I am a classical violinist with the Baroque Sinfonia of Sonoma County, but I'm a jazz/blues/swing fiddler as well. For more about me, check out my MySpace page.

My husband, Jim, is also a musician who plays flute, harmonica, saxophone and piano, and we often sit in with local bands. We had our own little group for several years, but eventually, the time factor became more than we could handle. It was fun, though, and we loved it. Jim is also a very fine artist. Check out Jimbo's Page for some examples of his work.

As you've probably guessed by now, we share our household with several animals. Peaches, our wild and crazy Cairn Terrier, is obsessed with bees. Every afternoon she lies in wait under the honeysuckle bush, hoping to snag another one of those big black juicy ones. She's been stung so many times she's now immune to the venom, but it doesn't seem to deter her. Other than that, she's a fairly sane and sensible dog, though at times, it's difficult to convince her that she's not a cat.

Marbles is geriatric and blind. Several years ago, he was abandoned in our cul-de-sac and somehow managed to find his way into our backyard. He has a rare disease which is causing the fatty pads behind his eyes to disintegrate. It eventually became necessary for the vet to remove his right eye. He did well after the surgery and remained in good spirits. He's quite an amazing little guy, and he gets around so well that I often forget that he can't see. He is an occasional Pet Therapy animal at a local convalescent home. I am working on a painting entitled "Giant Leap of Faith" which commemorates the day he flew through the air from our upstairs landing, fourteen feet down to the hallway below. He wasn't injured physically, but his dignity suffered a severe setback.

**A SAD UPDATE** Due to complications from another surgery (a melanoma of the eyeball which was thought to be fully removed but unfortunately had spread), Marbles passed away. Words cannot express how much I miss his presence and his serenity. I learned much from him, and will always be thankful for the opportunity to have shared my life with him, even for such a short period of time. He was a real trooper, and we admired his "Let's just get on with life!" attitude. For more about Marbles, check out his memorial tribute at Loving Furry Friends .

Dixie ("Cat of Nine Bells") was a rescue. I am a dealer in an antiques shop that donates a window each Christmas to the local Humane Society. New cats arrive daily for a week, and many do get adopted. Dixie's sweet face and beautiful blue eyes captured my heart, and though she got a lot of attention from our customers, she did not get a new home despite our shop's efforts. I couldn't seem to get her out of my mind, and my husband surprised me by adopting her after she'd been taken back to the shelter. What a great Christmas present! When she first joined us, she was quite the huntress, and through a process of experimentation, we determined that nine bells on her collar was the appropriate number to maintain her peaceful coexistence with the birds, lizards and field mice on our property. But just to prove she's still got the touch, she brought us a dolphin Beanie Baby....have no idea where she found it.

Alien and Cosmo, our newest additions, have bonded and become great pals, despite their remarkable personality differences. Cosmo, seen here on our kitchen counter, is a young feral who appeared in our yard one day last winter. We started feeding him and he gradually began to trust us and let us approach him. This went on for months, until he finally decided we were OK, and then he moved indoors. Cosmo is our sweet little clown. He has an unusual talent for unearthing long-lost (and not very important) objects and has proudly presented us with countless paper clips, pens, rubber bands and dust balls.

For years I have been feeding a small colony of stray cats near one of our rental houses, and one night Alien appeared on the fringes, quietly observing the activity. She looked healthy and well-fed, so I assumed she belonged to someone in the neighborhood and was just passing through. She was friendly and approached me for a head rub. The next evening, she was back again, and she returned every night thereafter for several months. I secretly suspected that she belonged to our tenants, although they denied ownership. After they moved, Alien was still there, so I took her home. Why the name "Alien"? Many reasons, including the long, antenna-like hairs at the tips of her ears. She also appears to be triple-jointed and boneless. One of her favorite forms of amusement is opening the kitchen cabinet doors and swinging back and forth on them while hanging onto the top edge with her front feet. In the process of learning this trick, Alien discovered that the kitchen garbage was kept behind one of these doors...that door now has a child-proof lock.

I guess that feline welcome sign must still be on my front door, because another one has recently joined our family. Meet Buddha! My neighbor's cat for many years, Buddha finally tired of begging for food and attention scraps, packed his bags and moved down the street with us. When we began feeding him, he weighed under four pounds and was suffering from the worst flea infestation I'd ever seen. Six weeks later, he now weighs a little over seven pounds, is completely flea-free, and his beautiful fluffy hair is beginning to grow back on his tummy. Buddha spends his days sunning himself in our front garden, partially shaded under the maple tree. Notice his unusual coloring? He is two-tone, half black and half reddish brown. He's a real sweetie, but definitely not used to being petted or fussed over. He used to cringe at our approach, but now he runs to greet us. He will never go hungry again.

And yet another new guy has arrived on the scene. Mr. Chestnut has been with us for a few months, gradually adjusting to his new life and routine. When he arrived, he was timid and frightened of many things. Although he warmed up to Peaches right away, he was terrified of Alien. This presented a problem, because Alien really wanted to make friends with him, but each time she made an overture toward Chestnut, he fell over onto his side, curled up in a fetal ball, and screamed. Slow progress has been made, and now the two of them sit together on the deck enjoying the sun. We're hoping that before too long, we'll discover them curled up together in Alien's basket. Chestnut is really a character, and is no longer shy about asking for what he wants. He is also starting to make eye contact with us. When he first moved in, he wouldn't even look at his own reflection in a mirror.

And last but not least, the memory of the one and only Mr. Goo, whose unique talents and humorous personality quirks remain unchallenged and unequaled. If only we could all so confidently believe that the entire world loves us unconditionally. He is much missed, and we know he would have approved of Buddha.