two of elias' latest projects. one finished

the other not yet

wilson was "pruning" our "Mano de tigre" ("Tiger's hand" a particularly monstrous type of  Monstera) 
- actually hacking away at it with a machete -
...for it is a fast growing greedy creature,
and in the wet season (now) rapidly expands to take up all the front garden
and tries to make it's way into our veranda too...

when amongst the chopped off leaves there appeared what he thought was a brightly-colored plastic toy

but really it was

A Red-eyed tree frog! 

 

 
 

after we got to have a good look at it - and my camera with the good macro lens turned out to have a flat battery - so I had to make to do with the less good one -arrggh! isn't that always the way?

 

can you say cute?

this photo - a perfect composition! - but the face out of focus! boohoo!!

 

it made its way back into the moist middle of the tree...
 

we think it must be a female, it was about 7 cm long, looked full grown and healthy.
we marvel that it lives there in the front garden - whilst it *is* very wet, there is no puddle or stream for it to lay eggs in
we are at least 300 metres from a stream, and that includes crossing the international highway

we thought about relocating it to what we would think a happier clime

but the frog itself seems perfectly happy and healthy right where it was, so we left it there.

*

they are quite common apparently and not in much danger of extinction, at least in the near future -

but still a little creature to make one's heart happy

that there are many things wrong with the world,

but there are still frogs like this!

    Both my friend Ryan and I took part in this fun scavenger hunt put together by Hareton.

thanks Hareton for a fun adventure, enjoyed also by my kids, their cousins and friends

1- arrow

 

like many things in Costa Rica often they seem to make errors of judgement;
things are often to my mind, too much or too little
either completely lacking in information, or going over the top with it

case in point: this arrow

go straight or go right or go left,

or else

go straight a little further before turning right or left.

2. crushed

 

elias and lily interpret "crushing the spirit"

3. duct tape

available in MAXIBODEGA for just 970 colones a roll!

4. hole

Ryan already used the obvious one if you live in Costa Rica, especially in the wet season; a pothole.

so I had to resort to a random backup ordinary trashy type of hole in the ground. this one looks more deliberate than most!

 

5 - "your state"

 

this is my state in more ways that one; can you guess what they are?

why...

yes, I AM sweet-smelling!

yes, I AM mostly in a squidgy liquid-gell-plasma type of state contained in a somewhat more durable, more solid-y outer case type of state

and YES, I AM from the Australian state of Victoria.
(but not in any other way anything to do with "Victoria's Secret". for that matter, probably this cheapo-scent isn't either, so that's another similarity afterall )

and YES, it was VERY difficult to find anything remotely Victoria-like.

I was thinking Alajuela, my Costa Rican state-equivalent, but then I realised that is a province, and anyway, I didn't find anything for that.

6. money

 

nice collection of venerable heads

7. contrast

 

once again Lily and Elias perform their interpretation

8. western

 

i had taken this already when I came across a brillant window display in Zarcero today.
which are close runners up

 

9. nothing

 

27% more of nothing is still nothing.

10- vending machine

 

well this is the nearest I could find. a kind of vending machine, aren't they?
they sell the dream that you're going to score something really great for just 100 colones (20 cents)

11- missing

 

Lily's tooth!

12 - four

 

FOUR kids creating havoc in my house all weekend!
from right to left; my Bela, cousin Caleb, my Lily and Bela's friend 'Kuki'

13- old-fashioned

 

the old stove at my mother-in-law's.
Like many Costa Rican women, she has a gas stove inside in the real kitchen which she almost never uses,
preferring to cook tradtional food on the traditional stove out in the back porch.

it's corn season, and that is one of first 'chorreadas'   - or pure corn 'pancake's of the season

to be eaten with sourcream and coffee! yum!

14- laundry

my favourite part; all that swishy soapy water =)

15 - weapon

   

Caleb's interpretation of some kind of future ray gun thing, designed to make enemies collapse into laughter.
go Caleb!

16 - the letter A

 

Bela, Kuki and Caleb again

17- puff

  

Elias puffs on some flower petals. we were just going for the visual effect and trying to get some smoke coming out, he really did breathe in some of the smoke, the weird thing was it really smelled like tobaco!

18 - red

 

curiously enough, i really like the colour red and many of my most favourite objects are red - my old bag, my cell phone, my new computer.
red red red

19- palm

three of these palms are blood related. which?
one of these palms is not like the others, how so? and why?

20 - water tower

I know Ryan has featured this in his photo blog. luckily for me, since he got in first publishing his scavenger hunt, he didn't make a return visit to this, the most famous and attention grabbing of water towers in the local area.

21- game

"super banco"; the Costa Rican version of Monoploy.

rather than Opportunity and treasure chests - or - whatever??? - It has FLORA and FAUNA cards,
and you play to buy volcanoes, San Jose, Puntarenas, etc

wonderful!

22 - wrong

had to return to that set of shots. it's wrong Elias enjoyed himself so much!

23- ownership

our friend Wilton the mechanic, and his land rover. this is the guy that made wil's car for him.
these guy's cars are their fondest and best possessions, no contest.

24 - label

strange disc labelling an electrical post next to - actually inside the fence of - our house.
probably those numbers mean something to someone.
or else they wouldn't have put them there.

would they?

25 - toy

our niece Maria Angelica with her favourite toy

*

and now our story is all done

thanks Hareton! that was fun!

be sure and go and check out the other efforts made by other participants here

in honor of the celebration of the Annexation of Guanacaste

here are some pictures of

 Lily's dance group, from her Primary School Joaquin L. Sancho here in
Buenos Aires, Palmares.

(the group is available for presentations, and are happy to recieve invitations!)

They are very professional, and have beautiful costumes and a wide variety of different traditional dances,
including dances of the afrocarribean tradition in Limon

and another version of essentially the same thing
(just checking out the different slideshows available from photobucket)

I am over the infection, thank goodness.

and despite having developed a rash in the past few days in reaction to so much medication,

and despite a little residual headachey-ness and vertigo,

I can happily say

i am

finally feeling like functional  human being again. =)

*

this is trying out the slidemaker on photobucket,
from a trip up near Berlin about this time last year,
confirming to my mind last year was much drier than this,
this year has been much too rainy to contemplate such a trip ....

from my new webcam

i'm not sure that I have! those eyes look, as they say round here "oceanic";
one looking towards the pacific, the other towards the atlantic.

  

Lily too is a graduate of the fine School of Stagey Photos.

and after eating cake; it's time for some roller disco!

here with

her new custom-made roller skates.
roller blades are old hat, and much scorned by my traditional-skate mad girls.

 

bela had been burning up with fever and refusing even a panadol until time to go skating came around and she suddenly was cured and ready to skate.