The beauty of the natural world lies in the details.
—Natalie Angier
Looking across the driveway into my neighbor’s yard.
¡Pura Vida!
Also My Flora & Forest Galleries.
🙂
Enjoying Details
“It All Came Together!”
That is what I said about this particular pix when the way the Montezuma Oropendola perched in relation to the tree limb with both in focus is not always the way my bird photo come together! 🙂 But this one did!
And since this is the morning of my serious 6-hour surgery to remove a cancer from the left side of my head, I am praying that this surgery too “will all come together” for a successful removal of all cancer! Thanks for your prayers! No updated posts on my health for probably 3 days or more! 🙂 But here is where I will post it first!
¡Pura Vida!
This photo was made on my last December Trip to Arenal Observatory.
Let’s be Wildflowers!
No matter how chaotic it is, wildflowers will still spring up in the middle of nowhere.
~Sheryl Crow
¡Pura Vida!
There was a lot of other beauty seen in January at
My Favorite Art Gallery: Nature
Art is the child of nature in whom we trace the features of the mothers face.
~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Photos from my December Visit to Arenal Observatory Lodge:
Lake Arenal Vista & a Spotted Antbird.
¡Pura Vida!
Puntarenas Makeover & Train Return
Puntarenas is Costa Rica’s Pacific Coast Port and the closest port city & beaches to Atenas where I live. Christopher Howard has a nice little article on his blog/website that tells all about the coming changes:
PUNTARENAS GETTING A MAKEOVER FOR COSTA RICANS, TOURISTS AND EXPATS TO ENJOY THEMSELVES. I’m especially excited about the return of the train from San Jose to Puntarenas which will probably again make a stop in Atenas. Another way to travel to the coast! But there is no way the train tracks will be ready by 2022, especially if they have to rebuild that Rio Grande Bridge in Atenas!
My first experience with Puntarenas was from a 2011 Tampa to San Diego Panama Canal Cruise when the cruise ship stopped for a day in the port of Puntarenas. The Feature Photo at Top and the one below are from that trip as well as the following slide show:
“Costa Rica Culture” by 7 “Kids”
Back in May 2018 I reviewed here and told about the Costa Rica made movie “Güilas” the title of which is the Costa Rican slang word for children like American English “Kids.” The movie is actually seven short stories about seven different kids, each in a different one of the seven provinces of Costa Rica thus visually showing many parts of this beautiful country and its varied cultures by my favorite Costa Rica Photographer, Sergio Pucci (I use one of his CR Calendars every year for his beautiful photography!). This is one of the best movies I’ve ever seen anywhere and is definitely the best one on the culture of Costa Rica! Well worth $10 USD from Vimeo!
One of the 7 Stories:
January Yellow – Far and Wide!
Around the first of January every year in Costa Rica the skylines, forest tops and trees in every direction seem to be ablaze in yellow. In my yard it is what we call “Yellow Bells” in English, while many others here and throughout the country are the Yellow Cortez Tree and in other places the Brazilian Fire Tree. These shots are from recent short morning walks through my neighborhood. CLICK image to see larger . . .
Yellow – Far & Wide 
My Yellow Bell Tree 
Yellow – Far & Wide 
Yellow – Far & Wide 
Yellow – Far & Wide 
My Street 
Yellow – Far & Wide 
Up Hill Above My House 
Another Above My House
“How lovely yellow is! It stands for the sun.”
– Vincent Van Gogh
¡Pura Vida!
My related Photo Galleries: Flora & Forest
And more photos from Arenal & Caño Negro are coming! I’m still organizing photos! 🙂
Books I Read in 2020
Thanks to Goodreads that provided me with the above images and the list of books I reported to them as having read during 2020, most with a book review. I thought that by the time this blog post was scheduled, I would have finished my current book by Barack Obama, A Promised Land, that is not among the above images, but I was too busy at Arenal to read as much as I expected, meaning it will go down as a January book. And then there are others I’m “working on.” 🙂
I’m not a heavy reader because I tend to be a “doer” of adventures more a reader of adventures, plus I have a sometimes uncontrollable urges to “to create,” mainly with my photos. But I still love to read and no longer go to movies or watch TV. I currently have Netflix Costa Rica mainly for the documentaries and occasionally an old movie, though not as many titles available here as in the states, thus watch just occasionally. I no longer subscribe to any cable TV. So, when not photographing or creating something with my photos, I like to read Agatha Christie mysteries and select non-fiction books such as the Obama book.
Here’s a slide show of the book covers followed by a list of titles and authors. And note that in 2021 I plan to finish the entire series of Hercule Poirot mysteries with just 2 more to go! 🙂
My 12 Books This Year
Assuming I finish the Obama book which I’m sure I will. These are not in any particular order and I don’t remember exactly what order I read them, but most were good books. The sitting kills book was weak I thought and I was disappointed in the book on knowing God. The other 10 I recommend! The first 6 are non-fiction and the last 6 fiction – half and half! 🙂
- The Adventurer’s Son by Roman Dial
- How the South Won the Civil War by Heather Cox Richardson
- The Future We Choose – Surviving the Climate Crises, Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac
- A Promised Land by Barack Obama
- Sitting Kills – Moving Heals by Joan Vernikos
- Knowing God by J. I. Packer
- Heaven Adjacent by Catherine Ryan Hyde
- Hickory Dickory Dock by Agatha Christie
- Dead Man’s Folly by Agatha Christie
- The Clocks by Agatha Christie
- Third Girl by Agatha Christie
- Cat Among the Pigeons by Agatha Christie
Numbers 3 & 4 are my two favorite books this year with #7 my favorite fiction.
“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies . . . The man who never reads lives only one.”
– George R.R. Martin
¡Pura Vida!
Pachacuti Mural
There is a fairly new art shop in town called Tienda Galería Pachacuti Arte across from Central Park next to Banco Nacional that is operated by two artisans, a Tico friend who makes jewelry from local stones and a new artist from Peru who is principally a painter though does other art forms too. He named the shop after Pachacuti, leader of an Inca tribe thought to have built Machu Picchu in his honor in Peru. Their art shop is upstairs in this building and has a lot of beautiful work. Its a shame there are almost no tourists here now because of the pandemic. They asked me to present some of my photography for them to sell, but so far I am resisting any involvement in retail sales. 🙂
The mural of a black panther means that evidently this form of the cougar or puma (just black in color) evidently exists in Peru (not that I know of in Costa Rica, but possible). They are rarely seen in Florida of the U.S.
Another bit of ethnic color in central Atenas, Costa Rica. Pura vida!
See also my photo gallery: Atenas Public Art & Graffiti.
¡Pura Vida!
The “Sculptured” INCA DOVE
To me, this second most common dove/pigeon around my house looks sculptured, almost as if he were carved out of wood. Read eBird on Inca Doves for more information or to see more of my many photos, my Inca Dove Gallery with some better photos.
“Every bird, every tree, every flower reminds me what a blessing and privilege it is just to be alive.”
– Marty Rubin
Costa Rica launches crowdfunding campaign for reforestation ~A Tico Times article
¡Pura Vida!