I hear these guys flying over my house most afternoons when it’s not raining hard but they seldom stop on their way up the hill to their roosting tree at my friend Dan’s house. Yesterday afternoon, before the rain started, they flew over and stopped for a little rest and grooming in a neighbor’s tree. I got a few shots, though not good with the overcast sky. But as bad as the photos are, they’re my nature shots for today! 🙂
This first shot is of the tree showing several scattered throughout and then I follow with a gallery of 6 individual birds or couples, with one couple cutely snuggling! 🙂
The hills opposite my hill looked like they had whipped cream on them this morning. A photo cannot replicate what I saw but here’s my effort with a 6-shot panorama. And this was late, like about 7:00 AM.
See larger image at top as header of online post.
“The sun always shines above the clouds.”
– Paul F. Davis
I look forward to totally different sunrises next week on our Caribbean coast, where I spend Monday to Monday on the beaches of Hotel Banana Azul, my favorite September retreat place.
“There is another alphabet, whispering from every leaf, singing from every river, shimmering from every sky.”
― Dejan Stojanovic
And I have always considered every leaf an individual work of art – O so many beautiful canvases!
Anthurium Leaf
Yesterday I was motivated by another blog to go photograph leaves. Below is that collection of 14 “Art Masterpieces” by God Himself! Fourteen totally different leaves in my garden . . .
Yesterday it was afternoon before looking for something to photograph. The morning blue sky and fluffy white clouds were gone, so I looked up the other direction behind my house, up the hill where others live and to the beauty of their gardens above my Monstera seen below! 🙂
Monstera on wall ABOVE one garden & other shots from above this.
“Look up on high, and thank the God of all.”
~Geoffrey Chaucer
Here’s the 4 shots of LOOKING UP at nature from my garden!
In many ways, YES! And in more than one place I have used the following Tolkien quote in relation to my nearly 7 years of continuous exploring the most magical place on earth to me – Costa Rica!
“It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.”
-J.R.R Tolkien
The Wingfeather Saga uses maps and your imagination for their spirited land.
I just finished the Wingfeather Saga of four books where Andrew Peterson created his own imaginary world called “Aerwiar” and, like Tolkien before him, created this imaginary world before he wrote all the stories so that the places helped shape the stories. I don’t know if Lewis created Narnia before his stories, but as a best friend to Tolkien, he probably did! 🙂 And I can assure you that Costa Rica was created long before me and shapes all of my stories! 🙂
The Stone Bridge in the movie-version of Narnia.
The Wingfeather Saga started off a little slow but ended with a powerful impact on me and probably most other readers. The many places within his world of “Aerwiar” not only influenced his story but also how we the readers react to it. You can easily say the same thing about Narnia and of course the most powerful sense of place in the make-believe world remains Tolkien’s “Middle-earth” that people still study and the fantasy of it keeps readers coming back for more!
Frodo runs through the magical Hobbit village in movie version.
But to me, the best fantasyland of them all is the real country of Costa Rica! It has greatly influenced not only my blog reported adventures here but how I’m living my new “pura vida” daily life in Costa Rica. In some ways I’ve tackled this country the way the Hobbit Frodo approached Middle-earth and how those children approached Narnia & Aerwiar; all with a sense of awe, adventure and purpose! I think it’s the way to approach all of life, wherever one lives! I just think it’s easier in a magical place like Costa Rica! 🙂
And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places.
Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.
~Roald Dahl
My Magical Place is Costa Rica!
Everywhere in Costa Rica is magical like this view from Villa Calletas, Jaco.
As with any good coffee farming town, Atenas is in the hills below the big mountains and away from the plains of the big city of San Jose. Yesterday as my taxista drove me back home from a doctor appointment in the city, I cellphone-snapped these photos of the approaching hills as we neared Atenas. No great photos but they bear testimony of the terrain of my little pueblo.
The Hills of Atenas Costa Rica from Ruta 27.The Hills of Atenas Costa Rica from Ruta 27.The Hills of Atenas Costa Rica from Ruta 27.And by the time we were at my house, the clouds had moved in for the afternoon rain. 🙂
“We are now in the mountains and they are in us, kindling enthusiasm, making every nerve quiver, filling every pore and cell of us.”
Costa Rica is one of the most biologically diverse countries in the world and already has set aside more than 25% of its total land as either National Parks or Biological Reserves (one at a time). On National Park Day this year (August 24) the park system opened a new reserve in celebration of the nation’s 200 years of independence. Read the whole English article in Tico Times or here’s the summary Introduction:
Reserva Biológica del Bicentenario de la República – Pájaro Campana, a name which invokes the country’s upcoming bicentennial, is located in the canton of Coto Brus, Puntarenas.
The reserve covers an area of 5,075 acres and borders La Amistad International Park, which is shared with Panama, and Las Tablas Protective Zone.
Its forests house biodiversity of scientific and conservational interest, and its rivers supply drinking water to communities in Costa Rica’s Southern Zone.
“These areas become natural laboratories that promote research, for proper management of the protected wild area,” said President Carlos Alvarado.
~Tico Times
Reserva Biológica del Bicentenario de la República – Pájaro Campana
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
There are many reasons that the United Nations gave Costa Rica the “Champions of the Earth” Award.
Costa Rica was the first tropical country to stop and reverse deforestation. It has managed to produce about 99 percent of its electricity from renewable sources, a rare accomplishment even among the wealthiest nations. And in 2019, it became one of the first countries to craft a national decarbonization plan . . .
Above in old growth forest, Savegre Lodge, San Gerardo de Dota, Costa Rica. Feature photo at top is view from my room at Villa Caletas, Jaco, Costa Rica.
My constant urge to be creating something led me to doing a second “Lay Flat” Book with Blurb.com which simply means a thicker book with pages glued together so that there are no gutters between pages, making it idea for horizontal landscapes across two pages. I did one back in 2018 titled Costa Rica Sunrises and Sunsets. I think it is nice! And this one focuses on landscapes with only 4 sunrise/sunsets in it. 🙂 40 pages, 23 photos.
“Country Lane” is in quotes because it’s my personal name for the extension of 8th Avenue Atenas through what has been farm land but getting more houses. It ends as a gravel road at Radial 27 Highway across from the Farmer’s Market. I’ve shared photos of many things along this road but maybe not just the road itself, so here are my shots of the actual road in different locations. For more photos of one of my walking places, see the gallery titled: “Country Lane” – Avenida 8. Walking is sweet! 🙂
“Country Lane” – 8th Avenue, Atenas
And a slide show of the road from Saturday’s walk . . .
