My Story

I write contemporary fantasy novels with an ecological twist.

I'm also a clinical psychologist with a depth orientation. Archetypes and mythology hold a timeless message--one relevant to our troubled times.

I ski, I hike, I climb, and I'm the alpha female--at least some of the time--of a wolf pack.

My three wolves, my husband, and I live at 8000 feet in California's snow-capped Sierra Nevada Mountains.

My hope for this website is that it will provide resources for depth psychology, wilderness photography, the Eastern Sierra, and ideas for loving support for our challenged planet. There are also wilderness tips, climbing routes and anecdotal tales about living with three wolf hybrids. There's even a bit of information about my fledgling novels. Enjoy! Feel free to email me with things you'd like to see here.

My Books and Stories

Because stories speak in a univeral language, I started writing a contemporary fantasy trilogy two years ago. Book One, Echo of Hope, and Book Two, Treachery's Children, are complete, and I'm working on Book Three. The Earth Mage Trilogy highlights the wholesale destruction done to the Earth by man's over-arching desire for dominion over the natural world. Lori and Rolf, two scientists who fled from the devastation of the world that they knew, join forces with magical beings as they engage in a battle against those who would see our planet reduced to dusty motes peppering the galaxy. Excerpts from Echo of Hope can be found by following the "Books" links above and below. Another novel, Psyche's Prophecy, depicting a more modern take on problems caused by ecological irresponsibility, is finished and I'm hard at work editing it.

One of my short stories, Epiphany, was recently published on www.Aurorawolf.com. Another short story, The Oracle will be in the July edition of The Absent Willow Review, and can be found at www.absentwillowreview.com.

Wolves

Wolves have been on the Earth for over 300,000 years. They are a survivor of the last Ice Age, and date back to the Late Pleistocene. Genetic testing indicates that wolves and domestic dogs share a vast majority of their DNA.

A year or so ago, National Geographic ran an article called From Wolf to Woof that chronicled how these four footed creatures inveigled their way into our lives, first as hunting companions when we were hunter/gatherers, and later as simply companions who ate the parts of the kill that humans didn’t want.
Wolves/dogs and humans have engaged in a symbiotic relationship since the beginnings of recorded writing. Pictures of dogs are engraved on the earliest stone castings found by archaeologists. Dogs have also been worshipped as gods by some primitive peoples.

Anyone who has ever owned a member of the Canidae family knows the warm feeling of coming home after a long day to the effusive greeting of a warm tongue and cold nose. There’s something infectious about a wagging tail that’s hard to ignore!
Of late aerial killing of wolves has been in the news once again, and wolves have lost their protected status in some states. It is important to preserve these beautiful, majestic creatures.

Please click on the links above or below for more information about wolves. Some of the links are to sites such as Defenders of Wildlife and the Natural Resources Defense Council which seek to preserve this noble species from extinction.

The Wisdom of Depth Psychology

Psychology that focuses on the unconscious as displayed to us in dreams has a power that few recognize in our "evidence-based" world. Much of modern Psychology has reduced itself to fixing symptoms, or medicating them into something less intrusive. Unfortunately, medication and fix-the-symptom approaches generally fail as the problem--begging for recognition rather than annihilation--merely re-appears in another form.

More information about this approach to personal enrichment can be found by following the Psychology links above and below.

The Eastern Sierra

The Eastern Sierra is a geologically complex area. It stretches from the lower Sierra Nevada Mountains north of Lake Tahoe to the fourteen thousand foot peaks in the Mount Whitney region. This part of California is geographically isolated. Weather conditions are harsh, particularly from the Bridgeport area south. Snow often comes in November and doesn’t melt until May. Travel can be impossible at times during the long, cold winters.

Although the Sierra Nevada Mountains extend south from the Whitney region to Walker Pass, this southern Sierra region receives few visitors. After one passes the town of Lone Pine, the next major city isn’t until Ridgecrest—and the term “major city” is relative. Lone Pine has a population of only about 2,000 people. Ridgecrest is larger since it hosts a military base.

Bighorn sheep, which used to be native to this region, have struggled to survive. They are an official endangered species and there are large areas in the Mount Williamson region where hiking and climbing are forbidden for most of the year to try to preserve habitat for the sheep. Unfortunately marijuana cultivation by Mexican Nationals has proliferated in this region due to it's relative isolation--and hence less chance of being caught. On a recent trip up Georges Creek, I was horrified to see the debris left by a pot-farming operation. Last summer the Inyo and Mono County's Narcotics Task Forces destroyed many hundreds of acres of marijuana cultivation in both the Sierra and White Mountain ranges.

Mining used to be an active form of earning a living in this region. Unfortunately, mining in the late 1800s and early 1900s used very toxic chemicals such as mercury and arsenic. Thus, although the streams and lakes in the Eastern Sierra look pristine, many carry residues of toxic substances. There are surprising numbers of cancers in long term residents of the Eastern Sierra that I believe can be traced to mining residues in drinking water.

The entirety of the Eastern Sierra hosts less than 35,000 people. Mono County has a population of 14,000 and Inyo County to the south has 17,000. What this region lacks in population and modern amenities, however, it makes up for in unsurpassed beauty. People who live in the Eastern Sierra find themselves drawn to the pristine beauty of its mountains and lakes. Clean air, riots of wildflowers during the too-brief summer season, and a slower-paced lifestyle all contribute to an unparalleled quality of life.
Please click on the Eastern Sierra links above or below for more information about points of interest in this special region of California.

Mountain Climbing

I suppose one could live in the Eastern Sierra and not be a mountain climber, but looking up at the peaks soaring above, it’s hard not to feel that inner tug of wondering what it would be like to stand on top of at least some of them.

I’m a pretty unlikely mountain climber. I’m short and don’t have the best sense of balance, but like the wolves we climb with, I suppose I have a lot of heart. And, I can tell you with a great deal of assurance that each and every peak that I’ve conquered holds a special place in my heart and mind.

My husband is a mountain climber, too; but he’s a real one, having climbed over seven hundred peaks all over the world. Where I look at an airy crossing and think--albeit fleetingly--about what would happen if I fall, he seems oblivious to the potential dangers.

I suppose one of the main lessons from mountain climbing is that one truly has to live in the moment. There’s no point in focusing on a distant summit, and also no point in engaging in mental projections such as, "Well, if it took me three hours to get to here, there’s no way I can summit this peak and get back before dark.” I can’t even begin to estimate the numbers of climbs that have found us heading back to camp by headlamp. And, even though it may be dark, there’s this warm feeling of accomplishment that I carry with me, pleased that I persevered and didn’t give up during the early afternoon hours when I had thought about doing so.

The links above and below to the Eastern Sierra also chronicle mountain climbing instructions for several of the Sierra Nevada peaks. I always found the three-sentence descriptions in some climbing guides useless. They’d go something like this:
…look at the orange rock on your right, then, when the gully splits, take the middle gully and move right around the chockstone…
The problem, at least for me, with directions like that is there were always several orange rocks and, if I took what I thought was the middle gully, there would be no chockstone, so I’d worry about being off route. Anyway, mountain climbing in the Eastern Sierra is a very individual sport. Any of my route descriptions are just that--my route descriptions. The mountain could have shifted since I climbed it and you might have just as hard a time finding my route as I’ve had finding routes described by others. And, of course, the final caveat is that mountain climbing is inherently dangerous. Just because I managed to do a particular route on a given day does not mean that someone else could do it several years later under different conditions. Whatever I’ve written is not a substitute for your assessment of conditions on the day that you’re attempting to climb something.

Photography

I have been taking pictures of the Sierra Nevada for years. Some examples of my photos are available through the "photos" link above and below. Please feel free to browse. If you would like to order any of these photos, contact me. I can produce color photographs up to 17X22, framed and matted. I use archival inks and acid free paper and mat materials. I plan to rotate the photos regularly. Given that I have over 3000 images in my archives, it will take years before even a small portion of them have been showcased on this site.