charliedoggett.net
As I am aging I seem to love and appreciate the beauty of flower even more than in the past. Here’s just two flower photos, the feature photo at the top of the blog post and this one for the email version, then you can see more in the Flowers Sub-Gallery of this Trip Gallery. Enjoy the beauty of nature!
¡Pura Vida!
I photographed a lot of flowers on my walk down nearby “Country Lane” the other day, but I just may be partial to this Hibiscus! 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
See also my Flora & Forest Gallery
Or for more of this walking place: Country Lane Gallery
I have a whole gallery of flowers from the Cristal Ballena trip but here’s just five favorites to help brighten your day! 🙂
The Hibiscus can be found all over Costa Rica except maybe in the higher mountains and it comes in many colors! This collection of photos does not include all the possible colors or combinations, like the one here with red and yellow swirled together. The feature photo of bright yellow with a red star center was photographed Tuesday on my walk to town in a yard 3 or 4 blocks from my house and it is the one that sparked the idea of this post. I will be looking for more colors on future walks & trips. 🙂
And then my GALLERY Flora & Forest
¡Pura Vida!
 |
| A short street in the village of Drake Bay called “Hibiscus Way” Drake Bay, Costa Rica |
 |
| Red Hibiscus Drake Bay, Costa Rica |
About Corcovado National Park (Wikipedia) and About Drake Bay (Wikipedia)
 |
| Each night many came early for dinner to visit & use the wifi. In addition to this dining room there was a lounge area below, all open-air, simple, rustic, and ecologically sound structurally. |
 |
| After breakfast with friends from France, Italy, & New York City. |
 |
| Hercules Beetle Celeste Mountain Lodge, Bijagua, Costa Rica |
 |
| Hercules Beetle Celeste Mountain Lodge, Bijagua, Costa Rica |
 |
| Chestnut-sided Warbler with Caught Insect in Rain Celeste Mountain Lodge, Bijagua, Costa Rica I did not include this photo with the other birds at the lodge. |
 |
| Heliconia Celeste Mountain Lodge, Bijagua, Costa Rica |
 |
| Heliconia Celeste Mountain Lodge, Bijagua, Costa Rica |
 |
| Heliconia Celeste Mountain Lodge, Bijagua, Costa Rica |
 |
| Hibiscus Celeste Mountain Lodge, Bijagua, Costa Rica |
 |
| Heliconia Celeste Mountain Lodge, Bijagua, Costa Rica |
Tomorrow I share the last of my trip to Bijagua, “The Celeste Mountain Lodge Rainforest Trail.”
Not the expensive one, just a simple Canon 100mm zoom, 1:28, Image Stabilizer (for hand-held) and auto focus. Here’s a few flowers with it and MY VERY FIRST HIBISCUS in my garden! I only recently got the plant which is slow-growing, but here’s the first bloom!
 |
| Hibiscus My Garden, Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica |
 |
| Once de Abril (haven’t found an English name yet) My Garden, Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica |
 |
| Heliconia My Garden, Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica |
 |
| Plumbago My Garden, Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica |
 |
| Red Ginger My Garden, Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica |
 |
| Porter Weed My Garden, Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica |
I think I did okay on close-ups of flowers before with a telephoto lens from a distance, but this is suppose to be better! It has the capability of a 1:1 ratio if I get close enough. Insects will be more difficult because they scare off, so I’ll probably continue with my 300 mm for them. Though, note the little tiny ant on the Porter Weed above. 🙂 And it is so nice having flowers blooming year around!
My Flora & Forests photo gallery
 |
| Cow Eating Hibiscus Shrubs 1 of 3 cows in a neighbor’s yard from the cow pasture near me. They get out frequently! Someone comes and rounds them up. 🙂 |
Just another day in the neighborhood! And most of us are glad that this is the most exciting thing to happen in Roca Verde! Another neighborhood, possibly richer, does not have a community gate and guard like us. They have had a couple of break-ins recently. We have had none! I feel very safe.
 |
| Central Park Atenas |
I slept late and after breakfast walked to town for some items the Cooperative Super Mercado doesn’t have like a USB Cable extension and small wastebasket for my office, plus for the kitchen a paring knife, measuring cup and cutting board. Little towns have lots of little shops, so you just go around town looking and asking and sure enough I found everything I needed in three different shops and got to walk through our Central Park (at right) in the process. Then I grabbed three items at the Super Mercado and a lunch to go at Restaurante El Mejor Climate and then stayed home all afternoon, catching up on several things. Was planning a fruit plate for dinner, but a neighbor invited me for pasta with sausage and came back in later for a little saucer of fresh Papaya, Mango and Strawberries, a nice ending to a nice day!
And oh yes! I did get my appointment with the Social Security Office at the U.S. Embassy for Thursday morning which will be by bus this time! They were very nice on phone and told me where to get off the bus from Atenas to have the shortest and thus cheapest taxi ride to the embassy. So Spanish class tomorrow and then another San Jose bureaucracy adventure Thursday. 🙂 The fun never stops!
Plus, this afternoon I found the Costa Rica Classical Music Station, 96.7 FM, in case you are ever looking for it! I love it when a plan starts coming together! 🙂
As a daily walker through Atenas now, I have some locals who recognize me and we greet at each passing. This morning I walked by the house where an old man is usually sitting in the yard and we greet, but I didn’t notice him. He hollered “Hola” at me and I responded with “Buenos Dias!” A really friendly small town. And I daily pass houses with various tropical flowers like this Hibiscus I snapped with my phone this morning walking home.
 |
| Hibiscus in Atenas |
The infrastructure is not great here, like a lot of small farming towns everywhere, but it is the people and relaxed, simple, happy spirit that makes Atenas a good choice! Plus the good weather helps too! Pura Vida! The new name for my website! Over the next year or so it will be transforming more I expect.