Feliz navidad y próspero año nuevo 2023 y 2024!

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Christmas is over and we are close to entering a new year. Where we live near Grecia, the current temperature at 10:54 am (December 28) is 76F/24C, breezy, a bit hazy and there is a lovely sweet scent in the air from something blooming. 

The hot, arid weather at this time of year encourages many plants to bloom. Our avocado tree has many flowers on it as does the lime tree. The avocado did not bloom last year so I’m looking forward to our own fruits from this tree (yes, the avocado is technically a fruit).

One of my orchids is blooming - the epidenacium stanfordia:

We solved one mystery recently. We have been hearing the sounds of something on our metal roof at night and in the early morning. Metal roofs make loud noises!

Well, it turns out it wasn’t Santa and his reindeer but two young neighbour dogs. Our house is on a slope and they can easily leap from the lawn of the neighbours behind us and onto the roof. 

For Christmas eve dinner, we ordered from Pizza House as usual:

Recently, we had breakfast at Donde Mae, a small restaurant in Grecia that makes the best Denver omelettes and fresh fruit smoothies. While waiting for our orders, I made a short video of the activities on the street outside.

Just In Time for the Holidays Art and Artisanal Feria

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On December 8, 9 and 10, 2023, this annual event (JIT for the Holidays) was held at Calle 2 Plaza in Atenas and was sponsored by Galería Atenas.

10% of all sales were donated to Rescate Animales Atenas, the Atenas Cruz Roja (Red Cross), Animales Atenas and the Atenas Food Bank.

I had five paintings on display. Here are two of them:

“Roseate Spoonbill/Platelea ataja”. 3’x4’. Acrylic on wrapped canvas. Photo reference courtesy of Daniel Montiel Corea.

“Any Old Pony in a Storm”, acrylic on wrapped canvas. Photo reference courtesy of Shannon Ready.

You can view all of my art at my art website here.

During the show, we stayed at Hotel Colinas del Sol, which is within walking distance to Atenas. Our room had a king bed, internet, and a kitchenette with microwave, coffee maker and mini refrigerator. Outdoor patio with chairs and tables.

There is a restaurant on site and a substantial breakfast is included with the room rate. We also had our evening meals here.

The grounds are extensively planted with tropical plants and trees. We highly recommend this hotel.

Lance enjoying a libation on our patio.

Poinsettia 

We left Atenas early on the last day of the fair because our town of Grecia was preparing for their annual Christmas parade and we have to drive through Grecia to get to our house. Good thing we did because roads were being closed as we arrived in town.

Here is a link to a video of the parade. It is over 4 hours long but you can scroll back and forth to choose what you want to watch.

Eyes on Costa Rica and Weather Records - November 2023

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During November, visits to this blog were received from the following 11 countries:

Each country is followed in brackets by the total number of visits received since records first started to be kept in November 2012.

From the time I started to keep track, the total number of countries and non-independent jurisdictions from which visits have been received remains at 135. Of this number, 13 are non-independent jurisdictions - e.g. Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States from which 12 visits have been received.

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The following is a summary of weather for November in the area where we live:

Towards the end of the month the upcoming dry season was signaled on two days by some very strong trade winds. They were persistent - beginning in the small hours of each morning and continuing well into substantially cloudless days. Rainfall during the month was significantly less than the same month last year.