My roots are in rural south Alabama where my family lived for generations. My love of nature began while visiting my grandfather’s farm, wandering around outdoors, and spending time on the Gulf Coast. I left home young and moved often, making the regular tumbleweed jokes while following my ex-husband’s military and civilian careers across the country. I explored each new place with the curiosity of a geographer.
My educationwas scattered across the country as well and included business, government, international affairs, geography, GIS (Geographic Information Systems), tropical biology in Costa Rica, environmental sciences and economics. I finally graduated at KSU in Kennesaw, Georgia with transcripts from 11 Universities in 5 states and nearly twice the hours a B.S. requires.
Studying geography in Grad school was the sweet spot because geography can include everything, especially at UGA where the geography department includes both human and physical geography. Connections are everywhere and fascinating. Tobler’s Law- Everything’s connected. Near things are more connected than far things, and I see that as being tru across all dimensions, not just spatial dimensions.
My career remains a scattered mash up across interests and locations with a lot of volunteer work. Family ties now keep me in the Atlanta burbs. I hope to improve my balance between family and goals. That’s the challenge for everyone isn’t it? I’d personally enjoy living where I can have a vegetable garden, a greenhouse and potentially a meaningful project without worrying about an HOA. Urban life offers a lot that country living doesn’t, but that’s a two way street.
Like Russ, I am happiest when there is balance between curiosity, creativity, being active (both mentally and physically) and meeting goals. My interests include gardening, fine hand sewing, SCUBA, cycling, hiking, reading, biodiversity, native plants and habitats, hot-air ballooning and exploring new things.
Writing is my current focus, both here and elsewhere. Slow and considered is my style, not terribly compatible with current trends. I struggle with organization and constantly rewrite trying to say things better. I don’t use AI, with the exception of automatic phone photo processing and other things that have been built in to most software for a long time, like spell check. I sometimes use the “Pro” setting on my phone to avoid the automated processing, or, on the other end, may use some phone filters of other post processing, but generally leave phone photos as they are taken automatically.
The website is seriously under construction. I fixed what I thought would be a small problem with the mobile view and ended up changing the entire appearance and structure of the page. Please forgive the transitional mess. I anticipate, because that’s how life works, that the page, and my life, with be a permanent study in transition.