRDS section is taking longer than I thought, so it will be a few days before finished.   🙂

¡Pura Vida!

Posted on

Morning Birds

First a Turkey Vulture soared overhead like a messenger from God, then 3 simple birds landed in 3 different trees and I felt close to God during breakfast today – even without colorful, rare or gorgeous birds – just plain birds smiling at me as I smiled back!

Birds in My Garden at Breakfast Today

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

My heart is like a singing bird.

~Christina Rossetti

And tomorrow morning, Saturday, I leave for Palo Verde National Park. See yesterday’s post for more information.

¡Pura Vida!

Posted on

Park Remodeling Progresses Slowly

Earlier I posted on “Construction Begins on New Park” with photos of the construction screening and architect’s drawings – now it seems that they are going very slowly (Pura Vida!), but there is progress! In this photo they have cleared the central circle of the park of everything (trees, shrubs, benches, sidewalks) for construction of the Kiosk, Band Shelter or Gazebo which locals are calling “quiosco” o “kiosco.” It is the biggest item, so hopefully remodeling will go faster after that is completed but most expect it to be way into next year before finished. Everything is slow here.

¡Pura Vida!

Posted on

Tres Amigos

I took my camera out for a later breakfast today and though earlier is better, I did get shots of these three familiar friends. I include two of the dove because front view and back view is always different! Click image to see larger.

Tres amigos

 

Hope is the thing with feathers

‘Hope’ is the thing with feathers –
That perches in the soul –
And sings the tune without the words –
And never stops – at all –

And sweetest – in the Gale – is heard –
And sore must be the storm –
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm –

I’ve heard it in the chillest land –
And on the strangest Sea –
Yet – never – in Extremity,
It asked a crumb – of me.

~Emily Dickinson

¡Pura Vida!

Posted on

Whose Eating My Bananas?

The other day I grabbed a banana from the fruit bowl on my counter to cut up on a morning bowl of cereal and there was a chunk missing. I did not think Geckos ate fruit nor any insect was big enough to do that – so it is still a mystery or I was wrong about Geckos! For now my bananas are in the frig!  🙂

Tropical Living!

Posted on

The Indignity of a Robbery

For the second time in 4 years living in Costa Rica I am enduring the disgrace of a robbery that simple precautions could have prevented. You may remember that the first one was during my first year here and I went with the local community band to photograph them marching in the Puntarenas Carnival Parade leaving my camera bag by my chair in a sidewalk cafe afterwards to experience its disappearance! Someone said that I paid my “Gringo Tax” by not protecting my bag in a very crowded place. Well, I’m paying it a second time this week.

1. I always leave my phone & Kindle on kitchen counter when home (or did)

It is the center of my house and I can hear the phone ring from there while anywhere else in my little house. And the Kindle is always there for me to put on the meal tray and take out on the terrace to eat every meal, my main dining companion! So a very convenient location. PROBLEM: In the center of the house those popular electronics can be seen by anyone “casing” my house from any of the windows except my bedroom and the bathroom. So a thief looking for an easy grab has found it with a quick glance into my house from driveway or anywhere else. So I will no longer leave them there.

In the photo I was in the office in that desk chair within 10 to 12 feet of the kitchen counter when items were lifted, plus my sunglasses are on that hall shelf near the door

2. I have not been locking my doors, seeing no reason.

About 8 pm I got up from my desk and went to the bathroom which is next to my outside door. I found the outside door was standing open and was puzzled with no wind yet to blow it open and I was sure I had closed it well. As I go back by the kitchen counter I discover the two electronic items missing and now know that I have been robbed silently within 10 feet of where I was sitting with my computer. At least my cameras were in that room with me and not touched nor the laptop computer! The door stays locked now!

3. Later I discover my “cool” reflective sunglasses missing also

Well, they make me feel younger if not look younger and they work and are cheap at only one mil, about $1.75. The photo is of the replacement pair I got yesterday after replacing my cell phone. And as soon as I discovered these missing, I knew it was a young man who walked in and took the 3 items quietly while I worked on my computer enriching my photo gallery with some 1998 Kenya Safari photos!  🙂  These are the kind of sunglasses young men in Costa Rica love to wear! Hope he enjoys them!

4. Further indignity – he/they tossed my Kindle!

Yep! the next morning my neighbor Jorge was out walking before me and he found my Kindle tossed in the drainage ditch near our gate. They evidently decided they could not get much if any money for a very worn, 5 year old small Kindle that can be purchased new for $49 and as leaving our property they just tossed it in the ditch. Glad it did not rain that night which would have ruined it for sure. But I was ready to replace it anyway. They say the battery lasts 3 to 5 years and you don’t get new batteries but just a new Kindle, so at 5 years it is about gone anyway. But still! Stealing it and then throwing it away!? My baby!  I’m incensed!   🙂

5. I reported and learned it was 3 young men who hit another house also that night and got away when discovered

I reported the theft to my landlord and the Roca Verde Homeowners Association and front gate guards who reported it to the police. And like some Americans, some of the Ticos here immediately blamed it on Nicaraguans (foreigners) rather than admit there is evil in all of us.

And life goes on despite the indignities we somehow must put up with occasionally! I am actually looking forward to a new Kindle that will be a little bit larger (1 inch) for my old eyes!  🙂  And I’m healthier now because I forgave whoever stole my phone and pray that they will be relieved of their poverty soon! Poverty is the real evil we need to focus on!   ¡Pura Vida!

For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. 

~Matthew 6:14-15

Trying out my new cell phone camera on my vista. Hope it is as good as the old one. Hard to tell here.

 

Posted on

Construction Begins on New Park

Last week they finally began the construction of the new remodeled Central Park Atenas with the shocking removal of several palm trees in the central circle which will be enlarged and a Kiosko built – that’s a Band Shell or Gazebo for most Americans. After the structure is built, new trees will be added, then they will work out through the four quadrants with new sidewalks, benches, recreational activities, gardens, etc.

Across the street from the park on city property in front of the University Extension Building (old high school) there is a presentation of 4 large signs depicting the designs for the remodeled park. See the photo gallery below for those signs and a couple of shots I made of the construction area from a distance.  Or they have a Facebook Page presenting the remodeling for more drawings and a slideshow.

Remodeling Atenas Central Park

Click any image to see enlarged and to begin slide show of larger images.

¡Pura Vida!