Soaring above the winds . . .

The high winds this time of year seem to keep away both birds and butterflies from my efforts to photograph, except for one bird! And in my neighborhood he seems to never stop soaring, The Turkey Vulture! Cathartes aura (linked to my gallery). I don’t get to regularly see an Eagle or Hawk soaring, but this vulture I can see almost every day as he makes riding the wind drafts look easy and motivates me to want to soar! 🙂

Turkey Vulture soaring over Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

“One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar.” ~Helen Keller

And may you soar today in whatever you do! Windy or not! 🙂

¡Pura Vida!

Nature & Life . . .

Nature photography is a good hobby, but it was never a money-maker, not in Tennessee when I tried for a few years there (I always spent more on it than I ever made!) – nor the brief time I tried here. But the joy of creating has never been lost. And though I don’t sell greeting cards anymore, some are still at Hotel Colinas del Sol as a contribution to a sometimes struggling local business there. Go help them out! 🙂

But anyway, a photo of a new butterfly the other day had me going back and looking at that solid green background more than once, wanting to make a greeting card with it. And the butterfly with his red antennae seems to be laser focused on something. So here it is! Created just for you dear blog reader! And who knows, I may do it again! 🙂 It’s fun!

An Orion Butterfly seems to be focused on life in Atenas, Costa Rica.

–Ralph Waldo Emerson

¡Pura Vida!

“I don’t know.”

That phrase, “I don’t know,” is becoming my old-age mantra as an 84-year-old who turns 85 in just a few more months.  Unlike the “Know-it-all” teen and young adult years, I continue to feel that “I don’t know” about more and more in life! 🙂

Like many my age, this old man walks into a room and asks himself, “What did I come in here for?”  “I don’t know.” Then a new pain comes in a different part of my body or some other part is not functioning properly. Why? “I don’t know.” Where did I put that? “I don’t know.” Is the doctor appointment tomorrow or next week? “I don’t know.”  What am I having for dinner?  “I don’t know.” 🙂

Followed by deeper thoughts, like when am I going to die? “I don’t know.”  When should I move to a Senior Adult home? “I don’t know.”  Why did half of my home country vote for a lying, immoral, convicted criminal to be their president? “I don’t know.”

With all of these doubts and multiple health problems I have now, why am I still happy? “I don’t know.” Maybe it is because of this mantra of accepting that in life there is so much that “I don’t know.”    🙂

Socrates famously observed, “I know one thing, that I know nothing.”

He also said, “The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.”

And finally he said, “The secret of happiness, you see, is not found in seeking more, but in developing the capacity to enjoy less”

🙂

¡Pura Vida!

A Related earlier Post: Merton’s Prayer of Abandonment

Aren’t you glad that I don’t get philosophical too often? 🙂 Now back to nature!

WALKING PATHS in My Life Today

Next to maybe “Nature” in general or “Birds” specifically, nothing describes my life of being “Retired in Costa Rica” better than “WALKING!” For seven years now without a car I have learned to get to most needed places on foot; walking to town, to the supermercado or farmacia, to a restaurante; and even better, walking for fun or the discoveries of nature on city sidewalks, my “Country Lane” or “Country Road” walks for photos of birds or other nature and best of all the many wonderful wilderness trails I’ve discovered in national parks and reserves across this beautiful, natural country of Costa Rica. My life here has made experiencing nature and walking (hiking) almost synonymous! The feature photo at top is one of the horizons I experience on “Country Lane” and other paths in Atenas with one of my trip trails below . . .

Titi Trail, Bosque del Cabo Rainforest Lodge, Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica
Continue reading “WALKING PATHS in My Life Today”

Mid-day Walk “Leaf Collection”

Tuesday I had a morning doctor’s appointment in San Jose, getting back a little before noon and took a walk on my nearby “Country Lane” extension of 8th Ave. As I entered the road I asked myself, “What can I photograph today?” Almost immediately my eyes fell on a leaf! And so I tried to see how many different leaves I could make photos of with my cellphone. Here are 13 that were accessible and I purposely did not include fern fronds since I did a post on them last week, nor palm fronds because most are too high to reach with my cellphone! 🙂

Here’s one for the email and then you go to the full post for the gallery of 13 leaves!

A leaf growing alongside a country road.
Continue reading “Mid-day Walk “Leaf Collection””

Rain Pigeons

Well . . . actually Red-billed Pigeons, in the rain! But after a great response on my “Rain Trees” post, I may do some more rain-themed posts.  🙂

I was on my terrace waiting on the delivery guy to bring my once-a-week “meal out” now “meal delivered” from Parrillada Androvetto. I usually have a grilled rib-eye steak but tonight (Friday) I tried their grilled Chorizo sausage which was very good and not too spicy. Well, anyway . . .

It was raining pretty hard with all the birds hiding in the big trees under leaves and limbs except this one loving couple, sitting on the power line like it were a nice sun-shiny morning! Of course their overlapping layers of feathers keep their bodies dry, but it still seemed a little unusual to me. Not singing in the rain, though one was grooming. Blurry raindrops are ugly but the birds are kind of cool! Pura vida!

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Red-billed Pigeon

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Red-billed Pigeon

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Red-billed Pigeon

“Umbrella is comfort, rain is life! You must often leave comfort to touch the life!”
― Mehmet Murat ildan

¡Pura Vida!

And my Red-billed Pigeon Photo Gallery

Life Essentials

I encourage you to watch this brief 1 minute video ad that will be appearing in larger city TV markets in the U.S. and Canada this year. Then plan your trip to Costa Rica for the “Essentials of Life!” in Costa Rica!    –    🙂    –    ¡Pura Vida!

And/or be inspired by my photos in Charlie’s COSTA RICA! photo gallery!

 

And for the bird-lovers & nature-lovers up north, are you aware of the tragedy of our lifetime? Nearly 3 Billion Birds Gone from U.S. & Canada – staggering! Link is to article from The Cornell Lab of Ornithology. We are destroying the earth little by little. I’m thankful to live in a small haven of nature, Costa Rica!

Retired in Costa Rica

www.charliedoggett.net

Floating Free of Time

The following statement about hummingbirds was included as an insert in a Papyrus Birthday Card I received from my sister Bonnie who said the card reminded her of me “getting the most out of life!”  (Thank you Bonnie!) And the above photo is a Rufous-tailed Hummingbird photographed this past week at Xandari Nature Resort, Costa Rica, “floating” above a flower just outside my room.

Legends say that hummingbirds float free of time, carrying out hopes for love, joy and celebration. The hummingbird’s delicate grace reminds us that life is rich, beauty is everywhere, every personal connection has meaning and that laughter is life’s sweetest creation.     ~Papyrus

The card itself continued the theme with . . .

DREAM BIG

LAUGH LOTS

BE AMAZING

LIVE WELL

EXPLORE LIFE

ADVENTURE ON

Enjoy every extraordinary moment! Happy Birthday!     ~Papyrus

And so the hummingbird inspires us to get the most out of life! I hope that is what you are doing! Enjoy life!    🙂

And here is another hummingbird that seems to be “floating” a little more than the above one. He is a Green-breasted Mango Hummingbird female at Dave & Dave’s Nature Center of Sarapiquí, La Virgen, Costa Rica shot on my 2016 Trip to Selva Verde Sarapiqui.

Have another great day!

Charlie — Retired in Costa Rica

And see more hummingbirds in my BIRDS photo gallery.

¡Pura Vida!

🙂