Hellooooo 2021! This is the eighth year that I have been doing a photo journal/blog of my travels! 2020 was a mess, especially for us travelers! I hope things will be looking up for everyone this year! We did do some interstate travel and discovered some new places for us and for the foreseeable future, I think that will be our plans. Compared to so many folks, who are in severe lockdown due to COVID-19, this must be a blessing…….
I still enjoy the SIX ON SATURDAY Challenge, hosted by the Propagator, and will continue with it. Its six photos. Of Gardens. Posted On Saturday. Easy Peasy. My Six On Saturday posts were my most viewed posts of last year! We are still taking lots of photos, but have ditched the fancy camera and all the extra gear. Now, it is just our IPhones! I don’t think our photos have suffered either, so that is a win-win! I think I will also be adding some fun photo challenges to the mix this year too.
I kept up with my physical fitness walking and walked many miles in 2020, reaching my goal for the year. I still love walking with the Fitness App, YES.FIT. If you are thinking of a way to get your fanny off the couch, this may be for you! Their first walk of the year is The Birthday Walk! Something new for YES.FIT this year is the option to keep track of all your walking on one walk and see how far you get over the year! Last year I logged over 1600 miles, which is a little below my average. The fun part is you can walk at your own pace. No judging here! Do the virtual walk and see!
This New Year I have bit the bullet and left FB and Twitter……they were just getting to be too much for me! The final straw was when my coffee company congratulated me on how many cups I had drank this year, the type and total! It sure feels like they are watching every turn we make!
At the end of December I started a new language with Duolingo. I loved Norway so much and want to go back, possibly next winter. So, I thought I would begin my studies……..If you like foreign language study you can’t beat Duolingo for a starter course! It is free……..it is fun……and you will be surprised how much you can learn……Duolingo has added many more features to their lineup since, I have been using it. In total, I have studied the Italian and French courses to the end, twice! Now, I’m on to Norwegian! Clubs are new and they meet online and are scheduled for the beginner through advanced. This way you can also speak with a native and meet other new learners….it is done with ZOOM.
I hope to meet many new friends this year. One of the best things about traveling is meeting new people! I have also many new friends on the website and many of you seem like dear friends and we talk regularly! This is so nice in the times we live in, because we can’t get out and chat over the fence just yet!
I hope you have a great 2021! Let me know what you are up to!
My previous ABOUT is still true! It reads…………..
I have been traveling extensively for over twenty-five years and have learned a lot along the way! My suggestions for lodging, restaurants, activities, etc. are my own. I am not paid by anyone to offer a review. If I like a place, I will tell you. Great travels to you!
1. I am a retired registered nurse. I worked for Flying Nurses……and that’s when I got the traveling bug. During my career I rotated to a critical care hospital in a different location every thirteen weeks with Flying Nurses.
2. My husband is a Naval Aviator and traveled the world. (He retired from the USMC after 24 years) We both love going to new places and old places too for that matter!
3. When we retired I got to pick wherever I wanted to live. I picked North Carolina so I would never have to shovel snow again.
4. I love cappuccino, mocha, espresso or plain ol’ black coffee any time of the day or night. (A holdover from my nursing days)
5. I think Akita’s are beautiful, loving and smart.
6. I love British mysteries, especially historical mysteries.
7. I am a gadget freak. I am the queen of kitchen gadgets and anything techie. (How did I ever cook without an Instantpot?)
8. I like to learn something everyday. The more challenging it is; the better I like it.
9. I am passionate about foreign language study, and study EVERYDAY. I am possessed!
10. I like to poke around in the garden and pull weeds.
11. I like to cook, but I am a meat and potatoes kinda cook. (Or casserole)
12. My camera IPhone is with me wherever I go. I am always in the improving, editing, creating mode.
13. I am a YES-FIT addict!
Love it!
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I’m a retired RN, too.
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Love your new blog CadyLuck! So vibrant, fresh, exciting, inspirational. Congratulations and I wish you a 2017 full of creativity and contentment in all you do.
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Wow! I wanted a new look so thank you! This year is off to a great start!
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You MUST visit the Highlands and Islands. Paradise on Earth. I promise you.
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I have to live to be 200 Lance to see everything I would like to see! We have been to Scotland, but not to the Highlands or any of the islands. We do watch all the specials from the U.K. about them though! We have been to York and Harrogate in your neck of the woods! Look forward to more of your posts!
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I have been incredibly luck in my life to have visited around 80 countries. I just love to immerse myself in the wide variety of cultures, languages and cuisines that exist on our wonderful planet.
I use my experiences in my novel-writing.
I hope that you will eventually visit the Highlands and Islands. I’ll be happy to offer you advice and guidance. If you want a taste, read the books of Lillian Beckwith.
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Thank you will look into that!
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Your photos are simply beautiful. Obviously all the effort you put into your photography pays off! 🙂
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The site is beautiful! Thank your husband for me for his service. I’m the “baby” sister of two Marines, one Navy, and one Army brothers. I admire you for nursing. That’s an incredibly tough career!
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Oh, Elizabeth I am proud to be a Marine’s wife! 24 years served! You also have a very military family! My g daughter is following in my footsteps. Has been accepted in a nurse practitioner program at IU, my alma mater!
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Congratulations! I love nurses! I have a spinal cord injury, my husband was diagnosed with cancer a couple of years ago, our youngest son nearly died two summers ago and, in every case, the nurses were the BEST! My oldest brother, one of the Marines, is one of the fallen. Every time I see I Marine I want to hug him.
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My prayers are with you Elizabeth!
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Thank you. We’re all doing okay now and we’re all alive! I’m able to do more than they ever thought I would when I got hurt. God is good!
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I appreciate all the information. 🙂 🙂 Everything but the name that I was searching for, but I respect your privacy. Many thanks for joining in on my walks. 🙂
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Cady Luck Leedy
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Really? Not wishing to be rude but I assumed it was a blog name. Humble apologies 🙂
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“Tag, you’re it!” I like your blog and nominated you for the next round of Blue Sky Tag. Tell more people about your blog by joining us this round.
https://oldhouseintheshires.com/2017/06/08/blue-sky-nomination-and-playing-it-forward/
Have fun!
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I identify with everything you wrote here. I love travel, I love English mysteries, gardening, reading, cooking. I love languages, too. I thought when I retired, I would learn Italian, but alas, my memory with age is causing me to even forget regular English words. I have been to Great Britain 3 times in my life and loved every moment. I would love those garden tours. Alas, my husband does not travel, so I am limited. You are lucky to have a travel partner!!
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Carol, I have also traveled with my sister and grandchildren. I have also wrote blog posts about my own spot in the world, which is very small. I thought who would come here? It’s not exactly a tourist site. However, when I wrote about it folks were interested. People like to know about other places and what people are doing! Keeps everything interesting! Thanks for following me and my little space in the big picture!
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Hi Cadyluck – I’m a huge fan of British mysteries as well!
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I’ve never heard of Yes.Fit, but I do wear a Fit Bit Tracker. 🙂
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Oh Judy look into it you will love it! I started with a Fit Bit tracker too!
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Thanks so much for following Oh, the Places We See — because that’s how we found you! Your life sounds rich with travel and daily experiences, and we like many of the same things. I’m not as fit as you, however, but you’re my inspiration. I’m 71, so if you can walk 7 miles a day, I could get off the sofa (or out of my desk chair) and walk, too! Best wishes for always safe travels and seeing the world with your husband.
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Yes, it looks like we have a lot in common! What trip plans do you have for this year?
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Headed to Morocco in May. Taking a few breather days right now in St. George Island, FL.
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Good for you! I look forward to your adventures!
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You are so inspiring! My grandma introduced me to photography, and encouraged my desire to explore the world. Reading your blog I knew that you would of loved her! I immediately thought of her when I started reading posts here. Have a wonderful weekend. Looking forward to follow you to new exciting places.
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Thank you and I’m sure your grandmother was wonderful if she is like me! Ha Ha!
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She was!
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Nice Blog, and loving the approach to retired life
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Oh We are enjoying it too, believe me!
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Your photos are beautiful and I love your enthusiasm and curiosity for exploring new places and experiencing life. Wishing you a very Happy 2019 filled with many adventures and much laughter! Anita
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Thank you! I have to finish up this year’s travels as I am a little behind…….If I don’t move ahead it will be time to go again and I won’t have 2018 done! Oh the thought!
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Thank you very much for visiting my blog and for the follow, Cadyluck. Great blog with fabulous photos!
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Wonderful. One question: which foreign language study? In my family we love languages ad that is why I post in many languages.
Have a wonderful day!
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I have studied Italian the most, French would be next. My native language is English. Did you learn all those languages in school?
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Hello.
Thank you asking.
Well, my mother tongue is Finnish. English, I learnt in school. Spanish while working in Las Palmas, Spain during 4½ months, French by translating three books with using dictionary. After reading ten books and writing up most interesting words, I needed seldom dictionary. Now I have about 1500 French books and I have read them twice. The third tour has started. One tour to read them all takes about 10 years. It is easy to calculate how many books I read in a year! Portuguese I learnt on two winters lasting courses. Our teacher was a Brazilian Lady. The best teacher we have had in our life! My wife and I know also German and Swedish. My wife knows also Russian. Last autumn she started Italian course. Italian is easy to us, because it is similar to Spanish. When working in Spain, I did not know Spanish, but listened to it and seeing what happened around me, I learnt. No courses! Spanish music, helped me to brush up my skills, learning more and enjoy music which I have never heard.
Can you see Italian TV? We can and we look at every evening 16 minutes RAI1. If not, then you can watch all the RAI channels from your phone. You can also reflect the contents to your television.
This is my favorite Italian song:
L’italiano
Happy learning Italian,
Matti
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Matti, It must be nice to know so many languages….does it help you in your profession? I am sure it does! I think in Europe one interacts with many people, who speak different languages. In the US we are not exposed to as many different languages on a daily basis. And that makes it hard to really get the jest of a language, because I definitely think it helps to hear and speak the language daily with another person. There are Spanish channels on our TV, but is the only one I believe.I can listen to French podcasts. I find the hardest part of learning a new language is speaking back when someone talks to you. It takes me a while to translate in my head what they said and then translate in their language what I want to say. I can read Italian, French and Spanish a lot better than speaking those languages in a conversation. Thanks for writing back! I will follow your website because it is very interesting and I really enjoyed visiting Finland! Cady
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I was just in North Carolina. Asheville gets snow. And Charlotte and King do sometimes. Whereabout are you?
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Ruth, I live at Lake Norman, about 20 miles north of Charlotte!
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I always like to read bloggers About pages, I often think it’s more important to tell you whether will be any actual “engagement” and comment rather than just like like like etc. I wrote a couple of posts on it recently saying that what many so called pro bloggers tell you to do in order to attract followers is a pile of cr@p! I’m not interested in followers, I have over 1000 but goodness knows why because I have less than 10 I regularly engage with! We seem to have similar attitudes towards travel, food, and photography on the positive side, and also on FB and Twitter on the negative side. I’m on the fence with Instagram but am hovering because I have a common interest in wine with lots of followers. I’m a garden poker and gadget freak too, but mostly wine gadgets. We also seem to have a shared reading interest in British historical mysteries, you might like the series of such books by Shona MacLean, CJ Sansom and Susanna Gregory. Extra fun if you know the places or even live near some of them!
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Oh, I know what you mean about followers! And being followed or not! I have never given it much thought, since I write for my own pleasure…. The saddest part of blogging for me, has been when some of my favorite bloggers and the ones I connected with concerning similar interests decided to no longer blog…..what a sad day! But, new people do seem to come along and I find new friends to add. Thank you for the tips on the authors, I will look them up. I just finished Book#5 from Tanya French. She writes police mysteries in Dublin…..My favorite was Book #4, Broken Harbor….She writes good looooooong books too, which I like! Talk to you soon!
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Hi again, I hope you get this comment I didn’t want to put on your #challengeyourcamera post as it would alert others! I have really enjoyed your posts and photos on my challenge, so much so that I would really like to ask you to suggest a topic/theme for one of the challenges, probably number 5 so I have a week to prepare etc. I will post it with you as the guest contributer under my weekly challenge. I might try and do this once each month for the best and most consistent follower. You can make your suggestion if you’d like to give it a go via my contact page on my site. 👍
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I see we have more than a few things in common. 🙂
janet
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What an interesting life you have had and continue to lead. Sounds like you and your husband were meant for each other too. Funny, I had once considered retiring to NC until a few natives said it is uncomfortably hot/humid in the summers…still, as I look out my window and paths of 18″+ of snow, the thought of gardening at this time of year is appealing. And AC vs snow shoveling sounds like a fine trade off. I love your blog and outlook on life and will look forward to reading and seeing more. Warmest wishes to you —
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Writegardener, what can I call you, that seems a bit long! Call me Cady! Yes, we have lived so many places over the years and when hubby retired I knew exactly where I didn’t want to live and hubby had a list too! Ha Ha! We are both originally from the midwest, and that definitely was out of the question! Yes, it gets very hot and humid here in the summer, but you get used to it and I would rather have the hot any day than shovel snow! I love the winters here! We don’t have one, but we do have four seasons……..however winter and fall don’t last very long because spring and summer go on and on! Where do you garden now? My garden is the tiniest patch ever……but still it is mine and I love it! Look forward to hearing from you again! Cady
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Nice to hear from you! Most call me WG.
I am fortunate enough to live on 17 acres (mostly wooded) in the northeast mountains. Excluding the snow, the climate is pleasant. My main flower garden is now about 50′. The veggie/herb plot is smaller (about 16 x 10). Still, they are enough to keep me busy along with other yard maintenance. (But what a reprieve from lockdowns this summer!)
Lucky you — endless spring and summer….now that sounds like paradise to me! 🙂 Dare I ask if you are near the ocean or have settled inland? There is much I’d still like to explore in NC.
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WG, Omgosh! 17 acres! We live midway between the mountains and the beach and on a lake! We thought it the best of all the places…..I came here first when my youngest told me, “This is the Place for you Mom!” And she was right……My husband stayed behind and worked until he was old enough to retire and by then we were all settled into our new nest! We live in a cottage setting of 13 cottages, all on small plots, long and skinny…..we don’t have to mow grass because we don’t own more than three feet out our front door and the grounds crew do all that maintenance…….there….so we get the sides and the back to do, whatever we want…..I have a flower garden, a fern reserve and a Woodland Garden! Perfect for me! PS Sometimes I have a veggie patch at the church allotment! My neighbors grow their veggies in raised beds in their driveway!
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Sounds like an awesome setting and a lifestyle to love! 🙂
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A thoroughly nice person, in my experience, Cady 🙂 🙂 I came here this morning wondering where the Irish connection fit in and wondering why I hadn’t read your About before. I usually do. I wish I could be driven on the language front. I have to push myself, very reluctantly. A Polish cousin uses Duolingo to learn English and I did a little Polish with her when I was there last. She was a task master! 🙂 I was dissuaded from using it because it is Brazilian Portuguese but I’m thinking I need a restart here. No idea how many miles I clock in a year. Frightening thought!
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I saw that you read my About and was surprised………thought you had read it long ago……Someone asked me about my DNA a few weeks back….My DNA reveals I am 55% Scots-Irish…my family left Scotland (most likely were told to go get an English grip on that Irish land over there) and they were In Northern Ireland until in the 1700’s (they were probably told to go get a grip in that other english colony over there) And then my many greats grandfather came to Philadelphia in the 1700’s and then went on to establish a church in Cherry Fork, OHIO. That’s my Scots/Irish connection on my fathers mother’s side where I get most of MY DNA. Then I am 40ish% English. That is the Lee side of the family (my mother’s mother) that I posted about in the church in the UK. That family goes waaaaaaaay back. The rest is French/German from the Alsace region of France/Germany. And throw in a touch of Norwegian……probs the Viking that settled in Scotland…or England….I have done extensive research on my families in all those countries…..making several trips there. I have over 37,000 names and thousands of documents, letters, photos and all that stuff….
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Good grief, woman! 🤣🤣 I feel sure I’ve read your About in the past, but was impressed that you’d updated it. 💕💕
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I update it every year, thinking I’m going to be more exciting! Ha Ha!
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👍👍
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