charliedoggett.net
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| Great Southern White Butterfly or Ascia monuste en español My Home Garden, Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| Looking West Toward Town Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| Looking East Toward Colegio Gym Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| And Down Near the Corner It will go around corner for another full block, then right to Colegio Liceo Atenas, Costa Rica |
Like governments everywhere, they seem slow about getting things done and of course funds are not always there. But finally I do not have to walk in the street around “Dead Man’s Curve” or a blind curve between my house and downtown Atenas. And I imagine they hope the high school kids will use it. They now flood the streets around the school before and after school, slowing car traffic.
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| Blue Jeans Frog La Mina, near Rancho Naturalista, Costa Rica |
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| Blue Jeans Frog La Mina, near Rancho Naturalista, Costa Rica |
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| Probably one of the Forest Toads or Rain Frogs Rancho Naturalista, Costa Rica |
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| Probably one of the Forest Toads or Rain Frogs Rancho Naturalista, Costa Rica |
See my photo gallery of Costa Rica Amphibians
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| First to Fourth Place Winners of Casual Conversation Liceo de Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| Winner of the Formal Speech Contest Liceo de Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| One of the students delivering her speech before us judges. Liceo de Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| Recognition of the Blind Student who participated in the speeches. Liceo de Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| Pulling Judge Charlie into the festival picture frame Liceo de Atenas, Costa Rica |
For the second day in a row this was a delightful experience with some of the nicest people I have met or worked with anywhere in the world! We had fun and though all could not win first place, all the kids were winners! And they do English better than I do Spanish! Being old is my excuse! 🙂
https://www.facebook.com/liceodeatenas/
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| Golden-hooded Tanager Celeste Mountain Lodge, Bijagua, Costa Rica |
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| Clay-colored Thrush Celeste Mountain Lodge, Bijagua, Costa Rica The National Bird of Costa Rica |
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| Great Kiskadee Celeste Mountain Lodge, Bijagua, Costa Rica |
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| Barred Antshrike Female Celeste Mountain Lodge, Bijagua, Costa Rica |
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| Kiskadee, White-ringed or Social Flycatcher Celeste Mountain Lodge, Bijagua, Costa Rica |
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| Blue & Gold Tanager Celeste Mountain Lodge, Bijagua, Costa Rica |
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| Sepia-capped Flycatcher Maybe Celeste Mountain Lodge, Bijagua, Costa Rica |
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| Yellow-faced Grassquit Celeste Mountain Lodge, Bijagua, Costa Rica |
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| Passerini’s Tanager Female Celeste Mountain Lodge, Bijagua, Costa Rica |
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| Passerini’s Tanager Male Celeste Mountain Lodge, Bijagua, Costa Rica |
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| Black-cheeked Woodpecker Celeste Mountain Lodge, Bijagua, Costa Rica |
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| Yellow-throated Euphonia Celeste Mountain Lodge, Bijagua, Costa Rica |
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| Rufous-tailed Hummingbird Celeste Mountain Lodge, Bijagua, Costa Rica |
I saw several other birds and a couple of others I got bad photos of, but these are the ones I’m willing to share!
I will be checking email.
So I have a subscription to My Expat Network which means I can get anything from Netflix that I could get in Tennessee. Funny thing is that I hardly use it because I’m too busy enjoying real life in this neat new country. But I will probably use it more in rainy season and it is good feeling to “be connected.” There are other reasons like security and limiting some marketing efforts over the internet, but Netflix was my main reason to get a VPN.
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| I get same movie titles available in the states with a VPN internet connection. Including a lot of junk! But I have more choices this way. |
Netflix somehow detected I was using one and knocked me down to their fewer titles Costa Rica version. At first I just canceled them, then decided it was still better than paying for TV channels here which I no longer subscribe to. And rarely watch Netflix now, though I like some of their nature documentaries.
And here’s a video someone asked me to add here:
¡Pura Vida!
And my more practical suggestions for a retiree that I’ve listed before:
More later. -Charlie
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| Arenal Volcano
I made this photo from the “Hanging Bridges” in the area in 2010. It is the most popular volcano because of its nearly perfect conical shape. It also reminds me of the strength and steadfastness of God in my life. |
I just shared this on my spiritual blog called HIS SPIRIT which has been neglected lately with my focus on Costa Rica (and no longer using), but because it is as much about my move to Costa Rica and the risk so many here in Nashville think I am taking, I decided to share it on this blog too:
As I am two days away from the move to Costa Rica, I am trusting God more and expecting Him to give me more purpose in life than I have felt in my simple volunteering in church and other places here in Nashville. And the fact that I don’t know everything that will happen is part of the adventure and excitement of the move. I am abandoning a lot of supposed security here in the states, though financially I know it will just get more difficult for me in the states. (And friends will still be friends from afar!) In the process of this thinking I was reminded of the poem/prayer by Thomas Merton which I may have shared somewhere earlier. I discovered it in 2012: