CURRENT MISSION

Learning to sew 18th century clothing

ABOUT ME

I am a level-headed weirdo who is into gardening, dressing creatively, reading, embroidery, cooking and making things. I live with my husband and 2 fabulous daughters (19 and 13) in a house that is way too small for us and our stuff (no closets). I laugh loudly at stupid jokes and enjoy all sensual pleasures. I am impatient with stupidity and intolerance. I can be a bit of a grammar/spelling nazi. I love frilly girly stuff. Time is more valuable to me than money. I don't understand the concept of boredom.

PHILOSOPHY

I remain optimistic about life in spite of much evidence to the contrary. I'm here to enjoy myself, and hopefully to learn some stuff at the same time (although really, that's part of the enjoyment too). It's quite an exciting game, having to figure out the rules as you go along, or sometimes make them up.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Thus far, I am new to CouchSurfing, and so have not participated in that sense as of yet. But here's how I participate in my community: I do a radio show here in Plainfield VT every other week on WGDR (91.1 FM) where I read from non-fiction books that catch my fancy. I also work at my local food co-op. I live in a small village in VT and have for many years; through all of these means, I have become deeply, gratefully embedded in my wonderful community of oddballs and cranks. I wish everyone could be so fortunate!

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I began my journey into adulthood, at 17, with a sort of extended couchsurfing. I was having a very stormy relationship at the time with my mother, and some slightly older friends graciously offered a place for me and my boyfriend to live -- the floor of their tiny top-floor apartment. It was small and cramped and awkward (cats tore over us every night in their chasing games as we tried to sleep) but for me it was absolute heaven. Since that time, I have couchsurfed on a number of occasions, though never perhaps quite as memorably or for as long. I also have a friend who is a veteran couchsurfer and hitchhiker who at one time couchsurfed with us for so long that he eventually moved in; now he has his own place and only stays for a night very rarely.

Interests

Oh, so many! But I will try to be brief: mushroom hunting, wild edibles, gardening, plants, tiny houses, tree houses, cooking, preserving/homesteading, cocktail geekery, vintage trailers, gypsy wagons, antiques, historical/creative fashions, sewing, embroidery, astrology, primitive skills, reading, old cemeteries, berry picking, A Pattern Language, Barry Long.

• cats
• books
• dining
• cooking
• cocktails
• gardening
• clothing
• reading
• homesteading
• hunting

Music, Movies, and Books

Tom Waits, Jesca Hoop, Flight of the Conchords, Cat Power, Transglobal Underground, Amy Winehouse, Massive Attack, Morcheeba, Rilo Kiley, T Rex, Zero 7, electronica/trip hop, etc. etc. Idiocracy, Castaway On The Moon, Housekeeping, Tampopo, Hairspray, Raising Arizona, Cecil B. Demented, Sex, Lies, and Videotape. Sacred Economics (Charles Eisenstein), Dumbing Us Down (John Taylor Gatto), anything by John Holt, A Child's Work (Vivian Paley), Cold Mountain (Charles Frazier), The Animal Family (Randall Jarrell), Cosmos And Psyche (Richard Tarnas), A Pattern Language (Christopher Alexander), Sassafrass, Cypress and Indigo (Ntozake Shange), Pippi Longstocking (Astrid Lindgren), Possession (A.S. Byatt), Evening (Susan Minot) the book, NOT the crappy movie!!

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

There's nothing that's much more amazing than giving birth. Damn...! I bet dying will be right up there when I get to that, though.

Teach, Learn, Share

I have a wealth of astrological knowledge, as I have been studying on this topic since I was 12 or 13. I'm also quite good on wild plant/mushroom walks and I'm a great cook. I would love to learn a few practical skills: better machine sewing skills (esp. clothing), hunting (esp. bowhunting) and butchering skills, bicycle maintenance, and better carpentry/construction skills.