Plants of Costa Rica

| Flower Roberts

I held up the group over and over because of spotting a crazy plant.

Many that I saw were giant, wild versions of our houseplants.


Color was everywhere. I really need to spend more time there studying the wildlife.

The thrill of my life occurred when we toured a private rainforest with two biologists. Mr. Flower arranged this adventure on the third year anniversary of my daddy’s death.


During the tour I spied the famous blue morpho butterfly. It was bluebird blue. I felt like my daddy was sending me a sign. I had to stop and weep.

It was hard to choose what to look at. Everything was different and interesting.

We will return when we are able. In a craxy way, it felt like home.

FLORA

The Food in Costa Rica

| Flower Roberts

We were shameless in our photographing food at restaurants. Part of our motivation was remembering where we liked the food, so we could return there later. We methodically took photos of the restaurant front, the menus and our plates of food. Later we could show pictures of our favorites so our hosts could remind us of the names.

This was the trip of a lifetime for the four of us together. Our host family, the Lankas, guided us as to where was best to eat and tour. They hired our tour guide,  Andre, to drive our rental car for several adventures. I will share all that later.

Every meal was delicious but not inexpensive. It was worth eating well so none of us was ever sick. Everything was fresh. Enjoy the food! ( You may want to grab a snack first.)

We bought breakfast and snacks from the store or the fruit vendors across the street.

I got a kick out of the cut-your-own meat.
Spices
Our absolute favorite restaurant on the beach.
Favorite Lunch spot.
Best Italian
Great but DO NOT eat on the beach here. Street vendors bother you constantly.

Great food many televisions and loud. Eat on the porch.

Use app for money conversion. I will know more Spanish when I go back.

We plan to go back to the Lanktuary. It was perfect for us and we loved our host family.

FLORA

The Art Above You in Italy

| Flower Roberts

We usually ignore the ceilings in America. Maybe we are stiff necked and too busy looking down on each other.
You better look up while in Italy. The Sistine Chapel isn’t the only ceiling worth inspection.
The ceilings were complex and covered with gorgeous art and gilded moulding.
My neck hurt from all the looking up. Many times I had to swerve over to a wall and hold on to get a proper look at a painting on the ceiling.
I am so glad I took so many photos. I can study each and zoom in to see details not visible by glancing up.

Are you dizzy yet? The domes were marvelous.

I am happy to have these photos to study. The details of each of these ceilings is so delightful.

Centuries of artistic talent have been preserved for the future, to inspire the folks that follow. I am grateful to have had this opportunity with my family.

FLOW

The Furniture of Italy

| Flower Roberts

Everything in Italy seemed extraordinary. The furniture was ornate and beautiful.
Here are just a few examples of the furnishings that caught my eye during our travels. Some were just functional.

I loved this tabletop.

This is how we dried laundry in our apartment in Florence. The washer was a very small washer/dryer combo.

The building had an elevator added to the outside. The stairways were ancient wonders.

Our apartment had windows on one side of the hall so it was bright.
Stairs were everywhere. I had just finished up weeks in a boot, so I was thankful that I could walk and climb.
The roof-top garden.

The entrance during renovations. Sorry its blurry.(stairs again)

We could have spent a month in Florence. It was a busy place, but felt friendly and safe.

FLOW

The Stairs and Rooftops of Italy

| Flower Roberts

My bunion and I climbed many stairs on the 2015 trip. I credit my success to Dr. Molan and the heavy boot I wore for weeks beforehand for my strength and endurance.

A distinguished gentleman in a corduroy suit.

It seems a bit strange that stairs and roofs would deserve a post, but you must remember these buildings are older than America itself.  Stairs were everywhere. They varied greatly on both rise and run an rarely had railing on both sides. Elevators were not in every building.

Shallow steps like these allowed for carts to go up and down.
The ends of these bricks were worn off by years of traffic.
To look down one must go up!
I loved studying scerns like this with a zoom lens.
The structure and compositions added interest.
We were very high up in a bell tower for this photo. The clock struck hour while we were inside. Wowza!
Downward view from our apartment.

Upward view. There was a tiny elevator.

We were thankful to ride up and down with our luggage. Most of the time we used the stairs because the lift was small and slow.

Not being able to use stairs would be a game-changer in many old cities. The playing field is not leveled abroad.

Travelers must be mobile and agile.

FLOW

The Stores of Italy

| Flower Roberts

It was hard to choose what stores to take photos of and even harder to choose which to enter.
Buying was not an option for most items because there were four of us traveling and eating, so photos had to suffice.
I will note that one of the women in the group purchased 12 pairs of shoes on the trip. Shoes there are wonderfully made and not that expensive. She showed us photos of her shoes over diner one night. They were all unique and beautiful.

Items made of alabaster.

We have a small cabinet in our library which we call ‘ The Italy Cabinet.’ All our souveniers were small and carefully chosen.

I did get a necklace and scarf for special occasions. These items mean more because we limited our purchases.

Stay tuned for floors, furniture, decor and maybe some fancy ceilings.

FLOW

The Food of Italy

| Flower Roberts

Everything was fresh and delicious. None of us ever got sick from things we ate during the entire trip.

Cappuccino!

I wish this pescare was in focus. This was set before the man sitting beside me at a group diner. I was thankful that I did not order the fish since it seemed that it had been caught and battered without a cleaning. He said it was delicious. I tried to ignore the eyes on the plate next to mine.

FLOW

Ornate Objects of Italy

| Flower Roberts

It was a bit overwhelming to be surround by art everywhere. Nothing was ordinary. I wanted to slow down and pause to take it all in. I am so thankful that I snapped photos of many items that caught my eye, so I could closely examine and research them later.

If you are clicking to zoom on these photos you will see there is a difference in quality of the photos I am sharing. We rented a big lens to put on my camera, so some photos have much higher quality than others. We rented a lens for our Costa Rica trip last July, also.

The lens makes a huge difference especially if the subject is far away. There is no need to own such a lens, so renting one is a great option.

I marveled at every interesting fixture, light or knob. I wanted to touch everything. That gets lost in the photos.

METADATA-START

This last object was quite a surprise because the companion piece by artist Arnaldo Pomodoro is in downtown Charlotte, my hometown. It’s a small world after all!

The Floors of Italy

| Flower Roberts

Every surface seemed to be covered in art, the ceilings, the walls, the doors and even the floors.
Sometimes it was difficult to get a photo without a person in it. I find now that the presence of people adds perspective and scale.
There is method in my chaos. I am enjoying this return trip via photographs. I can follow my thought patterns, as I examine what I chose to take pictures of.
It is comical how I seemed to play seek-and- find in the Uffizi for plants, animals, flowers and fruits in the periphery of huge paintings. There are stories. I even got fixated on taking photos of ancient sandals.
There is so much more to come. Thinking of these posts has made me laugh for the first time in days.
Stay tuned.

Yes, we were that high. ZOOM IN. We got in the wrong line and climbed over 400 steps to get to the top with the horses.  Check post link at end for story.
METADATA-START

This is a tomb in St. Peter’s with the floor designed to feature purple marble tomb which has a little lamb on the top holding a flag. I wish I had taken more photos of its details.

FLOW on the floors

https://seizuremama.wordpress.com/2018/02/14/in-the-wrong-line/