CURRENT MISSION

zeroing in on gratitude then squooshing it all around like happy finger paint. Sometimes I just hold it quiietly, too. Yup.

ABOUT ME

Alive and interested and grateful with bouts of sorrow at the human condition.
Daughter of two progressive Protestant Ministers who met in seminary. Seem to wind up bridging worlds.
Going to graduate school and now working an awesome job while finishing up. Decades of social services work before that (including child welfare, Head Start, federal program management).
1st marriage to a carpenter--3 boys born, getting pretty grown up. Marvelous people!
Married now to an artist who does both painting and graphic narritives.
Kids attend an alternative school.
Dog and cat--older. Fish in garden ponds. Flowers and herbs in the summer.
Write poetry and publish modestly.
Started a womens' group with 2 other women. Now the group is 10 years old and going strong.
I don't look or act my age (except at bedtime, when I'm tuckered out.)

PHILOSOPHY

Kindness is good.... and rather challenging to thoroughly practice. May all sentient beings have happiness and the causes of happiness....

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I've surfed and hosted both--and have found both experiences even more sweet and enriching than I ever hoped!

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Surfed in England and San Diego--Marvelous experiences each and all. Have hosted quite a bit now and love that, as well. CS is brilliant and gives me hope for human being-ness.
Before this site my couchsurfing was limited to my youth when we called it hanging out. I am not a sightseer in the usual sense. I wish more to be a visionseer and that means just BEING places. I used to be hardier than I am now--I've become fond of having a safe place to sleep and an indoor toilet.

Interests

I am a reader of everything and a writer of essays and poetry. I love Trees and birds and flowers and flowing water. I enjoy natural beauty immensely. Little babies and children delight me and we seem to get on well. Fish and birds have become increasingly important to my sense of well-being.
Poetry, music and art hold the secrets of the universe. So does sitting still. So does laughing.

• cats
• dogs
• birds
• fish
• arts
• writing
• poetry
• beauty
• causes
• education
• coach
• meditation
• gardening
• flowers
• painting
• music
• fishing
• buddhist
• teaching

Music, Movies, and Books

The Story of the Weeping Camel, Khadak, Mongolian Ping Pong, Dead Man, The Sea Inside, The New World, Field of Dreams, oh heck...
I can NEVER think of these at times like this!!Music: Low, Mogwai, Bach, Arvo Paarte, David Darling, Lull, Lambchop, Bonnie Prince Billy, Cat Power, Post-rock, Crystal singing bowls and Native Flute. Melodic, meditative. FUNK! too.
Lots of poets--pretty eclectic but a bit picky.
Lee Smith as an author, Toni Morrison, Barbara Kingsolver and classics, too....Also love them mystery novels--the ones set in unique times and places really are fun (Lindsey Davis, Arinna Franklin, Anne Perry...). I download BBC comedies and dramas to watch with my 12 year old: Ballykissangel, Black Books, Red Dwarf, Rosemary and Thyme.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

There have been moments when the air was suffused with light and everything got very different.

What have been most amazing for me have been moments--sometimes in striking scenery (the Badlands, the Ocean, the Rockies) but sometimes in my backyard, the arms of my beloveds.

Teach, Learn, Share

I seek some sanity in this kooky world. ("Compared to what?" my mate would ask.) I am a student of Tibetan Buddhism (not a very diligent one, but a sincere one). I am also engaged with several groups and individuals that are practicing being very quiet together so that good things happen (meditation, I guess). I sometimes can help people with what they are thinking about (life coach, writing coach, career coach). I am a decent poet and can be supportive of someone who's trying to find their writing voice. I am fairly knowledgeable about: Early Childhood Education and Care, Arts Based Research, organizational change in workplaces and small group settings, grant writing. I think I want to see other places and hang out with folks from different ways of being. I can "read" Rune Stones, I Ching, etc.

Countries I’ve Visited

United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States

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