Ivan has been my respiratory therapist ever since I switched to a Costa Rica CPAP Machine, coming to my house once a month to check my vitals and the CPAP vital statistics, giving new parts, mask, hose, whatever when needed. Another service I never got in the States with the expensive healthcare service there, while it is a standard service for anyone here in the public healthcare system! A country that chooses to not have an army but better healthcare and education for everyone stands out as a real leader in the world!
Interestingly, Ivan chose not one of the few nature photos left on this last day of my sale but an “art photo” print of my photo of the Nashville Farmers’ Market Weather Vane! 🙂 Next month I will get a new Respiratory Therapist because I will be in a different province (San Jose) and Ivan only does Alajuela Province. Like many friends here, Ivan said he would come visit me at Verdeza on one of his days off. It is nice when your servants are also your friends! 🙂
I love it when someone buys one of my photos and then sends me a photo of how they used it in their home. That is what one lady did with these two images she got at my “Moving Sale” this week. Nice!
Heliconia Leaf, Atenas, Costa RicaHeliconia Leaf, Atenas, Costa Rica
That is “God bless you!” in Spanish and what one of my many moving sale guests said to me upon leaving. And I said to myself that it was kind of representative of the wonderful group of different people who have come by for the sale which has slowed down, though officially ends Friday and I still have two appointments on Thursday! 🙂
I had both Ticos and Expats coming to the sale with Ticos coming mostly for the practical kitchen and household things while most expats came for art. And all have been such interesting and very nice people! A mother who works the night shift at the local Emergency Room and later her very polite and thankful twenty-something son for some cheap prices on things he needed like the sleeper sofa. A former missionary to Peru who retired here before her husband died and for years helped administer the local children’s home that you FBC Nashville people met. Neighbors, friends and total strangers from all over the world came by and they are partly what make Costa Rica the interesting and enjoyable place it is.
So yes, God did bless me in a simple process like a moving sale and continues to bless me in so many different ways here in Costa Rica – a move that I continue to thank Him for! And I’m thanking Him that things are seeming to fall in place for this next big adventure! It has always been difficult for me to let someone serve me as I’ve always seen myself as the servant, but I can tell you that I’m really looking forward to someone else preparing the meals! 🙂 Along with new relationships, activities and some new environments to explore.
And that feature photo? It was my last bed in the states with the print of Jesus in Gethsemane that hung over my maternal grandmother’s bed and has mine now for many years and I am taking it with me to Verdeza where it will again hang over the head of my bed as it has for the 12 years here in Atenas. Just one more of God’s many blessings! 🙂 The official title is “Christ in Gethsemane” by Heinrich Hofmann in 1886. And I like the sepia toned print as did my grandmother. 🙂
Bear with me as I don’t blog much for several weeks while I get the big move done and adjust to a new environment and then I hope for a new blogging spirit to keep me creative and still focused on nature!
There has been no time for blog posts this week with an off and on flow of local people responding to my Moving Sale Galleries (linked) and I have continued to add items for sale, so locals please keep coming back! 🙂 THIS WILL BE THE LAST WEEK OF THE SALE! Ending Saturday 14 November.
The most over-looked or not used categories have been the arts, except for my African Arts Sale Gallery (linked) which has only 3 items left! And they are 3 of my favorites! 🙂 Now I’m telling you about the three other art categories with hugely discounted prices that might interest you . . .
Letting some of my Art Collection go at bargain prices at https://charliedoggett.smugmug.com/MOVING-SALE/Wall-Art-By-Other-Artists OR CLICK THE ABOVE IMAGE
This sub-gallery has some of my “Collected Art” from over the many years of my long life and though I love it all, I will likely live the rest of my life in a small apartment without space to display or store it all, so some must go. CLICK ON THE ABOVE IMAGE TO SEE THAT GALLERY, then call for a time to come by and check it out as with the next two sub-galleries.
Last chance to get a Charlie Doggett photo! See what is left at: https://charliedoggett.smugmug.com/MOVING-SALE/Wall-Art-My-Nature-Photos – The above image is not complete, more have been added, but still going fast!
My first 12 years living here in Costa Rica and many of the last 10 in the USA were given to nature and travel photography and above is mainly wall art from over these last nearly 20 years with a few other things like two mouse pads and I have 5 coffee mugs left that I am just giving away if interested in a mug with a butterfly photo. Like with the previous gallery, call for a time to come look at what is available and finally I have everything clearly labeled with the price and other information. And yes, much of the above are items that did not sell in my earlier efforts in an art gallery and some arts & crafts fairs, but ALL ARE DISCOUNTED AT LEAST 75% with a few as low as $1!
Accent pillows with flower photos on both sides. Go to: https://charliedoggett.smugmug.com/MOVING-SALE/Flower-Accent-Pillows-1-each
And lastly, one of my favorites, the Flower Photos Accent Pillows, that I never understood why they did not sell at the gallery or the craft fairs, but now you can get a brilliant $20 accent pillow for only$1!
Then My Last Week Here (15-22 November) . . .
If you have ever moved, you know that there are a million things that have to be done and the moving sale prevented me from doing many of them including a physical for entry into a Senior Adult facility along with address changes and cancellations, etc. etc.! 🙂
That last week will be capped off on Sunday 22 November with a “Farewell Charlie Luncheon” at a neighbor’s house with several local friends coming to say goodbye. Then 23 & 24 are the very last minute packing with the actual move on 25 November and the beginning of another chapter of the old man’s life, an adventure to still be discovered from the greenway to the city streets! A lot to explore and discover! Plus a lot of new friends to grow old with. Thanks to all of you for your kindnesses and good wishes and the blog might be quiet again for a while as I finish the transition to a blog from a slightly different perspective. We will see what happens! 🙂
It is of course mostly for local people in or near Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica, but if someone anywhere in the world is willing to pay the shipping cost for anything (like some of the art or the stamp collection) then I will get it shipped to you once paid. If you have any questions, use the CONTACT menu item at the top of this page.
This is all happening very fast for me! It has to end no later than November 20 and probably sooner as I have to get rid of everything one way or another.
¡Pura Vida!
And THANK YOU! Blog Readers!
My blog/website host just reported to me that I had 11,000 views or visits in the month of October 2026! That just makes me want to do a better job, but be patient with me while I make this big move in November, then I’ll settle down to an even better nature blog! 🙂
Xandari has more of my photo books in their lobby than maybe any other hotel/lodge in Costa Rica. And they were on a bookshelf in a back corner of the lobby for quite a while, but when that corner was made into an office, they moved my books to just inside the front door, nicely displayed on top of a miniature oxcart, one of the historical symbols of Costa Rica. And my friends in Reception tell me that a lot more people are using the books now! 🙂
All of the lodges that I regularly visit have some of my books in their lobbies and I know that people use them as I have received letters of thanks from tourists by way of my website Contact Page. 🙂 It is kind of fun to gift people I don’t know from around the world with a tiny expression of my Costa Rica Pura Vida in my nature photos here! 🙂
Charlie Doggett Photo Books displayed on a small Ox Cart in the lobby of Xandari Resort.Charlie Doggett Photo Books displayed on a small Ox Cart in the lobby of Xandari Resort.
As I sat in Xandari dining balcony overlooking the grounds and a fogged out Central Alajuela, waiting for my Nachos & Lemonade, I experienced a Wet Art Show of my own category of “Leaves & Nature Things.” After the introductory photo for the emailed blog post there are 2 short galleries of horizontals and verticals of the beautiful Nature Art I enjoyed before my nachos! 🙂 Enjoy!
The theme of today’s online class was “Light & Shadow” and you can see my class notes and comments at Pause 5: Light & Shadow. (linked to my notes) Still not excited about the class, but this was a good photo-activity! 🙂
So I went outside at about 3pm yesterday (not the best time for long shadows, but okay). Here are a few of my shots in a gallery that won’t work in the email, so one pix for the email and then go to the online post for the gallery . . .
I am continuing the “Photography & Mindfulness” online class with #4 being day before yesterday or done yesterday for me. And of course a blog post each time with a link to my notes, comments and one or more of my photos that I think sort of relate. I’m not quite as “ethereal” or maybe it’s “psychological” as my teacher in Spain, but hoping this focus on mindfulness will help me to be more mindful and sensitive in making creative and meaningful nature photos. If interested, go to my online notes on this particular class at : Pause 4: Sensation and Emotion -May 15, 2026 NOTES.
I think that a red flower always produces more “sensation or emotion” than any other color. 🙂
And About the Feature Photo . . .
Dying Cecropia Leaf with green spots or “Green Islands”
From Google AI: “Green islands” on a browning leaf are caused by living pests or pathogens that manipulate the plant’s hormones. They excrete cytokinins (plant growth hormones) that trick the leaf into delaying its natural death and keeping its green chlorophyll active in that specific area.
CLICK above cover image to go to a free preview of all pages.
This will probably be my last butterfly book, so I encourage you to get one now or at least go look at it. Every species includes the available English & Spanish Common Names plus the Latin Scientific Name which is available for all, while a few species don’t have “common names.” 🙂 There are three rare butterfly species included that are rarely ever seen.
And for you neighbors of mine in Residential Roca Verde, don’t forget that I have a smaller 7×7 inches book of just Roca Verde Butterflies with 180 species photographed here, mostly in my garden.
