FOR THE BIRDS!!
Revised 1-29--17
Birding
was my passion for 25 years, but less than wonderful
vision and hearing eventually led me down a slightly different
path: identifying and photographing Sierra wildflowers,
which has been a major task of mine for the last several years
and a great joy. The nice thing about wildflowers is that
they stay relatively still! The bad thing is that there are so
many of them that they can be very difficult to identify.
I have no training, so I learn the hard way. Eventually, I
got hearing aids, and after cataract surgeries I can see much
better (without glasses yet!). Still, my hard-core birding
days are past.
My online Wildflower Identification Guide
features photos of Sierra foothills
plants found at an elevation between 1,200 and 2,200 feet in the
Coarsegold area.
I add new species
and better photographs each year, and humbly
correct past mistakes as I learn more. People
often contact me for identifications,
requests to use my photos, or simply to
thank me for the guide, which is the best
pay in the world. If you are searching
for a wildflower, click on
WILDFLOWER INDEX
to get started.
I have a great interest in
Gardening, particularly roses,
both tea and miniature. This fall, I dug up all the tea roses. I'm
tired of fighting the deer. Although they will eat the miniatures I grow
in pots, they don't like them nearly as well. A few years ago, I began a wildflower plot
in the common area behind the house. It's slow work getting wildflowers started and
keeping weeds out, but I
enjoy trying.
My
Family
page has a gallery of photos, and
I try to add new ones from time to time. The
collection on my
Friends
page includes a few of my four-footed pals.
If you'd like to see some critter photos, check out my
Wildlife
page. I've included a small butterfly list for the area, and
I've added lots of bugs. Caution: I know very little about
insects, so you may find misidentifications.
I'm not
On The Road in an RV any more, but I
travel quite a bit, going on at least one cruise a year as well as
shorter trips in this country. I
miss RVing, but I feel very fortunate to be able to see new things
while I'm physically able.
I no longer copyedit for a living, but
occasionally someone needs an editor for a privately published
book. I edited nonfiction books as a
freelancer for many years, even on the road. Therefore, on the Copyediting
page I've included a few things to prove that old editors never
die—they're too busy revising the wording for their tombstones.
A few books I've edited in the last several years are Live Again, Die Again and its sequel Live Again, Love Again by Nila J. Gott. These novels, set in both modern and Civil War times, offer a can't-put-it-down read.
Nila's latest work of fiction is a prequel to that series
titled Dream Again. A favorite of mine is
"RVers: How Do They Live Like That?" (Answers For Those Who Wonder)
by Judy Farrow and Lou Stoetzer. I also enjoyed editing the late Rex Goulding's delightful
So You Want To Be An Airline Pilot.
I've added a
Crafts page,
which features one of my crafty interestsDutch embroidered cards.
I haven't done any cards in two years now, because I've replaced
that time with a new passion: genealogy. One of these
days I'll make a page for it. I've come to it rather
late, but anyone who enjoys a good mystery novel will understand the
thrill of the hunt for ancestors. I'm not looking for famous
people; I simply want to know more about those who came before me. The best part is
finding many "cousins" also engaged in family research. You
may have seen the TV series "Who Do You Think You Are?" sponsored by Ancestry.com. I built my tree using Ancestry.com, and any information I can gather will be my legacy to younger family
members who may someday inquire as I did. Oh, how I regret not
asking my elders more questions! If any family or friends wish
to view my tree, I would be happy to issue an invitation.
If any of these topics interest you, follow these page links.
Then come back and sign my
guestbook (bottom of page)!
Sharon L. Nixon
Read My Guestbook!
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Sign My Guestbook!
Welcome to
my collection of interests. My home base is in the Sierra
Nevada foothills
midway between Fresno,
California, and Yosemite National Park.
In March 2006, I moved to Oak Creek, a
manufactured-home park in Coarsegold, California. It's only 5 miles from our former home, a fifth-wheel trailer in an Escapees co-op RV park called
Park Sierra. I still have a
few ties to Park Sierra friends, but my life has changed
considerably in the last few years. I joined a group of gals
here who like to practice line dancing twice a week, and play bunco
once a month.
Coarsegold, CA