Change of seasons **Updated


Advertisement
Published: October 11th 2006
Edit Blog Post

(I wrote this a few days ago but just got around to addingo photos and publishing)

It was official a week ago, today it was confirmed. Baseball season is all but over. I'm not a sports fan. Bill often tells me about games he watches on TV but knows I have selective hearing as well. We don’t get the AZ Republic on our doorstep in Costa Rica and I don't watch the news so it’s easy to be oblivious to sporting news and not realize when seasons change. The one thing capturing my attention about the end of baseball season is the arrival of the Baltimore Oriole’s in Costa Rica.

She, Mrs. Baltimore Oriole arrived for breakfast solo the morning after rhe regular season ended. Perhaps Mr. Oriole made it to the playoffs. Bill argued that she wasn't the Mrs. but was proven wrong after looking in our bird book. I know the birds in my backyard. Ok, not all but many of them. My binoculars got stolen at the beach so identifying has been tough lately.

The Baltimore Orioles disappeared mysteriously from our yard the day before the season opener. We made note of this. Finding their return coinciding with the end of the season is intriguing. Blending our passions, that's love.

Perhaps birds migrated in Arizona, hummingbirds definitely. I never saw Orioles in Tempe. We made great efforts to attract different birds to our yard but the most exotic was a hawk. Awesome as he was, he pales in comparison to our visitors in Costa Rica. When I was little, my grandfather kept his birdfeeder full. Breakfasts were spent eating and watching birds at the kitchen table. He attracted many birds but looking back I have to admit my back was always to the window so it was grandpa watching the birds, not me. I watched grandpa watching birds. WOW, enlightening moment. I just realized where I got my love for the birds. Thanks, Gramps! Note to fellow bloggers, writing is therapy. Isn't it?

In the states the change of seasons is predictable, summer to fall, baseball to football, hot to tolerable. We're in the fourth quarter of our first year in Costa Rica. Everything is still new to us. The end of October marks the anniversary of Callista's first visit. The change of seasons from wet to dry is nearing. We were under the impression October was the wettest month of the rainy season. Not this year, not yet! Subtle changes are taking place helping us experience the change of season’s Costa Rican style.

We have noticed increased breezes in the early mornings and evenings. Sometimes brisk but a mere fraction of what we know is coming in January and February. Our morning temperatures are in the mid sixties, highs average 77 degrees. Some days it gets warm enough think you need a fan just as the rain starts and cools everything down. It gets almost uncomfortably warm just before it rains. Men are working at a furious pace cleaning out the deep gutters on the roadsides causing us to think the BIG rains are still ahead.

In many places a change in clothing marks a change in season. In San Ramon the year round attire for women is tank tops and either jeans or a skirt. Shoes, either four inch spiked heels or flip flops. We’re told only a short ten years ago people wore ski jackets regularly April thru October. San Ramon was cold!

In the states, October to Christmas seemed to race by. I’m looking forward to
three orioles in the treethree orioles in the treethree orioles in the tree

Two boys and one girl. My camera can't zoom in close enough.
experiencing our first holiday season here.

Pura Vida!
Jen, Bill, Callista and Bear

Pics to come later... the Orioles are camera shy.

UPDATE: I spent 2 hours trying to get pictures of the group of Orioles who've been coming around lately with no luck! Everytime I even twitched my finger they flew. I resorted to takeing one shot thru the window! I tried to entice them with peanuts thinking they'd remind them of home. They haven't touched a one! Didn't go for the sunflower seeds either.



Additional photos below
Photos: 11, Displayed: 11


Advertisement

My hiding spotMy hiding spot
My hiding spot

These birds are skittish!!!
backyard viewbackyard view
backyard view

The bosque behind our house.
Butterfly in the computer roomButterfly in the computer room
Butterfly in the computer room

This guy came in the window one day. He hung out with me for a couple of days before I caught him and released him back into the wild.
Sunset Monday nightSunset Monday night
Sunset Monday night

Perhaps the heavy rains are coming.


Tot: 0.129s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 15; qc: 72; dbt: 0.0951s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.2mb