Thankful Me

  The front of an orange kayak enters into a waterway lined with mangroves at Biscayne National Park My husband recently re-retired, and we are front-loading travel. My#AtoZChallenge posts this year will explore our adventures--some pre-retirement, some post. Today's location: Biscayne National Park in Florida, USA.  Though Biscayne National Park is located in Florida, it would be more accurate to say that it is in the waters off Florida, as 95 percent of the park is in Biscayne Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. We knew that when we visited, we would want to be on the water, so we signed up for a kayak tour of the mangroves through the Biscayne National Park Institute. We met our guide, Daniel, at the Dante Fascell Visitor's Center, just as the winds started picking up. Daniel told us that he had some concerns about the weather, but if we wanted to give kayaking a try, he would be willing to take us out, as long as we understood that he might need to cancel our trip at any time. The...

  A snowy view of Antarctica from a cruise ship balcony My husband recently re-retired, and we are front-loading travel. My #AtoZChallenge posts this year will explore our adventures--some pre-retirement, some post. Today's location: Antarctica! A traveler who had previously been to Antarctica described it as "Alaska on steroids," and I have to agree with that assessment. Glaciers and icebergs were everywhere. Though on board a large cruise ship, the feeling of isolation from society was almost palpable, and combined with the vastness of the waters and land, brought to mind the line from the hymn How Great Thou Art: "Oh Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder, consider all the worlds Thy hands have made. . . . " A flat-topped iceberg sports two cave-like formations near the water's edge Other icebergs, like this one, had jagged points rising up to the sky The large cruise ship gives a sense of scale to the iceberg that towers over it The clear water gives a p...

  The first yellow forsythia blossoms are opening up Though it snowed multiple times this past week, the garden is showing that spring is indeed on its way.  I'm thankful:          1.  for the forsythia blossoms            2. for the daffodils  A yellow daffodil fully in bloom           3. for the emerging peonies           Red stems of peonies emerge from the bark-covered ground           4. for rhubarb beginning to grow Green rhubarb leaves begin to unfurl out of the ground (and no matter what I do, the photo refuses to rotate)          5. for the green leaves of the tulips starting to come up:          6. for an orchid that rebloomed! (Photo of white with magenta splotches blossoms)          7. for coming up with a theme, and actually sc...

  A stock photo shows two hands forming a heart shape with an image of Earth behind them My husband recently re-retired, and we are front-loading travel. My #AtoZChallenge posts this year will explore our adventures--some pre-retirement, some post. My husband has always been supportive of my interests, but I must say, he is 100% in on this travel theme! The #AtoZChallenge has been going on each April since 2010. I have joined in several different years, and have really enjoyed participating. The a-to-zchallenge.com blog has already revealed that their theme for this year's challenge is going to be gratitude, and I must admit, I LOVE that theme! As you might gather from my blog's name, I try to cultivate thankfulness in my life.  And one thing I am thankful for is the opportunity to travel with my husband! I hope you will follow along and see where in the world this challenge takes us!

The main stage of RootsTech, with chairs beginning to fill with attendees The past few days I was in Salt Lake City, Utah, attending the family history conference, RootsTech . Unless you've heard a description or attended before, your mental image of the event probably isn't completely accurate. Yes, there are classes teaching about research techniques, DNA analysis, and organization methods, but you might not have imagined interviews with Olympic and Paralympic gold medalists, musical performances by The Piano Guys, or cultural cooking demonstrations. It was a wonderful conference, with the open-ended theme, "What will you discover?" I'm thankful for discoveries I made: 1. I attended several classes on Scottish research and learned something I probably should have figured out a long time ago. Did you know that Nova Scotia means New Scotland? I'm thankful classes cover all levels of family historians, from the very beginner to professionals.  2. Another class ...

A collage of three photos: On the left, John and I in front of La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, Spain. In the middle, John and I in front of Rick's Cafe in Casablanca, Morocco. On the right, John and I in a kayak in Biscayne National Park in Florida (and our ranger guide in a kayak behind us).  One of John's goals since retiring is to front load travel. We have learned that life has a way of surprising us, so we are taking advantage of this time while we are healthy (and aren't needed as caregivers) to see the world. I'm a planner by nature, but I'm trying to embrace spontaneity more, which is how John and I ended up taking a transatlantic cruise in February, flying back from Spain to Florida via Morocco, and arriving in Africa without any hotel reservations. Was this a bit out of my comfort zone? Yep. Did our adventures all work out? Absolutely! It still boggles my mind that last Saturday I spent the morning in Europe, last Sunday I was in Africa, and Monday I was ...