Tag: rain

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New Anole & Rain!

Giant Banded Anole, new in my garden, Atenas, Costa Rica
And I think he is different from the Green Tree Anole I posted earlier.
Maybe not. But I think larger and the stripes different.
I first saw this one on the tree stump I was preparing for my ceramic bird art.
I was waiting for the wood filler to dry so I could paint it & mount the bird.
It is now mounted as shown in yesterday’s post.
Rainy Season is back with rain every afternoon and today’s is especially good, started at 1:00 and still raining at 6:00!
The garden loves it!  🙂


I’m singing in the rain, just singing in the rain; What a wonderful feeling, I’m happy again.
~Arthur Freed
More lizards in my Costa Rica Reptiles PHOTO GALLERY
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Humidity and the DampRid Discovery

It is rainy season (though less rain this year)
and that means high humidity, even in your house.
So I discover this interesting product at PriceSmart.
DampRid

I hang it in my closet and it absorbs the moisture
from my clothing and the surrounding air. The
crystals in the upper bag collect water and put
it in the lower silver bag until full or crystals used.

By holding up to light you can see the water in lower bag and some of the
crystals that are dissolving down there. A bag lasts about a month so far. 

Because my windows stay open at all times and there are often breezes, the air in the rooms does not seem to be as humid and I haven’t felt the need for a dehumidifier yet. September and October are when the heavy rains come and it may be different then, though being on a hill with good cross-venting air flow, it will probably be fine.

By the way, it is one of the driest rainy seasons in years here with half the quantity of rain this June as last June. Global warming and El Nino are already affecting this part of Costa Rica. While the Caribbean side has had too much rain and flooding. Go figure! 
Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine.
~Anthony J. D’Angelo


🙂

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Life is Short and Life is Long, But Not in That Order! PURA VIDA!

Why time really does seem to go faster when you get older is an interesting article about the

“I went to the woods because I wanted to live deliberately.
I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life.”
~Henry David Thoreau 

logarithm of time perception over the years. Hopefully this link to the Washington Post article will work if not a subscriber. Don’t miss the cool video clip in the article! And yes, time seems to be flying by for me here in Costa Rica! Been here 7 months today and I never look back! Loving life here! And the Tico people!

I’m also learning to live in the moment more (like we did as little kids) and enjoying the simple things of life like a tropical rain or a butterfly flitting over my balcony. While still anticipating new adventures, like the three day trip next week to the Carara National Park to hopefully photograph Scarlet Macaws, yet knowing there will be a serendipity of some kind, with or without a macaw! Pura vida!

Pura vida. Pronounced POO-rah VEE-dah, in English means, “Pure Life”. However, these two words have much more meaning throughout the Costa Rican culture.

But where did Costa Ricans take this phrase from? According to a study of the expression, a film called Pura vida came to Costa Rica from Mexico in 1956, directed by Gilberto Martinez Solares. In the movie, “Pura vida” is the expression of eternal optimism used by a comic character, played by the actor Antonio Espino, who unfortunately can’t seem to do anything right. While a small population used it then, the phrase “Pura vida” was used nationwide by 1970.

Associated with many different English interpretations like “pure life”, “take it easy”, “enjoy life”, “all good”, “purity in life”, “hello”, “goodbye”, “this is life!” and many many more. The point is that foreigners truly don’t have a true grasp of the meaning of “pura vida” as they are not Costa Ricans themselves.

Pura vida! Means that no matter what your current situation is, life for someone else can always be less fortunate than your own. So you need to consider that maybe…just maybe, your situation isn’t all that bad and that no matter how little or how much you have in life, we are all here together and life is short…so start living it “pura vida style”.

Beginning to understand now, the true meaning of the uniquely Costa Rican term, “Pura Vida”? We feel that the more “foreigners” who truly grasp the concept, the better the world would be. Imagine if countries like the USA or Canada or in Europe started to live life like the Costa Ricans and adopted the pura vida lifestyle? Because honestly folks…no matter how much of a mess your life may seem, there is always someone else who’s life would make yours look like a vacation in paradise.

Pura vida description copied from:  http://www.bestcostaricantours.com/about/puravida.html

I am not necessarily recommending this travel agent and have not personally experienced them yet, but like I their description of Pura Vida better than others I found!   🙂   I do plan to try them for one of my future adventures because I like their approach to nature tours.

“Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. 
We have only today. Let us begin.” 
― Mother Teresa

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Life-giving Rain

At 1:30 I saw the clouds moving in over bright sunshine.

By 4:30 the sun is gone and rain is everywhere, from the mountains to the valleys. Cooler too!

After two weeks of a “mini dry season” it has been good this week to have rain again every afternoon and/or evening! Today it started at about 4:15 PM and is still raining at 8:00 PM which is good after the short dry period here in Atenas. The other extreme is the north of the country and the Caribbean coast has been inundated with rain and flooding, displacing many from their homes and closing several  roads. So Atenas is still living up to our “best climate” fame.

The best thing one can do when it’s raining is to let it rain.
~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

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My Library

My library recharges at night, Kindle Fire & Samsung Cellphone (Kindle App).

One of the smartest things I did before the move south was get a Kindle Fire and then add the Kindle App to my cellphone! I read everything from the Bible to novels, National Geographic and occasionally the news, all electronically on my Kindle. When riding a bus or eating in a restaurant I read on my phone. As a quote I used yesterday in the butterfly post says,

“If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.”  
-Marcus Tullius Cicero
FYI, I’m currently reading the latest English version of Don Quixote and it is too early for me to have a judgement on it yet (but a little weird so far).  A couple of days ago I finished reading Pay It Forward, one of the best books I’ve ever read! It is by Catherine Ryan Hyde whom I discovered by accident from a little 99 cent Kindle book by her titled Electric God which was very good and pointed me to Pay It Forward which was also made into a movie. Sorry that Netflix is not streaming it, just on DVD which I can’t get here. It is about how a little boy’s school project to “change the world” actually did! Of course the movies are never as good as the books!  🙂

Locally made bookcase with doors
to protect from dry season dust. It
is between book boxes & guest
room wardrobe.

After arriving I started by reading all of the Chronicles of Narnia, The Hobbit,  and all the books in Lord of the Rings series. Great ways to escape the American culture! Those lengthy readings were broken up by two John Grisham mysteries, Agatha Christie, Louis L’Amour, three books on Costa Rica, two science fiction books, and The Psalmist (a mystery) by James Lillieford, a new and interesting writer for me. I’ll try him again.

Because I did bring two hard copy Bibles, my photo books, a couple of books on simple life, and my bird, butterfly, plants and other Central America nature & travel guides, I got a little bookcase (Pequeña Biblioteca), with doors to help with the dry season dust. It is simple, handmade locally, and serves my purpose well. I will also be keeping a few of the genealogy books as I go through them, but all my scrapbooks are going to be photographed and become electronic files as most of genealogy stuff will.

Mostly, my library now is my Kindle Fire! Best library yet!

Nature is my theme, so here’s one nature photo:     🙂

Rainy Day Green! Even with dull, overcast sky, greens seem brighter in rain!
Another view from my balcony in Atenas, Costa Rica!

And for those of you who know Reagan Frazier, he just scheduled a visit with me for two weeks in February 2016, just 8 months away!  🙂  But if thinking about it, February is off limits now.

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Sailor’s Delight?

“Red sky at night, Sailor’s delight. Red sky in morning, sailor’s warning.”
Last nigh’t sky from west end of my balcony through the trees.

 

Last night’s sky from the driveway above my roof a few minutes later.

Well, sure enough, it did not rain yesterday and has not so far today and it is after 4:00! I have to go water the new plants! I was enjoying the rainy season shower every afternoon! But regardless, I’ll keep my new trees and flowers alive with hose water!  🙂  And then look at this beautiful image:

 

And looking northwest toward Central Atenas a gorgeous pink & blue!
I love seeing what God creates!
The sky is the daily bread of the eyes.   ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
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Ash-throated Flycatcher

Ash-throated Flycatcher is a rare migrant in Costa Rica.
Here one is in my Yellow Bells Tree at end of balcony, at end of rain.

Zoomed in a little you see the hint of yellow on breast like the other flycatchers.

“The reason birds can fly and we can’t is simply because they have perfect faith, for to have faith is to have wings.” 
― J.M. Barrie, The Little White Bird

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Rainy Season

The “Rainy Season” must have finally started because it is raining every afternoon, usually late and sometimes into the evening. Nice! Good times for a a good book and cup of tea!

Rain here and not over there (for now).
And I don’t have to water the garden and new trees!   🙂

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Rain!

Life-giving Rain! Hard to photograph, but easy to accept!

I rushed to plant my garden the first week of May because I understood that the rainy season started in May and it would be raining every day. Well, I have been watering plants almost everyday with only a few good rains thus far and none the last 4 or 5 days. Well, I watered this morning and this afternoon we got a long, soaking rain which I hope is the beginning of a near daily event. Then it started again this evening, so our longest rain yet this year. And now I know why they call it winter this season, it is cold during the rain.

My Garden in the Night Rain

The Rain to the Wind

The rain to the wind said,
You push and I’ll pelt.’
They so smote the garden bed
That the flowers actually knelt,
And lay lodged–though not dead.
I know how the flowers felt.

                            ― Robert Frost