Well, here we are… several weeks into the New Year!
(2017?! what happened to 1996?? I clearly recall when that year seemed soooo far in the distant future.)
You haven’t heard from me in a while. I’ll admit, frankly, reentry back post-Mom’s Big Year life has been rough. Like coming off of a high. Last year was the best year of my life to date. So definitely tough to follow that. Many of you saw that glimmer in my eye as I always had another trip around the corner.
Since January 1st, I’ve been playing catch up in just about every aspect of my life and am a bit overwhelmed… Dishes, laundry, work, friendships, carpools, teaching, etc etc… catching up on everything except sleep. Adapting back to the way things were before the Big Year. These past few weeks have been a time for me to shift my attention back to matters at home and work. It’s truly been a joy to be back with the family!
Paul just suggested we take our Halloween decorations down. I guess it’s been a little busy. Lol! So, as you can tell, I’m still playing catch up.. but could not wait another day to update you!
I owe you some very cool posts that cover the final push of MBY! I head to Florida next week for the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival. I’m super excited to be leading trips for the festival again this year and to be presenting my first MBY talk! Check it out the festival website here: Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival And if you’re there, I’ll be at the Wildside Nature Tours booth, so please come by and say HI!
So, going back to start bringing you up to date…
The rest of my Texas trip in November was FANTASTIC!
We met up with friend, Scarlet Colley to take her magical pontoon boat trip for a shot at Wilson’s Plover. Anyone who has been on Scarlet’s boat knows that ‘magical’ is the only way to describe it. Scarlet talks with her dolphin friends that surround the boat. When I asked her how close they get to the dolphins, she told me, “We feed them our joy…We touch them with our hearts… And we swim with them in our dreams.”
Here are the highlights of my last days in Texas in pictures:
My next trip held a big change in temps for me!
MBY headed NORTH!
Check back soon for the last of the MBY adventures. The last weeks were full of surprises and some were ‘beyond birds!’
xoxo, Nancy
Mom's Big Year 
Nancy – I’m looking forward to seeing you at the Space Coast Birding Festival. It was nice seeing the photo of the Groove Billed Ani. I picked up this life bird today with your friend Greg Miller at Birdapalooza in Lake County Florida today. We were birding the North Shore of Lake Apopka. Enjoy life and lifers.
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You’ll find your groove soon enough. So glad to have followed you through you BY highlights and looking forward to the next. Enjoy your family! Joy can be found even in laundry and dishes, I assure you. 😀
Groove-billed Ani…super-joy! Great shot, Nancy.
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Shannon, I cannot thank you enough for following along and for all your support through my journey. Thank you always for your words of encouragement. Means more than you know! Friends new and old, near and far carried me through and I’m grateful for that!
New blog post coming soon & I’ll be speaking about MBY in TX in 2017 & 2018.. So perhaps our paths will cross! That would be fun!
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