The Year in Review

Another year is almost over.  The years seem to pass by faster and faster these days.  I don't know what they're in a hurry for.

I've learned new lessons this year.  We can get by on a lot less money than we think is possible; and be just as happy!  Some of the happiest moments in our lives, I came to find out, don't cost a penny.  Those moments are quite unexpected.  Think of a perfectly blue sky in the serenity of the woods on a camping trip amid an orchestra of singing birds.  While you're still relishing on the symphony of the day, you get rewarded with a beautiful full moon and you hear three different owls.  How about a flock of Wood Storks performing a ballet dance in the sky for you, or a Mississippi Kite hovering around your house.  In many regards, this year has been one of the happiest, reconnecting with nature again, living day by day, visiting with family, and family visiting with you.  Of course, I wish I had more money this year, but again I don't want to trade my situation with anyone else's problem.  I'll deal with mine with a thankful and contented heart for what I do have, not dwelling on what I can't have. 

The importance of keeping a journal hit home this past week end.  I've been keeping a journal of our birdwatching activities and transferred everything in an Excell format I've created.  Boy, was I surprised! I've gone birdwatching every single week of the year.  Sometimes, I'll leave the house very early, and do some birding before going to the office.  Usually, Debbie and I will do some birdwatching on the week end.  Since we couldn't take any "exotic" vacations this year, we went on a few camping trips (like last year!) and saw many new birds every time.  If someone were to ask me how many different birds we've seen this year I would respond guessing "oh, maybe 50 or so".  That's before I went through my journal.  In reality, I've seen over 120 different species of birds this year.  Some of them are quite beautiful.  And some of them sung beautiful songs for me.  I'm already getting excited about next year.  Once you get a good pair of binoculars, birding doesn't cost a thing except for a few Dollars in gas.  And it's fun.  I went through a lot of very good birding books that I just checked out at the library. 

More on the subject of happiness.  Sure, you have the obvious ones: be at peace with everyone, love with all your heart, have passion for life, and live in harmony with yourself.  That is to nurture your spirit and mental daily, and respect your body i.e. drink wine in moderation and keep practicing martial arts or whatever you do to exercise. I'm not preaching to you, I'm only sharing my experience of this year.  When you do the above, life will throw some bonuses your way.  In my case, my daughter Leah is getting all As in 12th grade and doing great on her stepping team.  They even won some competitions.  Kelly is very happy with her 2nd year in college and doing great too.  When your daughter is in 2nd year of college, you no longer ask to see her grades but I know she is doing quite well or she wouldn't be so happy.  Or, maybe she's a naturally happy person.  I can relate to that. 

Debbie did all the beautifull Christmas decorations at the house. 

Merry Christmas, Happy Holiday Seasons to you and your loved ones. 

Live with Passion and Love.

William Coquerel visiting Macon

William, my nephew, visited with us after Thanksgiving.
It was nice to see all these cousins interacting and intereting to notice how alike the Coquerels are. (Kelly, Leah, and William are cousins as you know).
We did our favorite things and William was good sport to join in and have fun. Yes, he learned to play Rook and got good at it too. He got a taste of birdwatching at the Ocmulgee National Monument. William is already used to the outdoors with plenty of camping under his belt in different States.
Looking at this picture it looks like everyone was pretty tired. Actually, it just seemed appealing to lay down on that Indian mound in a clearing that was quite peaceful. After we laid down, the birds sung for us. We had to get up or we would have fallen asleep.
Some of the birds we saw that day: 2 Anhingas, a Great Blue Heron, a White Egret, Phoebes and Eastern Peewees, Cardinals, Several Sparrows (White Throated and Swamp Sparrows), a Red Tail Hawk, Red Headed Woodpeckers, Mockingbirds, Blackbirds(Red Winged), European Starlings, ..., and best of all an American Kestrel that zoomed down and picked up a rodent. We also saw a big Water Moccasin.

Thanksgiving at Jacques'

All the Coquerels in the US met at Jacques and Claire's for Thanksgiving this past Thursday.
After sitting around and sharing with each other, we had a nice Thanksgiving dinner meal.
Sylvain and Jean-Sam wanted to get a soccer game going but the card players got their way and we ended up playing cards (first). I even taught some people how to play Rook. Emmanuel and William liked it. They are the ones who learned to play.
Jean-Luc taught a new game too: KuhHandel, a German card game with bidding and auctioning.
The day went by so quickly we didn't have time to do everything we wanted to do such as playing soccer and basketball after the card games then go for a walk in the park, and then have some more desert, tea and coffee while listening to the young Coquerels who are becoming piano virtuosos. Well, I guess there is a next time.

The year is almost over!

Is there one thing that you wanted to do this year that you didn't get a chance to do?  Can you still do it?  Well, concentrate on that one thing and just do it.  The year is almost over, but it's not over yet.

If you had no special goals to accomplish this year, then just enjoy the rest of the year and keep smiling.  let's spend time with each other the rest of this year if we can.  Family and friends are more important than money and material possessions (or the lack of it).  I bet houses, cars, stuff..., you see around you today were there 100 years ago.  And I bet what you see there today (material stuff) will be there 100 years from now.  While we're going through this plane (experience), let's value what's important i.e. the people (souls) we're here to touch and share with.

If you just read this, then post a comment.  Say what's on your mind.  Share a thought.  I'm just curious who bothers to read this blog.  I almost didn't post anything this month then I realize I've never missed a month since i've started.  But then, what good is it if nobody reads it? 

Take care, love life, smile a lot, be at peace, and don't sweat the small stuff. 

Birdwatching at the Bond Swamp

Debbie and I went birdwatching this Sunday afternoon at the Bond Swamp outside of Macon. I don't recall we've ever seen this much bird activities as we've seen this Sunday. Birds, birds, birds everywhere, and quite vocal too. Totally awesome!

This bank of the swamp was one of the spots we just sat at and watched, and enjoyed ourselves. There were a lot of Northern Flickers among other birds. A couple of Pileated Woodpeckers came for the "party" too.
We like the Bond Swamp, especially the Beaver Creek Trail, because it's very quiet and serene. We hardly ever see anybody here. It's almost like our own little secret birdwatching place.

Besides Deer tracks, we saw some wild pigs ground stirring activities. We didn't see any pigs though. They like to hide, I guess.

Besides birds and animal tracks, we saw something quite peculiar this Sunday. A car parked on the edge of the woods by the parking lot. You read earlier that hardly anyone comes here right? Well, we got curious and run the vehicle tag on the "stolen vehicles" website and sure enough, the car has been reported stolen on Saturday. The Bond Swamp is just inside Twiggs County so it took a few phone calls to get the authorities to go do their "job". Apparently, Macon Police and Bibb County Sheriff Office have no interest because it fell just outside their jurisdiction.

Quite a busy week-end including helping out at a Karate testing Saturday morning.

Kelly's 20th Birthday

Kelly celebrated her 20th birthday this Saturday. We had some of her friends from college over at the house.
Everything went great. Kelly's friends were nice and pleasant.
We played pool and croquet, and we chatted a bit. Before you know it, the afternoon was over. Kelly has friends from Bulgaria, South Korea, Florida, and one girl whose parents are from Mexico. They were only 8 people at the house, but quite diverse in nationality.

Happy Birthday again, Kelly!

A great week-end with the Price Family

Debbie's Mom has been visiting with us this past week. Ricky came on Friday, then James and Melba on Saturday. Kelly and Leah were here as well.
Thus, we had a great week-end with the Prices. At one point we had two Rook games going simultaneously! We also played pool games. Debbie made some great meals.
The College Football game between Alabama and South Carolina was on on Saturday evening. With some great Alabama fans here (including Mama!), we watched the game. Alabama won. Yeah!
Everybody had fun and the week end just passed by too quickly. Everyone went back home on Sunday. What a great week-end! Come back again, y'all.

A week-end with Elvin and Linda

We went to Elvin and Linda this past week end.
They have a beautiful home in the country with dogs, lots of dogs. They like to greet people with excitement, and bark because they are scarred. They're beautiful. Susie, the poodle, is the cutest but I liked the Hound Dog best. He is totally unafraid and hardly barks. He wants to be your friend, like a good dog.


Both Elvin and Linda are great cooks, so we had...you guessed it, great food. Mama (Debbie and Elvin's Mom) came for dinner. Always nice to see her. She missed the Rook game. Sorry.
The one thing that struck us there is just how peaceful and quiet it is. You can just sit on their back porch and gaze at the woods, watching birds, and seeing dogs chase squirrels.
We enjoyed ourselves. Elvin and Linda were great hosts.

Another camping trip

Debbie and I went camping last week end at the Oconee National Forest. We went to a different spot than last time. Rocky Creek is the name of this spot.
This was the best camping trip we ever had so far.
No rain, but beautiful blue sky, serenity and peace like you wouldn't believe, no bug bites, great birdwatching, and no one around, just us.
You could have joined us for some Rook games. Maybe, next time.

Did you know nature has a cathedral made of trees, and a choir made of birds? We saw it last week end!

We have seen many new birds and enjoyed the owls at night. We got lucky with a full moon as well. Even with a full moon, we still enjoyed a "starry night" of a sky full of stars.








 If you consider we did not eat any more than usual, then our total cost for this peaceful experience is only $10.00, for gas. Oconee National Forest is about 40 minutes from Macon.

A slideshow of the Ocmulgee last week.

The Ocmulgee National Monument was flooded last week.  The Ocmulgee River crested also. 
On the right, there is a slideshow of some "before and after" pictures of the Mound for you. 

The water level receded quickly and it's already pretty much back to normal again.

I saw a big alligator the day it really flooded.  I was quite surprised.  He's gone now, I suppose, unless I see him again. 

Click on the slides to enjoy.

Birdwatching at the Piedmont WMA

Debbie and I went for some birdwatching this past week end at the Piedmont Wildlife Management Area.

It rained but it now seems that we have become "diehard" birders that neither rain nor snow will stop!


Well, we didn't see a lot of birds but we enjoyed the walk in the woods greatly.
It's been raining a lot in Georgia and many areas around us have been flooded.
The last picture show the trail for the Red Cockaded Woodpecker, a hard-to-find woodpecker. We've seen this species last time we were here. Not this time.



What's nice about birdwatching is that even if you don't see a lot of birds you still enjoy the walk.

The Ocmulgee got flooded

My favorite birdwatching place got flooded.
We've had a lot of rain and these are the results.
This is the walking path that is now flooded.


I still saw a lot of birds that day. A flock of European Starlings has returned to the Mound. I also saw many Red Winged Blackbirds.

My two surprises were a big Water Moccasin (snake) up in a tree taunted by Mockingbirds and a close up look at a young Pileated Woodpecker who seems to be checking me out. Oh, one more surprise. A field mouse run out the shrubs toward me and almost went up my pants for safety, except that I hop up just on time for him to see I was a person and not some kind of tree.

Flooded!

The boardwalk is flooded too.







Lots and lots of water everywhere. Turtles everywhere, frogs everywhere, birds singing and playing.

Labor Day week end at Connie's

Labor Day week end at Connie's.
We were looking forward to spending lots of time in the pool but it rained the first two days and it did not turned out to be warm enough. The pool was very nice and irresistible so some of us
went in anyhow.

I for one enjoyed it thoroughly.

We ended up playing a lot of games: Rook (of course), Taboo, and Picturenary.


Oh, we ate some good food too. And drank a bit. Not too much.

All in all, it turned out to be a great week end.

Dark clouds over Macon

Finally, we are about to get our heavy rain. And it poured!