I have many passions in life, but two main ones: parrots and paddling. I share my life with two Congo African grey parrots and a Yellow-headed Amazon parrot, all three are males, two of them are adopted/rescued from previous homes. I also love to travel to places where I can see wild parrots - places like Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, the Cayman Islands, Puerto Rico, Bonaire, Aruba, Dominica (whose national flag features a parrot!) and Belize are the countries I've visited and seen wild parrots. I also love to paddle - canoe, sea kayak, whitewater rafting (as long as I have a professional guide!) - you name it, I love it. Another passion: cooking. I do most of the cooking in our house; I have an entire bookshelf of eclectic cookbooks that include: "Dining with Headhunters" "The Bordello Cookbook" "Dining with Sherlock Holmes" "The Mafia Cookbook" "A Taste of Africa" "Real Men Don't Cook Quiche" "The Nero Wolfe Cookbook" "Festive Feasts" "The British Museum Cookbook" "Food as Foreplay" ...and many, many others. I also love movies - old, new, action/adventure, documentaries, mysteries, sci-fi and fantasy.