In addition to my writing, over the years I’ve done a lot of professional public speaking. I was privileged to speak at the National Conference on Education and at Cornell University. I even got to share a dais with Bill Clinton for three speeches. And I was invited to the White House for the movie screening of Pay It Forward.

But enough about career stuff.

Ella and Jordan

Sad update: Ella Hyde, 2006-2021.

This was my dog Ella. I got her at the Humane Society when she was four months old. She was a cross between a Scotty and a Chinese Crested hairless. If you can believe that. As you can see, she liked kayaking, too.

I'd had Ella for seven years when I adopted Jordan, our cat. So I had no idea how that would go.

My friends on Facebook got quite attached to the day-by-day reports from the trenches, so I created an Ella and Jordan Hyde Facebook page.

I’m pleased to say they played together, and even cuddled together.

It’s been such an amazing example of how differences can be overcome that I wrote about it in my nonfiction children's book Paw It Forward.

Following the sad death of my sweet girl Ella at age 15, I have added a new member to my animal family. On March 4th, 2021, I adopted a 3-month-old special needs puppy, Chloe. She had come to the canine rescue with a badly injured hip after being on the street with her mom. She’d had some interested adopters, but when the X-rays came back and it was clear a surgery would be required, no one was quite ready to take that on. She has now had the hip surgery, been spayed, and is gradually on the mend. I will update occasionally with her progress.

Chloe Update: Chloe is now mostly grown, and completely healed. We walk an hour and a half a day, and no one would ever guess she had been injured.

And this is Chloe as a full-grown adult. Her friend is the newest member of the family, Gabriel.

Soul

in 2016 I added a new member to my animal family, Soul. I named him Soul because the first thing I was told about him is that he has a beautiful soul. (And it's so true!) He's a registered Belgian Warmblood who turned 11 in June of 2016, about two months after I bought him. He's incredibly mellow and sweet and I could not be happier with him. For five years we rode training level dressage, including some showing.

Now we’re semi-retired and taking it easy.

ANOTHER New Family Member!

This is Opal Moon. I adopted her in 2021 to keep Soul company in his new home, a pasture much closer to where I live. She is a miniature horse, measuring in at a whopping eight hands high (32” at the shoulder) and she is a dear. Everybody who meets her comes away happier.

YET ANOTHER New Family Member!

This is the newest addition to our herd/family, the lovely thoroughbred rescue mare, Ivy. Soul is in seventh heaven having another horse his own size, and she seems to fit in well with everyone. She is very well-trained and easy to handle. And pretty!

Hiking and travel

I love to hike (particularly on trails that gain altitude) and I’ve day-hiked the Grand Canyon (South rim to River to South Rim) twice. Another time I hiked the Canyon but spent one night at Phantom Ranch before climbing out. I backpacked the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu in three days, two nights (Most people choose to do that trek in four or even five days. Even my guide thought I needed psychological care). Though, let me tell you, I’m never climbing to over 14,000 feet again. Breathing is good. I depend on it. I climbed Mt. Katahdin in Maine. The longest day hike I ever did, my genuine personal best, was the day I hiked from Yosemite Valley to the top of Cloud’s Rest (both farther and higher than Half Dome) and back. That’s about 22 miles and about 5,900 feet of gain, and it took me nearly thirteen hours. That wasn’t that long ago (’04 or ’05) but these days I try to be healthy without being insane.

In April of 2016 I took a trekking vacation in the lower Himalayas of Nepal. I flew to Kathmandu, then to Lukla, where I trekked three days with a guide and a porter up to the Hotel Everest View (13,000 feet). I took a million photos, give or take, then hiked down in two days. I saw a bit of Kathmandu while I was there, and Istanbul on the way home. Here's a link to the photos I took, and other older photos. And my newest passion is astrophotography. Photographing distant galaxies and nebulae. I’m adding to those galleries all the time, so please do check out my astrophotography here.

I also create video. There’s a lot on my YouTube channel. Lots of different kinds of videos.

I do love to hear from readers. So feel free to get in touch. My personal email address is on my contact page, and any email you send comes straight to me, and only to me, and I will always write back.

Look around. Feel at home. Thanks for coming to my site.

–Catherine