Walking
All the way
Daily
Walk to Radiation Haiku
Buckled old
Sidewalks
And more walking Haiku . . .
Continue reading “Walk to Radiation Haiku”Walk to Radiation Haiku
Buckled old
Sidewalks
Buckled old
Sidewalks
Age 107 and “My Abandonment” – Related?
Many days an older women in a wheel chair is treated at Radioterapia just before me. The other day I asked the therapists how old she was and in unison they said, “107.” She’s obviously a fighter, still battling cancer at this age! And always smiles when I speak to her, though I don’t have her name or photo yet, I hope to one day.
In Costa Rica many people live to be over 100 years of age. Five areas of the world with a high concentration of people living past 100 are called “Blue Zones” (Wikipedia link), including one in the Nicoya rural area of Costa Rica.
The ingredients of health and long life, are great temperance, open air, easy labor, and little care.
~Philip Sidney
This 107 year old woman reminded me of the many motivations that led to my radical decision to move to Costa Rica in 2014 – including health and old age – while many Americans were questioning me “abandoning” the security, safety, and richness of the U.S. (though I had trouble “making ends meet” living there). 🙂
I spoke to this in my December 21, 2014 blog post (just 3 days before arriving in Costa Rica) sharing one of my favorite Thomas Merton poem-prayers which I repeat here as one example of my Costa Rica Adventure being as much about faith as it is retirement in nature:
Continue reading “Age 107 and “My Abandonment” – Related?”Have You Ever Watched a Campfire?
Have you ever watched a campfire
When the wood has fallen low
And the ashes start to whiten
‘Neath the embers crimson glow
With the night sounds all around you
Making silence doubly sweet
And the full moon high above you
Just to make the spell complete
Tell me were you ever nearer
Author Unknown
To the land of hearts desire
Than when you sat there dreaming
With your friends around the fire?
Almost Harmattan in Costa Rica
A few readers know or remember that I once live in The Gambia, West Africa for three years with many experiences recorded on this same website found by following my AFRICA Travel Page links or going directly to pages for The Gambia and Senegal. I made both of the above photos in Dakar, Senegal.
I got one of my first shocks the first month there when I told the guards that it looked like a rain storm was coming from the north, even though it was “The Dry Season.” They laughed at me and explained that the first month of dry season was called Harmattan and was when the sand and dust from the Sahara Desert blew south and west and that we would soon be covered in dust and sand, thus close your windows. I closed them and it did not help much with everything in the little apartment covered in dust or sand. Incidentally, some years that same Harmattan blows part of the Sahara Desert all the way across the Atlantic to Costa Rica. Really! 🙂
In Costa Rica it is not called “Harmattan,” but we have a similar experience any time from late December to mid-March when the wind blows almost constantly and everything is dusty. It is not as heavy as West Africa, but it is for a longer period of time with just dust, not desert sand (usually)! It is worse if one of the volcanoes is erupting and we get the gray to black volcano soot like I’ve had a few times from Volcán Turrialba. 🙂
Thus when another WordPress Blogger posted this Poem by Danusha Lameris, I saved it to share right now during our “mini-harmattan” or windy weather or dusty season, none of which are titles Costa Rica brags about for our “Dry Season” (most popular tourist time). And incidentally, this years winds seem to be stronger and at night much cooler than the previous 6 Dry Seasons for me here. Now North Americans wouldn’t consider the low 60’s Fahrenheit cold, but that’s a “two-blanket night” here! 🙂
Continue reading “Almost Harmattan in Costa Rica”Tree by the Pasture
Yeah! I know, it seems that I like every tree! And maybe I do, but this one by the cow pasture in front of my house is special I think because of its shape. Though that one little tree to its left sort of takes away from the shape 🙂 it’s still a neat tree!
The Featured Photo above is the broad look from the cow pasture with that tiny sliver of roof on the far left edge of photo being my house on the hill. The tree is the one in center of above photo to the left of the 3 big houses. And below is a closer view.
“Trees are poems that the earth writes upon the sky.”
― Kahlil Gebran
¡Pura Vida!
My TREES GALLERY has all kinds! 🙂
FOUR MORE RECENT ACCOLADES FOR COSTA RICA
Described in the Live in Costa Rica Blog or here’s my quick summary:
- The #1 best country to retire in according to International Living Magazine (Again!)
- The #1 best country to visit or vacation in according to National Geographic for 2021.
- The highest inoculation rate against Covid -19 virus in Latin America with goal of every adult in the country!
- “Rumor” is that Costa Rica may host the 2022 Miss Universe Contest. A new convention center in San Jose makes things like this more likely, though final decision not made yet.
FOR ME? It is the Best Place to Experience NATURE!
🙂
¡Pura Vida!
Wet
Rain, wet
Tropical green
Sunshine
And hopefully the last day of round-the-clock rain as Eta moves on toward Florida. At breakfast on the terrace this morning, the rain had stopped but all was wet and I tried to capture a little sense of the wetness. After breakfast the sun started peaking out and you can see a little of it reflecting off the wetness in the pix. It is the first sun in many days and a pleasant relief! Maybe today will be a more normal “rainy season” day with rain only in the afternoon or early evening. Then before we know it, December will be here with the rain stopped for months and soon after we will be wishing for the rainy season to start again! 🙂 Fickle humans! 🙂 While the cycles of life continue in a now very green Costa Rica! ¡Pura Vida! 🙂
Featured photo is a rain wet Princess Flower in my garden by Charlie and Haiku Poem is also by Charlie. Slide show is of the wetness observed on my terrace this morning at breakfast, just one more beautiful aspect of nature!
Some people feel the rain. Others just get wet.
~Bob Marley
¡Pura Vida!
Another Look
Pathway Pastoral Pleasant
On today’s walk I decided that the above view of my “Country Road” from a few days ago is a much more pleasing view, and I also discovered a red Canna that captivated me . . .
Brilliant
Burgeoning
Blossom
And you may have noticed that I returned to my earlier efforts of writing Haiku Poetry – the Americanized 2-3-2 syllable version rather than the original Japanese 5-7-5 syllables for two reasons: (1) You can describe more in fewer syllables in English than Japanese and (2) It is easier for this old man! 🙂 But I do stay with the Japanese original purpose of simply describing nature, as I also try to do in my photography. It is a FUN part of my retirement and keeps my elderly brain alert! 🙂 Though it will not always be possible to also make them into alliterations as I did today! 🙂
And if you like Haiku or poetry in general, check out my Haiku Photo Gallery or see a free online digital preview of my 2018 book Costa Rica Haiku, Describing Nature in Paradise.
And my Atenas Gallery!
¡Pura Vida!
Morning Fog
A fog — Covering — My hills
In nature, everything has a job. The job of the fog is to beautify further the existing beauties! ~Mehmet Murat Ildan
These photos were made on an early morning walk yesterday above my house looking for birds but finding a different beauty. I leave at noon today for Bajos del Toro, checking in at about 1:30 this afternoon. I hope for another post this evening and at least one a day from there this week.
See my Vistas Galleries
¡Pura Viida!
The Happy Wanderer
It was my favorite song growing up, or at least while in Boy Scouts and hiking a lot, which we sang as a group then (Boy Scouts love the “Ha, ha, ha, ha” part), now I only sing when alone. 🙂
“The Happy Wanderer” (“Der fröhliche Wanderer” or “Mein Vater war ein Wandersmann”) is a popular song. The original text was written (in German of course) by Florenz Friedrich Sigismund (1791–1877). It was made famous by the Obernkirchen Children’s Choir, in Germany named Schaumburger Märchensänger. ~Wikipedia (for more info) + Lyrics below.
Off and on I threaten to write a biography of just words – stories, feelings, and challenges (unlike my current photo biographies of mostly pictures) and when done I hope to call it “The Happy Wander” which describes much of my life (even during the difficulties) and especially now being Retired in Costa Rica! Tomorrow I will tell you about my next planned wandering – it’s to a new place for me next week, but for now enjoy the lyrics of my favorite song, then go hiking! 🙂
The Happy Wanderer
I love to go a-wandering,
Along the mountain track,
And as I go, I love to sing,
My knapsack on my back.Chorus:
Val-de-ri–Val-de-ra-
Val-de-ri–Val-de ha ha ha ha ha ha
Val-de-ri–Val-de-ra.
My knapsack on my back.I love to wander by the stream
That dances in the sun,
So joyously it calls to me,
“Come! Join my happy song!”Chorus:
Val-de-ri–Val-de-ra-
Val-de-ri–Val-de ha ha ha ha ha ha
Val-de-ri–Val-de-ra.
My knapsack on my back.I wave my hat to all I meet,
And they wave back to me,
And blackbirds call so loud and sweet
From ev’ry green-wood tree.Chorus:
Val-de-ri–Val-de-ra-
Val-de-ri–Val-de ha ha ha ha ha ha
Val-de-ri–Val-de-ra.
My knapsack on my back.High overhead, the skylarks wing,
They never rest at home,
But just like me, they love to sing,
As o’er the world we roam.Chorus:
Val-de-ri–Val-de-ra-
Val-de-ri–Val-de ha ha ha ha ha ha
Val-de-ri–Val-de-ra.
My knapsack on my back.Oh, may I go a-wandering
Until the day I die!
Oh may I always laugh and sing
Beneath God’s clear blue sky!Chorus:
Val-de-ri–Val-de-ra-
Val-de-ri–Val-de ha ha ha ha ha ha
Val-de-ri–Val-de-ra.
My knapsack on my back
My Boy Scouts pages tell you when and how my wanderings all began! 🙂 And more walking links on my Hiking & Camping Page.
Photo Galleries of my Costa Rica TRIPS (6+ years of wanderings here)
Photo Galleries of Pre-Costa Rica TENNESSEE Travel (Every state park & lots more)
Photo Galleries of my Pre-Costa Rica WORLDWIDE Travel (17 countries & most U.S. states)
“Oh, may I go a-wandering
Until the day I die!
Oh may I always laugh and sing
Beneath God’s clear blue sky!”
🙂
¡Pura Vida!
As Night Falls
As Night Falls
By John Herlihy
Now the night is falling gently,
Shadows from the East intently.
The sun descends as a pale dome,
Sinking beyond the horizon to roam.
Taking the day without any comment
Stealing like a thief daytime’s moment.Feelings in the heart may surge,
As the stars begin to emerge.
They awaken from deep slumber,
Gathering together in great number.
Muted sounds begin to be heard,
Footsteps and night whispers feared.Lanterns alight a spark and a wink,
Illuminating the night blink-a-blink.
Smoke rises like threads in a loom,
Inscripting words that harbor doom.
The night begins itself to remember,
Tracing new memories fragile, tender.All the nocturnal beings now awaken,
As day bids farewell to a world forsaken.
Distant mountains fade into darkness,
In the shadows, night eyes see lightness.
During the night, all the world simmers,
I embrace the night as my soul glimmers.
¡Pura Vida!