A pirate because he steals nests made by other birds, the Piratic Flycatcher, Legatus leucophaiuss (eBird link) is not new to me, but these were difficult to identify at first, even confusing one with the Streaked Flycatcher, but he was not large enough. I had several sightings of this bird during my 2 hours in Carara Park and I’m now reasonably certain of these identifications, even with poor light and shadow problems. I’ve seen this species in three other locations (Arenal, Xandari & Monteverde) as shown in my Piratic Flycatcher Gallery. Here’s three totally different photos of the same species . . .
Not only does one create his/her own happiness but also the world in which you want to live. When I moved into this fairly new rent house it had the basic trees and shrubs but I immediately planted a garden and added other plants around the yard and that now big Cecropia tree that appears in so many of my photos.
Another one of those early plantings was a row of palms outside my two bedrooms to gain additional privacy from the street that my bedrooms face, howbeit down a steep hill through lots of other trees and flowers and my big Strangler Fig Tree. It was not only for additional privacy but for the feeling that I live in a forest as seen from any of my windows and doors. Yes – we can create our own world! That is what I was trying to show in an earlier post: My Windows – My World, and back then the above bedroom window feature photo was different with an indoor palm (at right). I have to change pot plants occasionally because this window gets minimal sunshine! 🙂
And because it also changes a lot, there’s another earlier post titled Kitchen Window View. I love being surrounded by nature, the main art in my house along with some of my nature photos.
“Nature is the art of God.”
—Dante Alighieri
My Monstera deliciosa plant provides a good habitat for the birds in my photos! 🙂
“Just remember life is all an illusion…..
it’s your creation and you can dismantle it and re-create at will.”
― Nanette Mathews
¡Pura Vida!
For more pix of my “forest house” see photo galleries: My Home Garden, or My Rent House in Roca Verde, or Vistas from My Terrace, or Vistas from Hill Above My House. Of course all of Costa Rica is my big backyard and I travel to all parts of the country about every other month in national forests, parks and reserves, so watch for reports on the blog and/or check out my big gallery where I have photos documenting more than 80 Costa Rica trips in the CR Trips sub-gallery! 🙂
An article in Tico Times on how Canada and U.S. Citizens can win one of 15 free trips to Costa Rica for 2 people each. Just write a brief article or statement on an “Essential Person” to you during the pandemic. The 15 best will be published and you get the free trip! 🙂
I encourage you to watch this brief 1 minute video ad that will be appearing in larger city TV markets in the U.S. and Canada this year. Then plan your trip to Costa Rica for the “Essentials of Life!” in Costa Rica! – 🙂 – ¡Pura Vida!
And for the bird-lovers & nature-lovers up north, are you aware of the tragedy of our lifetime? Nearly 3 Billion Birds Gone from U.S. & Canada – staggering! Link is to article from The Cornell Lab of Ornithology. We are destroying the earth little by little. I’m thankful to live in a small haven of nature, Costa Rica!
About the same way Oscar Meyer does in the states:
A weiner character at the Supermercado attracts a lot of attention & lots of families have hot dogs this week! La Coope Supermercado, Atenas, Costa Rica
And having a bouncy house doesn’t hurt sales either! Marketing through children seems to be world-wide! La Coope Supermercado, Atenas, Costa Rica
See more of my photos of Atenas in those linked galleries or better yet in People & Fiestas! And if you like the Vistas from here, 4 of those linked galleries include Atenas vistas.
I continue to be pleased with my “Costa Rica Decision Process” (the original name of this blog) that led me to retire in this charming small town in Central Costa Rica. I love it here and that along with the decision to not own a car in my latter years means walking a few miles every day and absorbing the tranquility of this little coffee farming town. (Driving through is not the same!) I regularly thank God for blessing me in my senior years. And for the tropical paradises nearby that I can visit every month for colorful birds and much more!
NOTE: It may require you to log into your Nat Geo account to read the whole article. or for an overview of how they measured happiness and 9 ways to be happy, see these videos
My gardenis one of my “Happy Places” here. 🙂 As is my total Photo Gallery! What makes you happy?
Other organizations & universities have listed “happiest countries” similarly and always Costa Rica is in the top 3! It is nice living where people are happy and not complaining all the time like in states. It adds to me being healthy as does the universal healthcare here! “What? Me Worry?”
Yellow Eyelash Viper
Photographed at Manzanillo, Costa Rica
Haiku & photo by Charlie Doggett
Check out my Haiku Photo Gallery for more like this. Expect a book eventually! 🙂
Or if it is the snake you like, see my Reptile Photo Gallery for a few more.
-o-
Good “Happiness” advice from Albert Einstein I read in The Washington Post today:
“A calm and modest life brings more happiness
than the pursuit of success
combined with constant restlessness.”
~Albert Einstein
Supposedly he had no money for a tip after a meal and wrote this note to the waiter as his “tip.” The note just sold at an auction for 1.56 million dollars!f Not a bad tip! 🙂
From Charlie, living a calm and modest pura vida in Costa Rica!
Even if the book is on my Kindle Fire! My favorite place to read: on terrace at table or in rocking chair.
And for my friends on “Goodreads” note that they usually only show 2 books being read at a time and I almost always have more in process as my interests change, plus one is a daily devotional book which will take a year. My biggest escape right now is another re-read of another Harry Potter book, then I’ll go back to another mystery unless I find an adventure book that appeals to me. I have television only because it comes with the best price for internet which I must have. I seldom watch television. I’m mostly a “doing person” who is now “doing” things with my photography or simply making more photos! And of course the doing the essentials of life that can take a good bit of one’s time! But in my reading I think I am expanding some the types of books I read, though at my stage of life the most important is reading for fun! Which I do! 🙂 And I no longer feel guilty starting a book and not finishing it. That’s okay!
Jubilado is the most common word used here to name or describe a retired person (Jubilada for feminine). Even though there is a Spanish word that sounds more like our English “Retired” (retirarse), no one uses it here – always jubilado(a)! It comes from the root noun jubilo, “jubilation or joy,” and the corresponding adjective jubiloso(a), “jubilant, joyful.” And in the land of Pura Vida, what a great way to describe retirement! And it is becoming pure joy for me!
One view of our apartments while walking back from town. Far from a retirement home!
Though the government talked in 2010 about creating “Jubilado Communities” like Retirement Communities in the states, it never materialized with most Ticos preferring to retire in place, stay a part of the total community and their extended family, says an article in La Nacion, the primary Spanish language newspaper here.
Of course there are North Americans who bought up property to create many gated communities of retired North Americans here, even in Atenas. I’m trying to avoid that. My apartments are gated for security, but we are not all gringo, not all retired, and not all old. I love the mix of peoples, ages, incomes, nationalities and the 300 meter walk to a real town! It is better than a retirement community! At least for me. We have two young couples who go to work daily, a couple of older working people, an unwed young mother with a 2-year old, a community of teenagers next door (New Summit Academy), and all ages of snowbirds. Who knows who will move in when the snowbirds go home in April and May for their summer? We are surrounded by Tico houses plus a church and shopping within walking distance! It is a good balance.
Some believe in destiny, and some believe in fate
I believe that happiness is something we create Line from Sugarland’s song “Something More”
I photographed this Hecafe Longwing at a butterfly farm in Braulio Carrillo National Park in 2010.
I look forward to getting there, doing a better job of slowing down, sitting still, and being quiet, than I usually do here. That is when nature surprises me!
If you cannot read the quote within the photo, here it is again:
“Happiness is like a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.”
