It's near the end of the year...I start thinking...

I am no activist. I am no one.

Growing up, we travelled, several times a year. I am so fortunate to have had to opportunity to visit so many of the National Parks and historical places. At 17, I became a foreign exchange student, to Australia. I spent a year in the public school system and helping to raise animals on my host family's farmette. Like my own parents, my host family also took me travelling. After coming home to graduate from high school, I went back to Queensland, for another year...most of which was spent on horseback with my best friend and her parents. What I learned from my childhood, was that I loved nature...all nature. I loved the sameness and the differences.

When I came back home I intended to go to college. But, my mother, a talented surgical nurse, couldn't agree with me on a career that she would be willing to pay the fee for. I didn't want to be a nurse. I wanted to study nature. She felt it wasn't a financially sound choice. So....I went to work. First, at a donut shop, then a baker at a restaurant, a waitress, a line cook...who cares. I got married, but my husband didn't work very often. Finally, though, I was making enough money that with a small student loan, I could afford to go to school at night, while working full time during the day. I chose to take Madison Area Tech's Recreational Resource Management program. Near the end of my second semester, I got pregnant. Sara was born in August, so I was still able to continue into the next semester. But, she died, a few months later...and I dropped out. I found out later, that my loan had immediately come due, when I dropped out...and then, the last straw...MATC dropped the Recreational Resource Management program...there was no reason for me to go back, anyway.

I took off for NYC...lived there for several years, doing nothing useful with my life. I spent every free moment at the Natural History Museum in Central Park...must have bought every book in their gift shop. Then at last I came back to Wisconsin. Here I am, at 40 years old...no one...uneducated...unsure what, if anything, I can do about it.

I am no activist.

Pair of Baltimore Oriole

These are from last summer and I'm just getting around to posting them!


Mr Oriole looks pretty proud of himself, at the feeder. But his lady...seems a little confused.






She eventually did figure it out...!

My Dogs...

This is Phoebe, my adopted dog. She and her sister Thea were found, as puppies, abandonded at a high school basketball game. Thea died shortly after being rescued and Phoebe came to me as a foster. She was adopted, but the family sent her back, saying she was "untrainable." In other words, she was smarter than they were. I fostered her again for about a week, before I adopted her, for good. She is so sweet and loving...just the best dog...




Here is the dog I'm sponsoring from Soi Dog Foundation (http://www.soidog.org @soidogphuket on Twitter). His name is Sure. Isn't he a beautiful boy? You should sponsor one!

Practice Has Not Made Perfect, When Photographing this Chickadee

These are my rejected photos, from this morning. This chickadee is too fast!

My nephew Joe has been living with me for 11 weeks, now...

Here's the original post, from my LiveJournal account:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"There is going to be a huge change in my life, as of today.....

My niece died suddenly a couple of years ago, leaving her two sons to live with my brother. But, one of the boys, Joe, hasn't been doing very well. He doesn't get the attention that he needs. He's only 10 years old but is now close to 50 pounds over weight. My brother just doesn't have the time or patience to help him learn better eating and exercise habits and he has asked to come and live with me. I agreed. It's going to be a challenge, there's no doubt about that. But, I'm hopeful that I can make a positive difference in this boy's life. Tomorrow, we go to register him for school. One thing that he does have going for him is that he has above average intelligence and last year, even with his unhappy home situation, was on the honor roll at school. I want to help him keep that up, make friends and of course, be healthy.

Wish us luck."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Friday, he had his first doctor's appointment, since he's been here. He's already lost 8 pounds and I could see the excitement and pride in his face, when he realized it. On the way home, we stopped and splurged on a Wii with the Sports package, and he's been playing hard at it. I think the rest of the weight is going to fall right off, now!

There's only 1 more week of school before the end of 1st Quarter and Joe has all A's with a B in Gym and Music. Though I was hoping he would take after me and play an instrument, I'm so happy with the grades...how could I not be?

On top of all of that, he's out-selling me, using my Amazon sellers account! Reselling his games and movies and reusing packaging. Nothing's getting wasted!

I'm kind of excited about the holiday season, probably for the second time, in my adult life. My own sweet baby girl only had one Christmas... I expect this one to be special.