It’s Thanksgiving holiday week in the United States, a time for family and friends to enjoy food together as they reflect on what they are thankful for over the past year.
For many folks in the United States, it’s a long weekend to watch football games, go shopping for end-of-year holidays, or watch movies over the holiday break.
Or like me, to Opt Outside on the Friday after Thanksgiving to enjoy some time in nature.
This week has also been a time for me to reflect on my word for 2023: evolve.
After my retirement in December 2022, my time was open to explore new activities that caught my interest.
I quickly found a project that caught my interest in history and Michigan, when I began transcribing handwritten postcards from Michigan’s past.
And I returned to hobbies I never seemed to find enough time for while working in web design and development.
Like gardening, as I learned more about native plants in southeast Michigan and participated in plant swaps in my community and nearby public library.
Which led me to meeting folks online and in-person who helped educate me more about pollinator gardens, butterflies, and birds.
With my Swamp Milkweed plantings in the yard, I was excited to see a Monarch butterfly caterpillar munching on the leaves this year!
But the one thing I’ve enjoyed this year, more than anything else: time to read and enjoy books.
Not only novels I’ve put aside for years, thinking I’d finally read them in my spare moments.
But many of my child’s books from grade school, including Newbery and Caldecott Award Winners.
Books I bought for my child when I helped coordinate over a dozen book fairs at the school.
Some of my favorite reads included:
- A Single Shard by Linda Park
- A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck
- Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverley Cleary
- The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
- Summer of the Swans by Betsy Byars
In addition, I focused on reducing my digital footprint.
Deleting and closing online accounts for web design and development as well as social media feels wonderful!
Reviewing, organizing, and in many cases, deleting old digital and physical files (mostly photos) brought back lots of memories.
This year I also refined my approach to birding.
In the past, my birding would take me all over the state of Michigan and into Ohio.
But with pandemic, my birding changed. I didn’t travel as much to see birds.
And this year, I decided to focus on birding in my own county.
Which brought an unexpected surprise when I began birding in my neighborhood park: almost 80 bird species I never knew of as I walked through the park over the past 20 years!
At the beginning of 2023, I wasn’t sure what the word evolve would inspire me to do.
For me, it’s encouraged me to use my talents for a Michigan library history project. And helped me evolve into a more informed gardener and birder.
I loved reading about how you have evolved this year and found your interests and hobbies growing. I miss you on Twitter:-( but now I’m not much there either.
Hi Femy,
Thank you for your comment! Like so many other people, I’ve found a new home on Mastodon. I miss chatting with you on Twitter, too. Hope all is well with you.