This Heliconia Leaf seems to me to be gracefully bowing its head as the first signs of deterioration begin it’s final days with only a little touch of brown now and the folding of the once tall and straight green leaf. Nature as Art continues to inspire me as I find my own life slowing down and less capable than before. May I conclude my life as gracefully as this Heliconia Leaf! 🙂
Nature as Art
¡Pura Vida!
See another Heliconia Leaf in a further stage of death that I used on the cover of a recent photo book titled Designed by Nature which you can preview for free online. Nature is truly graceful!
Several wrens have been checking out my severely pruned Triquitraque Vines or Flame Vines that I asked the gardeners to cut back and they cut way back! 🙂 Plus all the ground cover around them! Oh well – it will grow back and the vines are already sprouting new growth. But I think it is the open soil and not the sprouts that attract these Rufous-naped Wrens, probably looking for worm or insect food! 🙂 It has always been one of my common or regular birds year around and, though decreased recently, they seem to be returning in greater numbers now. Here’s 4 shots of these birds in their dapper plaid sport jacket! 🙂
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!
It has been a long time since I’ve photographed one of these fave birds in my yard, so I was smiling when I photographed him in my back Nance Tree, uphill or above my roof. Then I went straight in the house and started processing the photos and this shot was my favorite, writing this blog post 12 days ago. The Esquinas trip got me ahead of schedule and I just may stay that way with good birds like this stopping by! 🙂
Turquoise-browed Motmot, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
We can regularly have two different species of motmots, this Turquoise-browed Motmot and the Lesson’s Motmot (both linked to eBird). The Lesson’s used to be called blue-crowned which was more descriptive, but there are reasons for name changes. And of course I have lots of photos of both in my galleries plus a few of the other 2 Motmots:
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.
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.
An old friend from seminary and Miami days, Carlos Cobos, was in Costa Rica this past week on a choir tour with his wife Linda from their church in Conway, Arkansas. They had a “free day” Friday while their group was in a hotel in La Fortuna. So I went with my driver and we showed Carlos & Linda a few things in that part of Costa Rica that they chose from my list of options. The last activity was to see the La Fortuna Waterfall, but since it was pouring down rain by then, we did not do that, considering the steep climb down and back up from the waterfall in rain. But we did a lot of other things like the Butterfly Conservatory and Sky Adventure for lunch with views of volcano and Lake Arenal! You can see the photos in my photo gallery titled: 2023 July 21 – Day Around Arenal Volcano.
There are too many photos to share in a blog post, so I hope you will check out the gallery! The feature photo of a sloth is repeated below after this shot of the three of us on the Bogarin Trail in La Fortuna. Interestingly, we paid to see a sloth (and other wildlife) on this trail and did not! But later saw a sloth alongside the highway! 🙂 Luck!? We did see birds and other wildlife on the Bogarin Trail though, so not a waste of time! 🙂
Charlie, Linda, and Carlos on the Bogarin Nature Trail, La Fortuna, Costa RicaBrown-throated Three-toed Sloth along the highway near La Fortuna, Costa Rica.
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. 🙂
