About Me

Sun Road 287I have been married for close to 50 years, have three grown children, and 5 grandchildren. I have an MSW (social work) and a Ph.D. (clinical psychology) that allowed me to do very rewarding work before I retired in 2010. The work that I enjoyed so much involved being a mental health therapist along with a college professor and department chair. That part of my life feels like a long time ago. I am in the process of recreating myself yet again – this time because a chronic illness turned my life inside out. A very important factor in my ability to heal, physically and psychologically, has been my faith in God, who guides me and provides strength. My faith and my education have combined to form the belief that we have an amazing capacity to heal and grow if we look for and use the gifts that are available to us.

I value relationships, human development until our moment of death, social justice, world peace, and intellectual stimulation. I enjoy time with the people I love, being creative, reading books, writing, travel (including camping), quilting (especially piecing), and good food. I don’t enjoy exercising (but I do it), deciding what to have for supper (my household task), housecleaning (my husband does most of it), or being around people who don’t play nice.

8/2/12 Update as I am recreating myself:

I have allowed my long-denied desire to take photographs to emerge as an extension of my blogging activity. What a joy. I am looking at the world differently and having fun trying to capture the images of life in a meaningful way. The evening news presents so much ugliness and the antidote to this is seeing the beauty of God’s grace in people and nature through my photography. In this I have found new meaning for my life. A side benefit of photography is that it gets me out and moving as I explore the world with my camera. 

162 thoughts on “About Me”

  1. thanks for the likes and deciding to follow my blog. I enjoyed looking through your blog. My wife also suffers from FM and has learned to pace herself. She recently decided to try and learn photography so it has been fun to help her along and have her with me on my photo walks. We are about to celebrate 43 years together and we still enjoy each others company. Best Wishes!

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    • Thanks, Eddie. I hope that she finds the benefits from photography that I have. It has kept me active both physically and mentally. I can still do most everything I used to do, I just can’t do it as often or intensely or as long. But that may also be aging. 🙂

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  3. I am glad I found your blog. We have a lot in common, 3 grown children, retired in 2010, love writing and photography, I too suffer from a chronic condition but refuse to let it hold me down. I also hate excercising (but do it) and deciding what to eat (sometimes it iends up just toast)
    I look forward to more of your posts.

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  4. Pat, I am recovering from an injury last summer and my blog took me from my bed out to the world. I already had the photos so that made it easier. Now I can get get out again and my camera makes me focus on the pictures that I am taking not my problems. It really has saved me.

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    • I hear you, Barbara. It is photography that gets me out and moving and the blogging makes photography even more fun because I have people to share the pics with. So glad it works for you too. 🙂

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  5. Thanks for writing your update about photography emerging as an extension of your blogging activity. That’s what happened to me–and I too, am so glad for it. You describe it well.

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  6. Pingback: In the Pink | The Palladian Traveler

  7. Hi, stumbled across your blog, I’ve just read your about me, and it is surprising how much you remind me of myself, and you have achieved what I wish to achieve in the future (:
    Good luck with recovery!

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  9. Just happened to run into your blog. You have got a beautiful space running here. Loved some of your write-ups. Its very subtle . I guess I will be hanging around here a lot. 🙂 Your vision and thoughts are indeed a revelation. Great work. Keep blogging.

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  12. So you decided to join the small clan of Uncle Spike followers Pat…. That makes me a happy blogger now – I really appreciate you making that special mouse click.

    Hope you like my upcoming posts and if you get bored one day, maybe you’ll enjoy trawling through some of my older stuff too.

    If you have any likes, dislikes or suggestions about my blog, just let me know, either through ‘comments’ or via email. Always welcome reader input 🙂

    As for your blog, yep, I’m gonna follow you too. That’s not something I do that often these days, as my Reader gets overfull and I want to savour my reading, not for it to become a chore, but I like your style very much, what you have to say and your background all scream ‘interesting person’ to me.

    Have a great old day…

    UNCLE SPIKE
    uncle.spikes.adventures1@gmail.com

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  23. Hi Pat. I wanted to say thanks for finding me through Celi’s blog and following I am therefore I write, even though I’ve taken a bit of a break. I’ve been trying to slowly check on the blogs of many of those who follow Celi and are members of the Fellowship. Your photos are wonderful and I look forward seeing more and exploring your blog.
    Deb

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    • Thanks. What a nice compliment and I appreciate your checking me out. I visited your site and am excited about seeing more of your part of the world.

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