myretroperspective

I'll be honest, hubs is just a little bit of an adrenaline junky. Anything that is even a little bit dangerous, he is all for. On our honeymoon, there was a day that he went snorkeling while I stayed on the beach. He came running onto the beach yelling 'There's a shark in the coral! You've got to come check it out!' before running right back into the water. I remember thinking 'that is definitely not the way to get me in the water.' (I ended up going and seeing the harmless black tip reef sharks and it was one of the coolest experiences I've ever had, but that's beside the point) The point is, when we found out that there was a place in Chiang Mai where we could get up close and personal with baby and full grown tigers, we couldn't resist.  When you arrive at Tiger Kingdom , you get to pick the age group you want to see. They have babies (2-3 months), small (4-8 months), medium (9-12 months) and large tigers (13-30 months). TIP: Go early! Tigers ...

Today we're celebrating the gift of new life and the power of the resurrection. In Chinese, Easter is actually called "resurrection day" (复活节-fu4huo2jie2) which I like. We're remembering and reveling in the most important aspect of our faith with new friends and a new community. We're not with this part of our family, like last year. Easter Sunday in Atlanta 2012 with R's whole family Or these dear friends, who's fellowship made life in Atlanta so spiritually rich. we miss these friends SO MUCH! especially on Easter. We're not even near any of these people who were light and life last time we were abroad. Easter 2009 with some of my favorites! But we did celebrate here today. And it was sweet and sad all at once. Which is a bit like the cross. Easter 2013  Wherever you're celebrating Easter, I pray you'll have the chance to reflect on the hope of new life that's promised today and always. Despite being near or far from loved ones, Christ is...

I’ve got a little over two weeks left at Okefenokee, and I’m getting short timer’s attitude.  Some people call it hitch itch, but I have noticed that as the time for me to move on nears, I become less tolerant of minor irritations.  Same thing happened just before I retired almost seven years ago.  The excitement of new horizons builds, and the attitude turns to “What can they do?  Fire me?”  I’ve been at this volunteer assignment longer than any other I’ve had, and I guess I’m ready to move on.  It seems to happen every time as the departure date nears.  I’ve spent the last two days between roving and working the VC.  This is the busy season here, and work in the VC is non-stop as hundreds of visitors come in.  Roving and observing the wildlife is a welcome break from all the harried activity. I got a call on the radio this morning that fellow fulltimers and bloggers, Randy and Pam , had arrived at the VC.  I headed in, picked t...

Dear Work, 7.30 am classes? Is that really necessary? My body hates me and my 6 am wake up calls.  Dear Readers, I am so incredibly excited to announce a new link up that I will be a part of! Rachel, from one of my favorite blogs, Postcards from Rachel , contacted me with the idea of a link up all about expat life, including advice, photos, questions and travel stories and asked if I would be interested. I immediately thought 'well...duh'. We will be going live with the link up on the first Thursday of every month starting on April 4th. We would love for you to link up your travel stories, expat experiences, questions or advice. Whether your a fellow expat, want-to-be expat or fellow travel lover, we'd love to hear from you! Come link up with us next Thursday! Read more about it here . Dear Chingu, I'm so glad you decided to extend your birthday celebration to all week long. I love celebrating, even if it's someone's else's birthday. Dear Closet, you'r...

We had 400 high school forestry students at the refuge today, so it was “all hands on deck” to handle a crowd like that.  They were here to compete in some practicum forest tests this morning, and then they were free to participate in four venues that we offered for their education and enjoyment on the refuge.  I was stationed at the beginning of the Cane Pole Trail to direct them where they needed to go for an alligator presentation.  It was a busy day with that many young people descending on us, but lots of fun besides.  All of us senior volunteers are pretty well worn out tonight. When I staggered back to the rig late this afternoon, I turned on the computer to check my email just in case there was a message from Tamarac NWR in northwest Minnesota.  I had that interview yesterday, but wasn’t expecting to hear anything until tomorrow.  Lo and behold, there was an email, and I crossed my fingers before opening it.  Judith-- I would like to offer ...

Every day when I leave our apartment (to go meet a friend, to volunteer at the consulate, to go eat lunch, to babysit, to do ANY number of things) the door man smiles big, tells me (in English) I look beautiful and then says: GO SHOPPING? I'm sure he's only got about 10 English phrases in his repertoire, so I get it, but every day- huge grin, GO SHOPPING ? I will never forget back in October we went to our first (and only so far) fancy diplomat reception at the Ringgold-Carroll house  in DC. What will stay with me are not the chandeliers, not the beautiful treasures from around the world bequeathed by retired diplomats or the number of former ambassadors in attendance. No, what I will remember was a passing comment that a retired female foreign service officer made. She politely asked me where I was assigned to go and after explaining that I'd be accompanying my husband (the FSO) to Shenyang, she said: "Well, that's nice. Every post needs to have a few people aroun...

Tonight I’m continuing the rest of the day we spent on the western side of the refuge yesterday.  After visiting Billy’s Island, we back tracked a bit to find the passage to Minnie Lake. Along the way, we noticed the first blooms of the water irises.  In a week or so, the swamp on this side will be blessed with their vibrant blue/purple color all along the canoe trails.  There never seems to be a month that goes by that doesn’t have some flowers blooming. Even though it was a Tuesday morning, we did pass a few folks out enjoying the solitude in their canoes and kayaks.  Though chilly and windy, it was a great day for being out and about on the swamp. Shortly before the cutoff for Minnie Lake, Kathy noticed an American bittern skulking in the dried grasses and reeds along the edge of the trail.  I’m sure glad she spotted this secretive bird so we could turn around to get some pictures of it. As we approached...

This week I'm happy to introduce Erica from  the blog  Way to the Sea  for the next installment of the Perspective Series. This is a series about expats sharing their experience of living and traveling abroad and how it inevitably changed their outlook and perspective on life. I'm a new follower to Erica's blog and I can't speak highly of it enough. She posts about inspiring posts and gorgeous pictures about her life in Africa, her world travels and of course, her adorable little girl.  ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Aloha! My name is Erica and I blog over at To the Sea . I never thought I’d live on the African continent. When my husband told me we had the opportunity to move overseas for his military carreer, I quickly said yes. Yes. YES. I had dreams of returning to Central or South America, where I spent a summer studying Evolutionary Biology in the Galapagos Islands. I loved life abroad. I loved...