I am 64 years old from Albuquerque in the U.S.A. which is 60 miles SW of Santa Fe.  I am very much interested in a pen pal site.  Lately I have been bemoaning the lack of snail mail or even emails from friends/fami​ly.  It is either a phone calll or nothing.  In my salad days I remember writing and receiving a lot of snail mail (it was just called "mail"​  in those days).

My dream is to one day visit Great Britain.  They tell me I am one quarter Scot and three quarters English.  I love to hike so I would combine that trip with hiking so I have been looking at the Cairngorms, Loch Lomond and the Trossachs, the Peak District and the Lake District.  I bought a book called "Walkin​g in Britain"​­ and I am studying it cover to cover.  I like the idea of just plunking myself in one place most of the time and going out for hikes from there.  I think I have to forget the word "hiking"​­ -- in Britain it seems to always be "walking"​­ or "hill walking"​­.  This should be a real adventure for me since I haven't been on a plane since 1997 and I have only visited Mexico and Canada briefly.  Oh, and I have been out to sea beyond the 12 mile limit.

I am much more interested in history than I am geneology, but Great Britain offers both for me.  History is there to teach us; to fulfill a fundamental need.  In Britain it seems that history stares you in the face and won't let you forget it even if you tried.  You stumble over history;  older people are valued because they know and remember more recent history.  Traditions maintain more distant history. And so, in the place where I "plunk myself down" for hiking in Great Britain, I would also like that place to be a place that is oozing with history. Any suggestions?​

As a penpal you will find that I like to discuss possibilitie​s.  I like to dream.  When I say "discuss"​ I do not mean "argue"​.  A discussion is where we flesh out a subject and come to a common acceptable consensus. It is a "win-win"​ situation.  In an argument it is either "win-lose"​ or "lose-lose"​ situation. 

Albuquerque,​­ in the American Southwest, is on the border of mountains and desert.  Summers are hot (but not brutally hot like Tucson and Phoenix) while winters are cold (but not brutally cold like Denver).  Albuquerque is the  only city in America that I have lived in where you can take public transportati​on to a trailhead for hiking (I still drive to trailheads but this option is available).

I would be very interested in your answer to the following question:  What gives real value to your life?

I have written a long profile in the hopes that it will suggest what penpals do:  they get very verbose.  Therefore I hope that the persons who respond will also be verbose in the nature of a penpal.  This is, after all, a penpal site.  Also, please note my username.  I am not a mindreader.  I can't respond to a vacuum.  I am not smart enough.  The more that is in your profile or message, the more there is for me to respond to.

I am hoping to hear from females from the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the U.S.  to be regular penpals. 

Please have a current photo on your profile.

I am looking for someone who wants to write over a long period of time.  Someone who wants to be (and can be) a friend.  I know of no better way to get to know the soul of a person, and to reveal my own soul, than through writing.

I am motivated to learn both Spanish and German.  I am more comfortable reading and writing Spanish than German. I would especially like to be pen pals with someone from Spain.  The Picos de Europa look very interesting to me for hiking.  I have a book called "Walkin​g in Spain" which I am studying carefully.

I could be helpful to a German speaker trying to learn English.  I would feel most comfortable if you could write to me in German and I could write you in English for starters.  At the moment I do not feel comfortable doing a lot of writing in German.  I'll get there, though.  I am in a wonderful supportive German class at the moment.  I would like someday to hike in the Austrian or Swiss Alps.

I like hill walking (hiking) because it is good for my mental, physical, spiritual and emotional health.  I live about twenty minutes from a trailhead and I regularly go up to 8300 feet in the yellow pines and firs.  I also like reading, the internet, and watching videos that I get by mail from Netflix.

I like many kinds.  My favorite types are music from the 60's and 70's (The Beatles' generation) and inspirationa​l music.  I do not care for jazz.  I like good Blues.

See "Favori​te TV shows"

Rather than list a bunch of shows I think I would like to just state what I like to see in a TV Show/drama.  I like for there to be at least one likeable character on the show.  It would be frosting on the cake if that character was also complicated,​ had a sense of humor, and was on at least a hint of a redemption journey.  For example "Juliet"​ on "Lost"​  is a character that to me is both likeable and complicated.​  She also has a sense of humor and, I believe, was on a redemption journey.

"Hector"​ on the British series "Monarc​h of the Glen" is another example of a character that is both likeable and complicated.​  When he (the character) died the show ran out of gas for me.  If you will recall he was the original Laird.

"Tess"​ on the Australian series "McLeod​'s Daughters"​ was another likeable character for me.

On the other hand "Ben"​ on "Lost"​ is a complicated character but, in my opinion, he is not likeable.  For me, however, "compli​cated and unlikeable"​ is preferable to "uncomp​licated and unlikeable"​ because at least the former is more interesting.​

For the last three years I have been trying to learn Spanish and so most of the books I have read over that period have been in Spanish.  I have to buy two books at a time, one in Spanish and one in English so if I get stumped by a word or a phrase the answer is right there.  The most recent book I read was called "Even Now" (Aun Ahora) by Karen Kingsbury.  I have discovered that novels written by women have, in general, more dialogue than novels written by men and that, of course, helps when you are trying to learn Spanish dialogue.  Also Karen Kingsbury describes herself as an "emotio​nal writer"​.  I think emotional writing lends itself better to Spanish because, for me at least, Spanish seems like a more emotional language than English.

I'm sorry.  My ability to remember quotes is as bad as my ability to remember jokes.  I like quotes when I hear them (sometimes),​ and I have liked a lot of quotes on this website.  I do have a sense of humor, by the way.  I think my sense of humor can be summed up this way:   I take something I do not understand and go right ahead and explain it.  It is a more gentle sense of humor (not snarky in any way).  By the way, I think that "cheeky"​ is British for "snarky"​.  I looked up "cheeky"​ but I may be wrong.