I love being in the Northwest. I grew up in Minnesota, not far from the Mississippi River, and spent my youth running, biking, and cross-country skiing along the riverbanks. When my husband and I moved to Tacoma for new jobs, I had to get used to some hills! Instead of carrying canoes over portages I learned to love backpacking.

My twin sons have grown up as true Northwesterners, without much canoeing experience and preferring to ski downhill rather than slogging up on the skinny skis.  I enjoyed the years they were in school and I could help in their classrooms and do art projects, but those days have passed and they're now finishing college. Now I look forward to the calls I get--perhaps not as often as I would like! I do still have a yellow labrador retriever at home who wants all the attention I can give her!

I find gardening and growing my own food important, and work a community garden plot as well as my beds at home. The Northwest is a great place to garden (a much longer growing season than Minnesota!). I like to cook and bake with everything I can grow, particularly if I can share them with my friends.

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I have been a maker/do-er from an early age (having recently done some welding!) and I love doing my own tiling, painting, and electrical work. I mostly  on my own home but am always game for helping a friend or two!  My current passion is ceramics. I have loaded my house and my friends' and relatives' houses  with lots of items from my pottery classes. I can walk to my classes from my house - Tacoma is an awesome place to live!