 |
| When we arrived on Tuesday night, this fruit and wine platter were awaiting us. Tom is working on the bananas, and tonight I’ll have half of the avocado stuffed with the chicken salad I’m making today. I cut up the pineapple for Tom, who’s off low carb until the fruit is gone. |
“Sightings from the Veranda in Costa Rica”
 |
| This is the parrot after she/he was knocked unconscientious after hitting the glass wall of the veranda. There is a bird deterrent on the glass, but this poor bird slammed so hard into the glass we assumed it was dead. It was so sad to see this happen. |
We never knew that the first colorful bird we’d see up close in Costa Rica would be a parrot after it flew into the glass wall of the veranda and fell unconscientious on the veranda’s walkway toward the lower level staircase.
As a result of yesterday afternoon’s scary bird experience, we again decided to incorporate a feature comparable to the “Sightings on the Beach in Bali,” now aptly named “Sightings from the Veranda in Costa Rica.”
 |
| We’d been searching for colorful birds and didn’t expect the first one we saw on our first day to be knocked out and possibly dying. Instead, after about 20 minutes, the bird sat in this position for about 10 minutes, not moving. Would it recover? We continued to hope it would. |
The house is exceptional, with several inviting areas to work on our laptops and/or lounge. But, we can’t resist spending all of our “at home” days outside, fearful we’d miss something, whether it’s a soaring bird, cattle or sheep grazing in a pasture, or even a wildly unusual insect.
The “sightings” and subsequent photos may not always be exciting. After all, we’ll be here until November 24, 2017, a total of 114 days. So we can’t expect a stunning photo every day, although we’ll do our best to present interesting or unusual subjects of our photo ops as they present themselves.
 |
| We wondered if her/his little left leg was broken. If so, surely it would die. |
Today’s first “Sightings from the Veranda in Costa Rica” will be slightly different from those that will follow over the remaining months. In this particular case, the situation, as shown above, resulted in a series of photos, all of which were important to share. Thus, the series continues in the main body of the post and under the “Sightings…” heading below the main photo.
 |
| After 30 minutes had passed suddenly, the precious Parrot stood up and moments later flew through the bars in the railing, hopefully back to her/his life in the tropics—a happy ending to what could have been very sad to witness. |
Please bear with us, if some days, the photo is only a pretty flower or a passing butterfly (we’ve never seen so many butterflies in a location in the past). But, as our long-term readers know, we’ll always do our best.
Yes, we do plan to get out sightseeing sometime in the next few weeks. On Monday, we’ll begin doing our 2016 taxes (we got an extension when our package with the necessary documents was lost in the snail mail in Australia and later found) and booking the month we’ll spend in Buenos Aires, which we’ve yet to accomplish.
 |
| In the master suite, there are two spacious walk-in closets with plenty of hanging space and drawers. |
Last night after dinner (we shopped yesterday), we lounged in the plush “screening room.” After a hectic day with almost 10,000 steps on my FitBit without trying, I had trouble staying awake during the few shows we watched. Tom kept waking me up, knowing if I slept through a show, I wouldn’t sleep well during the night. He was so right. I ended up with a good night’s rest.
Today, we’re hoping to try the pool if it doesn’t rain. Yesterday afternoon, we put on swimsuits only to change our minds when thunder and lightning radiated through the skies.
 |
| We ended up sharing one closet for our clothing and the other for shoes and odds and ends. |
Yep, there are many insects (no mosquitos, yeah!), some heat and humidity with no AC, except in the TV room, which we doubt we’ll ever use. But, it’s beautiful, there are screens on the doors and windows, and the property is divine. It’s the rainy season now in Costa Rica, but we don’t mind at all. We’re comfortable, content, and loving the sights and sounds of Costa Rica.
May your day find you comfortable and content as well.
Photo from one year ago today, August 3, 2016:
 |
| Overall, the neighborhood in which we were living in Phuket, Thailand, has newer single-family homes. However, the area contains several modest living and working environments, such as this property, which we passed on the way to our villa. For more photos, please click here. |