I was an Outdoor Education Specialist with the Waterloo Region District School Board, in the Kitchener-Waterloo area in southern Ontario (Canada), for 34 years. I taught at the Blair, Laurel Creek, and Erbsville Outdoor Education Centres, working with students from Grades 1 to 12.

I began my life-long interest in the natural world as a summer camp counsellor and canoe trip leader. I was outdoors daily at work, immersed in the natural world, and with my family I continue to camp, canoe trip and cottage. We are fortunate to be able to spend a great deal of time at our cottage near Tobermory, Ontario on the Bruce Peninsula, a naturalists' paradise and part of a United Nations (UNESCO) World Biosphere Reserve.

I have had a number of photographs published by the Canadian Wildlife Federation in their magazines Canadian Wildlife and Wild, and in 2010 had several on display in poster-size on an outdoor walkway at Environment Canada's Biosphere Environment Museum in Montreal, Quebec celebrating the United Nations International Year of Biodiversity.

Countless hours over nearly 15 years were spent roaming the fields and forests and along the Grand River with our Brittany, Maddie, who shared my enthusiasm for all things outdoors...