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“There is another alphabet, whispering from every leaf, singing from every river, shimmering from every sky.”
― Dejan Stojanovic
And I have always considered every leaf an individual work of art – O so many beautiful canvases!
Yesterday I was motivated by another blog to go photograph leaves. Below is that collection of 14 “Art Masterpieces” by God Himself! Fourteen totally different leaves in my garden . . .
Continue reading “Whispering from Every Leaf . . .”
Yesterday it was afternoon before looking for something to photograph. The morning blue sky and fluffy white clouds were gone, so I looked up the other direction behind my house, up the hill where others live and to the beauty of their gardens above my Monstera seen below! 🙂
“Look up on high, and thank the God of all.”
~Geoffrey Chaucer
Here’s the 4 shots of LOOKING UP at nature from my garden!
Continue reading “Looking Up!”
I will give thanks to the Lord because of his righteousness;
Psalm 7:17
I will sing the praises of the name of the Lord Most High.
This Spanish name of what English-speakers call “Torch Ginger” flower, “El bastón del emperador” has stuck with me from my first hearing of it. The English translation is “The Emperor’s staff” (or king’s scepter). And since most of the time I have at least one blooming in my gardens, it is a reminder of who my king is and my early pledges to follow Jesus as my life guide, ruler and “King” if you please. And what better “scepter or staff” for Him than a beautiful tropical flower! 🙂 Here’s the one blooming this weekend:
Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord;
let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.Let us come before him with thanksgiving
and extol him with music and song.For the Lord is the great God,
Psalm 95:1-3
the great King above all gods
¡Pura Vida!
Sometimes it is fun to look for something different as I walk through my garden, and yesterday I was looking for shapes, patterns or textures. Naturally, with different imaginations we all see different things, whether it be in the clouds or the plants! 🙂 So see what shapes, patterns or textures you find in these plant photos . . . (share in Comments if you wish) 🙂
Continue reading “Imagining Shapes in the Garden”
Though I was not fully recovered from my cancer treatment, was low on energy & strength, and simply an 81 years old man with weak knees, I still got shots of 18 species of birds while at Bosque del Cabo Rainforest Lodge, Matapolo, Costa Rica last week. With better health and strength for more hiking, I’m sure I would have gotten more species photographed. Notice that about half of these were photographed off the lodge property and that is because my guide knew that birds are easier to photograph from an open road than in the dense rainforest. But even then, half of these were photographed on lodge property! 🙂
That’s one sample photo, now go below to the full post and gallery of 18 bird species, two of which I include both male & female because they are so different . . .
Continue reading “A Variety of Birds in the Osa Rainforest”
This is a new species for me. Many swallowtails are similar but the distinction of this one is the large cell spot on each upper wing, backside. Similar ones are Giant, Thomas, and Ornythion Swallowtails. In fact, the first one I photographed was at Monteverde that I had labeled as a Thomas Swallowtail. But I was wrong. It is now in my Broad-banded gallery, based on those two cel spots again.
You can read about the Broad-banded Swallowtail or Papilio astyalus on Wikipedia or see more photos I’ve made in my new Broad-banded Swallowtail Gallery. I base my ID on photos in the book A Swift Guide to Butterflies of Mexico and Central America and particularly the two big cell spots on the upper wings. Butterflies continue to amaze me! And below are 5 new shots of this new one for me . . .
Continue reading “Broad-banded Swallowtail”
Tuesday I had a morning doctor’s appointment in San Jose, getting back a little before noon and took a walk on my nearby “Country Lane” extension of 8th Ave. As I entered the road I asked myself, “What can I photograph today?” Almost immediately my eyes fell on a leaf! And so I tried to see how many different leaves I could make photos of with my cellphone. Here are 13 that were accessible and I purposely did not include fern fronds since I did a post on them last week, nor palm fronds because most are too high to reach with my cellphone! 🙂
Here’s one for the email and then you go to the full post for the gallery of 13 leaves!
My newest photo book is my cheapest ($8.83), smallest ( 6×9 in, 15×23 cm) and shortest (30 pages) as an introduction to why I retired in Costa Rica with 47 photos demonstrating my nature photography here. It’s not exactly a portfolio because of the cheaper paper, but . . . it actually is a cheaper version of a portfolio 🙂 and it also describes the 5 ways I experience nature and share it. As with all my books there is a FREE PREVIEW electronically of all pages in the bookstore at:
https://www.blurb.com/b/10782574-experiencing-nature-retired-in-costa-rica
Or click the front cover image below:
This will become my “give-away” book to guides, lodges and others here in Costa Rica, since some of my other books are too expensive to keep giving them away as I have been. But I’m still not in the photo-selling or book-selling business. I’m retired! 🙂 I make my photos to share with others online and the books become ways to do that physically on occasions. Prints and wall art are available in my gallery with no profit for me, just a good service of (and profit for) my gallery host. 🙂
And while you’re in my bookstore, check out some of my other photo books! They have free previews too!
🙂
¡Pura Vida!
Along my “Country Lane” extension of Avenida 8 road they at one point cut through rock to make the road and just a week or so ago it looked like this:
On yesterday’s walk I noticed that much of that rock was now covered in a new fern to me that the best I can tell from an internet search is the Delta Maidenhair Fern – Adiantum Raddianum (Wikipedia link). Please correct me if you know better. It was the closest match on the web and I don’t have a fern book! 🙂 Here’s what much of the rock looks like now, followed by a small gallery of more images. Very beautiful plant to me!
When I walk through my garden of by others in the neighborhood, I think of Victor Hugo’s statement in Les Misérables . . .
“A garden to walk in and immensity to dream in–what more could he ask? A few flowers at his feet and above him the stars.”
― Victor Hugo
See my little Gallery of Saturday’s walk among the flowers, 8 in my garden and 3 from the neighborhood . . .
Continue reading “Flowers! – what more could I ask?”