Solstice in the South

December 21 Happy Solstice
I teach at Nautilus Middle School Science.
We’re off for Holidays so’
“Merry Christmas”
“Happy Hanukah”
“Happy Kwanzaa”
And
“Happy Solstice”
I enjoy teaching at Nautilus Middle School.
Our students are inspiring and motivating.

Miami is a great place for Xmas Holidays,

Everyone enjoy your holidays!!
Visiting San Antonio is a lovely place to spend time with family.
Weather is pleasant and so is family at the holiday time.

New Home in Florida

Following my Life's Path
For the last 7 years, I have been working as fulltime teacher, student, parttime college instructor, and earned another BS Degree, this time in Education. A Certification in Special Education/Exceptional Student Education was essential in helping me be an effective teacher. I have been teaching on an Indian Reservation in South Dakota and helping write grants to bring more educational opportunities in science, like NASA. I enjoy working with the youth. They are inspiring. Their energy and zest for life, keep meenthusiastic about my life and the world.
After the passing of our parents, I decided to take some time to balance my physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual aspects. Traveling through other countries, I experienced cultures an spiritual teachings. I swam with sharks and rays in Bora Bora,Tahiti, sea turtles and dolphins in Hawaii and Mexico, helped with sea turtle hatchlings in Mexico and St Catherine's Island off the coast of Georgia.

My adventures included expanding my professional development for teaching science, like sea turtles hatching in Georgia with Southern Georgia University. Attending the National Science Teachers' Association, I was appointed to a review board for Science Scope Magazine.

I spent a summer session teaching an honors program, Biology for Johns Hopkins University, Center for Talented Youth in Baltimore. As a registered medical technologist in hospitals for almost 20 years, I enjoy teaching science and laboratory techniques in medicine.

I was fortunate to have time with my sister and her family. My sister is one of my best friends for many years and our friendship has grown even deeper. Her family was lovely to allow me to be a part of their lives. Her husband is truly my brother and I'm glad my sister has such a good man. My sister is encouraging me to write professionally again, so I'm focused in that direction.

I am happy to have found my new home in Florida, teaching at Nautilus Middle School in Miami Beach.
The atmosphere for education professionalism is inspiring and outstanding in standards. My colleagues are motivating. The students are inspiring and remarkable.

Exploring Bora Bora

A week in Bora Bora, Tahiti

I was fascinated with Bora Bora so I made my way down for the equinox.
The major Island with atolls (small land masses) surrounding it.

This exploding volcano from many centuries ago contains a heavy density and is slowly sinking into the Pacific.
The Indigenous natives speak Tahitian, French (it’s French Polynesian), and many speak English.
The Island was like one big garden and I felt like I was in a dream while there. Natives were warm and hospitable and I learned a little Tahitian. Visitors came from around the world and spoke all languages.
I scuba dived around the island amazed by the beautiful coral reef, a variety of fish, sharks, manta and sting rays, and whales.

Afterwards, I enjoyed a relaxing evening on the patio, truly a room with a view!

The floor was sand and a relaxing fun afternoon was on the menu.

Tahitians are traditional in keeping their culture, language, and music alive.

Snorkeling on Bora Bora, Tahiti
Feeding Sting Rays and Sharks is a daily tradition.

Expedition to Cosmopolitan Art District

Ocean 5 Hotel had ambience and the staff was most helpful and friendly.
436 Ocean Drive, Miami Beach, Florida 33139
Telephone number: (305) 532-7093 Ocean 5 Hotel

I only had to walk across the street to be on the beach. Going to Miami Beach, wear comfortable shoes and cool casual clothes. People are friendly and very multicultural. Conversation with locals and visitors are enlightening and refreshing. Speaking Spanish comes in very handy.
“Happy Hour” on hotels on Ocean Drive include sometimes drinks, sometimes menu items at half price. Cuisine is delightful and the view of people, vehicles, ocean is intriguing.

I enjoyed the food and drinks of various establishments on Ocean Drive across from the Beach. They were all terrific! –Sidewalk outside seating arrangements were romantic and allowed me to enjoy the atmosphere of the area. I stayed in the Art Deco area of Miami Beach. The architecture was amazing and breathtaking. Strolling along the beach was relaxing and fun with the variety of people in their activities. Ocean Drive is lined with hotels and restaurants, where I could dine and leisurely watch people saunter through and a variety of vehicles drive through the area like a parade. The multicultural flavor of the Art Deco neighborhood was refreshing and alive with excitement. I walked down the beach and boardwalk stopping now and tehn to refresh my self at various eateries. There were quite a number of sport activities on the beach.
Shopping was fantastic. Dress code was anything that was comfortable and suitable for the sunny weather. Walking around Miami Beach was easy and shops and malls were very accessible.
Security was nonstop and as a single woman, I felt safe to walk during day or night.Cuisine was seafood and cosmopolitan-Absolutely delicious. Restaurants on Ocean Drive, some with Happy Hour Menu specials on very exceptional cuisine at an affordable price. Dining on Ocean Drive watching the parade of vehicles and the beach activities. Ocean Drive Restaurants and HotelsCollins Avenue (1 street over from Ocean Drive) also had many prestigious hotels and resorts. Miami Beach as I walk down the shoreline.
This was my first trip to the Art Deco District of Miami, my most memorable part experiencing the architecture of the area. Day time was like a trip back in time and at night was a fantasy land with the light play on the buildings.I could sit at a sidewalk restaurant and watch people and old classic cars cruise Ocean Drive.

Historical Pilgrimage Through Thailand

January, I had the privilege of going to Thailand to experience changes 40 years after Viet Nam Crisis era. Our guide was a military Chaplin who worked with veterans and any interested in healing and growing from the difficult time. Pastor Herb Cleveland was our tour guide and friend in orienting us in this country previously known as Siam. Seeing “Anna and the King” was only a glimpse into an exciting ancient civilization.
We spent a week in Bangkok seeing palaces, walking tours of local markets, and learning about the city’s history.






















A quick flight allowed a tour of Chang Mai, visits to churches and monasteries; including the one the King of Siam spends a portion of his life. We paid homage to the Buddhist Temples.




A ride on Asian elephants in Teak Rain Forest was only a portion of the excitement. Some of these elephants paint and their works are auctioned and sold to help pay their expenses. Some of them even enjoy playing soccer. There was a marvelous orchid farm, growing orchids in air, and botanical gardens. Walking exploration of street and night markets exhibited a variety of clothes, native, and eclectic collection of merchandise. Children performed their native cultural dances on stage and some of these markets and dinner theatres.

We visited the Golden Triangle of historic fame where opium was the major money maker in the 60s and 70s. Today’s biggest industry, with the help of the King, is now tobacco, coffee, manufactured goods, and tourism. It’s beautiful with an impressive museum regarding the history of opium, its impact to the area and damage to the human body. We experienced the border of Thailand, Laos, and Burma(now Myanmar).

Payap University at Chang Mai was marvelous and impressive for an international university in this north Thailand area. We were honored to receive a tour of this academic institution.

There is a remarkable organization called New Life Center with a mission. It is a Christian organization which seeks to empower and equip at-risk or exploited tribal women through education and training, in order to create positive change in their lives and in society. We got to meet and participate in contributing to some courageous young women attending this center growing to positive responsible adults.

Cruising the Panama Canal

Cruising through the Panama Canal was amazing in recognizing the innovations and how life was improved in the world because of it. New enginneering design built a modern canal system never used before and Malaria was an obstacle that the entire world benefitted when the epidemiology and curable treatment was discovered.

The Panama Canal is a tollway shipping channel traveled many times a day everyday.
A rainforest sits in this canal that borders Columbia and Costa Rica. This rainforest is the home for families, schools of children and tropical wildlife.

Volcano Mt Paos, Costa Rica

Sea Turtle, endangered species are hatched in nurseries and released in Mexico to the Pacific Ocean.

Iguanas are native to Mexico.

Education through Travel

A Cruise through Panama Canal, by way of Aruba .

As I sit in my cabin, outside Kyle, South Dakota, on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, this winter day, it is 19 degrees outside. Wind is 55-70 mph from the north with snow and ice making a wind chill of -7 degrees. I have a fire going in my wood burning stove and my dog, Mackenzie husky in asleep in the kitchen area, one of the few times he comes inside now. This is the perfect time for me to reflect on my educational excursion through the Panama Canal just one week ago.
Hope you enjoy the pictorial journal of the cruise.

I embarked on an educational excursion from the post hurricane area of Florida. The damage was sad, but the people were in good spirits and already repairing damage from the hurricane. Our ship launched from Ft Lauderdale and set course for Aruba.
Launching Ft. Lauderdale, Florida .

1st Stop: Aruba (a Netherlands colony just above South America) Aloe Plantation

Butterfly conservatory in Aruba (www.thebutterflyfarm.com)

Natural Bridge, a tourist and historic landmark, fell the night before we arrived!

Downtown in Aruba shows Netherlands influence as a colony.