I'm Claire

---

I am a California native, a San Fernando Valley girl. A Val before it was cool.
I grew up in Encino and attended Birmingham High. A Brave.
I graduated from California Lutheran College, Thousand Oaks, with a degree in biology. 

A Kingsman. Good old days at The Lu.

Concocting herbal creations for health and well-being

Our Deep Muscle Rub has put me on the map

I'm a one-woman operation with more things to do than hours in the day

And then one Saturday afternoon (Sept 23, 2023, the equinox), Michelle from EnjoySLO

stopped in at the farm stand. And made a video.

.....

As a young girl, I was told I had a healing touch.

A soothing voice.

A comforting smile.

And Dr. Kalavros, a family friend and European doctor of the highest esteem and shrouded in mystery --who met with Mussolini and was the last lover of film beauty Linda Darnell before she tragically died in a fire ---told me I should become a nurse. 

But I wanted to be a vet.

Even though the only animal I ever had was a tortoise.

Being the first in our family to receive a college degree, I was gifted a trip to the homeland -Greece- with my wild spinster Auntie Georgia. Little did I know I was leaving behind a promising career, safety and security, and the love of my life.

The trip turned my world upside down.

My new home was at the heart of the island of Lesbos --also known as Mytilini, in the outskirts of the mountain village of Agiassos. I lived near the cafenio at Agio Dimitri, just below the ever-flowing fresh water spring called The Tsingos. Always ice cold, and renowned across the island for its healing properties, this blessed water was incorporated in our soft drinks (an enterprise my first husband, Themis--- who was the brewmaster at Fix Brewery in Athens, undertook).

The refreshing libations were sought after at the cafenia throughout Lesbos, and I ---known to all as the Americana, made the deliveries.

This activity soon got me labeled "poutana" (whore) because, back then, I was the only woman who drove a truck on the island.

(More to come with time)

Looking for cures:

A bout with cancer

And a year later, a broken leg --- with a prognosis of living out the rest of my days with a cane

But these long legs weren't willing to abdicate their duty to the rest of me.

......