I was born on Strawberry Hill, Twickenham (West of London) in England, a long time ago! My most formative years were spent dealing with World War II, first in London, and later in Oxford. When the war started my mother, sister and I transferred ourselves to my grandmother's home in Oxford and I went to the Saint Denys Convent school for a year or so. Then my sister and i went to live with our aunt in Twickenham and attended the Lady Eleanor Holles School in Hampton (near Hampton Court.) Later, when the V2 rocket attacks became too stressful, we evacuated ourselves back to Oxford. Eventually I stayed in Oxford with my mother and grandmother and my sister stayed with our aunt and lived in Stratford -upon-Avon.

Life experiences are like paint on a prepared canvas:

Gorse is perhaps a metaphor for life with its sharp thorns, and sweet smelling, attractive blossoms.

From Strawberry Hill to Davis - snippets of my life:

During my school years I spent many summer holidays working in a market gardening nursery with tomatoes (during the war) and statice and gladioli (after the war).

At fifteen I spent two weeks on a bicycle, Youth Hostelling around Wales with two school friends.

At seventeen I spent three April weeks in Paris with a school pal in a run-down hotel on the Rue M. LePrince. We attended some classes at the Sourbonne but spent most of our time walking around Paris, going to the Comedie Francaise or enjoying the Louvre. We heated water over a candle in our meagre hotel room, lived on baguettes and jam, and enjoyed being poor and independent.

We came to the USA (me, my husband Jim and ten-month old David) to work for one year in UCLA's Department of Anatomy but somehow we stayed for a further three years by which time the lure of California and research potential had thoroughly seduced us and we moved to Stanford where we stayed for six more years. Then, to Davis in 1968, with three sons, David, Peter and John who went through the Davis school system and gloried in the music, drama, and bicycle racing opportunities of Davis as well as the academic. They are now married and no longer live at home!

I mentioned earlier that I was a co-founder of Explorit Science Center ...

It all began in 1979 when several Davis women - teachers, scientists, naturalists and an architect resurected the idea for a science center that one of them had had several years before.

Founded by that group of Davis people (which included me) in 1982 as Davis Science Center this challenging venture is now named Explorit. It has more than met the founders' dreams.

Explorit serves hands-on science to people of 14 counties at-and-from its current facility. It provides "informal" science education opportunities and experiences to people of all ages and all backgrounds.

This still evolving project continues to be a major part of my life. After serving as CEO for ten years I retired and became a member of the Board. Explorit's unique hands-on, inquiry style of public science is still a passion of mine and I have spent thousands of hours creating materials for its travelling programs, writing for the newsletters, creating and maintaing (for 14 years) its Web site.

For More information about EXPLORIT visit its web page. Learning to be Web savvy has been stimulating and has eased my retirement immeasurably. To offer Explorit your help in any way, call (530) 756-0191 and say you read about Explorit on the Web.

there has been a ...

of which I was a co-founder in 1970 - or was it 1969? - anyway, it was a long time ago! It stll exists my friends! We meet on the first Tuesday of each month at the Davis Senior Center, 646 A street, in Davis. We are a small, informal, chatty group. We trade and share philatelic information. Sometimes (to be honest I should say "often" - oh well!) we chat about Davis' politics and life in general.

Come, bring your stamps to show and some to trade. You can join if you wish. Our annual dues remained the same from 1970 - or was it 1969? to 1998 but have at last been eliminated - what a bargain.