CURRENT MISSION

Kate: To embrace the new phases of my life with enthusiasm and fortitude. To laugh more and worry less.

ABOUT ME

I'm a friendly, fun-loving person who, along with my even friendlier husband, likes to meet people and host get-togethers.

I was a part-time reference librarian in a public library for thirty years, but that was just my career. Although work can be fun (oh the stories I've told about patrons...), my life is really all about what happens when I'm not at work. My husband and I moved out of the first co-housing community finished in America where we lived for 22 years raising our kids and enjoying our community. With the kids out of the house, we are trying to take advantage of a bigger house and new-found freedom.

My husband Bill has always been very sociable. He says, "I like talking with people I have just met to hear about where they come from, what they care about, and their life stories and philosophies. For fun, I enjoy singing, playing guitar, listening to music, hiking, biking, back-country skiing, and cooking. Now that my kids are grown and independent (or nearly so) I especially like learning from them and their friends as they explore new ideas and try out new jobs and career possibilities."

PHILOSOPHY

Kate: "The best thing is to keep a balance in your life, acknowledge the great powers around us and in us. If you can do that, and live that way, you are really wise."

Bill: Life is best when we can keep in mind compassion for others and ourselves, work to create social justice and environmental sustainability, while making time to laugh, have fun, and enjoy each other. I am grateful for the beauty and mystery of nature, and especially places less touched by human activity

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

We plan to both host and be hosted!

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE
I've only stayed a few places, but I've often hosted couchsurfers from near and far.

Interests

Kate: I love stimulating conversations and enjoy spontaneous discussions as well as the monthly salon we started with some friends to talk about science, social issues and progressive politics. I especially love it when our kids and their friends engage in talking about big issues with us.

I love to dance, garden, go birding, hang with friends, make collages, and write.

We have a cabin in the Sierras and being there is one of the main pleasures of my life. Even when there is a lot of work to be done I still love being where the scenery can't be beat and being truly away from it all.

Books have always been a major interest of mine; I am a librarian after all. Of course I like to read, but I also like to know about them, organize them, and (gasp) alter them.

I haven't traveled all that widely, but I've really enjoyed getting away sometimes. I can be very adventuresome and open to trying all kinds of activities and accommodations, but I confess to a squeamishness about food, let's just say I'm less adventuresome in that area. Even though I'm a little shy, I love to get to know new people and be exposed to new ideas and ways of looking at things.

I like to keep fit and enjoy going to my step class three times a week. At age 60 I began backpacking with my husband in the High Sierras. For the last ten years we've been hiking sections of the John Muir Trail.

Bill: I play guitar and sing with Odd Man Out and we play a couple times a month at friendly local pubs, mainly old rock and roll and some folk, acoustic or amplified depending on venue. I love hiking off-trail in the Sierra Nevadas, and back-country skiing to and from the family cabin. The instant social life of our co-housing community has been great, because I love impromptu get-togethers and parties.

My work on California Climate Change policy and the Cap-and-Trade regulation keeps me very busy weekdays. I feel lucky to get to work with a team of smart, motivated people with the common mission of confronting perhaps the most challenging man-made environmental problem ever.

• arts
• books
• literature
• poetry
• singing
• beauty
• dining
• cooking
• partying
• pub crawls
• politics
• socializing
• music
• guitar
• cycling
• hiking
• skiing
• communications
• science

Music, Movies, and Books

Music: We both love Folk, celtic, rock and roll, salsa, country and anything with beautiful voices and harmonies

Kate: I love to read fiction and listen to nonfiction. My favorite authors are Barbara Kingsover, Michael Perry, Robin Wall Kimmerer, and Richard Powers

Bill: recent books include: The Fabric of the Cosmos, The Shock Doctrine, Cryptonomicon, Neuromancer. Favorite authors include: Barbara Kingsolver, Naomi Klein,

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Kate: So far I've hiked 140 miles on the JMT and a lot more off.

Countries I’ve Visited

Argentina, Austria, Bhutan, Canada, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cuba, Czech Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, Hungary, India, Mexico, Nepal, Poland, Scotland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States