CURRENT MISSION

To live life fully - hike on my days off, watch movies, do cross-stitch, get outside and work on the garden.

ABOUT ME

I am a classical musician (violist) who has played 30+ full time professional years in various orchestras around the country (Oklahoma Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, Colorado Symphony and most recently Alabama Symphony). I live in Hoover, which is the 2nd suburb just south of Birmingham and we have a nice rather large house there where we are still working on getting ready to be able to host couchsurfers again. In case people are not familiar with Alabama and Birmingham, it is beautiful, hilly, green country and the suburbs south of Birmingham (Homewood and Hoover) are quite hilly with lots of trees. The southern close suburbs are very close to Birmingham by car - 20 minutes driving from my house gets you into the downtown area of Birmingham. I really enjoy meeting new people and love hosting people at my house. I have now hosted several people and had a wonderful time. I am an avid hiker and lead hikes for the Sierra Club in the Jackson Hole area each summer. I also am an event organizer (hikeleader) for the Birmingham Hiking Group on Meetup.com.

PHILOSOPHY

I believe that family and friends are very important in one's lives and while I don't always have time to keep in touch with everyone, I am happy to meet new wonderful people. I consider myself a spiritual person, but am not a church-goer. I am happy to host anybody that respects my beliefs and understands that I don't necessarily share their beliefs.

Por qué estoy en Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

When I joined couch-surfing, I was taking a year off from my job here in Birmingham, Alabama and was having a great time experiencing a winter in Jackson Hole, WY. In 2010, I settled back in to my previous house in Hoover, but have since moved to a larger house. I now live with my boyfriend/partner and his name is Chris. The new house has a lovely guest bedroom with a queen size bed. Also, I have a music studio downstairs which has a nice fold down futon sleeper couch and a full bathroom plus a small kitchenette. We have towels, sheets and everything you might need, including wireless internet. There is a cat and I have asthma, so there can be no smoking anywhere inside or outside the house. We do have a little front patio area as well as a screened in porch on the back, both with a table and chairs. I will change my couchsurfing status once we have settled into the house enough to host visitors.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I met Rose, a lovely young lady who lives in Jackson Hole, when I had a wonderful year off a few years ago, we would sometimes go hiking or skiing together when our schedules permitted. Also met Pam King and her husband when I was visiting Park City, Utah. We did a great hike together and had a nice afternoon tea after the hike. I couch-surfed with Gerri Frank in Cincinnati, Ohio for 3 days in 2010 and had a wonderful time in her lovely home. A few years ago, I went to Europe for 2 weeks. I was unable to stay with Slavomira Jencova in Prague, but was invited to her apartment for a lovely dinner with her and her friends. She is a wonderful person and I was so thrilled to be able to meet her and get to know people in Prague. From there, I stayed with Anita Hellein in Vienna. She had a lovely apartment and we attended musical performances at the Staatsoper and the Musikverein. She was a very gracious host and also had a brunch where I got to meet her friends. She came to visit me in Jackson Hole, Wyoming the summer of 2012 and we had a terrific time. I was so thrilled that I was able to directly return a couch-surfing experience. I spent an evening with Rainbow-Ani in Bregenz, Switzerland as I was passing through. She was kind enough to have me stay in her beautiful apartment and brought me to a wonderful jazz performance at a nearby town. She fed me a great breakfast the following morning early to get me on way to my next destination.

I have hosted a band called Sister Crayon two different times and a classical conductor named Paul, a cross-country traveler named Bill, plus a visiting marketer named Nagena.

Intereses

Hiking, cross-stitch and bead weaving, yoga, genealogy, antiques, biking, Pilates.

• cats
• arts
• performing arts
• festivals
• breakfast
• yoga
• pilates
• gardening
• movies
• music
• classical music
• violin
• cycling
• hiking
• skiing
• genealogy

Música, películas y libros

Classical music (most of the time), Classic Jazz, World Music, Books on CD. My favorite book growing up was Jane Eyre. These days, I have rather an eclectic taste in both movies and books, but do not tend to have favorites. My favorite way of relaxing after a long day is watching a movie and cross-stitching.

Algo increíble que he hecho

I think that the most amazing experiences have actually been in the Jackson Hole area over the last 29 summers that I have been coming to the area to play viola for the Grand Teton Music Festival. I have done most of the hikes in the area, some of them several times. They are always wonderfully amazing experiences in their own way. These are some of the hardest hikes that exist anywhere and the scenery is often extremely breath-taking.

Enseña, aprende, comparte

What kinds of skills or information could you share with someone? What would you like to learn? I generally teach violin and viola, but currently have only a couple of students in my teaching studio. I find that it rejuvenates interest when one takes a bit of a break. Mondays are my day off and I have been enjoying having my Mondays off so I can go hiking. There is some great hiking here in the Birmingham area - Oak Mountain State Park, Ruffner Mountain, the new Red Mountain Park, Moss Rock Preserve, plus there are other places in the state, Cheaha State Park, etc. I am interested in a lot of subjects and am just waiting for when it is time to retire so I can go back to school and start learning all those things I don't have time for right now. I would love to host Spanish-speaking guests so that I can improve my skills in Spanish.

Países que he visitado

Argentina, Aruba, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Egypt, Germany, Honduras, Hungary, Ireland, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, Romania, Singapore, Switzerland, Tunisia, United Kingdom, Uruguay

Países en los que he vivido

United States