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Pocahontas said it best, "We are all connected to each other - in a hoop, in a circle that never ends."  I first discovered this when I lived in Monterrey, Mexico, during my junior year in college with the Jose Gonzalez family, then reaffirmed it while serving in the Peace Corps in Tanzania, East Africa.  My travels since then have taken me around the world and I have always been blessed to meet kind, gracious people in every land.  I have lived in Texas, South Dakota, Oregon, Philadelphia, Hawaii, Tanzania and Mexico. In 2002 I retired to Oaxaca, Mexico, which is about 300 miles SW of Mexico City.  Oaxaca was named the world's #1 travel destination in 2020 by Travel + Leisure Magazine.  You can see photos of it and many of my other travel destinations by clicking the links above. 

I speak pretty good Spanish and some Swahili. If you corner me to name my favorite country I will say Mexico. My favorite city would be Oaxaca although Mexico City is my favorite world capital. I love all kinds of food, especially Mexican, Thai, Indian, Italian and Chinese. I really feel that I am a Citizen of the World rather than American. I am comfortable wherever I land.

I have many interests: world travel, computers, good books, writing, photography, music (everything except rap), exercise, working on my home, and spending time with my friends, family and my pets (Lucy, Luna and Sombra, my dogs and my cats, Gatita and Gris). I have too much education, probably trying to compensate for flunking out of the University of Texas my junior year. It was a real wakeup call for me and I went on to attend six universities (U. of Texas, U. of Hawaii, U. of N. Colorado, Hawaii Pacific U., Syracuse U., & Monterrey Mexico Institute of Technology) and earned three degrees.  On a dare, I got into Mensa but decided the people there were not my type.  Living in Hawaii for 19 years, I had some incredible jobs.  I was Executive Director of the Hawaiian Fashion Guild and I taught at Hawaii Pacific University in Honolulu for 12 years and served as Acting Dean of the Travel Industry Management Program.  I left Hawaii in 1990 after the cost of living became unbearable and most of my friends and students had left.  Finally in 1994, I landed a job with Dell Computers in Austin, Texas, which forever changed my life.  I rode the dot-com bust down but my stocks returned strong enough for me to retire early.  I crossed the border the day after I turned 60 and never looked back.

I am a third generation Texan although I have lived away from the Lone Star State for most of my life.  My grandparents' hotel where I grew up in West Texas is now a museum and I say you know you are old when your home is a museum and you have not been the President.  I have been fortunate to travel around the world and at last count I have visited 54 countries.  Even now I am planning my next safari.

The thing of which I am most proud in my life is my daughter, Alexis, whom I raised as a single parent. She worked in television in Boston, where she graduated from Boston University, but she and her husband, Rich, are moving to Austin. We are best friends and I truly feel blessed to have shared the life of such a remarkable person. She has my love for travel and feels that a jet plane is public transportation.

I have been active in my church but I have enjoyed Buddhist ceremonies, Catholic services, and other religious gatherings. My faith has carried me through difficult times and I know there is a power greater than I am. In Oaxaca, I often stop and meditate at the Church of Santo Domingo. I have been in Saint Peter's Cathedral in Rome but I prefer Santo Domingo.

I am very handy with tools and computers but I cannot cook. I think I have a fear that if I ever get hooked on cooking I will end up bloated. I do have an eating disorder though: if you put food in front of me I will eat it. I was Dining Editor for Hawaii Airlines in-flight magazine for a year and learned to appreciate good cuisine.
In 2010, I published Life’s Roller Coaster, a collection of stories about my life in Texas, Mexico, Tanzania, Philadelphia, Hawaii, and places all over the globe where I have lived or traveled.  In 2014, I dusted off a manuscript, Home to Chunya, about my Peace Corps days in Tanzania, East Africa, and printed it. Click the covers for more information.
Oaxaca at twilightOaxaca, Mexico, at dusk.
Home to Chunya
Click on the links above to see photos of Mexico and My World
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