Category: Nature

My profession is to always find God in nature.

– Henry David Thoreau

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One of 270+ Species of Dragonflies Here!

Dragonfly resting on my terrace, Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica.
I looked through hundreds of photos online and could not identify.

“Costa Rica is home to more than 500,000 species, which represents nearly 4% of the total species estimated worldwide, making Costa Rica one of the 20 countries with the highest biodiversity in the world. Of these 500,000 species, a little more than 300,000 are insects.

“Costa Rica is considered to possess the highest density of biodiversity of any country worldwide.[3] While encompassing just one third of a percent of Earth’s landmass, approximately the size of West Virginia, Costa Rica contains four percent of species estimated to exist on the planet.[4] Hundreds of these species are endemic to Costa Rica, meaning they exist nowhere else on earth. These endemic species include frogs, snakes, lizards, finches, hummingbirds, gophers, mice, cichlids, and gobies among many more.[5]

“Costa Rica’s biodiversity can be attributed to the variety of ecosystems within the country. Tropical rainforests, deciduous forests, Atlantic and Pacific coastline, cloud forests, and mangrove forests are all represented throughout the 19,730 square miles of Costa Rica’s landmass.[6] The ecological regions are twelve climatic zones. This variation provides numerous niches which are filled by a diversity of species.”
Copied from Wikipedia      (Emphasis in red is mine.)

“In the presence of nature, a wild delight runs through the man, in spite of real sorrows.”   –Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Wednesday with The Lehning’s!

The Lehning’s and Charlie at El Restaurante La Carreta, Atenas, Costa Rica

Finally I get a photo of Tim & Joan Lehning with children Hank, Maggie and David plus me included thanks to our friendly waiter at La Carreta. Tonight, Wednesday Dinner in town at one of my favorite restaurants. 

This morning they did not have breakfast at their hotel (long story) and so I met them at El Balcon del Cafe in town for breakfast at another favorite cafe. Then we walked for about two hours through town seeing what life is like in a small coffee farming town including Joan finding a couple of items she needed at my pharmacy, Don Juan Farmacia. We walked by shops, through the central farmer’s market, bus station, by two schools two parks, through a Catholic Church and on to my house. There my friend Michael had lunch just about ready where we feasted on catered Tico Mexican food: Aztec Soup, Quesadillas, cheese sticks, chicken sticks, nachos, chips and salsas, and assorted drinks. It was fun and I think they like my house and my new cook! And gardens!
Just for their arrival today, my neighbor and artist friend Anthony Jeroski finished the bird nest for my garden that lovingly holds the glass egg created by another artist friend in Nashville, Kevin Hunter. It goes well with the bird sculpture at the opposite end of the same garden. Is my garden developing a theme?
After the kids got a little swim in before the afternoon rain, they rested and met me at La Carreta for dinner and the group photo. Then we walked a block over for ice cream at POPS. A fun and tasty Wednesday with the Lehning’s! It was a joy to have them stop by after their Machu Pichu and Costa Rica surfing trips! Tomorrow morning their taxi picks them up at 4 for the trip to airport and return to Nashville. Thanks for the visit guys!  It was great fun having you! Another good memory in Costa Rica!
Pura Vida!

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Waiting Patiently . . .

. . . for the sun to bring out their new leaves. Two trees seen from my terrace.
The fog always passes. The leaves always return.

Patience is not simply the ability to wait – it’s how we behave while we’re waiting. 
~Joyce Meyer


And I’m working on patience as I do the paperwork and legwork to get my CAJA health insurance applied for. Wednesday week I go to the U.S. Embassy SS Department to get my proof of SS income. Then I take it and all my other paperwork and filled in form to the other side of San Jose and Jose Pablo Carter, my attorney, to collect my residency card and make sure I have all my paperwork correct in preparation for my July 8 CAJA appointment. Then I will see what else is needed!  🙂  It has not been easy but it will be worth it to have 100% health care coverage through my new government. Then all I will lack is a CR Driver License to get a rental car occasionally. Then no more new tourist visas every 90 days! But I am doing it at least one more time the end of June. 
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New Flowerpots

I replaced the ugly yellow & orange pots with these more attractive ones.
And the little round one on left is new with assorted greenery & a peace lily.
The second pot is ornamental grass I cut back for the transplanting,
It grows back quick here! Behind post is a bougainvillea that was in plastic! 

The greenery by the rocking chairs
looks much better in new pot!

And the living room plant looks
better in the new pot also! I think.

My newest indoor plant is this palm in
my bedroom with philodendron ivy at base.

I may have told you that my artist friend Anthony has returned from 9 months of traveling in Spain and Morocco and has moved into the house next door that was occupied by Don & Lynda who moved back to Oregon. Before traveling, Anthony lived on the other side of me in someone else’s casita (a small house most big house owners have for guests or rental.). He is the one who made my garden art bird sculpture. He really decorates well with a lot of plants and that motivated me to spruce mine up a little.

We just had a really good, slow, steady rain this afternoon for an hour or so. Garden loves it!

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A Walk In the Garden!

Step into my main garden from the driveway or back door of house.
Surrounded by the trees and other flowers of neighbors.
You know you are in a tropical place!

Out my backdoor you are greeted by a pottery bird garden-art by Anthony.
Anthony Jeroski will soon be moving into the house across the driveway since
Don & Lynda just moved back to the states. Anthony & I have plans for
a garden-art bird nest made of wood & wire that will feature a glass egg
made by my Nashville friend Kevin Hunter. I think you will like it Kevin!

Here a garden is really your whole yard and terrace and that is true for me.
With watering during the dry season, my “front yard” jungle has grown,
especially the Cecropia or Guarumo tree, many palms & flowers on a slope.

One is a Nance Tree which by July will have little yellow fruits I can eat! 

Bougainvillea is blooming on my terrace and down below on the slope.
There was not one here when I came and I consider it the quintessential
tropical flower I got used to in Florida and The Gambia. I have two now! 

Once de Abril Planta or 11th of April Plant is what my gardener calls it.
It is becoming very tall and full shrub, adding to my privacy screen and
it blooms year around with seasonal yellow berries that birds eat quickly.
It is one of my favorite plants and was a surprise gift from my gardener.
The 11th of April is Juan Santamaria Day, our only war hero.
He was the drummer boy who stopped the American Walker from taking
over Costa Rica as his personal slave state.
DO YOU SEE THE BEE ON THE FLOWER?
Click image for larger view.

The largest of my 4 Heliconia plants.

The brightest of my Heliconia plants.

The smallest of my Heliconia plants.
And the most prolific of the 4 Heliconia plants.
It greets you at the driveway next to the Plumbago.
Red Ginger is all over my garden & prolific.

Lantanas are my border and called multiple things here. Grow fast!
I have to cut them back regularly or they become shrubs!
That is something like a Florida White Butterfly here today.

A type of Petunia that blooms abundantly every morning, then by
mid-afternoon the blooms have all dropped to the ground.
More the next morning! Year-around. 

Flame Vine in English or Triquitraque in Spanish which
literally means “firecracker” in Spanish
Flame Vine or Triquitraque
Plumbago is beautiful and my most prolific bloomer. My background plant.
But it grows so fast I have to cut it back every few months, losing some color.
But it blooms year-around and especially on the new growth after trimming.

“Crown of Thorns” is what Lynda called it.
I bought at Don & Lynda’s Moving Sale.

Aloe Vera – I’m always ready for burn! 🙂

Sorry I made so many photos this morning! And that is not all of my garden! 🙂  I love it!

And this is very near the end of the dry season, meaning we have had no rain since November. I water most everything every two days. It is work but worth it! I even have green grass which is rare here this time of year. And it has been especially hot this summer or dry season. So my garden has been a lot of work! That is what it takes to have a piece of paradise! As Rudyard Kipling says . . .

“Gardens are not made by singing ‘Oh, how beautiful!’ and sitting in the shade.” 
― Rudyard Kipling, Complete Verse