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Mexican Heather

Mexican Heather – Cuphea hyssopifolia (Wikipedia link) is sometimes called “False Heather” because it is not a real heather or even in the Heather family, just another unique Central American flower. This one was a “hitchhiker” with another plant from a nursery (Vivero), I think it came with one of the Lantanas that I bought and planted. Anyway, I like it as something a little different and have it in a pot with some Lantana where it attracts only those tiny little butterflies like Blues and Hairstreaks.

Mexican Heather – Cuphea hyssopifolia, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

“Every flower is a soul blossoming in nature.” – Gerard de Nerval

¡Pura Vida!

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Rounded Metalmark

He’s back! (And while the wind is still blowing!) As one of the most common tiny butterflies in my garden each year, maybe he is signaling the beginning of “butterfly season?” 🙂 The Rounded Metalmark, Calephelis perditalis (my gallery link) is only a little bigger than my thumbnail and yet is one of the most intricately-designed of all the butterflies. I even used a photo of one on my 2023 Christmas Card! 🙂

This one is the first of that species in my garden this year, but I expect there to be many more! 🙂 And a funny thing to me is that all my many photos of this species have come from my garden, not even one from another location in Costa Rica! But iNaturalist CR shows them all over, on both slopes, but with more in the hills and on the Pacific Slope for whatever reason.

Rounded Metalmark, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
Rounded Metalmark, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

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Corteza Amarilla

Corteza Amarilla, Yellow Cortez Tree, Tabebuia ochracea, (Wikipedia link) is visible almost everywhere in Costa Rica this time of year, but only for a very few days or weeks, then the bright yellow, flowers-only trees become another beautiful green tree, blending in with the landscape they now contrast with. This week I’ve snapped a few shots of some around Atenas and you can see more of my past photos of them in the gallery labeled simply Yellow Trees! (which also includes Yellow-Bell Trees) 🙂 Below this one photo for the email version of this post are two galleries, one for my neighborhood and one for the central church at Central Park Atenas.

Yellow Cortez Trees at the Central Church of Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
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Living for the Unremarkable Moments

My life has been cram-packed with “remarkable moments” and experiences, both good and bad. One of the many reasons for moving to Costa Rica was to slow down with nature and sort of let my final years of life just “fade away.” A quote in a blog that I read said . . .

“Busyness and fear constrict us in youth; fresh air and nature free us in old age.” ~Anne Lamott

And so I yearn for days with nothing planned or no where I have to go. A leisurely breakfast and coffee with the online newspaper is a perfect morning, followed by a walk in the garden. Even with all the wind right now, meaning few or no birds or butterflies, there are always plants and flowers or buds like I shared yesterday or a gaze at the surrounding hills, a cow across the street, or another amazing palm frond contrasting with the evergreens as it just fades away. And so today I rejoice in the unremarkable! 🙂

¡Pura Vida!

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Using Both Health Systems in Costa Rica

The public health system in Costa Rica is one of the best in the world, but as in other good systems there are occasionally delays for many reasons with an overload of patients and one always has the option to go to a private doctor at your own expense. Once Covid was over, when I had to use a private oncologist for my surgery and radiation treatment because our hospitals here were packed with Covid patients, I then moved all my medical treatment to the public system in 2022 and have been happy with everything done “for free” (really for a monthly Social Security fee you must pay whether used or not.) There are no co-pays, no insurance forms and everything is included, even my medications that I pick up monthly at my local “CAJA Costarricense Seguro Social Farmacia.” I’m pleased with the public health system here, even if sometimes slow.

My latest cancer surgery was in November with my Public Provincial Dermatologist removing a cancer from my nose. Excellent surgery with absolutely no scar! But, that dermatologist in Hospital San Rafael de Alajuela gave me my next appointment to be in April 2026 and I had other non-cancer issues I really wanted to take care of earlier. So, I decided to exercise my freedom of going to a private doctor and my Public ENT Oncologist at Hospital Mexico de San Jose, who is monitoring any possible spread of my big cancer, agreed that the other issues would be better if handled earlier and he recommended Dr. Arturo Soto in the private Tabush Dermatologia Center in Escazu (feature photo of building). Here is my report with 3 before & after face photos . . .

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Between the Tree Limbs

Across the street from me, the first house is an Airbnb rental owned by a German man who comes himself about once a year. And at his entrance gate is an Oro Tree, the tree that is scattering orange splotches across the many landscapes of Costa Rica in January-February, making the hills & valleys beautiful! And it is all orange flowers, no leaves yet. They come after the flowers. Well, to see his Oro Tree from my terrace or windows I must peer through my Higueron Ficus Tree. The feature photo is from me zooming in through the tree limbs from my terrace and other photos below show how thick my Ficus tree is to try and focus through! 🙂 So I went out in the street to get a pix of the whole tree and it has lost all its flowers except on that one branch I can see through my Ficus, so not sharing that, plus it is butchered on one side by the power company to protect their lines. So just these 3 photos here . . .

Oro Tree Flowers seen through the branches of my Ficus Tree.
Oro Tree Flowers seen through the branches of my Ficus Tree.
Oro Tree Flowers seen through the branches of my Ficus Tree.

Here’s a closeup of an Oro Tree I made in Orosi Valley several years ago. It is in my Trees gallery which has other photos of Oro Trees and many other species.

¡Pura Vida!

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Cloudy Days Christmas Retreat . . .

. . . was a wonderful experience in spite of the “off-season weather!”

“A cloudy day is no match for a sunny disposition.”

~William Arthur Ward

Christmas Eve Dinner was super good! 🙂
Fountains throughout the gardens.

Read on for more pix and about the grand experience I had with my wonderful friends who run Xandari Resort . . .

Continue reading “Cloudy Days Christmas Retreat . . .”
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Merry Christmas!

Common names in English for the Trimezia gracilis (scientific name) are:
walking iris, apostle’s iris and apostle plant.
Lirio Caminante (“Walking Lily”) is the Spanish name.

“The native range of this flower species is W. Central & SE. Brazil to Paraguay. It is a rhizomatous geophyte and grows primarily in the seasonally dry tropical biome.” And of course in Costa Rica! 🙂

And with this unusual flower comes a very

“Merry Christmas” from Charlie Doggett in Costa Rica!

Keep reading my blog for more pura vida! 🙂

On this Christmas Eve I will celebrate 10 years of living in Costa Rica and will spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in one of many favorite nature lodges, Xandari Resort in Alajuela. Close to home and San Jose because the morning after Christmas I go to the nearby Hospital Mexico in San Jose for an ultrasound image of my neck to help the doctors continue monitoring any possible spread of cancer to the thyroid gland and lymph nodes (which is common for my type of cancer). The great public health system in this wonderful little country is taking good care of me in my old age! (Even with an appointment the day after Christmas!) 🙂

¡Pura Vida!