Category: Places

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Thankful for small blessings!

I had to go to the bank this morning for two items of business and they were really busy because it was closed Monday for Mother’s Day (which was really Saturday but banks and government offices celebrate all holidays on Mondays here now.)

My small blessing is that the banks here have a special line for us old people, “adultos mayores.” There was only one lady ahead of me in that line while the regular line would have meant waiting an hour or more. My little blessing of the day! 🙂 Still took 20 minutes+. They are also slow here! 🙂

And oh yeah, they are now taking your temperature before you can go in the bank in addition to requiring a mask. Taking the virus seriously is paying off here! Masks are required everywhere now, country-wide.

¡Pura Vida!

P.S.

I picked up my “Permanent” Residency card today. more than a year after I turned in the paperwork. It lasts 3 years instead of 2 like the pensionado (not 5 like someone told me) and is supposedly easier to renew. We will see! 🙂

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As Night Falls

As Night Falls
By John Herlihy

Now the night is falling gently,
Shadows from the East intently.
The sun descends as a pale dome,
Sinking beyond the horizon to roam.
Taking the day without any comment
Stealing like a thief daytime’s moment.

Feelings in the heart may surge,
As the stars begin to emerge.
They awaken from deep slumber,
Gathering together in great number.
Muted sounds begin to be heard,
Footsteps and night whispers feared.

Lanterns alight a spark and a wink,
Illuminating the night blink-a-blink.
Smoke rises like threads in a loom,
Inscripting words that harbor doom.
The night begins itself to remember,
Tracing new memories fragile, tender.

All the nocturnal beings now awaken,
As day bids farewell to a world forsaken.
Distant mountains fade into darkness,
In the shadows, night eyes see lightness.
During the night, all the world simmers,
I embrace the night as my soul glimmers.

¡Pura Vida!

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Morning Skippers

There are dozens of species of Skipper Butterflies and in fact I have 17 plus species in my Costa Rica Butterflies Gallery. This morning after breakfast I walked into the garden to see what I could find and though I saw more, here are 4 different species of Skipper Butterflies I got usable photos of – CLICK to enlarge:

  • Esmeralda Longtail Skipper
  • Chisos Banded Skipper
  • Plain Longtail Skipper
  • Yellow-rimmed Skipper
Four Skippers at Breakfast this Morning

Border Opens to More Countries: Australia, New Zealand, Uruguay, Korea, Japan, Singapore, Thailand, and China. So if you live in one of those “safer” countries, you can be a tourist in Costa Rica! Come on over! The water’s fine! 🙂 You will have to be certified free of Coronavirus and follow a few new health rules, but everything else is great as always here!

¡Pura Vida!

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Desperate Times = Desperate Measures

On a walk to town I regularly pass by this grouping of low-income apartments and the other day someone there was trying to sell what I think is today called “Junk Art” or his creations from pieces of scrap metal. Interesting but not especially good art in my opinion, except that the motorcycles are the most realistic. He was asking 25 mil colones (a little less than $50 U.S.) each and with so many without work now, he will have trouble finding eccentric rich people to pay that much for any of these creations. I wish him good luck!

Yes, desperate times call for desperate actions and this is just one example here in semi-rural Costa Rica where some small shops and restaurants have closed permanently. And we hear that it is worse in the big cities (San Jose, Alajuela, etc.) which most of us here try to avoid. Coronavirus is marking the year 2020 for an infamous history! But I’m still glad I’m here and not in the states where it is worse, at least for the number of cases and deaths. You guys up there should put your Republican governors, senators and president in jail for murder considering the way they’ve handled this pandemic! Sad oligarchy.

20200812_161038_002-WEB
Motorcycles and people?

20200812_161051_001-WEB
A truck and a person? Or just modern art?

 

“That if desperate times call for desperate measures, then I’m free to act as desperately as I wish.”
― Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire

 

¡Pura Vida!

In spite of hard times, we still have nature!

🙂

 

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Dina Yellow

Another repeat butterfly species for me on the same flowers I saw the Simple Patch butterfly the other day while walking to town. Observing and enjoying NATURE is the best way to survive the world-wide pandemic, in my opinion! 🙂

See more in my Dina Yellow Gallery that includes one of my favorite butterfly shots against a dark blue sky. 🙂 Also see my others in the Costa Rica Butterflies Gallery. Pura vida!

Dina Yellow

 Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair. —Khalil Gibran

¡Pura Vida!

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As High as an Elephant’s Eye?

It’s not the corn in the musical “Oklahoma!” but the grass in the cow pasture across from me is as high as my eyes now, thanks to the regular rains! That’s why some call this time of year “The Green Season.” And the cows are mostly eating around the edges of the pasture. 🙂

¡Pura Vida!

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Another New Butterfly Species!

New species for me that is – Scientific Name: Chlosyne hippodrome, and two common names: “Simple Patch” in A Swift Guide to Butterflies of Mexico and Central America, my only good printed guide, while several websites are calling it “Simple Checkerspot,” with checkerspots and patches being “cousins” in the larger “Brushfoot” family of butterflies or maybe checkerspots being a type of patch butterfly – not clear to me yet. Confusing? Yeah, labeling butterflies has always been difficult for me and I still have several “unidentified” butterflies in my gallery. There doesn’t seem to be as much world-wide coordination of butterfly naming and following like with birds.

But anyway, this one is similar to Crimson Patch which I already had a photo of and also similar to the Banded Peacock of which there was one flying near where I got this guy on a zinnia at the Corner of Avenida 8 & Calle 3 while walking to town. Butterflies continue to amaze me! 🙂

See all 3 of my “Patches” butterflies along with about 112 other species in my Costa Rica Butterflies Photo Gallery.

And CLICK an image below to see it larger.

  • Simple Patch or Simple Checkerspot
  • Simple Patch or Simple Checkerspot
  • Simple Patch or Simple Checkerspot
  • Simple Patch or Simple Checkerspot

¡Pura Vida!

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Color!

On a walk to town I’m energized by red, orange, yellow, green, blue – the colors of the rainbow found in the yards of Atenas houses as I walk by them. Truly . . .

“Color! What a deep and mysterious language, the language of dreams.”

~Paul Gauguin

See also my Flora & Forest Gallery.

¡Pura Vida!

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White Angled Sulphur

Another repeat butterfly for me today, though I only got a side view. The top view of this guy is a lot different – white with two yellow splotches plus the little brown spots you can barely see here, though I was unable to photograph the top this time. See more in my White Angled Sulphur Gallery. Another interesting butterfly I can enjoy in my garden during this rainy season.

White-angled Sulphur

My Costa Rica Butterflies Gallery has many more!

Never bored with butterflies! 🙂

¡Pura Vida!