Tag: rain

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Rainforest Beauty

View from my bedroom window (between the power lines) during the afternoon rain today.

The fact that there are power lines, houses, and a street below this scene doesn’t diminish its beauty for me, even though an uncluttered view like this would be nice! This is looking west at end of today’s rain. “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” said Oliver Pratt, and that is why I like this kind of selective photography. And yes, it’s a compilation of 4 shots merged into a panorama. Fun!

“People often say that ‘beauty is in the eye of the beholder,’ and I say that the most liberating thing about beauty is realizing that you are the beholder. This empowers us to find beauty in places where others have not dared to look, including inside ourselves.”

-Salma Hayek (emphasis mine)

“Your beauty . . .  should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.”  

1 Peter 3:3-4 NIV

God help me to have a gentle and quiet spirit that people might see your beauty in me!  -Charlie

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Unprepared for First Rain

Yellow Bells Trees Shedding Blooms
Sunny Sidewalk in Atenas

I walk in the sunshine under the Yellow Bell trees for a late lunch and early dinner out to try the ribs at the Don Yayo Chicharonerra Cafe. Beautiful day with some rain clouds in the sky like we’ve had for weeks with no rain, so of course it will not rain. Well, while eating we got our first rain of the year (not counting one little shower) and it was a “gully washer” as we would say back in Arkansas. I took a photo but rain doesn’t seem to show up in my photos. The streams and canyons were gushing as I walked home.

We were very dry and having grass fires, so we really needed the rain! But it was so unexpected that I left my apartment windows open AND my laundry drying out on the balcony! Guess what? Some floors got mopped and my clothes went back through the spin cycle with hopefully some sun tomorrow. This is a case for the electric dryer in my new house and almost reason enough by itself for the move!  🙂   Can hardly wait!

Then after clean up of the rain, I got this “After the Rain” photo of rain fog on the horizon. Hope I get as many photo ops from the new balcony! I just love nature, even in the middle of a town.

“After the Rain” from my balcony, Hacienda La Jacaranda, Atenas, Costa Rica
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My “DIAPAUSE”

Diapause: a period of physiologically enforced dormancy between periods of activity.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary

My new word today is usually referring to animal dormancy, particularly butterflies in the pupae stage. I’m not in a pupae, unless you call my apartment that, but after preparation for two differents sets of visitors and a particularly full week with Kevin, I’ve kind of pulled into my apartment and mostly resting, reading, and taking care of just necessary business – not running all over Costa Rica looking for birds to photograph! This pre-sunset photo kind of symbolizes my diapause. It frequently looks like rain without ever doing it. It makes me look forward to May when the rain actually starts. It is very dry and grass fires are common. 

Rain Clouds that Don’t Rain!
Atenas, Costa Rica

It is fun to just sit on my balcony, watch the town below me, the sky, the birds and listen to the howler monkeys who are hollering as I type. Click to hear them yourself: Mantled Howler Monkey  Oh, go ahead! Click it and listen for 20 seconds! I hear every morning & evening.


Male Howler Monkey
Hacienda La Jacaranda, Atenas, Costa Rica
My photo made by me here at the apartments in a tree along the river

And by the way, it is pretty easy to rest this week as most every business has closed already or will after today for Holy Week. No Spanish Class either! Semana Santa.



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After the Rain

An unusual Dry Season Rain moves over the mountains this afternoon.
It was the first rain in my nearly 8 weeks here. Rainy Season starts in May.

 

Sunset Saturday Night – No two Are alike!

All my maintenance issues were solved over a week ago and the management is really looking good for the apartment complex – but you know – even if they weren’t, I might want to stay here just for the views from my front porch! I’ve never had front porch views like this!

And if you start comparing and doubt they are all made from the same balcony, remember that I zoom in and out a lot AND occasionally use 3 photos merged, like the rain one at top here. For example, the large lone tree on the left in the top photo is the same tree barely protruding the skyline in the bottom photo, just smaller below. 🙂   Fun!   Pura Vida!