CURRENT MISSION

Focus on the positive in my life and the community in which I live.
ABOUT ME

Mel and I are retired and spend time taking long walks - often with our dog, Chrissy, planning and taking trips - mainly to visit our children, and volunteering in the community. Melinda tries to paint most days and has a website: www.melindasilverfineart.com, and is represented by The Art Club Gallery of New Mexico, www.artclubgallerynm, and during the Santa Fe Studio Tour, www.santafestudiotour.com and periodically at local juried shows.

We converted our 2-car garage into a studio for Melinda, where she works in watercolor, acrylics, encaustic and oil and cold wax collage. We both enjoy feeding the birds a lot, and Mel is keeping up his lap swimming. We also enjoy bicycling to eat - with a good cafe as a usual destination of any bike trip.

PHILOSOPHY

Always keep learning; look for the beauty in simple things; it's never too late to reinvent yourself.

我为什么加入 Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

We enjoy meeting people from all over the world.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

We have enjoyed all of our guests; learning new ideas, discovering new places to shop on the Internet, enjoying a home-cooked meal from India, sharing our favorite hiking spots and galleries, and learning about Slovenia, a place in the world that we previously could not even locate on a map. When we couchsurfed in Granada, we learned about the city from the inside, and learned about the life of ex-pat Americans. We highly recommend couchsurfing as a way of meeting interesting people and learning about their culture.

兴趣

• birds
• culture
• beauty
• gardening
• shopping
• painting
• drawing
• cycling
• hiking
• swimming
• communications
• volunteering

音乐、电影和书籍

Melinda - favorite books: "Confederates in the Attic," by Tony Horowitz' "Bel Canto" by Ann Patchett, the autobiography of Sonia Sotameyer. We both enjoyed reading "Postville" and discussing its many social issues. Other good books: "A Gesture Life," and "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks." We have watched "The Triplets of Belleville" many times, and recently finished two excellent series "Charite" and "Charite in the War." Mel could watch "Doc Martin" forever, while Melinda prefers "Call the Midwife." The Belgium version of "Professor T" is another favorite.

我做过的一件不可思议的事情

With the family, took a trip to the Ecuadorian Amazon, spending four days touring in a dugout canoe and living in a cabin on stilts with a nest of a mother dove and her four newborns hanging above the extra bed in the room. But I am also still in awe of the sky outside my home. Just getting up in the morning and looking up is always an amazing experience.

教，学，和分享

Melinda has lectured frequently, mainly to other lawyers, on the health care reform efforts that occurred in the U.S. this past decade, and whether and how they will make a difference in the health, cost and quality of health care for Americans. She also helped firm and is active with www.icpesantafe.org, supporting local public education efforts.

我可以与沙发主分享些什么

Good stories; favorite recipes, painting tips - how to break free of conventions - hints on traveling without organized tours. Mel can help you understand the world around you. He will help you find interesting things all around you that you had not noticed in the past.

我游览过的国家

Austria, Belgium, Canada, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Ecuador, Finland, France, Guadeloupe, Hong Kong, Hungary, Israel, Mexico, Netherlands, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States

我居住过的国家

Greece, Italy, United States

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