The green mountains of Atenas, Costa Rica seen from my terrace.
You ask me why I dwell in the green mountain;
I smile and make no reply for my heart is free of care.
As the peach-blossom flows downstream and is gone into the unknown,
I have a world apart that is not among men.
~Li Bai, 8th Century Chinese Poet
.
That is sort of my response to the U.S. election and what has been going on there for many years now. And as I finish my life retired in Costa Rica, I will continue, as long as able, to photograph and write about birds, butterflies and flowers! 🙂
The photo is of the green hills of Atenas, Costa Rica as seen from my terrace at breakfast.
The White House, I photographed on my 2013 visit to Washington, D.C. (year before CR move)
If ever a patriotic American should take a strong stand in an election, it is this year and with this presidential election, thus my once every 4 years political blog post.
It is beyond my understanding how this election could possibly be close, because I still believe that the majority of Americans are honest, patriotic, defend the constitution and what has been the strongest democracy in the world. Yet here we are! How could it be a close election?
The differences in the two candidates are like daylight and dark! I invite my Republican friends to follow the many other Republicans and denounce the convicted criminal, liar, rapist, racist, fascist, mean old rich man and vote, at least this once, for the democratic candidates, Harris-Walz!
I no longer identify with my lifelong church and work, Southern Baptists, or any of the related Evangelicals for what I consider “unChristian” support of Donald Trump and his Republican minions. But friends, I know that many of you want to follow Christ, so I ask you to simply ask yourself that old “WWJD” question from our youth – What Would Jesus Do? There is no doubt in my mind! Thus I vote Harris!
In 2013 when I visited D.C. I also wrote this poem for my July 4 birthday with photos from a 2005 Everglades National Park visit. 🙂
God bless you and God bless the United States of America!
Sunrise Wed, 2 Oct 2024, Hotel Banana Azul, Puerto Viejo, Limón
No two are alike and none disappoint me! 🙂 And they may be the highlights of my time here this year as my aches and pains are keeping the beach road walks short and have caused me to cancel my planned hikes in the two national parks nearby. But the hotel manager said he would take me to the end of the beach road in his car tomorrow morning. 🙂 This morning’s short walk on the beach road gave me very few bird or butterfly photos, which I will share in another blog post tonight. Here’s a slide show of 8 sunrise shots from this morning (no 2 of them alike either!) and I will be sharing more from each morning plus non-blog photos will be in a gallery later.
SLIDE SHOW . . .
Sunrise Wed, 2 Oct 2024, Hotel Banana Azul, Puerto Viejo, Limón
Sunrise Wed, 2 Oct 2024, Hotel Banana Azul, Puerto Viejo, Limón
Sunrise Wed, 2 Oct 2024, Hotel Banana Azul, Puerto Viejo, Limón
Sunrise Wed, 2 Oct 2024, Hotel Banana Azul, Puerto Viejo, Limón
Sunrise Wed, 2 Oct 2024, Hotel Banana Azul, Puerto Viejo, Limón
Sunrise Wed, 2 Oct 2024, Hotel Banana Azul, Puerto Viejo, Limón
Sunrise Wed, 2 Oct 2024, Hotel Banana Azul, Puerto Viejo, Limón
Sunrise Wed, 2 Oct 2024, Hotel Banana Azul, Puerto Viejo, Limón
There is a pleasure in the pathless woods, There is a rapture on the lonely shore, There is society, where none intrudes, By the deep sea, and music in its roar: I love not man the less, but Nature more, From these our interviews, in which I steal From all I may be, or have been before, To mingle with the Universe, and feel What I can ne’er express, yet cannot all conceal.
Semana Santa is Spanish for “Holy Week” or “Easter Week” if you prefer and my most memorable and colorful one since moving to Costa Rica was 8 years ago (2016, my 2nd year here) while on a birding tour of Nicaragua and during Semana Santa I was for 3 days in the historical colonial town of Grenada where from my old hotel across from the oldest church I could watch the nightly processionals that along with architecture and the later 87 species of birds photographed made it my most colorful and memorable Easter Week here! (Linked to my photo gallery of that week.)
Easter Week Pageantry, 2016, Granada, NicaraguaSunset over Granada, Nicaragua 2016.
I am immensely grateful for each and every one of you who read my blog regularly, occasionally or just look at the photos! My site host reports more that 2,000+ “hits” online at my website/blog every month! 🙂 And that doesn’t count many of the 500+ subscribers who only look at the email version nor most of the 650 Facebook Friends who look at the one feature photo without clicking the the link to the post!
I also appreciate the hundreds of comments left on the posts monthly and many “contacts” or messages through my contact page or by email. Just yesterday I responded to a man in England with questions about photographing wildlife at Esquinas Rainforest Lodge and a friend in the States commented with a meaningful Bible verse about my post yesterday on hugging the 800 year old tree. Nature is fun! :-) And you who read or just look at the pictures are the ones who make it fun for me! :-) THANKS! Keep reading or looking at the pix! And click the gallery links for more pix!
As usual, I’m ending the year with 12 photos from this year, equaling one per month but not literally from each month, since some months have weaker or fewer photos. Nor are these necessarily my top 12 favorite photos from this year, but are representative 2023 photos from “Retired in Costa Rica” this year, with birds and butterflies obviously being two favorite subjects again! :-) One shot here for the email version and eleven more online with a quick click below of “Read More”!
