Welcome to my hobby page!  And boy, you'll discover that I do have a large and diverse set of hobbies!  I guess part of the reason for this is because I’m not married and without kids, and so I’ve had the luxury to develop a set of things I like to do.  Another reason might be because I simply have a diverse set of interests, and I like tasks for the sense of accomplishment and joy.  I also have a generally high level of skill in my hands, mind, and body. Finally, I am a perfectionist, and that can be quite a negative, but for my hobbies I generally like the characteristic.

Anyway, this page lists my hobbies, gives some brief description for each, and most have illustrations of what I do.  It’s hard for me to be content with the final product of this page because there is no clean break in the continuum of showing off what I love to do in the spare time I have.  Here, goes – and always enjoy!

First the complete list (in no particular order):  photography, travel, mountaineering (backpacking), fishing, model trains, miscellaneous [exercising (cycling, jogging), canoeing, woodworking, gardening].
  

I enjoy taking pictures.  At first, it was to document work-related events or tasks and many of the pictures I use in teaching for lectures or in professional talks at meetings or seminars.  Later on, when I 'settled' down with the camera and began to understand the true 'art' of the shot, I got into taking nature pictures for the hobby of it.  Much to my surprise, in 2001, I was asked to show some of my pictures at an environmental law conference.  This event elevated my thinking about my photography as showing some of the artistic side of me.  I have included a few of my photographic creations from some of the places I have been over the years.
 

I've traveled a good bit; more than most, but not near as much as some.  I really do enjoy the learning from travel.  I had a couple of mentors while a graduate student who constantly and independently said that 'travel is the best education'.  This is one of the reasons I go to so much trouble to take students on 'field trips', whether it's simply across the street or across the country, to see a new environment is hard to beat for the education.  Another point about my travel, I usually have tied my travel to either work related activities (courses or research) or to backpacking/hiking expeditions.  In either case, I very much prefer to visit an area many times to become familiar with the details.  I then get a sense of 'place' so, can become more immersed in the area.

The listings below are grouped into the major regions in North America that I've visited.  I present no details of the minor work related (research and/or meetings) visits or simply vacation visits throughout Florida, or eastern Canada (Quebec to Newfoundland), or the Carribean (Puerto Rico & the Virgin Islands), or the mid-west (St. Louis & environs), or the northeast (New York to Maine), or the Hawaiin Islands.  This secton would be too long and boring otherwise!

    MEXICO

What a wonderfully diverse country!  And, a place of friendly people.  Most of my time has been spent in the Yucatan Peninsula working in the field on the forest of the region.  There, I also spent time seeing the Mayan Ruin sites - a great civilization!  And, I've taken a number of short to rather long excursions to other parts of the country.  I've felt comfortable doing this because my work in the Yucatan demystified the travel to the rest of the country.  (I am a bit embarrassed by the hard time I have in learning foreign languages.)  The friendly people of Mexico have helped me reconnoiter even with the language deficiency.  Below are a few of the pictures I've taken in Mexico showing a diversity of activities and places.
 

OTHER OAXACAN SCENES

    DESERT SOUTHWEST

I've spent a large amount of time in the desert southwest for either fun times or related to school sponsored field trips where I've been the leader.  Most of the time has been spent in two regions:  the Grand Canyon (6+ trips) and Big Bend National Park (8+ trips).  Below are a few photos from my times in the southwest.  I revel in the open spaces!  More photos of the Grand Canyon focusing on my backpacking trips can be found below in the 'mountaineering' section.
 

   NORTHWEST

This region of the country is such a delight in it's summer weather and spectacularly lush, evergreen scenery and vertical relief.  I've had the occasion to visit the northwest for meetings, simple car camping, and most significantly for long backpacking trips in the southern Canadian Rocky Mountains (12+ trips).  The 'mountaineering' section below tells more about my times in the Canadian Rockies.  I have had some incredible times in these rockies with and because of some wonderful Canadian friends.  I must thank them, here and I look forward to many more years of great conversation and plain fun!
 

    HIGH SIERRAS

What a spectacular area.  It doesn't take much time in the region to understand why John Muir, David Brower, Andel Adams and others spent so much time here!  I've had the great fortune of being friends with several 'trekkers' in these mountains.  Below are just a couple of the images I have taken on the several trips to the region.   Primarily, this has been on the eastern slopes of the Sierras from latitude of Death Valley north to Mono Lake.  Thanks, particularly to Ken and Kay!
 

    ENGLAND

During January 1998, with my Dad, his wife (Karen) and my younger brother (Adam), I had the wonderful opportunity to visit London and several areas outside the city both north and southeast.  The trip was my first, and only trip, overseas.  In the future, I do hope to travel to more exotic places for pleasure.  It's one of those life desires that I am determined to accomplish.  The educational value is too important to miss!  On the trip, I got to see so many of the tourist places, churches, several museums, even Kew Gardens, Harrods Department store, and a bunch of pubs!  That remarkable Xmas tree in the hotel lobby was worth the trip!
 

This hobby name sounds so hip.  But, I have been doing more than simply backpacking - a past-time of mine for many years.  Below are some photos taken in two areas where I have spent a lot of time since the early 1980's.  My 'wilderness' type trips have ranged from several nights to two hard weeks in duration.  They have been solo to trips with up to a couple of friends.  So, here are only a few of the hundreds of images I have taken.  I've labeled each for some interpretation.

Canadian Rockies
 

Grand Canyon
 
 

I really got started in the much of the out-of-doors, when fishing in my early teens.  It's not that the seed was planted then, because it was in me much earlier; it's that my times fishing allowed greater and greater periods of solitude. Put another way, I started out by having to catch fish to have a successful trip!  Fishing for me can be a solitary experience or one I do with friends; I really do enjoy both equally.  Unfortunately, I don't have a good representative set of photos of my fishing times.  But, I'll show a few taken over the years.

I have extraordinarily fond memories of fishing at several places, (1) on the C & O Canal (Washington, D.C.) with my Dad in the 1960's, (2) in Audubon Park Lagoon (New Orleans) in the 1960's, and (3) in the Potomac River (Carter Rock and Old Anglers Inn area) in the early 1970's.   After I moved to New Orleans from the 1970's to present: (4) in eastern New Orleans, (5) in the Middle Pearl River, (6) in the Lake Boeuf region, (7) in the Delacroix region, and (8) in the Mississippi River delta region.  Finally, I've fished some incredible beautiful cold water lakes and streams (9) in the Canadian Rockies beginning the late 1980's to present.  Just typing all of this has brought back great memories!
 

When I was two years old my Dad and Mom gave me a Lionel train for Christmas!  I have been told that I was a bit young for this 'sophisticated' toy, but apparently the event made an impression on me!  About 10 years ago, I came across an ad for a model train show that was to held in the city.  Decided to go with a friend and have enjoyed the shows ever since.  Dug out the old train set from the boxes in the attic and have cleaned them up and put them on display in one guest room of the house.  Much to the frustration of visitors, I've never set up a layout and run the darn things.  I have purchased about 25 cars and another 20 accessories generally dating from the early to mid 1950s.  It's been fun restoring many of them and the search for the bargain.  I'm also really living again the anticipation of each Christmas morning going to the local and regional shows!  If anyone out there has an old set and wants to part with it - I'd be interested.  I'd pay fair market value.  So, far I've resisted the temptation of eBAY auctions!  None of the photos here are of my personal collection - all from catalogs and other sources, but they show the thrill of it all for me!
 

This section is a brief description of several miscellaneous hobbies of mine.

    Exercising - currently, I exercise at least 1 hr, 3 to 5 days per week.  This level is down considerably by number of days, intensity and duration from about 5 years ago.  My principle two exercising activities are jogging and cycling.   For me, both are solo activities. (Unfortunately, I damaged the ACL in my left knee 20 years ago which limits my lateral ability without a significant knee brace.)   I am jogging 3 to 10 miles per week and cycling from 50 to 100 miles per week.  I averaged just over 60 miles per week cycling last year (2001), whereas 10 years ago I was averaging over 100 miles per week.  Much of this exercising is to keep me in some sort of physical shape for my summer mountaineering activities as well as research activities.

    Canoeing - with my easy access to great canoeing on the Morgan and Pearl Rivers, I have developed quite a passion for canoeing as a hobby.  In addition, a former student gave me his kayak a few years back.   So, I've spent a bit of time paddeling around the waterways in the Pearl River basin.  I've especially enjoyed transporting the canoe or kayak to remote locations by motor boat, and then paddeling areas where critters associate humans with boat-noise!  This way, I've been able to come upon some interesting wildlife, including huge alligators, mink, deer, wild boar, etc.

    Woodworking - my home and cottage are filled with evidence of my love of woodworking.  This passion, I inherited from my Dad.  I even was honored with the best woodworker of my senior-class in High School!  I am always involved with one project or another; from restoring antique furniture, to adding on to or repairing my house or cottage, to building a dock, or simply creating a piece of art or a bookshelf.  I very much love working with wood.

    Gardening - anyone that has spent anytime at my house on Willow St . knows that I do like to garden.  This doesn't mean that I have a huge investment in flower beds that keeps me busy all the time, but I do like to tinker with my yard plantings.    Nowadays, the front and backyards (what there is of them!) are landscaped to be as nearly maintenance free as is reasonable for a place that has a pond and several kinds of 'agressive' vines and other ornamentals.  When a few more decades pass and I become a bit feeble, I'm certain that gardening will become more a past-time!