“About.”

Hmm….

Since we’ve only just met, I’ll use a broad brush.

I am a small-town girl who still has big dreams and both the passion and the energy to pursue them. I want to use my “troisième âge,” as the French so graciously call retirement, to do whatever I can to help make people of all ages smile and to improve children’s literacy skills.

I’ve published 24 books in the past three years, but know that I’m not doing enough to try to stop the decline in our ability to use language to express ideas that might have a positive impact on the world. I’m in the process of editing my fifth book for John Diggs, my Co-Host on MappineerVille.com and a man who mirrors my Love for Life unlike any other.

I am someone who is always either a 1 or a 10 on any survey I have ever taken. The 2-9 have never held any appeal. When something interests me, I go all in. I’ve never understood why I later lose interest in some of these passions, but there it is.

I used to worry about that aspect of my personality, but now I just hope that it’s my way of making room for new. Kind of like that old saying, “make new friends, but keep the old…” I take a piece of the golden experiences forward with me as I dive in to explore new silver mines.

A few things have been constants. Love of the Earth: faith in its Creator; love for the wide array of people and creatures who get to call it home…especially kids; and a passion for horses. These four have never changed. I guess they are my true Norths. I know, I have a weird compass. The title of my first poetry collection mirrors those interests, with a chapter devoted to each. “A Girl, Her Peeps, Mother Nature, a Horse, and What the Heck is Love?” was published, fittingly, on Valentine’s Day 2023.

I am blessed with good health, family and friends who love me no matter what, and a body and brain that, so far, let me explore the world and its myriad of fascinations. I crave learning new things, and travel is one of the things that feeds that craving.

I just returned from my second trip to Yelapa, Mexico, a tiny fishing village accessible only by a 45-minute water taxi ride from Puerto Vallarta, where my daughter hosts yoga retreats. Rustic, remote, peaceful, astounding. I could go back tomorrow.

When I complete a few of the projects that I’m excited to be working on, my next trip outside the U.S. will be to Africa by way of Paris (a place that I can never get enough of!) I cannot wait to take a yoga class in Stonetown facing the Indian Ocean and dance on a beach in Zanzibar.

Zanzibar. There’s a poem there…gotta go.