I love to cook and bake. A few years ago I taught myself how to bake bread and lovely treats by watching the Great British Bake-Off. I have spent three years learning to make everything from the shows. Right now we currently live in a high-altitude place with a really bad oven and I haven’t figured out how to make it well here, but I miss it so much. Baking and cooking can be so therapeutic as well as nutritious.
My family owns a pet tortoise When my middle son was 6 years old he wanted a
turtle for his birthday, so we bought a Russian Tortoise and named him Toby. That middle son is now 22 and guess who still wakes up and feeds the turtle every day. He is a good studio pet, very quiet, mostly because he loves to sleep in his light.
I love to paint on furniture. Ever since a little girl I have painted on furniture and still
do to this day. Last year I bought old furniture from an antique store up in Washington
State. I painted and refinished some of it and am storing other pieces, in anticipation of
getting a bigger place. I am looking forward to painting wildflowers and birds all over it.
(See my blog very soon for a post about how I transformed an old cedar chest.)
I love to garden another thing I got better at by watching British TV. I spent 30 years of
my life being an average American gardener, and then I went and watched several seasons of Monty Don and Gardener’s World and suddenly I could name things in Latin and grow plants from seed. I spent an entire year living next to a Strawberry Farm and growing the most amazing plants.
I go birdwatching when I can, while living in the PNW we would regularly get out to
look for Eagles and other wonderful birds. I watched an eagle's nest with Mom, Dad, and
baby every day on my walk last summer. Living on a farm, birds became a huge part of my life, we bought guide books, I learned to photograph them and we even can now identify their calls. What amazing creatures birds are. You can see some of my photos here from my collection of birds.
The ocean soothes my soul, my name means “of the sea” in Latin, and my whole
being gets excited and I feel a connection to the sea every time I get near to it. The smell, the light, the water, the sound. I have searched my whole life to live near it, and have been lucky in the last six years of traveling to be able to be close several times. Every coastline is different and I love them all.
I am a geek with photography, I have loved photography ever since I picked up my
dad's old 35 mm in 1985. Since then I have taught myself every aspect of cameras and editing. I am no professional, but the photos I take are artistic and different. Here is a link to a collection in my gallery, I hope you like it too.
I have three amazing children and a wonderful husband.Not that this is quirky, but it's just something that I am proud of. I am a mother to a 24-year-old, 22-year-old, and soon a 20-year-old. I think all mothers are saints in their own ways, and God Bless us, everyone.
I use to teach dance, Yes, I started off in the theatre and teaching dance. It was what I
did with my younger self, after my teenage dance lessons and competitions. I taught Tap, Jazz, Ballet, and Baton Twirling. It was a hoot, but it just wasn’t in me to keep it up, and eventually faded away into getting my teaching license for elementary school.
I have tons and tons of books in my “to read” pile. And I will get to them
someday. I wasn’t much of a reader until about 15 years ago and then I got a kindle and
discovered I could read everywhere. I love books, I love deals on books, and I am a very
slow reader, but I sure do enjoy it, just not more than art.
