myretroperspective

Is that an oxymoron?   My assignment for the first half of my day at work yesterday was to ‘roam’.  What that means is that I’m supposed to wander along the Swamp Island Wildlife Drive, mingle with the visitors, and provide interpretive services to anyone I encounter along the way.  Since helping the public to enjoy our National Wildlife Refuges and understand what they are seeing is one of my favorite things to do, I was really looking forward to this time. However, there aren’t very many visitors driving around early on a Tuesday morning in late October on the refuge.  So after my first lonely drive around the loop, I decided to concentrate on finding the carnivorous pitcher plants that are found in this area.  I figured if anyone drove by, noticed the official vehicle, and saw me getting into contortions to take photos, they might ask me what I was looking at.  I could then launch into an explanation of these most interesting plants. I took these

When I first told my friends who are seasoned runners, that I would run a race with them before they left this spring, I admit that I was just trying to be nice (sorry girls). Granted, I thought it would be fun but I never thought that I would actually build up the guts to go through with it. But the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to do it. Not for the running factor or even doing a race necessarily. But more so to prove to myself that after years of not running, that I could still get back into the habit. I also have another confession. I really didn't train. Ever since returned from the states on our summer vacation, I just can't get back into the swing of working out. Before we left for vacation, I had just completed the Insanity program and had never felt better. You could actually see my muscles (if you looked really hard), which was a first for me. I came back to Korea with the intention of doing the program again or finding an equally challenging program to w

Part of my orientation to the Okefenokee NWR yesterday included a swamp boat tour with Okefenokee Adventures, a concessionaire that partners with the refuge to provide tours and rents canoes, kayaks, and boats.  In case you are ever in the area, these tours are available every day of the year except Christmas Day.  It’s an hour and a half tour, and starts out down the Suwanee Canal.  As a point of interest, any motorboats in the Okefenokee Swamp must have motors under 10 horsepower.  No big motors allowed. I believe our trip covered about five miles all together, and was very interesting.  This canal was started in 1891 with the objective of draining the swamp.  Thankfully, it was an unsuccessful endeavor!  A short way into our journey we entered the National Wilderness Area, which means any travel into this area is very limited in number of people each day and any travel into it must be registered and reserved ahead of time. After a couple of

Many of you know that I spent the last three months at Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge in North Carolina.  While there I didn’t see one solitary alligator.  I did see and photograph lots of black bears.  Well, now I’ve moved to Okefenokee NWR, and I’m guessing I’ll be very lucky to catch a sight of a bear, but alligators will be more than abundant. When fellow volunteer Barb and I took that drive yesterday in the late afternoon in the electric cart, we saw a couple of alligators along the way.  This one is called ‘Mama’, and she pretty regularly can be found in the same pond/ditch area along the Swamp Island Auto Tour Route.  Because of that fact, the refuge has put up a sign about alligator safety.  I thought it was a hoot that Mama posed for us right next to the sign. This kind of displaying with the mouth open and the skin bagging under the jaw is usually reserved for the breeding season which is in the early spring.  Mama had a nest near by last year, but none of t

I am very happy to announce that our household just got al little bit bigger recently. No, we didn’t have a baby, but you would think that we might have by the endless discussions we had about having pets overseas. And this wasn’t our intention, but it just so happens that Zeke coming into our lives coincided with our  two-year anniversary  (perfect timing isn’t it?). Now, the hubs and I are a bit different when it comes to anniversary presents in the fact that we really don’t give them 'per se'. We decided early on that for us, it was an unnecessary pressure to try and find a gift, especially living in Korea where gift finding turns from difficult to impossible. So we decided to do something a little different and try to find a gift together for the both of us. Our aim is to not only relieve any pressure to find the perfect gift (we save that for birthdays) but to also find something that we can enjoy and use together. Last year, for example, we invested in our  Eno hammock  (

Thanks to a CrAzY weather system we are celebrating halloween early with FRANKENSTORM! It will take more than a hurricane to scare this Floridian.  The good news is R has the day off and if we can keep power that will make for a nice relaxing holiday at home. So we're hunkered down with the bath tub filled and the freezer full of ice, just in case... The storm is a bit of a bummer since my seester arrived Saturday afternoon to help celebrate my birthday.  Thankfully the storm held off for a nice day with her & R yesterday.  We headed out to brunch over near the White House at Founding Farmers .  The wait for a table was just long enough for us to dash over and snap a picture.  The mimosas & french toast were yummy but the service was slow.  Because we weren't sure about the weather, we felt like we should head back home after brunch.  We'd already heard that the NYC subway was shutting down in the evening & we weren't sure what the DC metro would do. Oh hai,

I wanted to be the first person on the wildlife drive this morning, and I think I was.  The chances of seeing wildlife are always better the earlier you get out there.  It wasn’t like I left at the crack of dawn or anything, but seeing as it was a Sunday morning I felt fairly confident that visitors would take a while to get here.  Okefenokee NWR is a bit off of the beaten path. I think there is a guide to the wildlife drive with about 12 numbered stops along the way.  I just haven’t gotten one of those guides yet.  The first stop for Emma and me was at Alligator Pond.  I didn’t see any alligators, but the cloudiness of the last two days was gone.  There was a pleasant breeze, so the pond reflections weren’t mirror perfect. I was cruising along at about 5 mph with the front windows down so I could hear as well as see anything that might be out and about.  Here it is almost November, but the swamp was alive with blooming flowers.  Don’t know yet if the blackened portions of the pi

No need to get up early this morning since I only had a drive of about 65 miles today to arrive at Okefenokee NWR.  On top of that, there was a hunt going on this morning at the refuge so the road I needed to drive down to get to the volunteer village was closed until noon.  Since I had scoped out the drive and found an acceptable gas station along the way, I thought I’d sleep like a log last night.  Not so!  I tossed and turned until almost four in the morning before drifting off briefly.  Just don’t understand that. When I was checking out the available sites yesterday, I had four to choose from.  I chose the one on the far left in this view.  Only problem was, I couldn’t find a sewer hookup.  While I was out doing the wildlife drive, maintenance went over and found the missing hookup.  It was buried under the grass and sand.  I still will have to dig it out a bit, but to me this was the best sight in the village.  My car is parked on another site, and there is one more to the ri