charliedoggett.net
As I sat in Xandari dining balcony overlooking the grounds and a fogged out Central Alajuela, waiting for my Nachos & Lemonade, I experienced a Wet Art Show of my own category of “Leaves & Nature Things.” After the introductory photo for the emailed blog post there are 2 short galleries of horizontals and verticals of the beautiful Nature Art I enjoyed before my nachos! 🙂 Enjoy!
A wet, young, Tropical Kingbird (gallery link) and lots of wet leaves (gallery link) from my terrace Wednesday afternoon. I still haven’t been able to catch the rain falling unless a real hard downpour, but wet birds and leaves seem to show it okay. 🙂
The rainy season here is believed by many to have been “sung in” by the Yigüirro or Clay-colored Thrush. Rain usually starts around the middle of May, while this year it started in early May. And sure enough, the Clay-colored Thrush sang almost constantly throughout April and the rains started the first week of May! I think this image of a Yigüirro in one of my Nance Trees has that look of a “job well done!” 🙂 And it continues to rain almost every afternoon.
¡Pura Vida!
See more photos of this National Bird of Costa Rica in my gallery: Clay-colored Thrush.
We have continued to have strange or different weather this year with July usually bright sun until mid-afternoon when the showers start. Well, the showers have been mostly the same with somewhat more this year, going all night occasionally, and even a few times into the morning. Which is OK, but, the mornings and early afternoons have had much less sunshine which is simply required for many of the flowers. It has been cloudy most of each day until the rain starts every day for over a month now!
My Porter Weeds are blooming less, the Lantanas have quit blooming as has the Golden Shrimp and the new Golden Dewdrop and Tropical Milkweed, all of which attract butterflies. The Zinnias that K planted next to my yard are blooming, but smaller or dwarfed by less sun. The only two things that seem to thrive in the dominant shade are my Maraca Plants (Shampoo Ginger) and the Anthuriums which I added some more of just to have some color.
The Desert Rose did poorly for awhile, which I blamed on repotting, but it is coming back strong now with blooms on each stem! (But it’s not a butterfly flower!) 🙂 It does need sun though, and I have it on the east side for morning sun, which is when we get what little we may get now.
Here are 6 shots of the ones that are blooming in July & August with another new one that I might not keep, the Ginger Lily. A shot of the “Garden Man” for the emailed version and then 5 more below that with explanations . . .
As it does almost every afternoon! And this particular shot of rain on nearby hills was on May 22. A daily afternoon or night (my favorite) is what keeps tropical places like Costa Rica green, beautiful and full of so many species of plants and wildlife. I love it! 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
My collection of such photo views from my terrace is growing! 🙂
I flew out of San Jose Airport at noon in the rain and through clouds most of the 25 minute flight to Limón. The taxi drive to Banana Azul was off an on rain and it continued solid until about 4 when I made these cloudy shots of my room and it continued to fade until there is not rain at about 5:30. Three shots today: first leaving San Jose, then my room deck & office where I will prepare all blog posts this week and the view from my deck toward the ocean under clouds. Hopefully nature shots tomorrow!
¡Pura Vida!
Tonight I will watch the Walz-Vance Debate on either CBS internet streaming or on a TV here on CNN International.
And I can testify of how true this is! Thanks to friend Larry for sharing.
¡Pura Vida!
The rain seemed to arrive about the same time I did at Xandari this mid-day, but I managed to photograph 2 birds & 2 butterflies in either rain or mist. Those four photos are below and I continue to be amazed with Xandari and they upgraded me to a huge villa that is really nice! Hoping for clear skies the next two mornings and then my photo collection will grow! 🙂
One of my main reasons for going to Arenal Observatory Lodge & Trails in May this year is because it is one of the few months you can see the sun setting over Lake Arenal. Well, we had more rain this year than the last time I went in May and thus the last four of the five were in rain or semi-rain, yet only the last two nights were gray, with no color. Here’s my 5 nights of sunsets over Lake Arenal with three colorful and two gray, though each are beautiful in their own ways! 🙂 Here’s the first night’s for the email and the other four follow in the online blog . . .
