Recurring Themes on this Blog

 For any new visitors, not for the sake of redundancy, but rather for the sake of memories, and because of familiarity, there are recurring themes on this blog, perhaps more when I am drifting into nostalgia and/or melancholy.  (I plan to add some links to existing posts.)

In no particular order they include:

• My Background.  Some of the training, experiences, and events that "make me tick".  As I enjoy most "fields" of Geology, I straddle the fence between "Hard Rock and Soft Rock Geology".  [Meaning that the adherents of both camps don't entirely trust "fence straddlers".  Maybe I'm that way because I grew up with both dogs and cats, in a semi-rural setting where there was room for both.  IOW, neither "dog people" nor "cat people" entirely trust those with "divided loyalties".] 
• Travel within the "lower 48" states, including Field Trips.  (I prefer driving instead of flying when time permits.)  Two 2015 round trips between Atlanta and Phoenix, then one 2016 round trip.  
• 1973 Family Vacation and 1974 Road Trip (both west of the Mississippi).  These two are related, plus they helped me gain the confidence to move 1,500 miles away from home to go to grad school in early 1977.  
• Eagle Mountains, Hudspeth County, Texas.  In 1978, I began a planned Master's Thesis Project in the Eagle Mountains but got side-tracked the following year due to personal issues (broken heart and all of that).  I spent 10 weeks there in the summer of 1978.
• Aden Crater and Aden Volcanics.  This was the area for my completed Master's Thesis Project in the late-1980s.  Though my fieldwork made me weary of "those endless basalt flows", I long to revisit and photograph some of the things I missed before, though in cooler weather.
• El Paso Region/Chihuahuan Desert.  Lived there between 1977 and 1991.  Numerous field trips - official and impromptu - were taken in the western Trans-Pecos region.  There is also a strong desire to revisit and rephotograph geologic features there.
• Phoenix, Arizona area.  With both my family and my first in-laws, I have had family connections with Phoenix for 60+ years.  I briefly considered moving there in 1990 and 2015.  But it's just too damned hot.  
• Oklahoma.  I am one of those rare people that like Oklahoma and Texas, so I don't get caught up in that rivalry, especially since I don't care for football.  My first wife (RIP) was born in northwestern Oklahoma and during our numerous family trips through the area, there wasn't time for numerous geology and photography stops.
• Georgia Piedmont.  My home territory.  I have lived there for 52 of my 66 years.  My "Undergrad Thesis" was done there, related to the Lithonia Gneiss and Triassic Diabase Dikes.
• Georgia Coastal Plain.  I earned my Bachelor's Degree at Georgia Southern College (now University), received my two Photography courses there, and later worked there for 8 years (1992 -2000).  Most of my publications are related to the Georgia Coastal Plain and Middle and Late Eocene fossils
• Bisti Badlands, San Juan County, New Mexico.  I had a great Summer Job during a Fossil Recovery Project in 1979.  (I got paid to find dinosaur bones!  At certain ages, that is a good way to get a kid's attention and perhaps distract them from boredom.)
• New Mexico.  Aside from my Summer Job in San Juan County, I have had exposure to many of the Volcanic Fields in New Mexico, except for a few missing spots, e.g., the Mount Taylor Volcanic Field, and some of the volcanic centers related to "The Great Ignimbrite Flareup".  [One of my Geo-Bucket List items was to visit the Clayton-Raton Volcanic Field in northeast New Mexico.  I did that during my 2015 Arizona Trip #2.]  I wanted to revisit White Sands during my 2015 and 2016 trips but just didn't have the time. 
• Arizona.  (For the family reasons mentioned earlier.)  And the glorious things I have seen.  Seeing Sunset Crater was a Bucket List item that I achieved in 2015.  I would like to see more of the San Franciso Volcanic Field.  I also saw my first Dinosaur Tracks near Tuba City and visited Monument Valley in 2015.
• Nature Photography.  My major influences responsible for my love of Photography were my Dad and one of my most influential professors at Georgia Southern.  During my 1974 Road Trip, I hadn't yet taken any Photography courses and I didn't think to borrow my Dad's Minolta SRT-101 35 mm camera.
• Texas.  (I lived there from 1977-1991, in El Paso.  Traversed the state many times during and after.)  Got married the first time there in 1984 and adopted our first baby there in 1986.  Our second adopted baby was born in San Antonio in 1994.  I wish I had taken the time to visit the Big Bend area and the Davis Mountains while I lived in El Paso.  And I wish that I could have done more fossil collecting in the Edwards Plateau limestones
• Ecology.  Including aspects of Flora and Faunas, as well as relationships to Weather & Climate.
• Bucket List items.  Including a few accomplished in the last 10 years, as an encouragement to others to do the same (and write about it too!).
• Road Food.  Some local culinary discoveries.
• Hobbies and Avocations.  Includes the requisite Rock, Mineral, and Fossil Collecting, as well as continuing learning about local Flora and Fauna; engaging in local roadside and creekside trash pickups (since the first Earth Day in 1970); and Beer Can Collecting (since 1974).  I have met several fellow Geologists in this hobby.
• Writing Projects.  Since turning 60 in 2014, I have had a "hankering" to "tell my story" or at least parts of it, in case my kids ever want to know the events leading to my moving to El Paso in 1977 and meeting their Mom in 1983.  I want to at least produce a spiral-bound narrative to leave behind when my time is up.  Blogging is one of the ways I keep in practice, until "my mojo" returns.  (It seemed to go away after my second wife's car accident in September 2019.)

There may be more to come, including some links and perhaps a few photos.