After I earned a law degree in midlife, I had the chance to leave the US Forest Service in Oregon and run away to the Circus (Maximus). In reality my husband and I moved to Rome where I worked for the United Nations Food & Agriculture Organization for four years as a legal advisor to the director of human resources. I could see the ancient chariot racing Circus from my office window. My husband and I reluctantly returned to the US after four years. But we pined for the land of pasta, vino, art, and sunny piazzas. Then the gods smiled and offered a chance to return to Rome with the UN World Food Program. Six more years or food and frolic in the Eternal City passed much too quickly.

The experiences living in Italy and working for the UN were the genesis of my memoir COINS IN THE FOUNTAIN.

Life in Rome with all its food and challenges, along with many visits to an island near Seattle, have contributed to the settings and events in my new novel THE MEASURE OF LIFE, the story of an expat woman who struggles with all the difficulties that come with living abroad including a fraying family and the efforts to build a life of her own.

An inveterate traveler, I have visited over 100 countries. My favorites (after Italy of course) are Iceland and Greece. When I’m not traveling or writing, I volunteer for arts and literary events. I was a founder of a literary group that encouraged and supported writers and have helped manage the Write on the Sound writing conference for the last ten years.

I love to read, especially history non-fiction and novels set in places I’ve been. My small home library is filled with books about Italy. A favorite pastime is collecting old travel books such as a 1904 Baedeker’s Central Italy and the first edition of the Michelin Green Guide to Italy in English published in 1959 (it advises the timid traveler not to chop up his spaghetti but learn to twirl it like the Italians!). My latest purchase is Views of Jerusalem, published in 1868. The colors are still brilliant but I can attest the scenes have changed dramatically over the years. Another pastime is photographing the sweet life in the small seaside town I call home.

Now back to working on the next novel!