In the Beginning

by Ross

Wednesday February 23, 2011

Hard to believe today has arrived. I am retired, I am leaving on the longest vacation of my life.
Over the last few weeks many people have asked me how I feel, what’s it like??? I continue to have difficulty answering those questions. I’m excited (now, not at first), I’ll miss parts of my job, I’ll miss relationships built up over the last 30 years, the uncertainties of the future are scary, I look forward to photographing birds in Florida & Texas & SW & California, I will enjoy visiting with family and friends, the risk of being involved in a car accident increases with each mile/kilometre travelled, I will see sights I have never seen, more time with Kathryn will be good, eating and napping when the urges come will be a treat, etc., etc., etc.
Halfway through Pennsylvania the snow has disappeared. Yahoo!!!
Stopped at Beckley, West Virginia tonight.

Nature Notes: Spotted a male Red-winged Blackbird in the cat-tails of a snowy marsh in N.Y. state. My harbinger of spring (in the north). Yahoo!!
No deer seen, nor any tracks in the snow between the trees and the highway. Strange.
Walked through woodlot behind the motel. A butterfly flitted around me for a few minutes, probably attracted to my lavender t-shirt. Also saw some deer tracks. Nature is where you find it.