Having lived in several communities as an adult, I knew that I was looking for some form of communal living. However, when I attended their first meeting, I realized I didn’t have the patience to go through the planning and building phases that were still ahead for the Blacksburg group. But I kept in touch and eventually things worked out!

Some personal history…I grew up in the suburbs of St. Louis, Missouri. When I was 17, I moved to Los Angeles to attend UCLA as an Art & Design major, and later started my career as a free-lance entrepreneur making jewelry, clothing, and other craft items. In 1970, I backpacked abroad for 4 months from Narvik, Norway, above the Arctic Circle to Morocco in North Africa. Returning to California, I knew in my heart that one day I would live in Italy and Scotland.

After working in the music industry in Hollywood for a few years, I was transferred to San Francisco in 1974. It was there that I heard of Findhorn, a new age, spiritual community in the north of Scotland. On my way to Scotland in 1975, I met a woman in London who asked me to housesit in Tuscany. It was such a great opportunity that I put off going north and headed south. I thoroughly enjoyed the Italian people and countryside as well as the towns and cities I explored.

But Scotland continued to beckon and in 1976, I arrived at Findhorn; it felt like coming home. I enjoyed community life and as a book designer, I brought Celtic Art to the community’s publications. Then, in the winter of 1977, I was offered a position to help organize a world conference in Florence, Italy, which included such luminaries as Bucky Fuller, Pir Inayat Vilayat Khan, Patricia Sun, etc. I spent the next several years in and around Florence. I also lived in Geneva, organizing conferences for the International Humanistic Psychology group.

I returned to Santa Barbara in 1979 to give birth to my son, Mikhael. We moved to Ojai, California, and eventually up to Mt. Shasta, via Spain where we lived in a community run by friends. In 1993, I was offered a job with Oak Meadow, a home-schooling business, as a writer/editor/designer and so we moved to Blacksburg.

I’ve always loved to travel and experience other cultures. In 2003, I returned to Findhorn for 6 months, where the magic was still alive! When I returned to the US, I knew I was ready for co-housing. Fortunately, just as I made this decision, an already built house came up for sale at Shadowlake Village and I bought it, delighted with the synchronicity!

I’ve been here since June 2004 and look forward to deepening my relationships with other members of the community and finding ways to contribute my own unique energy to the group. I enjoy reading, singing, listening to Celtic and classical music, quilting, cooking, talking with friends, exploring spiritual and creative areas, and traveling. I sense many happy years ahead!

March 2005