Ajijic

Please Note: Sadly I will no longer participate in International Swaps. Postage is so high and getting more so every year, but what really disturbs me is that so many swaps just don't reach my partner. And for that reason I will do mostly US swaps. Sorry.

I have been retired for a number of years and find that very delightful. Have been married to the most wonderful man for more than 40 years.Life is great. We lived in Palo Alto, California for almost 30 years and they were great years. Northern California in the early 70s was the corridor to heaven. Unbelievably beautiful, wherever you were. The freeways were lined with Oleander. Wonderful fruit orchards with the best apricots in the world. I could go on and on. But then came the computer businesses and people beyond people and the flowers and orchards were replaced with concrete. So, about 9 years ago we 'escaped'. Never regretted it at all.

Here in Reno I belong to a quilting guild and a small private group, we get together somewhat frequently and usually do shoe box projects. Sometimes we meet for lunch only, or go some place exciting.

Every Morning (M - F) I walk for about 50 min. It's a good way to start off the day.

I love trees. The most beautiful thing for me is to walk through a forest and see the sun shine through the trees.And listen for bird serenading and little critters rustling about. My emphasis is on little critters. Once I saw a bear not very far from where I was and it scared the dickens out of me. That was only once and that definitely is enough.

In the winter we usually spend several months in Mexico.

Life is a continuous series of treats!

I love to eat. Cooking is a great pleasure for me and baking even more.

I love licorice.

One of my favorite people is Shirley MacLaine. I think she is terrific. A favorite author is Barbara Kingsolver, I have all her books, The Poisenwood Bible is terrific and I have read it more than once.

CRAFTS. Besides rubber stamping my favorite things are photography, gardening, making packages, and doing swaps, eating, reading, listen to music. One of my favorite writers is Barbara Kingsolver.

My collection of rubber stamps is rather large, however, I am always looking for Ken Brown stamps and would love to trade.

Altering almost anything is fun! Especially books or matchboxes or Altoid type tins.

Lately I picked up quilting again. Many years ago I gave it a try and started buying fabrics, but then I got into stamping and that one won. Both are rather time consuming. But now I am back at quilting (and buying fabrics!!!) and mostly I make smaller quilts for or 'Loving Laps' charity.

I am a dabbler at lots and master of none!

Swap-Bot. I love doing swaps and reading profiles on Swap-Bot. What a great organization this is! So many wonderful and interesting people . At the end of my profile I used to list flakers but I now have deleted them. Those people are despicable and not worth a second thought. Every time I saw that grouping it annoyed me. So now they are gone. Non-raters are another group of unlikable folks. Why are they like that? Especially those who have this big announcement in their profile of pledging to rate.

SWAPS. It is greatly appreciated if you write on the outside of the envelope the name of the swap.

ABOUT RATINGS. I put my heart into all my swaps and would never dream of flaking. If a problem arises I will contact my swap partner, please do the same. If for some reason you have not been rated then most likely I haven't received the swap, so please PM me. Also, if you receive something from me and there was postage due, please let me know and I will pay for that immediately. Often I use older stamps from my previous collection and the glue might not be as good as the new ones.

DISLIKES besides flakers and non-raters are things that are considered cute. I am not into cute, like Hello Kitty or Kawaii or children related stickers etc. Disney is my No. 1 dislike. Please DO NOT send me any little snips of papers, I have boxes full of that.

Fragrances.

Candles

Violence

Guns. If I watch a show and within the first few minutes there are dead people and a lot of firing and screaming, well, off goes this program. The same fate goes with too much cussing. Is there really a need for that?

I recycle packing materials and envelopes. If they are not torn I use them again to protect the environment. You can do this as well when you send to me, please.

Rock and Roll, Moody Blues, Pink Floyd, Yes, Grateful Dead, Zucchero, etc. All the great bands, gosh, there was a lot of wonderful music out there. Having lived in the Bay Area in the 70s had it advantages. It seems that all the great band gave concerts in San Francisco and I went to lots of them. Seen almost everyone I wanted to, a special treat was the Floyd. Absolutely. And the Stones, and U2 and and and ....

I am quite fond of movies and my very very all-time favorite is 'Notorious' with Ingrid Bergman and Cary Grant. This movie I have seen so often I could just about recite is frame by frame. Wonderful film.

Not too crazy about TV. A good bet is always PBS with their Nature programs and 'Independent Lens' and 'Front line'. Also their evening news programs. Nothing ever seems to offend me on PBS. But lately we have discovered Netflix and I am hooked! I just love the ease to watch their programs.

I am fond of postcards, especially non-touristy but all are great. Honestly I must say I have never thrown a postcard away. Over the years I collected those that people sent me from vacations and travels etc. They are written on and with stamps, they filled a large shoe box.

Then I started collecting vintage cards and they are in a 3-ring binder in protective holders, mostly Valentines and also some Christmas. I look at them quite often. So beautiful. There must be about 40 of them.

My collection got rather large and I have enough! No space. So please don't send any postcards to me. Thanks. Except ---

I would like to collect postcards of Royal Families and US Presidents and their families. Now I have two, Dwight D. Eisenhower and Mamie on their wedding day and John F. Kennedy. What treasures.

I like anything from the 60s or 70ts

Small fabric scraps (100% cotton)

Charms

Georgia O'Keefe, Maxfield Parrish

Art Deco

Tim Holtz

Stencils I love stencils