Tag: Roca Verde

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Watching it Rain

“I’m too busy to sit in the rocking chair and watch it rain!” Is what I used to say.
But I just did it! And have several times recently. So far it has been a good rainy season. And I’m slowing down!

Like Jewels!
Rain drips off a cecropia leaf.
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Chrysina Beetle

Chrysina Beetle
On my terrace, Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica

Chrysina Beetle
On my terrace, Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica

The identification is not certain but the closest name I could find for this guy who was dead for my morning sweep of the terrace. He appears to be one of the Scarab Beetles and the closest match photo online was a Chrysina. They also get upside-down or on their back when they are alive and it is funny to watch them try so hard to turn over. Sometimes they never make it. If I have the porch light on very long I get a lot of these and other beetles and other kinds of bugs. Beetles are the most numerous category of insects in Costa Rica.  
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Yellow-billed Cuckoo

Yellow-billed Cuckoo
My Garden in Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica

Yellow-billed Cuckoo
My Garden in Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica

This is another “first” bird for me which I saw today in a Yellow Bell Tree by my terrace. I had to share it first! Tomorrow I will explain why I went a week without a post. Then some more catch up!

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Smashed Fer-de-Lance in My Street

The markings are very similar to a deadly Fer de Lance snake. Not positive.
On a walk through the neighborhood we saw this on street in front of my house.

Thought you would like this post the day after my”Al fresco Living” post!   🙂

Panic over a snake does not help anyone. Generally they are more afraid of people than we are of them is my belief. This is only the 4th snake I have seen anywhere in Costa Rica in 18 months! And I have been in several national parks where they are known to be more common. Common sense caution is my preferred way to react to something like this. So far no problem! Hope never! And if one ever does get in my house I will be asking the landlord for a screen door on my garden door.  🙂

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Alfresco Living

Simple Definition of alfresco
·     : in the open air
Source: Merriam-Webster’s Learner’s Dictionary

And that is how I live in Costa Rica – in the open air all of the time! 

The terrace is my favorite room, totally outside with roof, so good in rain!

Living Room Dining Room is always open air during the day.
The sliding glass doors stay open all day when at home. I close at night. 

Inside all windows stay open all the time day and night, They have screens.
Every room in the house is like living outside.
And my “front door” or really garden door stays open during the day.
There is no screen on it. The sliding doors have sliding screens, seldom used
except at night, after dark to before bed when I lock both outside doors. 

Yes, I get lots of bugs! You learn to live with them if you like alfresco living! I’ve had three birds inside the house and they eventually fly out. No other animals yet and I will not worry about snakes. Neighbor dogs are a bigger nuisance! And I have had two of those come in my house.

I sleep at night with two windows open in my bedroom with screens. I have ceiling fans, but do not need at night. They feel good in warm afternoons but not needed when raining. In Fahrenheit it is in the 60’s every night year around and in 70’s and low 80’s in the daytime year around, one reason I chose Central Valley over the coasts. It is always hot and humid on both coasts! We never need air conditioning which I do not have, but on the coast you really need it! The apartments I was in for 4 months had a/c but really not needed. Most houses here do not have air conditioning. ¡Mejor Clima del Mundo! The best weather in the world, the PR slogan for Atenas. A perfect place for alfresco living!

“I believe that there is a subtle magnetism in Nature, which, if we unconsciously yield to it, will direct us aright.” –Henry David Thoreau


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One of 270+ Species of Dragonflies Here!

Dragonfly resting on my terrace, Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica.
I looked through hundreds of photos online and could not identify.

“Costa Rica is home to more than 500,000 species, which represents nearly 4% of the total species estimated worldwide, making Costa Rica one of the 20 countries with the highest biodiversity in the world. Of these 500,000 species, a little more than 300,000 are insects.

“Costa Rica is considered to possess the highest density of biodiversity of any country worldwide.[3] While encompassing just one third of a percent of Earth’s landmass, approximately the size of West Virginia, Costa Rica contains four percent of species estimated to exist on the planet.[4] Hundreds of these species are endemic to Costa Rica, meaning they exist nowhere else on earth. These endemic species include frogs, snakes, lizards, finches, hummingbirds, gophers, mice, cichlids, and gobies among many more.[5]

“Costa Rica’s biodiversity can be attributed to the variety of ecosystems within the country. Tropical rainforests, deciduous forests, Atlantic and Pacific coastline, cloud forests, and mangrove forests are all represented throughout the 19,730 square miles of Costa Rica’s landmass.[6] The ecological regions are twelve climatic zones. This variation provides numerous niches which are filled by a diversity of species.”
Copied from Wikipedia      (Emphasis in red is mine.)

“In the presence of nature, a wild delight runs through the man, in spite of real sorrows.”   –Ralph Waldo Emerson

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New Flowerpots

I replaced the ugly yellow & orange pots with these more attractive ones.
And the little round one on left is new with assorted greenery & a peace lily.
The second pot is ornamental grass I cut back for the transplanting,
It grows back quick here! Behind post is a bougainvillea that was in plastic! 

The greenery by the rocking chairs
looks much better in new pot!

And the living room plant looks
better in the new pot also! I think.

My newest indoor plant is this palm in
my bedroom with philodendron ivy at base.

I may have told you that my artist friend Anthony has returned from 9 months of traveling in Spain and Morocco and has moved into the house next door that was occupied by Don & Lynda who moved back to Oregon. Before traveling, Anthony lived on the other side of me in someone else’s casita (a small house most big house owners have for guests or rental.). He is the one who made my garden art bird sculpture. He really decorates well with a lot of plants and that motivated me to spruce mine up a little.

We just had a really good, slow, steady rain this afternoon for an hour or so. Garden loves it!