Category: Flowers

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New Children’s Playground

The new Central Park Playground has been finished and open for maybe two months and I’m just slow reporting on it. At first I reacted negatively to all the bright colors and what looks like cheap Chinese Plastic, but I think I mis interpreted! It is designed for younger Elementary School and Preschool kids and now I think it is perfect for them! And the artificial turf too! The other day I stopped by one afternoon after many kids would be out of school and it wasn’t raining and there was a lot of activity! It was fun for me to see the creativity of some kids using the space under the tree house or slide and climbing wall to gather as in their “clubhouse.” The hyper little boys had plenty to keep them busy and I noticed for older elementary kids maybe, there was a tic-tac-toe wall with changeable X’s and O’s. Clever! And as expected, the swings were the busiest. I tried not to get any closeup photos of children and their faces for their privacy, staying on the periphery for all photos. Here’s four . . .

New Children’s Playground, Central Park Atenas
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Creating New Views!

When this first pot below was overflowing with Bougainvillea, I liked it contrasting against the white wall alongside the driveway, but now with Petunias, I decided that I like the “look” better beneath this greenery on my terrace and the taxistas like not having it along the driveway! 🙂

The Petunia Pot moved to the entrance corner of my Terrace.

The other pot I had along the driveway was the Desert Rose and it hasn’t been blooming, so I’m trying a shadier spot along my garden walk, hoping it will bloom better there. Past logic was that with a name like “desert” it would like a lot of sun, and it actually did very well there for a few years, but is not blooming now. If shadier doesn’t work, I’ll try a larger pot next and maybe put it back in the sun. 🙂

The Desert Rose was moved to a corner of garden walkway with more shade or less sun, hoping it will bloom.

And though not new, my BREAKFAST VIEWS are important to me!

My “Breakfast Nook” on the Terrace where I face the other direction from this table.
Along with occasional wildlife in the garden, my breakfast view is the surrounding hills of Atenas!

And after breakfast I read the paper in these rocking chairs facing both hills and garden. All part of my joy of being “Retired in Costa Rica!”

My “READING CORNER” on the Terrace with views of hills and garden.

That’s my garden terrace — always creating new views!

🙂

Garden Gallery

House Galleries

¡Pura Vida!

Retired in Costa Rica!

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Mella Skipper

If my ID is correct, this is another new species for me. It is hard to be sure when I cannot get both the top view and the side view like this. But the top view here matches best this new species for me, Mella Skipper – Anatrytone mella.

Mella Skipper, Atenas, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

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Juvenile Emerald Basilisk

Eating flower leaves in my garden! The Emerald or Green Basilisk (link to National Geographic page) adult has the big crest or plume on his head and back, like a little dinosaur, and is know for “walking on water” (actually running very fast) and is thus called by some “The Jesus Christ Lizard.” You wouldn’t think that I would have them in my garden and though I am more likely to see in rainforests or along streams, there is a stream across the cow pasture from me here. 🙂 Here’s two shots of a juvenile climbing up my Lantana flower pot at the end of my tiny driveway parking space.

Juvenile Emerald Basilisk, Atenas, Costa Rica (all of his long tail in the next shot)
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4 Species of Orchids

that I added to my garden just before the recent art sale. They are tiny “shade orchids” that I used to “fill in” where I felt I needed some more flowers. Like with most flowers, I prefer the close up shots, but the last photo here shows them in relation to that particular flower bed and thus their small size, though multiple blooms on each. And each is so fragile that it came tied to a wooden stake. 🙂

Orchid, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
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La Gamba Field Station

I earlier promised a blog post on this unique place adjacent to Esquinas Rainforest Lodge and then I will lay off posts from that area for awhile. 🙂 And begin again tomorrow doing blog posts from my garden and the community of Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica! 🙂

Normally the station is full of students and other researchers as in this photo from their website, but the week I was there, they were in between research projects and I talked with only two students.

The University of Vienna in Austria does an exceptional amount of tropical and rainforest research with not only their professors and students, but with many guest researchers from other parts of Europe and from the USA and Latin America. Read more about this important research station on their English-language website: https://www.lagamba.at/en/ while being aware that the primary language there is German. 🙂 Austrians speak an Austrian dialect of German.

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New Esquinas GALLERY is finished!

Check out the now finished gallery of photos from my latest Costa Rica Adventure and second visit to Esquinas Rainforest Lodge by clicking the first page image below or go to this link: https://charliedoggett.smugmug.com/TRIPS/2023-July-1-6-Esquinas-Rainforest-Lodge

CLICK this image of the 1st page of my ’23 Esquinas Rainforest Lodge GALLERY to visit it.
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“The Wind in the Trees”

“Nothing has ever been said about God that hasn’t already been said better by the wind in the trees.”

~Thomas Merton

With that, I renew an old adventure that will certainly become an even grander new adventure . . .

Esquinas Rainforest Lodge, Piedras Blancas NP, Golfito

It was in October of 2018, the peak of the rainy season, that I first visited Esquinas Rainforest Lodge at La Gamba Research Station, Piedras Blancas National Park, north of Golfito, Puntarenas. It rained pretty hard every afternoon with the mornings and short spaces between rain full of wonderful birds to photograph! And the planned boat trip to Rio Coto Mangroves turned impossible with high winds and heavy rain on Golfo Dulce, but the ingenious boat captain took me back into the smaller Gulf of Golfito (shielded from heavy wind by trees) for some of my better bird shots in between downpours – an unplanned but excellent substitute for an always good mangrove tour! Making Lemonade from Lemons! 🙂 And how could you not in this incredible rainforest? See more photos from my first trip there & a video link below . . .

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