frontiermidwife

About Linda...

I live in the Black Hills of South Dakota part of the year and in Salt Lake City, Utah part of the year. Not everybody who lives in Utah is Mormon. I practice in the Zen Buddhist tradition and have a Buddhist name, "Doshin" which means "Way of the Heart."

I had a little cat named Poppy, but she died in spring 2011 of cancer at age 17. I adopted my new kitty, Smokey Rose, who is pictured here, in October 2011. She is 7 years old and has special medical needs. She was severely mistreated when she was a kitten and has had many surgeries over the years. Now she is doing very well. She has a sweet personality. You can't tell from her behavior about her sad story. I got her at the famous Best Friends Sanctuary in Kanab in southern Utah.

I'm a university professor of nursing. I'm committed to living a "green" and simple lifestyle. I care a lot about the state of the earth and things like climate change. I am glad that Mr Obama is our president, and I have a lot of faith in him for the long term. I care about animal welfare too. I love to knit, but I also weave and spin yarn. I work every year at the Sundance Film Festival and also do gardening work at our local botanic garden, Red Butte Garden. I have volunteered at the animal sanctuary, Best Friends. It's a remarkably wonderful place, and I will do that again and again.

I am also a Certified Life Cycle Celebrant. A celebrant is a person who writes and conducts personalized ceremonies for people to mark any important life event. I perform weddings, funerals, memorials, baby blessings, and a multitude of other kinds or ceremonies. I have a tiny business, High Country Ceremonies and do this work part time.

My newest endeavor that I love a lot is learning to do Japanese Taiko drumming. I'm just a beginner, but I'm learning a lot. I will probably never be a performer, but I hope I can do this for a long time.

And believe it or not, I am also a veteran of the US Navy.

I like art cards, but any kind you have is just fine. Pictures of where you live are great. I like to get cards that show the northern lights (or the sounthern ones too) if you live in a place where you can see them. Or maybe send a card that shows a beautiful bird from where you live. I also like to have pictures of women reading/ writing or doing needlework like knitting or sewing.

To my friends in Finland, my sister lives in Turku, and I have traveled a lot in Finland, although I don't speak Finnish. I've been to all the big cities and many small ones too. The only places I haven't been are in the east, near the Russian border or in Karelia.