Hi there, I’m Alison.

I am wandering with my dog and looking for stories.
I have taken many paths to get to this point and I have my own stories to tell. In some ways I have come full circle. I began traveling with my dog in the late ’70s. I was a teenager and my dog was a newfoundland mix named Fandango.
After years of surviving and working harder than I needed to I finally realized that I was happier when I had less; less stuff, less I had to do and more choice about how I spent my time, less obligation and more opportunity to learn and explore. I meet people all the time who have come to the same realization.
For years I chased that endless flow of possibilities. If there was a need, I felt driven to take it on. Passion turned to obligation. There was never enough of me to do it all. In the end I was far from anything that had ignited my passions, sparked my interest or filled my soul. I needed to take a moment to rediscover myself.
I gave myself the freedom to not know what I was going to do next. I began to meet people who had curiosity about themselves and the world around them. We encouraged each other to question the fears that tried to send us back down the familiar path to the life already lived. I learned to quiet my ego and let myself struggle, to be not very good at something.
All of this took time and certainly didn’t happen all at once or even still all the time. When I gave up trying to be what might impress someone else I was able to find the threads that wove through all my interests and pursuits. Behind everything I found that I had been hugely influenced by my parents and the childhood they created. They were design students when I was born. My childhood was filled with ideas about design and people who were creative. My father designed furniture and mother became an architect. Ideas about how a user interacts and acts upon an object or a space were a common language.