A Snippet of My Life

It is easy to come to a web site and have no idea of who creates it, tends it with care, nourishes it, makes it grow. So, I have decided to share a bit of my life. I am married to a wonderful man and have been for 33+ years. We have a delightful daughter who is married to a dear man. My husband has recently retired. He is a lawyer, but still keeps rising to the challenges by consulting. His career was in Mass Media. He is well known and respected in industry and government. Husband is now adjusting to retirement. That is not always easy for a man. I have a BS degree in Early Childhood Development and used it to rear our lovely daughter along with good common sense. I had no interest in really working in the field teaching or working outside the home once our daughter was born. Instead, I decided to stay home to take care of my family. That seemed to me to be the most important job of all and my husband was fine with that decision. I got a Cosmetology Degree, while our daughter attended Kindergarten, and opened a Beauty Consulting Business. Our home was zoned for it so I could stay at home and work in that field. I did that for 24 years. It was great fun. I met many wonderful people who would never would have crossed my path, otherwise. Their journeys and sharing kept my mind sharp. The cosmetology license gave me the tools to be creative, as well. These many clients became my friends over the 24 years. I literally closed my door after two years and stopped accepting any more clients.

My home is an historic property, built in 1893. It is a four-story, semi-detached town home in the Embassy Row area of Washington, DC. We live approximately ten blocks from the White House, near the Washington Hilton where President Reagan was shot, are in the art gallery district, and are surrounded by beautiful historic residences and embassies. We are able to walk everywhere. Scores of restaurants are just out our door and around the corner as well as little boutique specialty shops, art galleries, museums, i.e., The Phillips Collection, The Textile Museum, The Woodrow Wilson House, etc. There are too many in the area to enumerate. The metro trains are one and half blocks away so we can get anywhere, by train, in minutes. The Smithsonian Institution is a regular haunt. Hubby and I attend many lectures and tours to the endless collections. There are always free concerts, poetry readings, well known speakers, and varied intellectual pursuits at our fingertips. We regularly go to concerts, plays and symphonies. The Kennedy Center is walking distance from our home. Washington, DC is a wonderful place to live. You can never be bored here.

We spend many fun filled hours horsing around in Virginia Horse County. In our early years of riding we rode Thoroughbreds. We started as schooled English riders. Our daughter did Pony Club. She really did not like it because the Thoroughbred was a flea-bitten gray and our child hated spending all that time trying to get Little Bee clean. Riding was what she wanted to do, and did! My friend gave us Little Bee. Bee was a race horse whose registry name was GoVanGough. Little Bee taught all of us to have a really good seat! We have two gaited horses, now, Rusty Man and A Patchy Star. Rusty is a Kentucky Mountain Saddle Horse and A Patchy Star is a Spotted Mountain Horse. He is a tri-colored tobiano--very sweet and beautiful. Rusty and A Patchy are boarded near the Manassas Battlefield at the "perfect" setting. A lovely couple love them and care for them in our absence. The owner of the property has the cutest 3-year old Farnley Pony-Welsh Thoroughbred cross. He is always getting into mischief. We feel so fortunate to be able to have them live here and to be able to ride hours at the Battlefield. The terrain is so varied. There are fields, tree lined trails, many streams, ponds, birds, fox, deer, coyote, and vegetation of all sorts. The trails are beautifully maintained, and for the most part, the footing is wonderful. Both our horses are barefoot. The Civil War history of the Battlefield makes the ground hallowed and really special. We have ridden for the National Capital Park Police in Maryland, as mounted volunteers, for about 5 years. At the Battlefield we rode for the Park in the same capacity for almost two years.

If we cross a stream from one of the quadrants of the Manassas Battlefield we are able to go into a State Park, Bull Run, ride that park; access the Blue Bell Trail, and ride another 17 miles through several interconnecting State Parks all the way to Occoquan to a waterway that leads to the Chesapeake. Middleburg is not too far from us. We are able to ride the Virginia Arboretum and many other wonderful trails. With a minimum amount of effort we can go into Maryland and ride the C&O Canal. You can actually ride 150 miles to Cumberland, West Virginia. There are also many parks in Maryland that have bridle trails. In Washington, DC we can ride a large area of Rock Creek Park. We have done this a number of times. The ride even takes us past the National Zoo.

Riding and travelling are our passion. We have travelled to all the continents except Antarctica. The countries are varied and many. We just returned from a trip to India and Nepal. It was quite exoctic, mystical, and interesting. You can read the article about it in the Travel Section on the Home Page. Next we plan to take a trip to South Africa and then fly up to Victoria Falls. Before that trip we plan to fly to Nevada and then look into taking a helicopter to the Grand Canyon. It is our understanding that you can do this and actually fly to the bottom of the canyon, have lunch and champagne, then fly back to Sin City. My husband wants to visit Japan. We both are exploring the idea of taking a river boat cruise down the Danube. We try to ride the native horses in every country we visit. At times we could only get camels and elephants. Oh well, you take what you can get!

That is enough about my life. In any event, because of my friend, Frank's generosity and graciousness, he has taught me to use a computer and code html. He has opened up an infinite vista to disseminate information, learn from my research, share information that visitors to my site have shared, and at the same time be creative. I am so grateful and fortunate to have him in my life. Thank you, Frank