Photographer, writer, traveler. Family and Community are everything.

I would prefer to live outdoors, love to hike, walk, and explore; I like to hear people's stories, share experiences, and have quiet moments.
I find experiencing different natural landscapes exhilarating: I am in awe at how nature can utterly consume and provide such space all at once.
I am always up for an adventure, and am a lover of art and all types of music. I like to play cards, board games and have fun. I hate socks and purses and really don't like chocolate. Ice cream is a food group, as is anything with caramel, I make wicked jams and jellies and collect cookbooks and dictionaries, among other things.

I have done an eclectic array of jobs, including working as an aircraft maintenance engineer and as a shoeshine girl.

I currently work as a Business Consultant and as a Photographer. In 2004 I sold my townhouse and went to university for a bachelor's degree. I studied Second Language Teaching and minored in Aboriginal studies, but mostly learned about myself.

I recently purchased a house in Vanier, a lovely French Canadian community neighbourhood minutes from downtown Ottawa and the Byword Market.

Guests are a terrific reason to keep the house clean and super great for cooking experiments.

Community and building community is very important to me, as is solitude and times to centre myself.

I am adaptable, creative and open so I am usually happy wherever I am.

I have 2 cats, Patches and Ginger

I am known by some as The Jam Lady and Auntie M. My dream is to open an Auntie M's community-based business that will sell my jams, jellies and pickles, etc., as well as locally made foods, along with art work, older lithographs and such but affordably- to encourage people to surround themselves with art and to promote local and other artists. I also want to have jam making and baking lessons on offer. I have a sizable book collection, that I want to have available in a reading room where one can come to relax, read, build language skills, have language tutoring lessons, or just a bite to eat.

PHILOSOPHY

Oscar Wilde says: Be yourself, everyone else is already taken. I say: Unless, of course, you're a natural born serial killer...

Be aware and happy in the present; look ahead always: there is so much to be, learn, do and share.

“The last of human freedoms - the ability to chose one's attitude in a given set of circumstances.” Viktor Frankl

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Have hosted and stayed - all great experiences.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I couch-surfed in Sedona, Arizona in May 2011: wonderful experience!! I have hosted several times over the past few years.

Have met up with locals for chats and coffees, at home and abroad.

Interests

Anything outdoors; photography; writing; reading; puzzles, both the kind with pieces that go missing and the ones you do with a pencil; movies; art; working with my hands; people-especially my family. If I could walk or hike, write and cook meals with fresh food every day, and be paid for it somehow, I'd be in M heaven.
I make wicked jams and jellies, using mostly local ingredients, and love to cook. I really do experiment on guests, but they keep coming back, so I keep experimenting.
I love gardens and gardening, star gazing, walks at night and spending time in graveyards and other places of solitude.

• cats
• arts
• writing
• books
• photography
• dining
• cooking
• baking
• gardening
• movies
• board games
• reading
• puzzles
• music
• outdoor activities
• hiking
• business
• engineering

Music, Movies, and Books

Avid reader, love music, art, cooking, movies of all genres. Currently reading about digital SLR cameras, a medieval cook book, a few mystery/ psychological thriller novels, books on Arizona, the latest photography magazine, and the daily paper.
Alistair McLean; Simon R. Green; Giles Blunt; Kathy Reichs - too many authors to list :)

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Experienced pods of Narwhal coming together for mating, play, etc. over 4 magical hours. One whale surfaced and breached about 20 feet in front of the ice where some of us were standing. Several people with kick a** equipment didn't even take one pic- we just experienced and then it was over. This was in Nunavut on a floe edge tour with Polar Sea Adventures. I was doing some cooking for the tour./ So many experiences that I can list here! I am a grateful girl to have so many to choose from to share. This one ranks at the top of that list for sure.

Teach, Learn, Share

I am always learning and always willing to share and pass along things that others find helpful and useful.

Countries I’ve Visited

Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, Canada, Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, France, Germany, Iceland, India, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Maldives, Mexico, Mongolia, Nepal, Portugal, Singapore, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Canada