charliedoggett.net
It rained the whole 2 hours + I was at La Selva Research Station, thus no good photos, but the ones I got tell a story like the wet ruffled feathers on the Tropical Kingbird and Clay-colored Thrush. The only creature that seemed to love the rain was that Blue Jeans Frog! 🙂
After returning to lodge for breakfast there was no rain, thus some better photos at the lodge, but no time tonight to post them, Later! Tonight is my frog hike. 🙂
Fun, even in the rain! 🙂
¡PURA VIDA!
Psalm 19 The Message (MSG)
A David Psalm
19 1-2 God’s glory is on tour in the skies,
God-craft on exhibit across the horizon.
Madame Day holds classes every morning,
Professor Night lectures each evening.
3-4 Their words aren’t heard,
their voices aren’t recorded,
But their silence fills the earth:
unspoken truth is spoken everywhere.
4-5 God makes a huge dome
for the sun—a superdome!
The morning sun’s a new husband
leaping from his honeymoon bed,
The daybreaking sun an athlete
racing to the tape.
6 That’s how God’s Word vaults across the skies
from sunrise to sunset,
Melting ice, scorching deserts,
warming hearts to faith.
7-9 The revelation of God is whole
and pulls our lives together.
The signposts of God are clear
and point out the right road.
The life-maps of God are right,
showing the way to joy.
The directions of God are plain
and easy on the eyes.
God’s reputation is twenty-four-carat gold,
with a lifetime guarantee.
The decisions of God are accurate
down to the nth degree.
10 God’s Word is better than a diamond,
better than a diamond set between emeralds.
You’ll like it better than strawberries in spring,
better than red, ripe strawberries.
11-14 There’s more: God’s Word warns us of danger
and directs us to hidden treasure.
Otherwise how will we find our way?
Or know when we play the fool?
Clean the slate, God, so we can start the day fresh!
Keep me from stupid sins,
from thinking I can take over your work;
Then I can start this day sun-washed,
scrubbed clean of the grime of sin.
These are the words in my mouth;
these are what I chew on and pray.
Accept them when I place them
on the morning altar,
O God, my Altar-Rock,
God, Priest-of-My-Altar.
(Emphasis is mine.) Sharing what struck me in my devotional reading 3 mornings ago as I read this Psalm. And really, everything in nature has God speaking to me whether in a Bible passage or a famous quotation or not. I am in closer harmony with God in the natural places of Costa Rica than anywhere I’ve been before – like an anteroom to Heaven! 🙂 No predictions intended, but I’m ready! 🙂 Being close to nature is one of my ideas of heaven!
¡Pura Vida!
See also my GALLERY: VISTAS, BEACHES, SUNRISES, SUNSETS
One little slice of the joys of being “Retired in Costa Rica!”
Photo is of a Caribe sunrise, Hotel Banana Azul,
Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica.
¡Pura Vida!
My prayers go to the Bush Family in their loss . . .
. . . a truly great & humble man!
George H. W. Bush
Humility is not thinking less of yourself,
it’s thinking of yourself less.
~C. S. Lewis
REPORT ON MY BIOPSY: After removing the 10 stitches from my arm (where all that cancer was confirmed removed) and the two stitches from my face for the biopsy, Dr. Gamboa gave me the facial biopsy report:
In brief, it says I have another carcinoma cancer on my face which is a smaller and slower growing type than the one on my arm. No problem waiting until January to remove the rest of it (the biopsy took most of it). Because of the delicate and thinner skin location next to my eye, we will be doing a more complicated and more efficient (more expensive) “Mohs Surgery” with two doctors doing it with a pathologist standing by to make sure they get all of the cancer as he examines each layer as removed (continuous biopsy). It will not be in his office this time but in a clinic, hospital-like, operating room, but still out-patient. He is checking on availability of other doctor and the clinic for the week of 21 January – after my Boca Tapada trip. Remember — the doctors work around my trips! 🙂 Important! That is where I sleep in a tree house 5 nights!
Dr. Gamboa also “PRESCRIBED” wearing a wide-brim hat instead of the ball caps I’ve been wearing and of course sunscreen every day when out. I sure love sunny Costa Rica, just 673 miles north of the equator, but with the value of the sun also comes with some potential dangers for someone like me who loves the outdoors. I have already become more careful, even though the doc says these current growths and cancers were probably caused by sun I got as a child or teen, more sun now can make it worse, so I must be cautious.
¡Still Pura Vida! 🙂
Check out the free electronic preview of all pages of my latest Costa Rica photo book at: http://www.blurb.com/b/9079446-rancho-humo or click the book cover image below. Use “full screen mode” to best see these photo pages. I think my books & photos are getting a little better. 🙂
Charlie Doggett – Retired in Costa Rica
¡Pura Vida!
Thursday the 15th my driver drove back from Atenas to Rancho Humo and joined me for lunch before we drove back to Atenas. Before breakfast I caught the sunrise, el amanecer, then walked around the ranch one more time. Here are some of the photos I made on my last morning walk there as a slideshow.
¡Pura Vida!
Another day of “Retired in Costa Rica” with Charlie Doggett!
Why would anyone retire anywhere else? 🙂
“There’s always a story. It’s all stories, really. The sun coming up every day is a story. Everything’s got a story in it. Change the story, change the world.”
― Terry Pratchett, A Hat Full of SkyAnd today’s story begins as I wake up with that big sky sunrise at the foot of my bed in beautiful Rancho Humo, eat a Tico breakfast of scrambled eggs with beans and rice (Gallo Pinto) and begin a 6 km hike in Palo Verde Park after a 30 minute boat ride to the park entrance. Tired, invigorated, hot and smiling. Today’s story will continue once I’ve sorted the photos 🙂 –another episode of “Retired in Costa Rica.” ¡Pura Vida!
I photographed so many birds today that I can’t get them all processed to show tonight, so they’ll come tomorrow.
Above was sunrise from my room and below where I road in a safari jeep on the hotel property photographing birds and at bottom the sunset today. Lots of bird photos coming tomorrow!
¡Pura Vida!
The most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or touched, they are felt with the heart.
~Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince
¡Pura Vida!
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| Our dock at Tranquilo Bay Eco Adventure Lodge, Bocas del Toro, Panama |
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| A Little Island within swimming distance of our dock This was the best area for snorkeling with colorful coral and fish! Tranquilo Bay Eco Adventure Lodge, Bocas del Toro, Panama |
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| 15 year old Scott, one of the owner’s sons and an excellent birding guide! Tranquilo Bay Eco Adventure Lodge, Bocas del Toro, Panama |
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| Sunrises & Sunsets were mostly indirect for my times on the water Tranquilo Bay Eco Adventure Lodge, Bocas del Toro, Panama |
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| A common view when we went away from the island Tranquilo Bay Eco Adventure Lodge, Bocas del Toro, Panama |
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| I think this is a lodge or restaurant on one of the islands Bocas del Toro Archipelago, Panama |
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| And many people lived on the islands and thus on the water as here in Bocas Town Bocas del Toro Archipelago, Panama |
See my “Trip Gallery”:
2018 Tranquilo Bay, Bocas del Toro, Panama
