One of the neighbor couples, Russ & Holly, had their second Solstice Party yesterday and it was cloudy (but never rained) meaning no really good photos, but an example of expat life in Costa Rica. 🙂
Solstice Party, Roca Verde, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
Solstice Party, Roca Verde, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
“In every walk with nature, one receives far more than he seeks.”
– John Muir
An inspiring overlay of leaves in one corner of my garden. Something new each day! And this time with red, green & gold for Christmas! 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
Postscript Prayer Request
My little sister, Bonnie (12 years younger than me), has just been diagnosed with Colon Cancer and had surgery yesterday to remove the blockage and receive a colostomy bag. Once that heals, in about 6 weeks, she will begin chemotherapy with hopes that it has not already spread very far. A difficult way for her to begin Christmas! Your prayers for her and the doctors in Independence, Missouri will be appreciated by all!
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” ~Philippians 4:6
. . . on a busy street in downtown Atenas, Alajuela Province, Costa Rica. I was in a taxi running errands downtown when I realized that the man in the tree was not a tree-trimmer but a National Park employee rescuing a Hoffmann’s Two-toed Sloth, Choloepus hoffmanni (my gallery link) from a tree near Central Park on a busy street full of businesses where he/she would certainly be killed by a car soon. He/she will be taken to a national park or wildlife reserve to live peacefully in the wild as God intended. I jumped out of the taxi and tried to make a few photos with my cell phone, which show what was happening but are not good shots of the sloth. They are all difficult to photograph as mainly big balls of fur that don’t frequently show their faces (both 2 & 3 toed). Just a report of a moment of excitement in busy, pre-Christmas, downtown Atenas! (For which my stopped taxi blocked traffic for about a minute on Calle 1!) 🙂
Sloth Rescue, Downtown Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
More photos in the online version of the blog post . . .
My collection of artisan bird ornaments got pulled out of storage this year and stuck on an ugly artificial tree or bush, but I think that the Latin American Artisan Birds are beautiful, so I created a slideshow of about 20 closeup photos of some of my collection. See them in the online version of this post . . .
ÅS
See 20 (not all) of my artisan bird collection in the slideshow online . . .
It takes me a while to process the many photos I usually take and then label and get into galleries – but it is done! for the November 10 & 17-22 Visit by the Gary Eaton’s. Linked to the gallery or click on the image of first page below . . .
CLICK ABOVE IMAGE to go to the gallery.
I placed it in my “CR TRIP GALLERIES” because it was their trip and much like a trip for me with a variety of photos, many of which are okay even if not my best! 🙂 After all, I had cancer surgery on my nose in the middle that week and was dealing with feet & leg inflammation from the new blood pressure medicine, but in spite of all that, I had great time Gary & Kenna! And I hope you are able to return to Costa Rica in the future to see other areas and different National Parks! I love it all! 🙂
I had surgery Tuesday morning to remove another skin cancer, this one from my nose! 🙂 So the Eaton’s hung out at their hotel until about 10 when I took them on a walk through Central Atenas but I was not motivated to make many photos for some reason, so I got only the spreading tree in the courtyard of Mercado Central and the vista from Casita del Café the next morning (where with a clear sky you see the Pacific, but not that morning), with all the other Atenas photos in gallery linked from earlier photos I’ve made. Sorry. We ate out for lunch in Crema y Nata Tuesday and other Atenas restaurants the next two nights.
Wednesday we had breakfast on the mountain top and I took a taxi home while Walter took them to a Punta Leona beach to photograph monkeys and other nature and I rested. Click the above link for an idea of what they saw in Atenas. Just the first two photos I made on those two days here. The feature photo at top of post is of the vista from Casita del Café during breakfast there Wednesday morning and the tree photo is from Mercado Central de Atenas on our Tuesday walk.
Tree in Courtyard of the Central Market of Atenas, Costa Rica
The inside exhibits this time were all paintings by Costa Ricans and somehow I lacked the motivation to photograph any. Sorry. Here’s just a few of my photos of both the Eaton’s & Huskey’s and of some outside art. To see more of my photos of that gallery see my gallery from an earlier visit: January 2024 Museum of Costa Rican Art with better photos of the museum. It was a tour from the Art House of Atenas I participated in and was feeling better then.
Museum of Cost Rican Artists, in the old 1940’s downtown airport terminal building.
Below is a gallery of 6 shots from that day & lunch at Jalapeños . . .
