Hummingbirds at Monteverde, Costa Rica

My link today to my last post is birds. I didn't take any photos of the humble cattle egret. But my husband and I took lots of hummingbird photos. In fact, I think he took all of these. I taught him everything I know and created a photo monster. We both love animals. So when a bird flys by or an animal crawls into view, now there is a fight for the camera. Well, sort of. All of these photos were taken at the Hummingbird gallery in the cloud forest. It's a must see. There are so many hummingbirds, that the air is buzzing with the sound of their wings. It's sort of like you're the tower in the movie Top Gun. And the birds are Tom Cruise doing spectacular fly bys. For more color photos visit http://colorcarnivalmeme.blogspot.com/

The fiction project...is almost due

Here is the 2nd set of Costa Rica illustrations for my fiction project journal http://arthousecoop.com/users/sharonrwagner I've already posted #3. The Blue Morpho from a previous post. And I even figured out a way to connect this storyline to my last post. The story is about a cat-tle egret. Ha! The due date for my fiction journal is this Saturday. But art house extended it to June 5th. That sounds good to me.

Cat Cam!

Have you ever wondered what your cat does at night? Click on these (infrared) 5 second videos to see ours in action!






























We purchased a new Trail Cam this year. So we decided to have a little fun with our cats and set it up as a Cat Cam. Ha! Eventually we will be taking it to the woods and hopefully capturing more deer and the ocasional bear. Just like last Summer. But for now it's on (night time) cat duty. We placed it at the bottom of the stairs that leads up to our bedroom. What if it captured a ghost? Yikes! Luckily all we captured last week were a few curious cat investigations, several cat walk bys, 4:00 am cat fightclub and the inevitable crying and begging for us to get up. My favorite video is the happy moment when Dean finally opens the door in the morning. Oh happy days! It is set up to take short 5 second videos. So go ahead...watch them all! For more cats visit http://gattinamycats.blogspot.com/

IKEA sink: The next great kitty condo

" What would happen if I put my paw through this hole? Oh my god...that was super fun."

" This is the most fun I've ever had in my life. And don't ask me why. It's just a cat thing"

"Do you see me? I can see you."

"Akua, you are always a day late and a dollar short. The box is the best part. "

Blog editor's note: I was in my studio with the door closed. (painting of course) And all I could hear was...Akua...No...Gosh darn it... some frustrated laughing sounds...#$*#$...AAARRRGGGHHH!

"I never get sick of this game."

Hana stopped playing momentarily to pose for a beauty shot.

"Holy cat. I'm exhausted. Helping Dad put this sink together was a blast. But I need to crash. The cool thing is I can sleep here, and when I wake up I can just start playing again immediately.

"I thought this thing rocked over there. But now that it's in front of this window. All I can say is...THANKYOU IKEA!" For more fun with cats visit http://www.gattinamycats.blogspot.com/

Things that go flip flap, flip flap

Blue Morphos are almost impossible to photograph. Once and awhile you see one magically float by and disappear. Just like the story in my last post. But I did catch this little guy hanging around at Hacienda Baru.

This photograph was taken at Pacific Edge in Dominical. Right in front of our cabina. I wonder why one is yellow and one is pink?

All of these photos were taken on a cold, windy and rainy morning at Selvetura in Costa Rica's Cloud Forest. I've nicknamed it Cold Forest. And for good reason. But it is a beautiful area to hike and see exotic birds. But on this particular day, even the moths were trying to stay dry. So while my husband and I were trying to decide if we should brave the elements and hike, we photographed these diverse creatures. By the way, we never did hike. To see some more great color photos visit http://colorcarnivalmeme.blogspot.com/

A Double Celebration

In honor of my magic orchid, I'm skipping my 2nd fiction project story and moving on to my 3rd. I'll post the 2nd story later on. For more information on The Fiction Project visit http://arthousecoop.com/users/sharonrwagner Here's the 3rd story...

The beautiful Blue Morpho fluttered it's wings over the top of Hacienda Baru. It continued to silently flip flap, flip flap through the humid air. Slowly the butterfly spiraled downward and magically disappeared into the orchid garden.

"I wonder if anyone saw me," whispered the butterfly



Here's my own magic orchid. It's has bloomed on schedule for 3-4 years.

Who would think something so beautiful could emerge from these ugly exposed roots.

Now here's the magic part. Sometimes my orchid surprises me with a 2nd round of blooms. It hasn't even completely opened all of it's last buds. And 2 more blooming stems are magically appearing. One of the stems is even growing off of last year's stem. It never completely dried up. Thank goodness I didn't cut it off. And everyone needs a little magic in their life. Thankyou magic orchid!