Happy Birthday, PajaritoMt!

More apologies for dwellers of
Arcosanti and Xanadu, too.
Since society failed to help prop up
their perfect self-sufficiencies...

I hearby sanction the way my birthday thread is trending. I have always been interested in whole people, not just people who show only one side.
kmom, you and I have a lot in common. I majored in Spanish and minored in Portuguese at the University of New Mexico. I taught English for 13 years to high school students. I got my Masters' at St. John's College of Annapolis, Md. and Santa Fe, NM. The program is a great books program and was, as far as I am concerned, my first real education.
I have also taught some English as a second language and have hung out with lots of people from Los Alamos and Berkeley. I used to be certified in ESL. Then I changed careers. Most people can only handle teenagers for so long and I was one of those.
I switched to electronics in which I got an AS degree and Computer Science in which I also got an AS degree and then most of a BS before I gave out. I, too, was a UNIX person and switched to the dark side when everybody found Unix workstations too expensive. I then did UNIX from a PC which is a real trip. I also spent a couple of years programming for MACs as well. My specialty was on-line databases. It was fascinating but working for the government is one of the most stressful things I have ever done.

I retired about 2 years ago and have been gardening ever since. I have also spent some time decorating my house. During my work life, I worked and colapsed at night. I gardened when I had a spare minute. I also did as much cooking as possible -- another of my passions. My house was just a convenience. Now, an artist friend and I are decorating it in the winter. I garden during the growing season.
Retirement is great. I thought I would never get there. But I made it!
Actually, I know one other passionate gardener around here. She is a librarian, not yet retired. Her husband teaches sustainable farming all over the world -- e.g. Tagikistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Kurdistan, Palestine. Their home garden is magnificent.
I guess you would say my next door neighbor is a passionate gardener as well. She is a Phd statistician originally from Mexico but with her Phd from Berkeley. When she was a young child her parents took her to the Netherlands for the tulip bloom and she has never recovered. Her yard is magnificent with tulips, roses and chrysanthemums also a very nice rock garden. Not what one would expect of a mathemetician. Not surprisingly, though her flowers are neatly organized in rows. Rather formal. But very pleasant to live next door to.

Glad you are having a happy birthday thread! Wish I could join y'all for the botanical garden tour. Sounds like it will be a real kick! Our community garden is having its grand opening on that weekend, so my DH and I will be standing next to my allotment, explaining our gardening style to the general public. I'll be thinking of you.

pajaritomt, I'm sure we will have a fantastic time next week. Have you been to Rio or Lisbon? I was in Rio during the turnover from the Generals to an elected presidency, a very turbulent and violent time to be an archivist researching in the Biblioteca Nacional. My best memory is of walking through the wonderful rainforest in the middle of rio, and watching the herds of capybara thunder through the undergowth like a herd of miniature cows....LOL

Lisbon has some rather interesting public gardens, but a bit stuffy and formal compared to our own public greenspaces.

I would love to go to Rio and other places in Brazil and the rest of South America. The farthest south I have been is Costa Rica. It sounds so exotic. And is, no doubt.
I have been to Lisbon, which is a bit formal but has great museums and tile. Good food, too. I loved their gardens, but you are right. They are rather formal.
We loved Madeira, a Portuguese island in the Atlantic. It has an incredible mixture of northern and southern hemisphere plants. Jacarandas and Apple trees bloom at once. Orchids are everywhere. Proteas and many South African plants go there. Cows have to live in little houses because there is so little flat land that they can't be let out to graze. Instead you see people bringing them huge piles of grass and taking them out for walks the way we do dogs.
I loved northern Portugal as well for ancient ruins to Middle Age and Renaissanse buildings. Great castles. They grow mostly olives, almonds, grapes and honey. We stayed in an old farmhouse through Portuguese agri-tourism. Beautiful place, inexpensive, fabulous breakfast and cuckoos just beyond our balcony. I saw how they grow cork oaks and harvest the bark for wine corks. Incredible. What a lot of trouble and years of growing to stop up a bottle!
Yes, I hope some day to get to Rio. Brazil and Portugal have kept close ties. I am sure it was not comfortable when the Generals were deposed. I saw lots of pictures of that revolution in the main plaza in downtown Lisbon. I was glad to have missed it. Here is a picture of jacarandas in downtown Funchal, Madeira, Portugal.

GM,
Too bad you can't join us. I bet we will have fun. But, I understand about committments and also 1000 mile trips for a day outing. I only have to drive about 450 miles. That can be done in a day. No need for airlines.

Hope everyone will take lots of pictures to post. I pass through Denver on business trips from time to time, so I would have tried to coordinate with one of those if my schedule had been free. I grew up a bi-coastal resident with summers often on other continents (visiting extended family), so I've logged my share of airmiles and airlines. Flying just isn't any fun anymore. Time to go back to trains.