I live in Quebec City, the provincial capital of Quebec. In spite of the 700,000 people living in the metro area, Quebecers call it La Petite Ville and justifiably so. It’s a beautiful town, its center being the oldest walled city in North America. The French ambiance makes it a somewhat unique North American tourist destination and while I still struggle with French, I enjoy the lifestyle here. I live here with my Quebecois wife and our completely bilingual teenage daughter. I’m so jealous of her (grin).

I was born in Toledo, Ohio and grew up in Arizona. Thus, the cold, windy winters in Quebec are still an annual endurance contest for me. When you get to my age you have a lot of experiences doing many different things. Rather than listing them, I’ll provide an abbreviated version.

I hold a doctorate in Biological Sciences. My science career applied my knowledge of evolutionary process, arithmetic and a dose of computer geek to predict pest insect population changes and impacts.

My hobby is woodworking, and I build cabinets, do woodturning, and I enjoy building my own tools. While I do own power tools, I use hand tools for most of my work as I find the process to be less stressful and far more enjoyable.

More recently I’ve taken up wandering around the city sketching the many amazing buildings we’re blessed with in Quebec City.  Urban sketching, as it’s called, is addictive and I am very much addicted to do it as my sketching blog will attest.

During graduate school, and during my actual research science positions, I not only showed an ability to write and edit but I found that I actually enjoyed it. Ultimately I left science to take a job as editor-in-chief of two hobby magazines. There I learned the view of an editor, learned to write to deadline, and how to pull ideas from the ether on cue. These were valuable lessons but eventually I came, with my wife, to Quebec City where her family lives.

Over the years I’ve written a couple dozen scientific publications and over 100 articles for various magazines and I’ve had monthly columns in four different magazines. I’ve worked for two companies, writing marketing brochure and technical documents. And after all that I only learned enough to understand how much more there is to learn.

To date I have published one mystery novel, Her Book of Shadows,  and I’m in the process of revising/editing the second book in what will be a series.

I hope you’ll stop by regularly, provide me with your insights, ask questions, and maybe we can have a little fun in the process.