My 2024 Reading

According to Goodreads, where I track my book reading and follow the reading of friends who are also on Goodreads, I read 15 books in 2024. Most of my books this year were the adventure/mystery/detective series of Special Agent Pendergast of the FBI who is an eccentric modern Sherlock Holmes from New Orleans with a southern accent that is commented on in the stories like mine is here, so I partly identify! 🙂 This series is co-authored by two writers, Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child.

I got started reading these guys’ excellent story-telling when I googled something like “adventure stories taking place in Central America” and came up with The Lost City of the Monkey God by Douglas Preston which is a well-told true story of an archaeological mystery in one of the rainforests of nearby Honduras. Preston is also a real archaeologist. So you know, his stories have a little bit of Indiana Jones here! 🙂 Then I read a short series of his books about a young woman archaeologist in Santa Fe, New Mexico with some exciting adventures all over the west including one at Glorieta Pass, NM, close to the conference center I spent a lot time at over the years. So he kept me involved in his writing and when he joined Lincoln Child to write the Agent Pendergast series he even brought that Santa Fe archaeologist into one or two of those stories and by then I was hooked on reading this mystery series. I’m now on book 18 of the 22 currently in the series, but there may be more as it is a popular adventure/mystery series. 🙂 They are the Kindle books I read on bus trips and at dinner when eating alone. While at breakfast I read a passage from the Bible and then selected stories in the Washington Post plus the WP Comics of course! 🙂

My 2024 Books read.

 “If you have a garden and a library you have everything you need.”  – Marcus Tullius Cicero

¡Pura Vida!

Lots of Exotic Flowers!

And this featured photo is of a Natal Lily or Bush Lily – Clivia miniata that I have seen at only one other lodge, Playa Cativo in Puntarenas Province. Xandari has different flowers blooming every month, so you can expect different ones if you go at different times of the year. For this December trip my Xandari ’24 FLOWERS Gallery has photos of more than 30 species! Enjoy! And it is the first sub-gallery I have completed for this latest “Trip Gallery” that I will announce when finished. The Butterflies’ identifications are slowing me down this time! 🙂

Natal Lily or Bush Lily – Clivia miniata , Xandari Resort, Tacacori, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

And if you like flowers, check out all mine in the Flora & Forest Galleries. where there is a big gallery for just Xandari!

Flash News!

I finished the entire “Christmas at Xandari” GALLERY last night, so all my photos from this little 2-day retreat are ready to view! Click that link!

CLICK this image of first page to go to the gallery.

Seldom-seen Butterfly

This Yellow-patched Satyr or Starred Oxeo, Oxeoschistus tauropolis (my gallery link) is not one often reported on the scientific websites, and though I’ve seen it three times now, it was always in the same place! 🙂 This one on Christmas Day 2024, again at Xandari Resort which has always been one of my better butterfly locations.

Yellow-patched Satyr or Starred Oxeo, Oxeoschistus tauropolis, Xandari Resort, Tacacori, Alajuela, Costa Rica
Yellow-patched Satyr or Starred Oxeo, Oxeoschistus tauropolis, Xandari Resort, Tacacori, Alajuela, Costa Rica
Yellow-patched Satyr or Starred Oxeo, Oxeoschistus tauropolis, Xandari Resort, Tacacori, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

Philadelphia Vireo – A Lifer!

Yes, on Christmas Eve, in the tree by my terrace at Xandari, I photographed another new species for me! This Philadelphia Vireo, Vireo philadelphicus (linked to eBird) was identified by the Merlin app from eBird and is probably a non-breeding immigrant from Canada who passed through Philadelphia on his/her way to Costa Rica. 🙂

Philadelphia Vireo, Xandari Resort, Tacacori, Alajuela, Costa Rica
Philadelphia Vireo, Xandari Resort, Tacacori, Alajuela, Costa Rica
Philadelphia Vireo, Xandari Resort, Tacacori, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

Other Vireos, for you birders reading, that I’ve collected in Costa Rica linked to my photo galleries of each:

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from Charlie Doggett in Costa Rica!
And this unusual tropical flower I photographed at Arenal Observatory Lodge in Costa Rica is a Trimezia gracilis (scientific name), and in English variously “Walking Lily, Walking Iris, Apostle’s Iris or Apostle’s Plant.” One of my favorite photos of this year.

¡Pura Vida!

A Two-Day Christmas Celebration in Nature . . .

I’m spending today and tomorrow at Xandari Nature Resort in Alajuela as my Christmas celebration, so you can expect photos from there over the next few days! 🙂 The day after Christmas I go directly from Xandari early to Hospital Mexico for an ultrasound scan of my neck to continue monitoring any possible spread of the cancer removed 2.5 years ago. That and continued removal of small skin cancers (like the one on my nose in November) keep me totally cancer-free! ¡Gracias a dios! And this nature blog continues as always! 🙂

I’m also pleased with my nature-centered photo Christmas Cards over the ten years here and you can see all of those photos in the photo gallery “My Christmas Cards From Costa Rica” (linked). Just one more of my “Nature as Art” creative outlets! 🙂 Merry Christmas!

Winter Solstice Party Yesterday

One of the neighbor couples, Russ & Holly, had their second Solstice Party yesterday and it was cloudy (but never rained) meaning no really good photos, but an example of expat life in Costa Rica. 🙂

Solstice Party, Roca Verde, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
Solstice Party, Roca Verde, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
Higher up the hills have wider vistas than me! 🙂

¡Pura Vida!

¡Feliz Navidad! — Merry Christmas!