Former BJ chief librarian Cathy Tierney is enjoying three weeks in southern India and Dubai, United Arab Emirate.

She visited northern India years ago, but decided to tour the south, “which is very different in so many ways from the north,” Cathy writes.

When I asked Cathy for a photo showing HER on the trip, with the background proving that she was there, she was reluctant.

After I told her I needed her in a photo, she later replied:

“John, the Lord Ganesha was with you. Someone took a photo of me, mostly obscured, at the Brihadishvara Temple, with the elephant blessing me. Feel free to include any other photos of mine -- I've had a ball taking them all.”

Cathy also had a ball outside her hotel on the Bay of Bengal, “watching four cows stretched out, enjoying the sun, water and beach, like any other hotel guest -- so very Indian!”

She provided a Facebook video of the cows getting a suntan without wearing so much as a coverup bikini.

Cathy also has visited Vietnam and Cambodia. Paula and I made it together to Cambodia, Laos and Thailand, but not Vietnam and India.

Cathy has been to more than 75 countries, which makes my 55 countries visited pale by comparison.  When I inquired, she replied:

“I've been to more than 75 countries. I started in my 20s. Some of the countries don't even exist anymore.

“My next trip that is already booked for 2018 is to Burma & Laos -- both new countries for me.

“I think it's great that you and Paula love to travel as much as I do!”

Another BJ Cathy -- Cathy Robinson Strong, a 1970s State Desk reporter -- spent three years in Dubai teaching the daughters of royalty before returning to New Zealand, where she has lived for about a half-century when she’s not visiting America, as she is now, and other places around the globe.

Cathy Tierney “fully retired” from Ol’ Blue Walls in 2013.

Her early trips have included Cherry Blossom season in Japan, a 2,000-mile riverboat cruise from St. Petersburg to Moscow, Morocco . . . and an Amtrak trip to DC that began her retirement travels.