One is a butterfly and the other maybe the busiest week in Costa Rica.
Crimson Patch Butterfly, Guayabo Lodge, Turrialba, Cartago, Costa Rica – A “Bokeh” Photo!
Crimson Patch Butterfly
This butterfly is one I photographed at Guayabo Lodge last week and my first time for it! I had earlier mistaken a Bordered Patch for this species, but the big difference is the two-toned orange on the underside of wing. 🙂 See my new Crimson Patched Gallery and to compare the two, my older Bordered Patch Gallery. Even though the photo above is of a damaged butterfly, I like that photo better than the next one below because of the better soft background which I just learned yesterday from another blog is called a “Bokeh” photo – “. . . defined as ‘the effect of a soft out-of-focus background that you get when shooting a subject, using a fast lens, at the widest aperture, such as f/2.8 or wider.’ Simply put, bokeh is the pleasing or aesthetic quality of out-of-focus blur in a photograph.” ~nikonusa.com
Yep! I just went 6 days without blogging which is not my usual habit which is to write posts 3 or 4 days ahead then break from the routine while posts keep coming out. No health problems or catastrophes, “just tired of blogging.” But with another trip coming tomorrow, I’m in the mood and here’s a few nature photos made during this “down time.”
Two Bee or Not Two Bee
I’m still not getting many butterflies in my garden yet other than the fast-moving Yellows that never seem to land for a photo. But here’s two bees in my garden this morning:
I’m again working onThe Complete Fairy Tales and Stories of Hans Christian Andersen (link to Amazon Kindle version, the translation I’m reading), a long and sometimes boring or cumbersome 1800’s book that is an unusual mix of old-fashion fairy tales, Danish history, religion or Christian pedagogy in about 200 short stories about animals and people and in the ones about just people he seems fixated on both death and young men who want to marry “above their station” and never get their true love (pauper boy falls in love with a princess, etc.). I haven’t gotten to The Little Mermaid or Frozen yet! 🙂 I haven’t liked all of his stories and prefer the ones with talking animals and nature like the one in which I found this inspirational quote the other day . . .
It’s the last two sentences of his story titled The Toad. This toad has been trying to find the proverbial “gem in his head,” going through different aspects of nature and other animals when he decides to go toward the sun . . . then the story-teller concludes with . . .
“No, the light is too intense; we do not yet have eyes that can see all the glory God has created. But maybe someday we will have such eyes. That will be the most wonderful fairy tale of all, for we ourselves will be part of it.”
~Hans Christian Andersen
“. . . all the glory God has created . . .” Sunset on Calle Barroeta, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa RicaBullfrog, Si Como No Wildlife Refuge, Manuel Antonio NP, Costa Rica
And the feature photo at the top of this post is of a Masked Tree Frog at Villa Blanca Cloud Forest Resort, San Ramon, Costa Rica. Of course neither frog is the one Andersen wrote about, but fun illustrations! 🙂
Hans Christian Andersen reminded me of another favorite quote with a similar perspective on nature . . .
“I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting station, through which God speaks to us every hour, if we will only tune in.”
A sunflower photo to show my support of Ukraine during this attack by Russia.
FYI, I made this photo in 2012 in the Historic Buena Vista Neighborhood of North Nashville, not far from where I lived at the time. Yes, I have sunflower photos from Kansas, but I preferred this one! 🙂 Praying for the success of Ukraine in stopping Putin!
Sunflower, Buena Vista Neighborhood, Nashville, Tennessee USA in 2012
Or I sometimes say “Leaves & Nature Things” for photos from nature that I consider “The Art of God” or just “Nature As Art” which was the name of my photo business in Tennessee. These shots from my recent Maquenque Ecolodge visit are some that I consider “art” along with the landscapes already shared and of course the birds and other wildlife! 🙂 It is all art to me! One shot here for the emailed version of post, then a slide show of 10 more . . .
Of course there’s more photos and even more wildlife I haven’t shown like the White-nosed Coati and more butterflies, but I have them in the Christmas Trip 2021 Gallery, so check it out if you want more! 🙂
This was another favorite rainforest shot from Cristal Ballena that also includes the sea, so I just had to add it as my last post on that trip. As you can see, the rainforest not only surrounds the hotel, but flows all the way down to the ocean and the national park beach. It’s a beautiful place that I enjoy visiting and will probably go again someday. Now back to shots from my garden, the neighborhood and the little coffee farmers’ town of Atenas. For awhile anyway! 🙂 I’m trying to schedule a one-day waterfall trip and then in February I’m back to a tree house at Maquenque Lodge, Boca Tapada. 🙂
Rainforest & ocean view, Cristal Ballena Hotel, Uvita, Costa Rica.
“If man doesn’t learn to treat the oceans and the rainforest with respect, man will become extinct.”
I finally figured out how to get to historical statistics on my WordPress Blog/Website, wanting to see what kind of nature photos more people are interested in. Well, it was not my nature shots in 2021 but the posts labeled “Cancer Update” that all had over 200 readers or “hits” with none of my nature posts over 200 except the weird exception of an old one on a Truck Centipede. So THANK YOU for being interested in my health! It has been a long slow recovery still in process but I am so much closer to “normal” now and I was quite active on the last trip. I see my oncologist tomorrow and hopefully not many more times needed after that. 🙂
There have been 3 nice sunsets in a row now with the rain subsiding. This is the Dec.25 Sunset and early tomorrow I head back home in Atenas with an interesting flight from Palmar Sur to Drake Bay and then on to San Jose with lots of photo-ops! 🙂
Sunset 25 December 2021, Uvita, Puntarenas, Costa Rica.
I will be sharing more photos from this Uvita visit over the next few days. There is so much photography inspiration in the rainforest! 🙂
They usually have a nativity, but for now just this tree and laurels around the entrance.
La Coope Supermercado, Atenas
Entrance to my favorite supermarket, La Coope, operated by the local coffee farmers’ cooperative. I try to keep my money local. 🙂 The other big supermarket is “Maxi-Pali,” a Walmart-owned junk store.
The family that does “Two Weeks in Costa Rica” blog/newsletter has an article about what Ticos do during the holidays which is also “Summer Vacation” from school for all ages with graduations the middle of December and the start of new school year in February. Thus lots of “family vacations” during this time, especially the week between Christmas and New Years when many businesses and factories, etc are closed. The beaches and mountain lodges are full of Ticos that week! Everything is already festive by December 1 with many decorations up and special meal preparations started. Read about it in the Two Weeks guy’s article:
2020 Monkeying Around on Christmas Eve at Arenal Observatory where I will be again next Christmas or 2022. Good lodges like this one are booked solid for Christmas a year ahead. I just made my ’22 reservations.
Today is a National Holiday which until last year was on December 1, but last year moved to Monday to provide another long weekend so locals can go help the struggling tourism businesses. 🙂 Read this year’s Tico Times Article on a very important holiday!
CR spending money on education, not military!
Former President José Figueres Ferrer abolished the armed forces in Costa Rica on Dec. 1, 1948 following the end of the civil war that brought him to power. The decision was ratified in Costa Rica’s new constitution, adopted in 1949. And thus December 1 has been celebrated since then as “Army Abolition Day” until last year when the government moved another holiday to the nearest Monday to facilitate another long weekend. 🙂 Important to Ticos! 🙂
Read about how our Peaceful Country has this year gone 73 years without an army on the CostaRica.org website or heralded by Unesco as the first country to abolish its army. Or read about how our National Public Police Force provides protection and safety for Costa Rica in this Wikipedia Article. Truly an amazing place for a pacifist like me! 🙂 ¡El país de la paz!
