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| Mt Madison, number forty seven on my quest for forty eight, seen from Mt Adams, number 48 |
1. This first one is a bit selfish. I am very happy to have completed the NH 4000 foot mountains. When it takes seventeen years to complete, you feel like it will never end. For a week after I finished, I was still in disbelief that I had finished. Now, I can hike anything I want without "wasting" a day I could be working on my list.
2. I say it every year, I am thankful for striped bass. I would have so much more time to fill during the months from April to November. Some days at work during the spring I think about about stripers all day long.
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| You wouldn't know it by the lack of fish I've put on Social Media but I actually caught a lot of fish this year despite birding so much |
3. I am thankful for unselfish birders. I have seen a disproportionate amount of really good and rare birds this year. Many of them are because of bird alerts and Facebook posts. Sometimes I'd show up to a spot and the birders would be more interested in getting me on the bird than continuing to look at it themselves. I've had this happen a dozen times this year and seen it happen dozens of times when others show up. The RI birders are very good people willing to share with others.
4. I am thankful for my outdoor clubs I've joined. The Ocean State Bird Club is full of many of the people I mentioned above. The Narragansett Surfcasters is a great organization. They have so many fun events and (when I actually remember them) I enjoy the meetings.
5. I am grateful my mother introduced me to the outdoors. I've wrote about it many times in different ways, but I will never forget our memories. I've also taken my love of the outdoors far past anything she ever did or learned. But she certainly built the foundation.
6. I get the same adrenaline rush from mountain top views, catching a huge fish, and seeing a rare bird or animal. I really will never understand anyone that doesn't get excited catching a thirty pound striper or seeing a Scarlet Tanager or Moose. I am VERY grateful those things matter to me.
7. I am grateful that Plum Island, one of the greatest birding destinations in the U.S, is ninety minutes from home.
8. I am grateful for the four days I spent in Acadia NP this September. We did and saw so much in those days. However, I am twice s happy that Laurie loved it as much as me and we are going back in June.
9. I am very happy my favorite things to do are free except the gas to get there. I need hiking, fishing, and birding in my life. If I had to pay (for more than a license or White Mountains pass) I would have to do them a lot less.
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10. As always, I very much appreciate being invited on my friends' boats. Both Eric Meyer and Dick Durand let me fish with them this year. Both are good friends and I can never show my gratitude enough. Because of them I caught tons of big Black Sea Bass including my biggest ever.
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| I don't think I'd fish for anything else if these were around all year |
11. I caught one albie this year. That might seem like a disappointment. However catching one is million times better than getting zero. They are such an amazing fish. Whether I get one for the year or have a twenty fish day, I never stop being in awe of their beauty and strength. Dave was there to take a few pictures with absolutely perfect light to do the fish justice.
12. I saw two porcupines in a month. This may be a weird thing to be thankful for, but I had only seen one in my life before that. Both were on the ground and not afraid.
13. I have destroyed my old record of how many birds I've seen. However, that is not what I am thankful for. What I am really happy about are the experiences. So many days this year, I birded from daybreak until evening (then met Dave to go striper fishing). Some of those days were truly spectacular. There are too many cool memories to write them all here, but here is one.
I showed up at Miatomini Park in Newport one morning this May. I realized half of Rhode Island's best birders were there so I tagged along. We all got lucky and there was a "fallout". There were birds everywhere. The trees looked like they were covered in bright Chistmas lights. I saw more Bay Breasted Warblers and Canada Warblers that day than my life combined. There were Scarlet Tanagers and Summer Tanagers along with a bunch of other warblers everywhere you looked.
I had another day like that at Plum Island. There were days where I chased rarities to be rewarded with wallhanger photos courtesy of the bird. These are all reasons why I get up at 5:30 in the morning to go look at birds.
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| Chestnut Sided Warbler |
12. I am thankful for my vacation buddy best friend Laurie and thankful for my fishing buddy best friend Dave Pickering. Both know how much they mean to me.
13. Although I worry about his crazy ass antics, I proud that my son followed his dream to live the life he wants and see all of the places on his bucket list. It takes a brave person to drive cross country alone to take a job at Yellowstone without knowing a soul. After Yellowstone he got a job at the Grand Canyon. He saved enough money to take a three month vacation around the world.He is going to start in Madrid and go to the Far East before coming home. I envy his willingness to try new things. I said I took my love of the outdoors far past my mother in terms of learning and seeing. My son took my wanderlust and magnified it ten fold. I'm proud of him.
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| One of the first birds I see after I bought my new lens. I photographed it for three hours |
15. I'm grateful my boss let me take three Wednesday's off this spring. I worked in our kitchen on Tuesday nights so I could have three three day weekends (Wed-Fri). I did so much during those weekends. I took a trip to Maine to see Puffins and Monhegan Island. The other two weekends I lived at Plum Island NWR. For the first year ever, I didn't feel like I was missing out on spring.
16.Although I will admit, I enjoyed Acadia more, I am glad Laurie suggested the vacation we took this year to Niagara, Gettysburg, D.C. and Philly. We saw many of America's greatest landmarks on that trip.
17. I am thankful I finally caught my first ever legal size tatoug.
18. I am thankful I went to three temperary art exhibitions. I saw lines of thought at RISD which were drawings and doodles from people such as Rembrandt, Michelangelo, DaVinci and many more. I was blown away (this was actually 2017, but still within the last 12 months). I went to a Georgia O'Keefe exhibition at Peabody Essex. Lastly at Mystic Seaport I saw artifacts borrowed from a museum in Sweeden that contained many Viking artifacts. Just awesome!
19. I am happy to live in a country with so many beautiful places and great animals. My bucket list of places to visit is pages long. I have trails I want to hike in ten western states. I want to visit a dozen wildlife refuges in Texas and Florida. I'll never get to see all of these places, but the point is, it is great to live in a country where there is too much to see!
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