Well, with the park employees themselves having to do all the work on the Central Park remodeling, I guess Atenas will just have to resign itself to a multi-years effort that will continue to have slow reveals like this. 🙂
I snapped these two cellphone shots last Friday, 22 April 2022 of the guys working on another sidewalk in the northwest corner and they have another little social circle completed along with places to plant flowers (we all hope)! Maybe when they finish all the sidewalks they will plant flowers and open this corner to reveal what now looks like a multi-colored ATENAS sign. Read about it first on this blog! 🙂 Here’s the 2 images from last Friday , , ,
When I was selling photos under the name “Nature As Art” I would say that I paint with my camera and always tried to formulate in my mind through the camera lens an idea with simplicity, leading lines, contrasts, shapes and balance creating a type of “painting” with many of my photos. Yesterday’s “Melodious Morning” is a good example and in someway today’s photo of the Tropical Kingbird (eBird) sitting on a branch of the tropical Bougainvillea is another. I prefer the first image with the bird looking at us, making it more dynamic in that photo, but both images can be my tropical paintings for today! 🙂
A quiet morning walk, a special breakfast, the songs of birds in my trees, and a bouquet of lilies in my house replace my old traditions of Easter Eggs for the children and a “dressed up” Easter Worship in a Baptist Church for most of my life. That old tradition is not me now.
Easter Flowers in my Home.
This majority Catholic country has both traditions and superstitions that I explored those first few years here. This week’s Tico Times online article Processions and Superstition Mark Easter Week in Costa Rica describe only some of those and my blog posts & galleries linked below describe even more.
This afternoon I got up from the computer where I was working on my Guayabo bird photos (boring compared to this!), and as I walked across the living room there was a Keel-billed Toucan in my Cecropia Tree! I quickly got my camera and shot through two panes of glass (sliding door open) which was still better than shooting through the screen! 🙂 And the photos aren’t nearly as blurry as I expected! After some rapid shots, I slowly approached the screen as he hopped up the tree, but by the time I was quietly out, he flew away! Oh well, even quick experiences like this in my own house and garden are just a few of the many reasons I enjoy living “Retired in Costa Rica!” ¡Pura vida!
Keel-billed Toucan, My Garden, Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa RicaKeel-billed Toucan, My Garden, Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa RicaMooning me? Keel-billed Toucan, My Garden, Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica
One is a butterfly and the other maybe the busiest week in Costa Rica.
Crimson Patch Butterfly, Guayabo Lodge, Turrialba, Cartago, Costa Rica – A “Bokeh” Photo!
Crimson Patch Butterfly
This butterfly is one I photographed at Guayabo Lodge last week and my first time for it! I had earlier mistaken a Bordered Patch for this species, but the big difference is the two-toned orange on the underside of wing. 🙂 See my new Crimson Patched Gallery and to compare the two, my older Bordered Patch Gallery. Even though the photo above is of a damaged butterfly, I like that photo better than the next one below because of the better soft background which I just learned yesterday from another blog is called a “Bokeh” photo – “. . . defined as ‘the effect of a soft out-of-focus background that you get when shooting a subject, using a fast lens, at the widest aperture, such as f/2.8 or wider.’ Simply put, bokeh is the pleasing or aesthetic quality of out-of-focus blur in a photograph.” ~nikonusa.com
Yesterday morning Stijn (he pronounces it sort of like the English word “sang”) who is taking a year away from a university in Holland to “see the world” is for now a tourism intern here at Guayabo Lodge (after spending time first in Indonesia). He does all the jobs here including front desk, restaurant waiter, and was my guide to visit the archaeological site and National Monument Guayabo. We are kindred spirits as he too loves to travel and do nature photography. (He’s a good photographer too!)
Stijn and Charlie at Archaeological Site. beside a 2000 year old road.
Read on to see more photos of the archaeological site and then the stairs that I tumbled down last night when Stijn again came to my rescue. 🙂
Yep! I just went 6 days without blogging which is not my usual habit which is to write posts 3 or 4 days ahead then break from the routine while posts keep coming out. No health problems or catastrophes, “just tired of blogging.” But with another trip coming tomorrow, I’m in the mood and here’s a few nature photos made during this “down time.”
Two Bee or Not Two Bee
I’m still not getting many butterflies in my garden yet other than the fast-moving Yellows that never seem to land for a photo. But here’s two bees in my garden this morning:
You have probably heard of people turning a shipping container into a house, but this new restaurant in Atenas, Monsoon, is the first I have visited in a shipping container! 🙂 Actually I didn’t eat in it but on top of it! Their tables and chairs are on a covered patio (common here) and on top of the container as the “upstairs” dining room, which I chose for the view.
I recently discovered Community Carbon Trees Costa Ricawhich employs rural poor people to plant trees on non-productive farm land where there used to be a forest and many such barren spots are coming back as forest. Check out the above website available in both English and Español to see the great work they are doing and how you can both come here and volunteer or donate money to plant and maintain trees for renewed forests!
Trees reaching for the sun in Costa Rica!
My Photo Profits Now All Go to Plant Trees
You may not be aware that all the photos in my gallery (on SmugMug) are available for purchase as prints, wall art, and on other objects through SmugMug services (they do a great job!) PLUS my Bookstore on Blurb has my photo books available for sale. Because both sites use sub-contractors to print, they may seem a little pricy and thus I have kept my “profit” or “mark-up” down to just $1 on each item. Now I’ve decided to donate 100% of that to Community Carbon Trees (see link above) to plant trees on bare land that used to be forest. So now you know that if you buy a photo or photo book you are helping to plant trees and save our planet! Thank you! And if you don’t need a photo, why not go to their website and donate something to help plant trees? 🙂
Forest in San Gerardo de Dota
“The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit.”
