Karen Woolsey:
CLASS OF 1969
Brocton Central SchoolClass of 1969
Brocton, NY
TVI Community CollegeClass of 1993
Albuquerque, NM
Cabrillo CollegeClass of 1979
Santa cruz, CA
Karen's Story
I'm a RETIRED Supervisory Administrative Support Assistant for the USDA Forest Service. I supervise six office managers, and they are quite a diverse group. I work in Region 3, the Southwestern region, which covers New Mexico and Arizona national forests as well as the grasslands in part of Texas and Oklahoma. I got this job because I'm a Vietnam veteran. After all these years trying to get into a government job, and this one falls into my lap. It's been a great job and will be my last before I retire in a couple of years.
I'm trying to reconnect with my Creative Muse. For some reason, over the years, She's gone away, left me. Now I'm hoping I can recover some of my artist abilities, though I have the feeling I'm starting over. Now I've gotten into using stamps (I don't do cute), inks, paper (I just loooove papers), polymer clay, glass, whatever medium I can get my hands dirty in. I used to do a lot of fused glass stuff, but haven't been able to get to my "lab" to do any of that in a long time. I'm hoping I can convert some of our garage into a studio for myself. I have so many creative pursuits, that I might have to give some up to focus on only a few. I've pretty much narrowed it down to polymer clay, bookbinding arts, and mixed media.
Something that might surprise those of you who read this is the fact that I'm a sixth degree black belt in an art called Budo Taijutsu. I'm a licensed instructor of the Bujinkan system, which consists of nine schools: 6 Samurai fighting schools and 3 Ninja schools. This year the theme is Togakure Ryu, which is a ninja school, so we get to use lots of cool ninja weapons and learn ninja techniques. Very cool stuff! I really miss it now. I haven't been able to train for about four years due to serious physical issues. Two years ago I found out I had arthritis in both hips. Everything went downhill last year, and by July '14 I was using a cane. In October I was on a walker. On November 3, '14 I had my first total hip replacement, then in January '15 I had my second one. I'm still pretty much recovering, but I seriously doubt I'll be able to return to my training. At least I can walk without horrible pain. It's all good, and after five months being off work, I go back tomorrow.
I live i...Expand for more
n New Mexico, the Land of Enchantment. I live in a city called Rio Rancho, which is to the west of Albuquerque, across the Rio Grande. From my house to the east, I can see the Sandia Mountains. Sandia means watermelon, and when the sun sets, the mountains turn a bright pinkish red, like a watermelon, only without the seeds. The weather here is very temperate, and we don't get the kind of weather we got in NY. Certainly not the kind of snow! I've lived in NM for almost 30 years now, and I love it. The culture here is very diverse, with Native American and Hispanic influences everywhere you go. Although those are the major influences, there are a lot of Vietnamese, Thai, Japanese, Irish, Scottish, and other cultures as well. There are lots of artsy places to go, such as Santa Fe (where bliss ninnies reside), Taos, and other such places. There are lots of museums, theaters, concerts, etc., to entertain us, as well as sports arenas, and a very nice baseball stadium. The sunsets take your breath away. I couldn't imagine living in a more beautiful, more culturally diverse place. This is a place where you can drive a couple of hours and be in the mountains, then go in another direction and be smack dab in the middle of the desert. There are rivers and lakes to go fishing or boating in. I love it here.
My partner and I finally got married in April 2012 after a looong engagement. It was a small ceremony with my two girls, Larry's son and daughter in attendance. A friend of Larry's did the ceremony, and two of our friends stood up for us. Then we went to a nice agreed restaurant afterwards. It was very nice.
I now have six grandkids, four grandsons and two granddaughters. It's a lot of fun having them all together, and they're all so close in age. Cameron is the oldest, he just turned eight. He's my oldest daughter's boy. Then there's Gabriel, who is seven and Christian, who is five, both my youngest daughter's boys. Then there's Jude who is seven and Marianna, four, Larry's son's kids, and Aubrianna, his daughter's little girl, who is six. They're all such unique individuals, and it's been fun and amazing watching them all grow up.
Any questions? I've left a lot out, so I welcome all questions. Pop in, say howdy or whatever.
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