Merry Christmas to everyone

Merry Christmas to everyone.
I hope this holiday season is a peaceful and pleasant for you and your loved ones.
Enjoy this video clip.

Testing for 3rd degree black belt

Finally, I've tested for my 3rd Dan (degree) this past week end.
In our Taekwondo school, a student needs to test two times for his or her 1st degree through 5th degree black belt. This was my 2nd testing. I'm glad it's over with.

If you ever wanted to learn a great martial art like Taekwondo with some of the devastating techniques they don't even teach in traditional TKD school, then check out this site:

Taekwondo lessons and self defense.

It all went well. As usual, the packed room at the beginning looks almost empty by the time I do the more interesting parts of my testing i.e. self-defense demonstration, my form (Kae Baek), and free sparring with other black belts. People can leave after their test and, except for the board breaking, the higher belt goes last.

It's fun to practice martial arts. It keeps you in shape and help keep a little competitive spirit. By sparring with people 10 years younger than yourself, you feel younger too.
It's nice to see a lot of people start kaekwondo at our school. Most people never reach the black belt level, and more people quit after getting their first degree black belt. I was pleased to stay with it this long (almost 8 years) to get my 3rd degree. I practiced Judo for 10 years so I feel well rounded now.

Sure, I've practiced in Dojos, and TKD schools, but today, a person can learn how to defend himself (or herself) with step by step techniques.  If you're interested you can find out some of the techniques in this tutorial program:

taekwondo techniques and self defense. Click on the link.

Camping at St. Andrews SP

Camping on Thanksgiving??? Why not?  Isn't Thanksgiving a family time? Well, it could be ... a time to give thanks...while spending time with family. (Kelly and Leah were in Pittsburgh visiting with their Grandmother). What if you could go camping (something you like to do very much), with some family members, give thanks while you're there, and (yes!) play some games of Rook at the same time?...and do some birdwatching. I know, you'll pack up and go too. All you need is gas money. You already have the rest.

That sounds like a perfect idea to me. And that's what we did this past Thanksgiving holiday. Oh, the place was full of campers. They all brought their families too. Except for our next door camper from Canada. We invited him over one night to join us at the camp fire. Nice fellow. He was travelling back from the Florida Keys all the the way back to Canada after been in Cuba. Sounds like fun.
If you didn't know where St. Andrews State Park is, I'll tell you. In the Florida Panhandle. Why go all the way there? Because that's where it's warm. And it's cold in Georgia. Except for one windy and rainy night, the weather has been nice. We even went to the beach where people were thoroughly enjoying themselves.

You can read about the windy night and other detail on the camping at www.outdoorstentcamping.com.

St. Andrews is a State Park so we had water and electricity at our site. Nice. This park is big with a Lagoon (looks like a lake to me), a nature trail, a the beach area, a fishing pier, and other things too.

The nature trail was great. It runs right by the lake; so you could see waterfowl birds, wading and diving birds, and Passerines. Out of 45 different birds we've identified, we've seen 7 new birds. We're birders, remember? We've seen fewer new birds this time because we've been at Grayton Beach not too long ago. Both parks are in the same general area.

Having Connie and Duane during this camping trip was just great. They're family (Thanksgiving!) and they're great people to spend time with. They're sweet and if you meet them, you'll just love them. They're good Rook players too.

Our camp site was just by the lake. We got a great view with all the birds' activities and big fishes jumping out of the water.
I'm always surprised when we come back from camping about how we can have so much fun and spend so little money. I guess it's a state of mind. The "happy state of mind". Life is short, don't sweat the small stuff. Enjoy it.

We've seen some very unique things on this camping trip.  For the first time in my life I saw 3 big bucks (male deer) together.  One was a 12 pointer, the next was a 12, and the 3rd one has 8 points. (Maybe they were on their family Thanksgiving get-together too). How did I count the points on their horns?  They just stood there starring at me. I used my binoculars to make sure I counted right. Then I saw them again, a little later.  This time Duane, Debbie and Connie were there too.  Boy, Duane got excited. He wished James and Carey were there.  

We went to the pier by the beach.  A handful of people were fishing. It was like fishing in a barrel.  They cast their line, pull it right back up, a fish. Then another one, and another one.  I stood beside a teenager and when he casted his line, he pulled it right back up, a fish was hooked by his dorsal fin!!! just run into the line I guess. All these people were just throwing the fish back in the water.  And there comes one of the raccoons hanging around for easy meal. Some of the fishes were getting stranded in the rocks.  That's what the raccoons were going for.

One of the raccoons wanted to try Debbie's shoes on while Debbie was dipping her feet in the water at the beach.  (The pier separated the beach from the lagoon.) We saw him on time and chased him away.  But then...sorry I can't tell you all.  You just have to go camp and taste the fun by yourself.      

A walk in the woods

There are rewards that come with birdwatching. You get to walk in the woods to see the birds. So, you get to see the wild flowers too, and the pretty mushrooms.

I don't know what kind of mushrooms these are, but they are colorful and beautiful. Debbie took some pictures of them.

How do you like this painting of the grass with the flowers, the brushes, and the trees? Isn't it just beautiful? Nature painted it and we took a picture of it...as we were looking at the real version in nature. It still came out as a beautiful canvas but we walked right through it.
We saw several Wood Ducks that day. There is a pond nearby. Maybe one of the best close up views of these beautiful birds. Wood Ducks are one of my favorites ducks because they're so colorful. There were six of them.

After the walk, it was nice to rest a bit and just listen to the birds and the pleasant silence of nature. Yes, nature is quiet and serene but you can still hear it. Very pleasant indeed.



.

On our way back, we saw this area off the road and checked it out. Very nice with terraces of rocks and descending levels of water basins. I just sat in that natural seat. This is a perfect place to have a picnic. The sound of the water below is just soothing.

If you ever want to relax, just take a nice walk in the woods. You'll be smiling after

A couple of self defense techniques

Check out this "simple" self-defense moves. The 3 minutes free sparring (fighting) at the end were taking forever to upload so I trimmed the video clip.

Enjoy!

Monarch Butterflies

They are in migration...going south of the border.  Monarch butterflies.  They stopped by the pretty beaches and the beautiful lakes and wild flowers.  Some were tired of the trip and fell on the way.  Most will make it.  If they see a nice person, they'll land on him or her.

Watch the video. 

Videos of camping at Grayton Beach SP

This 1st video shows how we set up camp.  It may be a bit boring but I just want you to see how simple and fun it is to camp. And cheap too!

This 2nd video shows you the area around the camping site. This includes the Dune Lake, the Nature Trail, and the beach area.  Very nice. Believe me, we enjoyed it.
So sorry about the sounds on the video.  I first recorded comments while recording. The sound came way too low, so I recorded a new narration but I couldn't get rid of the old one.  Don't know how. lol

Camping at Grayton Beach SP

It's been a while since we've done a State Park camping. We've been enjoying our primitive camping trips. It's hard to beat the quiet and serenity of those settings.

This time we went back to a State Park. Oh yes, it was nice to have electricity and water at the site. The bathrooms with hot showers were nice too...but you have neighbors. These neighbors were not the owls and the singing birds. I shouldn't complain.

The weather was perfect. The beach with its white Florida sand was beautiful. The nature walk was peaceful and pleasant. And we saw 16 new birds out of about 34 different birds seen on the weekend, not counting the ones we couldn't identify.


We've extended our camping weekend by one extra day because it was so nice. Beside the birds, we got the chance to see a lot of Monarch Butterflies hanging out for a while on their migratory path to Mexico or further south.

A side benefit of camping at the beach in a State Park is that you get to enjoy a beautiful beach that is not crowded at all. And Grayton Beach SP has a Dune Lake as well. One of the only two dune lakes in the world. The other one is in South Africa.

On our way home, we were really having a hard time deciding which type of camping we like best; primitive camping or State Park camping. I guess we like them both.

So...they want to learn Judo

I just got back from the Tae Kwon Do school where I taught...Judo!!! Full circle.  I started martial arts with Judo.  After a little more than 10 years, I took a break, then started learning Tae Kwon Do.  I'm preparing to take my test for my black belt 3rd Dan this month.

I was happy to be officially promoted "Assistant Instructor" two months ago even though I've been assisting for about a year now.  My promotion came with a little surprise.  I'm assigned a group of teenage black belt kids with the mission of teaching them Judo takedown techniques.  Boy! was I happy!!!  I love Judo...and these kids remind me of myself learning Judo as a teenager.  We're having fun.

Aikido, Judo, or Jiu Jitsu are a very nice complement to a Korean style martial art like TaeKwonDo.  Like Karate or Kung Fu, TaeKwonDo is excellent for an attack or defense with an opponent by striking versus a grappling.  Your legs are longer and stronger than your arms for kicking.  The judo moves come in handy when a person tries to grab you.  That could put the karate or tae kwon do practitioner at a slight disadvantage (being grabbed).  That's the reason it's excellent to combine both styles of martial arts.  That's also why you now see "mixed martial arts" schools today.  Of course, you instinctively mix it yourself when you know both formats (striking arts and grappling arts). 

Just for your information, Karate, Judo, Jujutsu and Aikido are of Japanese origins, while Taekwondo is of Korean origin and Kun fu is of China. 

Well, I don't expect to ever be in a fight outside of martial arts tournaments, but it doesn't hurt to be prepared.  I practice as a sport so I can stay in decent shape and also to compete in tournaments.  But who knows, maybe I will just help a "lil' ol' lady" being attacked by some bullies one day. 

P.S. Unlike my usual posts, I talked a lot about myself in this one.  As you may have noticed if you read my blog, I usually don't do that .  So, you'll forgive me this time.

Camping at Oconee National Forest

We went camping last week end.  Was fun as usual.  But more importantly, serene, peaceful, quiet... no one around, just nature with its unique sounds. 
Oh yes! we saw new birds.  This post really shows you the basic items we use to set up our site.  We try to make ourselves a little bit comfortable.  But nothing beats your own bed at home or your own bathroom.  We settle for little inconveniences to enjoy the peace of the woods, the forest and nature at its best.

What is your passion?

We went for some birdwatching this week-end.  Twice!  Debbie and I. 

Yes, we saw some new birds.  And yes! we were excited like kids.  It's always fun to see new birds. These birds are not "new".  We just haven't seen and identified them before.  We now have some favorite birds that we're always happy to see again and again; such as the Summer Tanager, the Pileated Woodpecker, the Indigo Bunting...the Yellow Warbler... you get the idea.

Among some of our "new birds" are the American Redstart, the Prothonotary Warbler, the Hooded Warbler, and the Shiny Cowbird.  All of them are pretty.  Very pretty.

Then something interesting happens.  You see a new bird for the first time.  The bird gets nice and lets you see him (or her) real good.  Almost like saying "people don't see me often, so since you found me, I let you look".  You're happy, excited. Then you look in all your bird books and you can't find the bird!!!  This is the second time this has happened to us.  In the same area.  The huge Oconee National Forest.  I'm going to start naming birds: "Yellow-headed Coquerel Oriole" (Debbie and I have seen that bird!), "Coquerel Tanager" (we saw that one too!!!).  What if I write them in the library books and return them.  Mass circulation.  Oh, maybe we did see some "new birds".  I mean...like no one else has documented.  Hum.

As you can see, we're passionate about birds.  What's your passion?  Good for you!  Enjoy it!

A week in the Ozarks

Finally, a week vacation in the Ozarks, Arkansas.
We spent this pleasant week with two of our favorite people, Connie and Duane.

Did you know Arkansas has beautiful forests, mountains, rivers, caverns, nice people, wildlife? Now you know. It has all that and more.

We stayed near a Lake (Greer's Lake) and this lake has a mountain in the middle of it. To get that breathtaking view, you take a ferry or rent a boat, then climb the mountain. Only half a mile steep climb but lots of fun. The view is worth the climb.

The resort where we stayed was in a very natural setting. We even saw a bear crossing the road in front of our car! A black bear.  His name is Charlie.  Duane named him.  Every time we go out, we keep our eyes out for Charlie but we never saw Charlie again. He is afraid of people.

The deer in the area are not afraid of people. They'll say Hi! to you and even show you their fawns and does. The snakes were not afraid either. When we tried to cool off in a natural rock pool, the snakes just joined in happily, coming out of the rocks. Except we were not too happy with their company. They looked like a bunch of juvenile water moccasins to me. Hum, nice but no thank you. I bet they wondered why we had to leave so quickly.  Sure, they just wanted to "play". Little vampires! Debbie said they were creepy.

I have an assignment for you. Go see the Blanchard Springs Caverns before you die. I can't describe it. Let's just say it's Grand. You go in and you go...WOW!!! If you don't see it before you die, don't worry, I think that's gonna be one of the wonders that will be in heaven anyhow. It's still nice to see here for your first glimpse.
These pictures you're looking at are not lying. Everybody was happy.

Debbie and I saw our first Scissor-Tailed Flycatcher. This bird is beautiful and graceful with its long scissor tailed. It's on our bird-to-see list.

Additional pictures from the trip are on the top right corner of this page.

Did I say we played Rook? Connie won the most. Debbie won the first put-put golf game and Duane won the second one.  We stayed at a golf resort with 2 golf courses...but the place is known for it's award winning put put golf course.  Imagine that!
We just got back a week ago but I'm almost ready for the next trip. I forgot how nice vacations are.

Sugar Loaf Mountain. Top

Our cozy backyard and garden

We haven't been at any place exotic lately, except our backyard, and Connie's, and camping, and birdwatching...  So, I made a slideshow of our backyard for the last 3 years.

It's a garden, it's a cozy porch, it's a cool backyard, it's where we grill, it's where we read, it's where Debbie toils, it's a bird's place, it's...exotic! it's our paradise!!!

The sildeshow is on the top right hand corner.

Enjoy!

In memory of LC, the Lap Cat

Our dear LC (Lap Cat) has departed. She taught me a great lesson about "pets".
When she joined our family, we called her LC for LapCat because she wanted to sit on our laps as a kitten even tough we hardly knew each other. First day!

She chose us and no one else. She came to us. She was the most affectionate cat to us, but mean to everyone else, just about. Of course, she knew Kelly and Leah were part of the family. And she knew not to mess with Andre's kids...or else. She was a smart cat like that.

She was attached to Debbie and Debbie was her "mother". That's the lesson LC taught me. A "pet", an "animal" can join your family and become part of the "family". LC was part of our family. We love her. We miss her.

I was naive, thinking she has just a "pet", a "glorified animal" wanting to be petted. So, I pet her, I was nice to her, and "tolerated" her at times when she just wanted too much attention. But Debbie loved her. Like a mother.
I wish I knew how much she loved her. I would have been nicer to LC instead of just "nice". LC never mess with me because she knew I know "Cat's Judo". The one where you put the cat in a choke and she can't move nor breathe. Yeah, we played too!... and when she take out her claws, I take out my cat's judo moves. So, we liked and respected each other. No claws, no cat's judo. That was our deal.

Then she got sick. Bad genes. She could have lived a year or two longer. She fought for her life. And I noticed Debbie was already missing her. So I was nicer to her. The cat, not Debbie. I'm always nice to Debbie! Then I wished she never leaved us. Her last days, or months, were nicer. LC has been sick since January. Going outside, and experiencing TLC from both Debbie and I, made her stay longer. Or she would have been gone earlier. He passed away in our arms, with love. We'll miss her, and if there there is an afterlife for pets, we'll meet again. I've set the appointment, just in case. We love you, LapCat...and hasta lavista (till we meet again)...and I'll be nicer still, more for Debbie, because I love her for loving you.

Our vegetable garden

It's time to enjoy the vegetable garden now. Debbie has worked hard on this. We're reaping tomatoes and we've eaten cantaloupe. Delicious!
The squash didn't do too good this year. Everything else seems to be doing just fine. Once we figured out that a vegetable garden needs lots of water. The recent rains helped too.


Beside the vegetables, the peachtree is full of peaches and the figs have started getting ripe from the figtree. We're wondering about the peaches because they came quickly by the bunch and now they're growing and ripening very slowing. They're not quite sure what to do next. I've talked to them and explained the deal: you're supposed to grow nice and juicy, and we're supposed to eat you. We gave them fertilizer...so... what's the problem? They don't seem to like that deal.
A vegetable garden makes a backyard green and lush. It also attracts butterflies. With some extra bird feeders this year, we got to watch the pretty greenery, a nice variety of birds, and lots of butterflies.

Several birds have bred around the house. A wren was nice enough to make his nest in the birdhouse directly across from the patio. We enjoyed watching the whole process from nest building, incubating, hatching and feeding. It was cute to see these little bird beaks sticking out as the mother wren bring food back and forth. It almost seems like these birdies eat a lot!
Then, a few days ago, they were gone. They left the nest. But this morning, Debbie saw a little wren come to the patio and singing her heart out "I can fly now! I'm big now! Looky, looky, looky!". Or something like that.
We also saw baby Catbirds, Cardinals, Mockingbirds, Towhees even some baby squirrels.

I think I'm going back to the patio and enjoy myself.

Quiet and Relaxing 4th of July

4 people on the 4th, relaxing and enjoying themselves.
That's how last week end was for us.
Are these T-shirts patriotic or what? It's the 4th of July after all.
It simply couldn't have been a better time weather wise. No rain, not too hot, with a perfect pool temperature.
So, guess what we did. Spent time in the pool, then played Rook, then ate, clean up, back in the pool, then Rook...
Everybody was happy the whole week end.

Yes, quiet, peaceful, and relaxing fun. We didn't even miss the fireworks. We did miss Duane. Don't be jealous if I didn't mention your name. It's just that Duane was bidding by text messaging while we were playing. That's how bad he wanted to play Rook that week end. lol

Some of these very impromptu get-togethers usually turn out to be the best. It was one of those. Perfect week-end.

Hiking

The Ocmulgee River runs through Macon and there is a trail near it. Many trails actually. We found a new trail and went for a good hiking trip today.





What a fun hiking trip it turned out to be? You stopped by the river a couple of times but walked and walked the rest of the times. We didn't know the trail was that long or we would have brought water. But, we survived.



Even tough it was hot, the hiking meandered through many areas with canopies of trees, giving us good umbrage.






We truly enjoyed ourselves because we realized this is a well-kept secret in Macon. We run into no one. People have not discovered this pretty trail yet. And! there were many areas to picnic. We're going back soon! and better equipped.






The river was very beautiful with fish jumping up left and right. We saw many birds including a Mississippi Kite. Debbie identified many trees and plants as well. Kelly was happy to share these precious moments. We enjoyed ourselves.

Visiting with James and Melba

Did you know Melba has a green thumb? Oh yeah.
Debbie and I saw her gardens recently and we were impressed.
Lush vegetables and flowers. Looking healthy too. I know that's not easy because we're trying to grow a garden too.



Besides the beautiful gardens of vegetables and flowers, we enjoyed sitting outside and watching all kinds of birds coming to the feeders. We saw a beautiful Goldfinch, several Bluebirds, Cardinals, Chickadees....

Did I mention we played Rook outside? Well, we did...at the music of the songbirds. So comforting, Melba "shot the moon". Did she make it? Ask in the com
ments and I'll tell you.

Louis dropped by for a few minutes with his precious Granddaughter.
We enjoyed ourselves. Thanks for having us over, James and Melba.

Memorial Day Week End at Connie's

This turned out to be one of the classic Price Family get-together.
Everybody was happy to see each other.

The intermittent rain did not allow for much swimming so we did the next best thing. Play Rook, drink, eat, play some more Rook, eat some ... and share a lot of stories.
We had a diverse group with the Price siblings with "Mama", the in-laws including Linda, a couple of grand kids, a dog, 5 cats. Did I forget anybody?
Impressive that everybody was in their best behavior.

Three couples were together the evening before everyone got there on Sunday. Connie and Duane, Carey and Martha, and Debbie and I.

We had some fun with some strange combination of "things that don't go together". As Duane pointed out, alcohol and politics don't go together. Does Carey get drunk or is he immune to all that beer?  Connie had fun with the bottle in front of her (in the picture). Then the decibel went up! Add in some politics with Rush Limbaugh, Glen Beck, Clinton, Bush...Carey threw Al Gore in there too.
Are all these people brothers, politicians, friends, enemies, ..., who cares? Let me just play some Rook games, will you? No dice. People were sitting in front of the games but paying no attention. ...it's your bid...it's your turn...you got that one...everybody already bid, we're just waiting for you... no, you just got in for 105...so we're actually set..but it's OK...it's just a game (if you will just play it!!!) That's what Duane and I were saying all evening.
Connie was happy that evening. That bottle (the Malibu Coconut Rum or something like that) was only 21%. Trust me, she said it 5 times so I remember. I actually never understood but I didn't want to ask. Do I need to look that stupid, you know. I was at her house, but now I'm on my Blog so I'm asking. If I had 10 shots of that rum, does it make it 10 times 21%, or 10 times the 21% divided by volume of the bottle multiplied by the volume of the shot glass, or just 21% 10 times? The answer doesn't really matter. I saw the effect. You're so happy...you almost pass out. The next morning..., let's not talk about that. By the way, I had a couple of shots too. And it was good rum.

Compared to that evening, the next day of fun, food, and games was almost boring. You guys missed all the fun. Next time, just bring your tents.
See you next time.  Hasta la otra vez! (in Spanish)

King Snake in the trail!

Just came back from a quick walk at the Mound.  I don't like to go to the Mound in the middle of the day because most of the self respecting birds are taking their siesta.  But I couldn't resist when I was just around the corner in the Fort Hill area checking on a property.

Not too many birds today but, wow, the King Snake!  Long, pretty, unafraid. A man walked right beside him and I was impressed by how unafraid he was.  I found out later he didn't see the snake. I asked him. I had to wait till the snake got out of the path.  He looks like the snake I've touch once before.  I was just not in the mood today. He was facing me this time with his head up. Maybe he was giving his name and I didn't even realize. Shoot.

Have I said once before that no two birdwatching outings are ever the same? Guess what I saw this time? The Pileated Woodpecker at the lower end of a tree in the Loop area.  He then came down on the ground!!! A Pileated on the ground, then up the tree, low.  Never seen that before.  And that's not all.
A Mississippi Kite was flying over the water with a small snake in his bill.  The snake was still alive, wingling.  I forgot Mississippi Kites eat snakes too.  Maybe I didn't know until I just saw it.

On my way back, there was that King Snake again!!!  In the path, like if he owned it.  And he was not getting out of the way this time.  I had to do what "Larry" did earlier.  Walk right beside him.  At least I said Hi! and told him my name.  Till we meet again.  Better to be friends with these snakes.

I have more to write but I better go back to work! 

Kelly is going to Paris

Traveling is good for expanding our horizons. Before you know it, your children are traveling overseas by themselves. (If you have children). I can understand Kelly's excitement. I was doing the same thing at her age and getting all excited about it. Now, it's her turn. She has already visited Togo, Canada, and the Dominican Republic. She has many more trips ahead. Leah is following right behind.

Kelly is in the 1st picture with a friend from Bangladesh, studying abroad. "Abroad" here is the US. And she is going to Paris in the same French program too. How cool is that? I wish for their small group to see a lot, experience a lot, have fun, and grow in maturity. I believe traveling makes a person more mature and more humble. You know your backyard is not the end of the world.