watercrosser

Basic: 32 years old, married and mum to 2 boys, ages 4 and 7. I'm an autistic adult; one of my sons is also autistic, the other has Prader-Willi Syndrome. September 2014: After many collapses, partial paralysis and other neurological issues I was found to have a progressive form of Multiple Sclerosis. It has changed my outlook on the here and now as well as the future, profoundly.

I am very much into history research, reading, art (creating and ogling- pen and ink fave), foraging and homesteading; music (who isn't? I enjoy too wide a range to give an example in this brief intro), geocaching, hiking on trails and exploring nature. I love old movies; I collect tintypes and 19thc. and earlier books and letters; vintage ephemera of any kind is much treasured; fossils, rocks, coins, sea glass, and have way too many houseplants. I do not kill spiders but save them instead, and I run a wildlife photography website, and also manage the Moths of Maine group. I'm also a high functioning autistic, and I enjoy things from my own sort of view. RATINGS: I always rate within 24 hours of receiving an item, so if you see that I haven't rated you yet, feel free to send a message. I appreciate being rated also, especially in the electronic swaps where it seems to get overlooked at times.

I am ALLERGIC TO GLUTEN (for food swaps!)

Beethoven, Beatles, Mozart, Chopin, Moody Blues, Pink Floyd, Talking Heads, Soundgarden, Handel, Palestrina, Saint-Saens, Metallica (up to 1988), Donovan, Greek music, Russian folk music, Leningrad Cowboys, Queen, Aerosmith, ELO, Bob Dylan, Traveling Wilburys, George Harrison, Harry Nilsson, John Lennon, Leo Kottke, Traffic, Procol Harum, Elton John, U2, The Doors, Waterboys, Primus.

I favor many books - I treasure them. Nonfiction and history/biographical - European history (pre-20th century), colonial American history, books on archaeological findings, castles, anecdotal books. Romantic poets like Byron, love Wordsworth, Tennyson, Keats, Coleridge, the Brownings. Shakespeare (have read all), as well as Edgar Allan Poe and American poets/writers such as Thoreau, Emerson, Frost. Virginia Woolf, Sylvia Plath, Emily Dickinson, R.L. Stevenson, Fitzgerald, Henry James. Kipling is a treat for the kids. Anything by Vonnegut, and anything by Thomas Hardy. Edward Gorey. Historical fiction appeals to me when done tastefully - I love the works of Tracy Chevalier, and Edward Rutherfurd (Sarum). I love to read and look forward to book swaps, when my ratings are high enough.

Amadeus, Howard's End, The Point by Harry Nilsson, Watership Down, The Wall by Pink Floyd, Sleepy Hollow, Dead Man, Leningrad Cowboys Go America, Monty Python movies, all of Terry Gilliam's movies, The Big Lebowski, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Being John Malkovich, The Omen, anything by Werner Herzog, Hugo, Interview with the Vampire, Koyaanisqatsi, Powaqqatsi, Baraka, etc., Amelie; I like foreign, independent and vintage movies, and silent films.

Caspar David Friedrich is my absolute favorite artist. I also particularly enjoy the works of Van Gogh (for introspection though, not to hang in the home), Rossetti, Lord Leighton, William Morris and others of the Pre-Raphaelite movement; Jan van Eyck, Holbein (both), Durer, Botticelli, Da Vinci, Raphael, Gustav Klimt, Aubrey Beardsley, Frida Kahlo, Dali. Contemporary - Elizabeth Kyle, Graeme Base, R. Crumb.

1. Objects from nature. Rocks from different places, or sand/dirt from different places are fascinating to me. Moss, shells, anything, including gemstones, rough or polished, fossils. I'm addicted to the smell of dirt, and collect it from different locations.
2. Vintage postcards of any sort.
3. Vintage ephemera, pre-1930.
4. Cabinet cards, vintage/antique photos.
5. Anything vintage/antique, useful or not. I enjoy something left over from the 1920s as much as something from the 1980s.
6. GLUTEN FREE foods and treats. I have celiac disease but I am addicted to good chocolate. I always dream of trying finer chocolates from other countries or even the ones here that I would never buy for myself.
7. Music - burned CDs of music mixes, eclectic mixes. I love being turned on to new music and just mixes in general. I love classical music, psychedelic music, all of the classic rock stuff (need more obscure stuff), love Philip Glass, 90s alternative, 80s weirdness, and right now really enjoying the comeback of French lounge music such as Pink Flamingo. I love folk music as well.
8. Used stamps - like everyone else, I have some collection albums.
9. Handmade things of any sort - have a nifty craft, or leisurely attempts? I love anything with a personal touch, handmade by you or anyone.
10. Coins or currency.
11. Green teas and chai teas, decaf preferred as I am too sensitive to caffeine.
12. Vintage style anything.
13. Pieces of old jewelry, metal detecting finds, anything old and worn.
14. Envelopes and paper of various sorts, craft and art paper.
15. Pens or markers- I love fine point pens and markers, but enjoy any pens from other countries also.
16. Essential oils or incense. Would really love to receive something of this sort. Handmade soaps as well, as I will not use anything that is not natural.
17. Store receipts from your country- a strange thing perhaps, but I am fascinated with them. Yes, I collect lots of paper.

The nitty-gritty of my hobbies is this: geocaching, photography, snail-mailing, genealogy research, handwriting, drawing and painting (pen and ink, watercolor, acrylic), eBaying, gardening and foraging, introducing my children to new topics of interest, collecting treasures at Goodwill and estate sales, and homesteading on our 1.25 acre parcel in the forest on the coast of Maine.

We don't have cable but enjoy a selection via our Roku, and also a decent collection of DVDs and VHS of more scarce movies. For TV shows I have loved then and now: Antiques Roadshow, History Detectives, Jeopardy, America's Funniest Videos, Downton Abbey, Are You Being Served?, the whole of Monty Python series, My Name is Earl was good for awhile (can never last through long series), Malcolm in the Middle, Newhart, Night Court, Seinfeld, Pushing Daisies was great, Stargate SG1, old Star Trek, also TNG.

I have 3 cats: BB, aged 10, a fat black cat I rescued at 3 weeks old in a desert sandstorm; Sidney, aged 5, a dwarf Maine Coon cat; and Grayson, aged 3, a bobtail with double paws and a deviated septum (snores like you wouldn't believe). I've owned many cats and loved them all. I used to keep chickens, guineas, ducks and geese but downsized this spring while we work on our homestead some more. I used to breed Amazon parrots when I was younger and always kept a lot of birds, though we don't have any now - hard to balance birds of that intelligence when you have young children and inadequate space. I love animals!

1. Cheap plastic things.
2. Plastic anything.
3. Girly things.
4. Disney.
5. Anime
6. Cartoons.
7. Half assed efforts.
8. Fruit teas, rooibos tea, mint tea.
9. Artificial scents.