Late-blooming Nance Tree

Or was the other one an “early bloomer?” 🙂 Both the Nance Tree and the Maraca Flowers on the front slope of my house have finished blooming while the ones back of my house (up hill) are just now blooming. Maybe the difference is morning sun (back) and afternoon sun (front) or I’m just fortunate to have them blooming at different times of the year! 🙂

A Guatemala website tells Mayan stories of this tree that they question, while a produce website tells about the uses of the berries and the Wikipedia site has a great general summary about the tree and its fruits and uses. I tried to eat a raw berry once and did not care for it. All 3 of my trees are harvested by birds only and at two different times of the year!

Nance Tree Flower, Atenas, Costa Rica

You can see a few green berries in the upper right corner of the next photo which will turn yellow when ripe . . .

Continue reading “Late-blooming Nance Tree”

Tanna Longtail

Tanna Longtail, Urbanus tanna, is easily confused with the Teleus Longtail, but the 5 white dots in the short white line on his wing separates him from the Teleus. Seen in my garden yesterday, though I am still seeing way fewer butterflies than usual in June.

Tanna Longtail, Atenas, Costa Rica

And though these look like two different butterflies with the dark brown and light brown contrast, they are the same individual in differing light. 🙂

Tanna Longtail, Atenas, Costa Rica

See more in my Tanna Longtail Gallery.

¡Pura Vida!

Salome or Boisduval’s Yellow?

Maybe! Again, another yellow that is not an exact match to any in the book or online. Another one I got in my garden a few weeks ago. Nice, whatever he is! 🙂 NOTE: In 2024 I decided that this is a female Dina Yellow, Pyrisitia dina.

Salome or Boisduval’s Yellow – Maybe! Atenas, Costa Rica
Salome or Boisduval’s Yellow – Maybe! Atenas, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

And for those following it, my Saturday morning “Coffee & Art” photo sale did very well. Of course I didn’t sell everything, but I sold a lot! 🙂 THANKS to all who came! You are appreciated!

See My Garden Tomorrow

Even if you aren’t into art or my nature photos, maybe you will enjoy a walk through my garden tomorrow morning to see my 50+ blooms on the Maraca or Shampoo Ginger plants plus the other flowers blooming right now and shown below these Maracas in a slide show. Enjoy!

Continue reading “See My Garden Tomorrow”

Recent Butterflies

Though I’m not seeing as many as last June, the variety of butterflies is slowly expanding in my garden. We got almost no rain in May and now it rains every afternoon, which is normal for rainy season, but if anything different this June it is maybe more rain than last year, which may or may not affect the number of butterflies. And I’m also getting fewer birds. Here’s photos of 5 different species seen in the last week.

Dina Yellow, Atenas, Costa Rica
Continue reading “Recent Butterflies”

Wall Art Available in Atenas

I will always prefer that you order wall art directly from my online Photo Gallery which is hosted by SmugMug.com who uses professional printers to print each of these, whether on paper, canvas or my new preference of “Float-mounted Metal Print.” I ordered each of these from my gallery.

There are 11 new ones ordered especially for the new local gallery that did not get established, plus about that many more I already had. You can see them online in two places:

  • Wall Art Images in a sub-gallery in my big Photo Gallery on SmugMug.
  • Or on this website at: Art Gallery at My House, but you have to scroll down past the floral accent pillows which I listed first with wall art second. Everything available is presented there on one page, while in the galleries there is a separate sub-gallery for each category.

The feature photo is one of the bigger images, a sunset from Cancun with Costa Rica on that horizon! 🙂 And below is one of the four Red-eyed Tree Frog photos available.

Red-eyed Tree Frog at Arenal Observatory Lodge, 20×16 inches, Metal, $100 USD or ¢55,000 CRC.

¡Pura Vida!

Coffee & Art, June 24, 9-12 am

Come and Go as you please! – ¡Ven y Vete como quieras!

The Enchanting “Golden Shrimp”

One of my flowers that’s blooming well now that our rainy season finally started is what is popularly called the “Golden Shrimp” Flower or sometimes called the “Lollipop Plant” with the scientific name of “Pachystachys lutea” and Spanish names of “choclo de oro,” “camarón” o “Camarónes” en Costa Rica.

Golden Shrimp Flower in Costa Rica (my garden)
Golden Shrimp Flower in Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

And a post on my Wall Art Metal Photos available next week in Atenas will be coming later today! In preparation for my June 24 one-man art show called “Coffee & Art,” 9-12 am, Saturday, June 24. Don’t miss it!

🙂

Ant on a Heliconia

I got a macro lens once and found it too much trouble to use and continued to use my 600mm zoom lens to catch tiny things like some of the butterflies and the other day I tried to capture this ant on a heliconia flower which is not real detailed but it was fun trying! 🙂

Ant on a Heliconia Flower, Atenas, Costa Rica
Ant on a Heliconia Flower, Atenas, Costa Rica

See my “More Insects” Gallery for more ants and other bugs!

¡Pura Vida!

My Blog/Website Stats for May 2023

1,000 visitors viewing 2,000 pages, writing 12 comments and giving my blog 80 likes (and only other WordPress Bloggers have a “like button.”) THANKS to all the many readers of this blog! And I’m especially thankful to those living in Costa Rica who read it! ¡Pura vida! 🙂

Art Gallery Did Not Materialize

The half dozen women putting together what was going to be a great art gallery in Atenas and I was to be one of the artists, gave up on all the setup costs and government regulations/taxes, etc. and just decided at the last minute (June 15 opening) that they will just not do it. I can understand their frustration, but it’s a big disappointment for me, especially since I’ve spent several thousand dollars on photo merchandise and even commissioned last week a big 30 cm wide basket to hold the accent pillows with my floral photos printed on them. But so goes life and I’ll figure out something to do with it all or give a lot of gifts. 🙂 And they may still do the Christmas Art Show!? If so, I’m ready! 🙂

Shop at My House!

And if you live in Atenas, call first (8410-9916), then come by my house and check out these gorgeous accent pillows, which I’ll sell from home now, along with greeting cards, coffee mugs, mouse pads, tote bags, T-shirts, and of course wall art photos! All below my cost! 🙂

DISCLAIMER:

As of today, 5 June, 2023, the 11 new Wall Art Metal Photos have not arrived for my pickup in Alajuela yet (Stuck in Customs!) and the only wall art immediately available are ones left over from the JIT Christmas Art Show. I’m hoping that the new Wall Art will be available when I go to Alajuela this Thursday and get the Mouse Pads that have arrived. BUT IF INTERESTED IN WALL ART, I suggest that you wait until next week and pray that Customs releases them soon! 🙂 But I do have 400 different 5×7 Greeting Cards which some people get several of for a wall “grouping” of similar images. Also, I am preparing an online photo inventory or “Atenas Gallery” of available photo items at my house with pictures, but that takes time and is not finished yet! 🙂 I will announce it here on the blog when completed.

¡Pura Vida!