2013 in review

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Oman, Travel

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The Louvre Museum has 8.5 million visitors per year. This blog was viewed about 78,000 times in 2013. If it were an exhibit at the Louvre Museum, it would take about 3 days for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

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three years of blogging :-)

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Blogging, Wordpress

Wednesday, March 13:  Today I got a message from WordPress congratulating me on three years of blogging.  I had lost track of the time I have been doing this, so it was nice to get this happy anniversary message. It’s been a grand adventure!!

Three years ago today, I was two weeks into my first year of living and working abroad in South Korea.  This was my first experience EVER of living and working abroad.  My friend Myrna, who arrived in Korea at the same time as I did, and who lived right across the hall from me in Daegu, told me she had just started a blog about her experience in Korea.  She introduced me to her blog: MURN IN KOREA.  I didn’t know anything about blogging, but after researching the blogging platforms a bit, I registered my first blog with WordPress.  I wrote my first post on March 14 on catbird in korea: Idiomatic Coffee-J.

my first blog: catbird in korea

I have to say I love blogging.  I never look at it as a chore or an obligation (except when I have a slow internet connection and I’m trying to upload photos! Arghh!).  For me, it’s more fun than watching TV or any number of other mindless pastimes I could engage in.  It has given me motivation to discover some shape and meaning to my life journey and all the lessons I’ve learned while living abroad.  I hope to someday write a book (or two) about my experiences, as there is a lot I post privately that would make for VERY interesting reading.

I now have 14 blogs.  Nine of them feature countries or regions where I have traveled.  I also have one blog devoted to photography, whatever a moon has always meant, and another for my short stories, land of make-believe.  My three most extensive blogs are this one, about my life in Oman, catbird in korea, about my year in Korea, and nomad, interrupted: catbird in america, about my life in America.  When I leave Oman at the end of June, I will move to my America blog, where I imagine I will stay for a long time.  That is, until I get restless again. 🙂

I have to thank all of my amazing and fascinating readers, many of whom are bloggers themselves, for all of their support and encouragement over these three years.  Thank you for making this a rich and magnificent journey.  I’ve loved sharing my life with all of you, and I’ve loved sharing in your lives as well.

With all love and gratitude.  ~ Cathy

the shine on award

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Shine On Award

Monday, March 4:  I’m so slow at getting around to these things, but it’s about time I accept the kind nomination for The Shine On Award from the amazing restlessjo ~ roaming, at home and abroad.  She nominated me for the award in mid-February.  I have been a follower of Jo’s wonderful blog for a long time. I love to read about her adventures in England, Poland and in her beloved Portugal (the Eastern Algarve).  She, like me, has a restless nature and loves to travel and explore the world.  Jo’s brilliant and creative daughter Lisa got married recently, in a manor house, with her guests and herself all wearing period costumes.  The wedding and all the costumes were planned and designed by Lisa.   It’s been great fun to follow Jo’s life journey.

THE SHINE ON AWARD highlights bloggers who are shining stars in the vast array of available blogs.

Shine On Award

In accepting this award, I’m asked to share seven facts about myself.   So here they are, quite random:

1.  I was in a sorority (SPL) in high school in the early 1970s, and every summer we rented a house in Virginia Beach for a week.  During that week, we cruised up and down Atlantic Avenue mooning people out the car windows.  We also went streaking on the beach in the moonlight.

2. I have tried nearly every hobby under the sun, including quilting, jewelry-making, reading, running, hiking, interior design, curtain-making, photography, keeping a journal and writing poems, short stories and a novel, all unpublished.

3.  I spent a month in Cairo studying Arabic at Al Azhar University in the summer of 2007, plus I studied Arabic for two years in community college before that.  Despite that and having lived in Oman for 1 1/2 years, I can still only speak in fragments and have almost non-existent Arabic vocabulary!

4. When in Cairo, I went walking in the desert every Friday with the Cairo Hash House Harriers, “a drinking club with a running problem.”  There, I met a brain surgeon named Basim who I dated the whole time I was there.

5.  I used to fall in love too easily; now I don’t see the possibility of falling in love with anyone.

6. I love avocados and asparagus and lemon cake.

7. One time, in an architectural drafting class I was taking while working on a degree in Interior Design (one of many degrees I started but didn’t finish because I lost interest), I drafted plans for a 5,000 square foot mansion, complete with electrical, plumbing, windows, and walls drawn in exacting detail.  I even drew the kitchen cabinets.   I still have those blueprints and maybe it will be my dream house one day!!

Ok, well, those were quite random facts and I basically just wrote them as they popped into my mind.  Since who I am is always in flux, I don’t know if anything about me stays “a fact” for very long. 🙂

Here are the bloggers I nominate for the Shine On Award:

Lynn of BLUEBRIGHTLY, whose blog is “about photography or philosophy, birds or flowers, zen, maps, psychology, travel…”  I love her peaceful views of the world and her beautiful photography.

Rosie of Wondering Rose: Wonderings, Wanderings, and meetings at my Museum cash register, who says about herself: “I thought when I became a blogger that I’d be reading a few blogs, but I’m following a whole bunch of them, and there’s a genuine connection and a friendship between us which is something I never expected, especially as we’ve never met each other, and some of these bloggers live so far away that it’s tomorrow in their homes, while I’m still drinking my breakfast coffee today.”

Carol of The Eternal Traveller, “a wife and mother, a teacher, writer, quilt maker and a grower of roses” who has traveled to Oman and knows of the many places I write about in my blog.

Dallas of Crazy Train to Tinky Town, who shares my love of Turkey and always has the funniest stories to tell.  She describes herself as a thirty something, single woman who has packed her bags for what promises to be the adventure of a lifetime.

And finally, I have to nominate someone who I know is way out of my league and I’m sure too amazing to ever accept a blog award.  However, he is someone who is an inspiration to anyone who loves photography: Photojournalist Steve McCurry of Steve McCurry’s Blog.  He is, according to his website: “one of the most iconic voices in contemporary photography for more than 30 years, with scores of magazine and book covers, over a dozen books, and countless exhibitions around the world to his name.”   I adore his photography.  🙂

Thanks so much to Jo for nominating me for this award. 🙂

a night at the falaj daris with a fellow blogger :-)

Saturday, December 22:  On December 7, I got an email from someone who actually reads my blog.  She wrote:

I’m an expat in Abu Dhabi, stumbled onto your blog a year ago when researching Oman and have been following you ever since. We have a lot in common, but key words are generalist, teacher, writer, photographer, art, and hiking. And wine. I am lucky enough to have my husband sharing this experience with me. We love Oman and are spending Christmas week there, including the Western Hajar and Nizwa area, then Muscat and As Sifa. I want to find the best hikes to do, and I think you might be able to help. If there is one must-do hike, what is it? And … I would love to meet you if you are around. We will be at Hotel Jibreen for a couple nights before Christmas and have a couple of unplanned nights at the end of the trip that we are thinking we may also spend in the mountains. ~ Anne

Of course I am always happy to meet anyone who reads my blog!  After all, that person needs a lot of patience and perseverance, and so must be a very special person!  Haha! So, we arranged to meet in Nizwa at the Falaj Daris Hotel on Saturday night.

meeting Anne was a nice Christmas present. 🙂

I was so thrilled to meet Anne and her husband Mark.  They remind me of my people back home.  Though they’re not Virginians, they’re from Nevada, and I spent 4 years of my life living out west in the USA, in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.  It’s just enough that they’re fellow Americans.  In addition, Anne reminds me a little of one of my 4 best high school friends, Louise, especially in her mannerisms and her character.  I felt immediately at home in her company.

me and Anne being goofy at the Falaj Daris Hotel

And that’s not all.  Anne is a fellow blogger!  I didn’t know she had a blog as she never mentioned it, but once I found it, I subscribed right away.  I love her sharp colorful photos and her fresh take on her experiences as an expat living in Abu Dhabi.  Although she is a BLOGSPOT blogger, and not a WORDPRESS blogger, I had to step over the line and join her on her journey.

Wildcard Travels ~ Anne’s blog

She writes about herself on Wildcard travels: Mark and I are, more than anything, sailors and racers. Leaving our northern Nevada and California stomping grounds and moving to the Middle East is something we never dreamed would happen, yet here we are. I’m spending the time being a writer, photographer, teacher, and painter. I’m a former 5th grade teacher, conservation project manager, sailmaker, and stained glass artist with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in geography. Also a mom, grandma, and Mark’s wife. I believe life is best lived by stepping outside the comfort zone, taking on challenges and enjoying adventures while maintaining a sense of humor. I’m not a thrill seeker, but thrive on change. I hope you enjoy the stories.

us with guns 🙂

Anne is a warm, easy-going and fun-loving person and I invite you to check out her blog.  I was honored that she contacted me and made the time to meet me.

We talked for a long while over dinner and a bottle of wine poolside.  They insisted on treating me.  I felt incredibly at ease in their company.  Anne used to be a 5th-grade teacher and has worked in conservation.  She’s also a painter, photographer and writer.  She and Mark are avid sailors; they met in a sailing regatta.  They sail in Abu Dhabi with an Italian crew.  And they have their own sailboat in California.

I feel she and I could be kindred spirits.  🙂  I hoped when we parted that we would meet again.  And surprisingly, we did.  That story will follow in another post…. 🙂

blog of the year award 2012

Friday, November 30: I started my first blog in March 2010, when I moved to Korea to teach English as a Second Language (catbird in korea).  This was my first time living and working outside the United States and I simply wanted to document my experience living abroad.  In my first year of blogging, I had only 11,000 hits on my blog, which I thought was a lot. Since that time, I have written nine different blogs about all my travels, with a blog for each country.  I have a blog with some short stories (land of make-believe) and a blog about my life in America (catbird in america).  But my current blog about my life as an ESL teacher in Nizwa, Oman, which I began in August, 2011, has had more hits than I ever thought possible, over 90,000!  I never thought I would ever have so many readers click on my blog!  I am thankful to all of you who take the time to join me in my adventures as an expat living in Oman.

I was pleasantly surprised three times in the last three weeks to be nominated by Sylvia, of Another Day in Paradise, for the Blog of the Year 2012 Award.  I think this was probably an accident, but she actually nominated me THREE times for this award (Blog of the Year 2012 – Twinkle twinkle and Tasting stars****** Blog of the Year 2012 Award. and Blog of 2012 Award.), enabling me (at least the way I see it!) to add three stars to my award.  Unlike Sylvia, who received the award numerous times from many DIFFERENT bloggers, I only received it three times from ONE blogger.  I’m thankful that I at least have one fan who thinks my blog is worthy of an award three times over! 🙂

The ‘rules’ for this award are simple:

1 Select the blog(s) you think deserve the ‘Blog of the Year 2012’ Award

2 Write a blog post and tell us about the blog(s) you have chosen – there’s no minimum or maximum number of blogs required – and ‘present’ them with their award.

3 Please include a link back to this page ‘Blog of the Year 2012’ Award – http://thethoughtpalette.co.uk/our-awards/blog-of-the-year-2012-award/   and include these ‘rules’ in your post (please don’t alter the rules or the badges!)

4 Let the blog(s) you have chosen know that you have given them this award and share the ‘rules’ with them

5 You can now also join our Facebook group – click ‘like’ on this page ‘Blog of the Year 2012’ Award Facebook group and then you can share your blog with an even wider audience

6 As a winner of the award – please add a link back to the blog that presented you with the award – and then proudly display the award on your blog and sidebar … and start collecting stars…

Here are my nominations:

Sylvia of Another Day in Paradise  *** 🙂  Thanks for being one of my biggest fans, as I am one of yours!

Ioanna of LifeportOfolio

Lynne of On the go with Lynne

Frizztext of Flickr Comments

The Wanderlust Gene

Gilly of Lucid Gypsy

Carol of Wanderings of an Elusive Mind

Dallas of Crazy Train to Tinky Town

Elaine of i used to be indecisive

Heather of artist. hippie. cali chic.

Robin of Life in the Bogs

Marco of RESISTANCE IS CHARACTER FORMING

Jo of restlessjo ~ roaming, at home and abroad

Julie of Julie Dawn Fox in Portugal

Dave and Aly of Algarve Blog

Marianne of East of Málaga

Tahira of tahira’s shenanigans

Lisa of Zeebra Designs & Destinations ~ An Artist’s Eyes Never Rest

Elisa of Eat, travel, photograph

If I didn’t get to everyone, I’m sure I will get to you next time around ~ if there is a next time. 🙂

Līgo Circle of Appreciation

Wednesday, October 17: This week I was invited to join the Līgo Circle of Appreciation by Esenga’s Voice.  She noted that I am “a nomad sharing the beauty of the world.” Thank you, Esenga!  I try to share the beauty; sometimes I share the frustrations, the adventures, the excitement and the sorrows as well.  I try to be as true as I can be, within this world where I live.

The yearly Līgo celebration happens every summer solstice in Latvia.
At this time we adorn our heads with Līgos of flowers, oak leaves,
grasses and plants. We join circles around bonfires and celebrate life,
and our appreciation of each other.

Here’s our
Līgo Circle of Appreciation
among fellow bloggers.

For duration of 22 days, starting on 1st October 2012, we will be inviting
2 bloggers per day
to join the Līgo Circle of Appreciation.

PLEASE NOTE: This is an Appreciation, NOT an Award.

To fully participate in the Līgo Circle of Appreciation:
~
* Complete this sentence about blogging: ”A great blog is…”
* Refer back to the blogger who invited you
* Invite 2 bloggers to join the Līgo Circle of Appreciation on a post
~

A great blog is a little oasis where we can find a sliver of a life: a life full of joys, sorrows, adventures, frustrations, hopes & dreams.

Two bloggers who I would love to invite to the Līgo Circle of Appreciation are:

Shelby Bracken of bones, mugs & harmony: she takes beautiful photographs of everyday people, who she introduces with miniature stories rich with concrete and yet whimsical details.  I love to visit her posts and read about the people she encounters,  to have a peek into their lives. She lives in Portland, Oregon.

Jen of lattes and leggings describes herself as “a southern girl cooking in the big apple.”  She creates fabulous and colorful recipes and tells a story to go along with each one.  I’ve already tried some of her concoctions and I plan to try many more!

There are of course many more bloggers I would love to invite, but I will reserve them for other nominations & other invitations… 🙂

genuine blogger award :-)

Monday, June 4:  Last week, Nando of Cyan Skies nominated me for the Genuine Blogger Award!  Of course I can’t help but be flattered and pleased that someone thought enough of my blog to nominate me for any recognition.  Thank you so much, Nando, for your kind nomination!!

The rules for accepting the award are pretty simple:

• Post an article stating that you have been nominated and include the name and link to the blogger who nominated you.
• You should also include the logo of the award on your post, and in your sidebar (or on a permanent page) so that everyone who visits your site will know that you have won the award.
• Tell your readers seven random things about yourself.
• Pass the honor forward by nominating seven other bloggers that you feel deserve the award. Include links to their blogs in your post.
• Notify those seven bloggers that you have nominated them.

Here are seven random things about myself:

1. I am always fretting about my weight, especially my ever-expanding waistline, which I think is the horrible thing about middle-age.  I weigh myself every morning, in the hopes that what I see will shock me so much that I won’t eat much that day! This rarely works.

2. I love the song and the music video of “I and Love and You” by the Avett Brothers, which I think is a song about nostalgia and growing up in America.

3. I fell in love with Egypt in 2007 and have been looking to repeat the experience I had there since then.  Oman, where I live now, is much more modern and clean and sparsely populated than Egypt, but it doesn’t have the energy and character, or the fascination, that Egypt holds for me.  I hope to return there someday.

me on camel at the Giza pyramids in Cairo, Egypt ~ July 2007

4. The first road trip I ever took was a trip to my mother’s hometown of Pagosa Springs, Colorado when I was about 10 years old.  On that trip, I rode horses, hiked in the Rocky Mountains, ate scrambled eggs with chili powder cooked by my grandfather in a cast-iron skillet over an open fire, and fell in love with road trips.

5.  I am the oldest of 5 children, with my youngest brother, Rob, 9 years my junior.  My second-to-youngest brother Brian died in 1988 and never got the chance to live his life.  It was so sad to lose him, a creative and talented young man, at such a young age.

my family in 1992 from left to right: me, Joan, Mom, Rob, Stephanie and Dad.

clockwise from top: me, Joan, Brian & Stephanie

6.  I’m a fallen-away Catholic, was an Episcopalian for a long time, and now just consider myself Christian with some Buddhist sprinklings.

7. I love the water, especially being on a sailboat or canoe, and bobbing along in glimmers of sunlight.  I even used to work on a boat, at MSI (Management Systems International), which had its offices on 13 boats in a marina in Washington, D.C.

on Lake Pichola in Udaipur, India. I love boats… 🙂

Though there are many bloggers I’d love to nominate, I will try to pick 7.  I know many bloggers who have been nominated numerous times for various awards, so if they don’t feel like accepting, I certainly understand.  Here are my 7 nominations, in no particular order:

1. Ailsa from Where’s my backpack?

2. Flickr Comments by FrizzText

3. Jo at restlessjo ~ Roaming, at home and abroad

4. Christina at Shanghaied Away

5. Christine at Heartfelt Images

6. Priya at Hellopalz

7. Elaine at i used to be indecisive…but now i’m not so sure

kreativ blogger award… :-)

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Blogger Awards

Wednesday, May 23: This week I was pleasantly surprised to be awarded the Kreativ Blogger Award by restlessjo ~ roaming, at home and abroad.  Thank you, Jo, for thinking of me and for your kind words and support!!

The rules for this award are:
1. Thank the person who nominated you and include a link back to their blog
2. Share 7 things about yourself
3. Pass the award to 7 nominees

Here are the 7 things about myself:

1. I love to watch foreign and quirky movies.  Some of my favorites are Me and You and Everyone We Know, Bread & Tulips, Apres Vous, and Bungee Jumping of Their Own, among many others.

2.  I have a real weakness for cheese.  I don’t know how I will ever give it up, although I’ve promised my two vegan sons that when I come back to the USA in August, I will go vegan for the month I’m there.  I’m not making any promises for after I leave, although I’m hoping to slightly cure this unhealthy addiction.

3. I love to travel, but of course everyone who reads my blog knows this about me already.  I love the whole process, from reading novels and non-fiction books set in the destination, watching films, perusing guidebooks and the internet, looking at photographs.  I love plotting out my itinerary, finding charming places to stay and deciding which sights to see.   Once I’m on my travels, I love meeting locals and fellow travelers, immersing myself in the culture and the food, noticing everything around me.  And then I love taking pictures and writing my blog about my experiences.

4.  I love a road trip.  There’s nothing more fun than hopping in my car and heading off into the horizon.

5.  I have three wonderful children who haven’t yet found their way in life.  Sadly, they’ve taken after me; I’m still trying to figure out my life!  Sarah, 28, is hoping to one day be a food writer and sporadically attends college classes; Alex, 21, who loves exercise and healthy eating, doesn’t know where he is going; and Adam, 19, who feels strongly about animal rights and being a vegan, is just beginning college.  I love them all dearly, but I worry about them finding their way.

6. One time I climbed up a steep mountain, called Pilot’s Rock in Oregon, and when I got to the top, I was in tears because I didn’t think I could ever get down again.  I was convinced my husband and his friend would have to get a helicopter to come and rescue me.  I only made it down by both of them standing beneath me as I climbed down, promising to catch me if I went tumbling.

7. I used to be afraid of EVERYTHING!  When Skylab was going to fall out of the sky in the late 1970s, I was convinced it was going to fall right on me!  I remember watching TV all day to see where it would fall and I kept looking at the ceiling waiting for it to crash through.  Strange thing though, as much as I used to be afraid of things, now I’m hardly afraid of anything.

Here are my 7 nominees for the Kreativ Blogger Award:

Serendipity – Laura is a wife and mom of 3 who loves photography, art, music, writing, singing, travel, movies … and so many other things.

Quirky Culture – The Culture Vulture is an eager observer of the quirky peculiarities of 21st century culture.

3rdculturechildren – A family of five’s impressions and feelings about life, friends, jobs, and travels while globetrotting with the Foreign Service.

Fancy That… Fancy This – Ameena gives a hilarious take on motherhood and marriage.

The Urge to Wander – Madhu conveys some of her passion for travel & inspires her readers to spread their wings.

Where’s my backpack? – Ailsa has lived in many places and traveled to many more.  She brings her readers along on a fantastic journey!

the unbearable lightness of being me. – She describes herself as follows: I am just another dust sentiently moving on the vastness of the Earth, employing all my senses with Mother Nature – bestowing the power I owe to the Greater One… confirming my infinitely small human existence.  A beautiful blog with lovely photography…

Thanks again for the nomination, restlessjo!!

automattic’s worldwide wp 5k

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wwwp5k

Sunday, April 29: This morning I participated in Automattic’s Worldwide WP 5k, billed by WordPress as the “5k blogged around the world!” I went on my regular walking trail in Nizwa, Oman, which is actually a 4k trail that has every 500 meters marked with a sign.  In order to make it 5k, I doubled back 500 meters each way between two of the signs, creating a little 1k loop in the middle of the trail.

this is the start of my walk, with my GMC Terrain to the left...

It was a warm 75 degrees already at 6:09:10 a.m. when I started my walk.  The trail is hilly for the first half and then flattens out for the second half. The hilly section has a slight breeze, but there is no air movement on the flat part. It’s all desert here, so there are no trees, and thus no shade.  I worked up a sweat quickly in the sun, even though my pace is only about 13 minutes/km. I listened to my iPod Nano while I walked, a playlist that includes songs by Anna Nalik, Leonard Cohen, the soundtrack from the movie Slumdog Millionaire, and Canadian Loreena McKennitt.

and I'm off... !

Early on I got a small piece of gravel in my shoe.  I don’t know how that happened as the trail is paved, but this is a gravelly country and sometimes rocks jump into your shoe from out of nowhere. I didn’t stop to remove it because I wanted to see my time with no interruptions.

this is the view i have at the end of my walk; to my right are the mountains behind the town of Firq and an Omani man walking by...

I finished at 7:05:55, so my time for the 5k was 56:45 minutes, which I don’t think is very good!! I used to run, so walking seems soooo slow to me.  But my running days seem to be over due to a partial knee replacement on the interior of my right knee.  I guess I just have to get used to being a slowpoke.  I feel like I’m going at a fast walking pace, but apparently that isn’t the case.  Next year I’ll aim to improve my time and maybe even add some slow jogs to the run.

Anyway, it was a fun exercise and it was good for me to time myself so I can set some goals.  Thanks for another fun challenge, WordPress!!  I love this blogging community!!