CURRENT MISSION

NOW IS THE TIME! Last year, two of my favorite people died. One was 50, the other was 53. My goal is to die with as few regrets as possible for not doing things when I had a chance to do them. If not now... when?

ABOUT ME

I strive to live a life of balance: intellectual and intuitive, emotional and rational, serious and light-hearted, pragmattic and spiritual, cautious... yet spontaneous when the mood and circumstances call for it. Work and play. Movies and books. Friends and solitude. Ice cream and broccoli. Exercise and naps! Day-to-day sustainable living and... the exuberant, wasteful excess of Burning Man! (We all have our guilty pleasures...)

I enjoy my "things" but cherish my experiences. In Nature, healthy living things take what they need and no more. Having our basic needs met supports our happiness, but having more "stuff" does not make us proportionately more happy.

I like to plan for the best and be prepared for the worst--to a reasonable extent! The worst hardly ever happens, so I don't focus too much on that. Again, it comes back to balance. This has worked very well for me. When something doesn't work, I try something else. This has also worked well for me.

I find just about every topic interesting if someone who is interested in it shares his/her passion and educates me about it.

PHILOSOPHY

Every person has stories to share and lessons to teach. This is easy to remember when we meet someone pleasant, but it's more important to remember when we meet someone we don't necessarily like right away! If we remember that, and choose to look more closely, if we prioritize understanding over being understood, we have a better experience of that person, they have a better experience of us and the world is a better place because of it.

Almost any time I experience loss or intense negative emotions, there is an opportunity for growth. We are all Phoenixes, with the potential to rise, again and again, from the ashes of our own pain. Sometimes we need a hand. Other times, we are able to offer a hand. Whichever end you are on... REACH OUT!

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I have hosted some wonderful couch surfers, all of whom had great stories and travel tips to share. I wish I'd known about CS years ago!!

In September, 2011, I am embarking on a couch-surfing adventure of my own: in Europe and surrounding regions. Through couch surfing and work-trade (see "Interests," below), I hope to stay for 6-12 months! I plan to stay until I run out of contacts, couches or money. That's about as far as my "plan" goes. I'm leaving it deliberately vague in order to leave space for the delightfully unexpected to happen.

I'm hoping to stay for a week or two in most large cities or in smaller towns or rural areas where it seems right to linger (not necessarily with the same host, though that kind of break would be nice), but can stay for just a few days if that's what is available. The most important thing is to meet people, to be of service and really get to know the places I visit--especially the places that are frequented and cherished by the people who live there!

I don't want to be a "tourist" but a TRAVELER!

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I recently hosted my first three (wonderful!) couch surfers and am expecting more this week! We've had some great conversations, shared lots of laughs and a few meals. Long before I knew about CS, I have been in the habit of hosting friends of friends who have traveled through my area.

I've also discovered that a number of people from my social circle are CS members and I've reconnected with a member of our local time bank through the site. She's going to help me with some of the tasks I'm working on to put my life on autopilot for a year!

Interests

Sustainability. Permaculture. Voluntary Simplicity. Relationships. Low-impact lifestyle (not consumption-based, though I do love my thrift shops and garage sales!) Personal growth. Cooking. Reading. Film/theater. Camping/hiking.

My presentation at last year's "Eugene Local And Green Conference" kick-started a fledgling Transition group here. One of the goals of my trip is to connect, stay and work with people who are actively addressing sustainability, social justice and community-building issues. We're all in this together!

I'm using this space to advertise the work-trade skills by which I hope to extend my trip to Europe significantly:

(I've been told) I give great massage and was certified for massage by the State of California in 1986. I'm also a fast, efficient and thorough house cleaner. I love to weed and work in the garden as well as cook. I know how to prune fruit trees! I type 60 words per minute, have many years experience doing clerical/administrative work and currently do some editing for a travel magazine. I am a certified Permaculture Designer and Life (Empowerment) Coach--but so rusty... still a great listener, though, who, through reflection, may assist you to insight.

I can often help people with Microsoft (software/applications) mysteries. I put together fun PowerPoint presentations and am familiar with some advanced Word functions. I love to teach people how to do these things for themselves, so that it is a lasting gift!

People love to have my help with organizing events (workshops, weddings, conferences) and projects--especially sorting out paperwork and clearing out attics and closets! I'm pretty handy around the house, too, having been a homeowner and property manager for over 25 years. I've fixed my own plumbing, installed lighting fixtures and ceiling fans, designed my own built-in bookcases and chicken coop. I've even... butchered chickens and milked goats on occasion!

Finally, my English is excellent and I would love to help people improve their English speaking and writing skills or polish up letters, articles, stories or other written materials for English-speaking audiences.

Oh yeah... and I can also sew on a button, fix a hem, mend a seam and do other little sewing jobs, so if your sewing basket runneth over with little repair jobs you can't seem to find time to take care of: allow me!

• wildlife
• chickens
• birds
• writing
• books
• theater
• design
• environment
• cooking
• exercise
• running
• coach
• gardening
• boating
• thrifting
• flowers
• movies
• reading
• traveling
• socializing
• garage sales
• hiking
• camping
• surfing
• scuba diving
• swimming
• science
• software

Music, Movies, and Books

I am a big fan of film! I have a hard time narrowing down my list to 100 films (which includes many common favorites like Amelie, Blade Runner and the Lord of the Rings Trilogy), so here is a partial list of some that may not be as familiar: Memento, True Lies, Saving Face, Romeo is Dead, Hard Candy, Once Upon a Time in the West, Awakenings.

I like movies that surprise me. My favorite movie experience is to go into the theater knowing absolutely NOTHING about the movie and watching a wonderful story unfold.

I'm also an avid reader of both fiction and nonfiction. I enjoy historical fiction--everything from The Sharpe Novels to "The Memoirs of Cleopatra." Some of my favorite nonfiction includes "Guns, Germs and Steel," "The Road Less Traveled" and Errol Flynn's autobiography "My Wicked, Wicked Ways."

As for music... This sounds so cliche, but... I know what I like when I hear it! I generally enjoy popular rock, some new-age music, some ethnic, some classical, some opera, some country. Generally speaking, I don't like rap, heavy metal or grunge. But I find there's always a song that breaks the rules, something I'll like, even if I don't like the genre in general. The one thing I can't stand, no matter what, is LOUD MUSIC!

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I visited the Amazon River basin for three weeks. That was amazing! Using a rope to pull myself up into a tree, 60 feet of the ground, surrounded by rain-forest canopy. Our guides went up into an even taller tree and brought down a three-toed sloth, which we were all able to handle briefly and gently before they put it back in the tree. (Sloths taste so bad they have very few predators.) Another time we climbed a massive ficus tree with twisted roots rising thirty feet into the air. We just sat quietly and waited for the jungle to forget we were there, hoping to see some wildlife, but the jungle is so huge... we heard a troop of monkeys headed our way, but they went off in a different direction before they got to our location. We also saw snakes (a huge anaconda!), caiman crocodiles, a capybara, brilliant butterflies, parrots and other colorful birds, amazing beetles, spiders and flowers. One day, as we were crossing a slough on a submerged log, an electric eel came swimming up to see if it could get some dinner! Fortunately, it arrived just as the last person (one of the guides, thank Goodness!) was getting off the log! He had to jump for the shore when he noticed it coming toward him! Though we only saw it's huge, ugly head in the murky water, our guides said it was probably about 10-15 feet long, and could generate enough electric shock to kill a cow or a horse! Fortunately, they knew a different route by which we could get back to our boat, so we didn't have to cross that slough again! But it makes you think, y'know? The Amazon Basin is NOT Disneyland! It is a beautiful but dangerous place where Nature, not man, calls the shots and luck can be as important as awareness.

Another fantastic natural site I highly recommend is Carlsbad Caverns! I have been in several large caves in my life, but this was one of the most amazing natural wonders I have ever seen! If you are ever within a hundred miles of the place, you MUST GO! And be sure to plan to see the bats returning to the cave at sunset! We missed this because we didn't know about it before we arrived and we couldn't stay an extra day to see it the next night. I hope some day I have a chance to return, but it is in a very remote spot.

On a personal note, during my training as an Empowerment Coach I facilitated and was present for some amazing "Aha!" moments with my fellow students. Life-changing breakthroughs, whether my own, or other's, are, to me, even more amazing than the birth of a child. A child is conceived, generally follows its natural course of development and emerges into the world in much the same way as an ocelot or eel, really, but personal transformation, as an adult, is something that is often dearly bought. It doesn't tend to occur naturally, but by purposefully diving in to one's pain body and actively seeking a better way of being. The underlying, purposeful processes can take years and seem unfruitful, but when that insight bubbles to the surface and explodes... WOW!

Teach, Learn, Share

I would like more people to know about Permaculture! Permaculture is a design science that seeks to create sustainable human habitats that care for the Earth, care for the Living Things and yield a reasonable excess for sharing. This is done by looking at all of the elements in the environment, assessing their needs and their products, and setting them up in such a way that every element supports and is supported by as many other elements in the environment as possible. By studying Nature's ways and emulating and encouraging/facilitating/assisting them (or at least minimizing our negative impact on them), we can have Nature working FOR US 24 hours a day. Most "modern" methods of design and production, which depend on cheap (but finite) fossil-fuel energy, actively work against Nature. Permaculture allows us to expend less energy in the long run, because we have allied ourselves with natural processes.

"An Introduction to Permaculture" by Bill Mollison (co-founder of the concept with Dave Holmgren) is an excellent, quick read that may change the way you see EVERYTHING. Brainiacs may enjoy Holmgren's "Permaculture: Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability" (but it's been sitting on my shelf, largely unread, for about four years now). When it comes to Permaculture, my bent is more toward application than deep contemplation of theory.

Countries I’ve Visited

France, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Peru, South Korea

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States

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