Category: Retired

Posted on

My Magical Tree’s Gone

One of the most recognized trees in the tropics of Central and South America is the Cecropia Tree or Guarumo in Central American vernacular. During my first year in this house (2015) I planted one not a lot taller than me. (Photo at right.) As one of the fastest growing trees it is now about twice the height of my house. I called it “magical” because in the early years it attracted so many different kinds of birds including toucans along with the resident squirrels and symbiotic ants.

The Cecropia is the Center tree or left of the big palm. Most limbs now above the house.

But now the tree has grown so much that I’ve lost my magic! 🙁 Most of the limbs, leaves and flowers are now above the house! (Above photo.) That means the birds now land in the tree above my sight-line and I would have to climb up the steep hill above my house to see any birds that perch in it. 🙁 See photos below for the Terrace Views, then and now:

  • First years from Terrace.
  • Now from Terrace.
What was my “Bird Gallery” has grown above the house! 🙂

So with this post I’m saying goodbye to the easy magic of my Guarumo or Cecropia tree by sharing photos of birds photographed in it over the past years. Apologies if you remember a similar post back in 2019 on the birds in this tree, but this one is bigger and a sort of finale! 🙂

Continue reading “My Magical Tree’s Gone”
Posted on

Old Enough to Read Fairytales

The WingFeather Saga

You may not know that my favorite kind of books or stories are the ones written partly for children or maybe it is “the young at heart!” JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis and JK Rowling. I was about to start re-reading Tolkien (the most difficult of the above) when through the sharing of friends in the Goodreads club/blog I discovered The WingFeather Saga (link to author’s description of the books). They are children’s books in this general fantasy/adventure style of the above three mentioned authors, with it quickly obvious that the author, Andrew Peterson, admires CS Lewis the most and would like to create a Narnia.

The 4 Books of The Wingfeather Saga

My Review of Sorts . . .

Continue reading “Old Enough to Read Fairytales”
Posted on

Mid-Morning Flutters

After breakfast, Spanish Class, and some reading I decided to walk through my garden with the camera at a little after 9 AM. For a long time the birds have been scarce and the butterflies up and down, but in about 20 minutes this morning I photographed 2 birds and 7 different butterflies all fluttering through my gardens and trying to avoid me and my camera. All nine photos are in a slide show at the bottom of the post with the featured photo at top being a Southern Broken-Dash Skipper and the photo below a Yellow-rimmed Skipper. The garden was alive this morning! 🙂

Yellow-rimmed Skipper
Continue reading “Mid-Morning Flutters”
Posted on

Slowing Down

“There is more to life than increasing its speed.”

– Mohandas K. Gandhi

So what does an old man “Retired in Costa Rica” do with his time? Especially since cancer and the dreaded cancer treatment forced a slowdown? In short, I have slowed down! And those who know me well may find that hard to believe. 🙂 It is easier said than done for the hyper-active little boy who is sort of who I am. So this blog post will be My “Essay on Slowing Down” or more accurately on “what it is like for me to slow down.” I have now learned to “Enjoy the Moments” here in Costa Rica and hopefully I can share the joy of living slow in Costa Rica! 🙂

My Terrace Where I “Enjoy the Moments” Daily
Continue reading “Slowing Down”
Posted on

“TRANQUILO” – My Favorite Spanish Word!

Tranquilo – calm, quiet, peaceful, relaxed, laid-back, unfazed – are some of the English words the online Spanish Dictionary (spanishdict.com) lists as equivalents.

Above: Tranquilo Sunrise at Macaw Lodge, Carara NP
Feature photo at top: Tranquilo Sunset on Calle Barroeta, Atenas

At first I wrote a lengthy essay on my need for “tranquilo” and how it has changed me, then decided it was “too much.” 🙂 So I’ll just let the photos speak for . . .

A “TRANQUILO” life of “Retired in Costa Rica.”

¡Pura Vida!

Blog, Website, Gallery, Bookstore

Or Just the Photos

🙂

Posted on

Cows Upon A Hill

To describe part of my walk last Saturday morning early, I found this nice poem:

Cows Upon A Hill

There is nothing I like better
In the sunrise of the day
To see cows on the hill
It’s the perfect time to pray

~Marilyn Lott

The Costa Rica University Systems has a special agricultural university campus on the edge of Atenas and these cows I frequently see and like to photograph are a part of that student farm on the next hill over from mine. 🙂 Students study here from all over Central American as the best of Latin American agricultural schools! And they learn a whole lot more than just our local coffee farming! 🙂 And next door to where I live!

Cows Upon A Hill, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

See all four Photos . . .

Continue reading “Cows Upon A Hill”
Posted on

My CANCER Adventure Book

Mostly my real time journal and blog posts plus photos and other information that is meant to be inspirational for someone else going through cancer, especially my specific Parotid Tumor Cancer with 68 pages and 87 photos, including a few of my nature posts during that time. 🙂

I also emphasize the value of nature in healing for me. And the title “True Grit” is explained in the book and on back cover, kind of funny! 🙂

You can see a free electronic preview at https://www.blurb.com/b/10778284-true-grit Or click the cover image below:

Me in front of Radiation Machine on book cover.

You can also browse through all my nature photo books while in the bookstore or click on Bookstore on the menu bar above.

¡Pura Vida!

Posted on

June is Cancer Survivor Month

At least that is so in the U.S. that has a month or week for almost everything! 🙂 And surviving cancer is a big deal worth celebrating!

I’m still in radiation therapy through June 10 and to be honest feeling terrible much of the time, tired and especially not being able to eat much with a constant bad taste in my dry mouth most of the time, even gagging on some food – But this too shall pass! 🙂 And now I’ve got pain and drainage in my left ear near the surgery that no one has identified yet. I may go to an ENT independently to see what it is if no answer soon. All that to say it is not always easy, but today one can survive cancer! Celebrate Cancer Survivor Month!

Feature photo is a Hibiscus Flower from one of my walks to the clinic. Flowers say “hope!”

¡Pura Vida!

Posted on

Age 107 and “My Abandonment” – Related?

This and Feature Photo at Top are Sunrise from Hotel Banana Azul, Caribe, Costa Rica

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?”