My new favorite blog!
http://homesteadrevival.blogspot.com/
Saturday, June 15, 2013
Meg's Birthday at Talking Circle
Who is that sprightly young thing in the red and orange scarves dancing like it's her 85th birthday?
It's Meg, and it sure is her 85th, although you certainly wouldn't know it! People on this island seem to
live to quite an age. I think the summers are so pretty that they are just determined to get through the next long grey winter to see another summer, and then just keep repeating. My friend Deborah's neighbor Peter is 91 and still living by himself, unless his girlfriend who is 81 comes over to visit. The waitress in the pizza place downtown's mother is 93 and still driving to the restaurant where she keeps her own bottle of scotch, as she doesn't like the stuff they serve there. :/
Happy Birthday Meg!
It's Meg, and it sure is her 85th, although you certainly wouldn't know it! People on this island seem to
live to quite an age. I think the summers are so pretty that they are just determined to get through the next long grey winter to see another summer, and then just keep repeating. My friend Deborah's neighbor Peter is 91 and still living by himself, unless his girlfriend who is 81 comes over to visit. The waitress in the pizza place downtown's mother is 93 and still driving to the restaurant where she keeps her own bottle of scotch, as she doesn't like the stuff they serve there. :/
Happy Birthday Meg!
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Good Morning from Talking Circle Intentional Community
Your Weekly Whidbey
Prescription: Take two viewings prior to any freeway commute.
The house with the lanterns (me), the garden, the common house and the common area lawn.
Prescription: Take two viewings prior to any freeway commute.
The house with the lanterns (me), the garden, the common house and the common area lawn.
Thursday, May 16, 2013
Hi everyone, I've complied a little FAQ about my recent re-location:
First, I'm not posting on any of this on facebook, as my insurance company is unaware of my move, and because yes, they do troll your facebook page, prior to any review. So, if you'd like to comment, please do - on the blogger page, until I remake my facebook and show up as LizzieM there :) Here we go!
#1: LeeAnn, WTF? Did you just up and move to Washington?
Yes, I believe I did. I'm still kind of wrapping my mind around it. But I'm sitting here and I'm definitely in Washington. So, yes. Of course the larger question is...
#2 Why?
So, in the front page of this blog, I'm going to post pretty pictures of Whidbey Island, funny stories about my silly city Langley and well, probably videos of chickens. I'll talk about Irish music, eco-communities and gardening. But, the larger motive for moving I'll explain here:
My thoughts about moving away from Southern California and L.A. specifically started when my mom was in the last part of her life. I had moved her in with me, and we were doing doctors, hospitals, rehab nursing facilities, and hospice and through this, I got a well rounded look into the type of care that occurs for people in certain income brackets, who have Medicare insurance, as she did. And as I do, and it really shook me. I saw people suffering things in hospitals and state-run nursing facilities that were frightening and inhumane. People who didn't have family members to care for them at home. A few months after she was gone, I got a "provider packet" from my insurance company in the mail. The facility I'm approved for, when I'm unable to care for myself, is the very same one I worked so hard to get her out of. You can imagine how that stopped me short. It then occurred to me, she was the last of my family, there would be no one to get me out, as I had done. That was when I knew I had to make a plan for myself.
I'm typing this knowing that the vast majority of the friends who read it are reasonably young ;) reasonably healthy, or at least reasonably well-insured, or with a large supportive family. If you are none of these, please read this blog, and think of making a plan for yourself.
In my case, I chose Washington, as it has many more insurance options, advocacy programs and creative options for care as people get older or loose their health, like micro-communities and the death with dignity act, both of which I'll talk about in the blog as time goes on.
Once I got into researching more about the area, I started thinking about the environmental factors. I lived in small towns in middle-California for most of my youth, and to avoid marrying a farmer (which of course was the worst possible outcome for one's life at that point :), I chose college in Los Angeles. And then, I stayed. It almost wasn't a conscious decision, life just kind of kept happening, and I was swept along with the things I was doing - college, work, marriage.
And then I got sick. The next ten years plus years of dealing with lupus and dermatomyositis have been just survival mode.
It was at this point I started to make the plan. And maybe a small thought... what if?
What if I actually did it? What if I moved somewhere with clean air, and clean water right out of a well, organic food, and community support? What if I got out of the smog and traffic and stress of Los Angeles? Then I found Whidbey and the Intentional Community.
#3 - LeeAnn, are you living in a commune?
Sort of? The Intentional Community is the modern day version of what started out in the sixties, but these days with just 99.9% less free love. There are different types of intentional communities, many with a particular focus like permaculture or a particular spiritual tradition. They range widely in their interactions, some have common houses and daily meals together, some are just like small neighborhoods with people owning or renting their individual homes. My community, Talking Circle is a neighborhood eco-village. Each person or family has their own small house, and all eight are situated around a common area, with a common house facility for meetings or dinners, organic community garden, chickens and goats, and 25 acres of trustland forest.
That's the small description, I'll have plenty more to say and show about what it's like to live here as time goes on, because boy, it's very different from my life back in L.A. I've been six months without a tv, which is radical for me, and where's my microwave? Is there any Irish music around here? What was that outside the window last night - owl, coyote, eagle? Whatever it was, it's definitely going to try and eat my dachshund. Obviously I have internet access, but the cellphone doesn't come in well here. I'm a compost newbie. A week in, and I'm prepared to write openly about the adjustment, which has been difficult at times so far, but I'm determined to make a change, one that hopefully will impact my health in a positive way.
Here are a couple of good links about Intentional Community:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aw3_UOw0kV0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyeaTLi3EsI
#4. Who the heck is Lizzie Markham? My "outrunning the insurance company" alias. Lizzie Markham was Mrs. Crotty's maiden name (for all the Irish music folks who care about that kind of stuff :)
More to come!
Langley Marina, Whidbey Island, Washington. I'm a quarter mile and up the hill to the left.
First, I'm not posting on any of this on facebook, as my insurance company is unaware of my move, and because yes, they do troll your facebook page, prior to any review. So, if you'd like to comment, please do - on the blogger page, until I remake my facebook and show up as LizzieM there :) Here we go!
#1: LeeAnn, WTF? Did you just up and move to Washington?
Yes, I believe I did. I'm still kind of wrapping my mind around it. But I'm sitting here and I'm definitely in Washington. So, yes. Of course the larger question is...
#2 Why?
So, in the front page of this blog, I'm going to post pretty pictures of Whidbey Island, funny stories about my silly city Langley and well, probably videos of chickens. I'll talk about Irish music, eco-communities and gardening. But, the larger motive for moving I'll explain here:
My thoughts about moving away from Southern California and L.A. specifically started when my mom was in the last part of her life. I had moved her in with me, and we were doing doctors, hospitals, rehab nursing facilities, and hospice and through this, I got a well rounded look into the type of care that occurs for people in certain income brackets, who have Medicare insurance, as she did. And as I do, and it really shook me. I saw people suffering things in hospitals and state-run nursing facilities that were frightening and inhumane. People who didn't have family members to care for them at home. A few months after she was gone, I got a "provider packet" from my insurance company in the mail. The facility I'm approved for, when I'm unable to care for myself, is the very same one I worked so hard to get her out of. You can imagine how that stopped me short. It then occurred to me, she was the last of my family, there would be no one to get me out, as I had done. That was when I knew I had to make a plan for myself.
I'm typing this knowing that the vast majority of the friends who read it are reasonably young ;) reasonably healthy, or at least reasonably well-insured, or with a large supportive family. If you are none of these, please read this blog, and think of making a plan for yourself.
In my case, I chose Washington, as it has many more insurance options, advocacy programs and creative options for care as people get older or loose their health, like micro-communities and the death with dignity act, both of which I'll talk about in the blog as time goes on.
Once I got into researching more about the area, I started thinking about the environmental factors. I lived in small towns in middle-California for most of my youth, and to avoid marrying a farmer (which of course was the worst possible outcome for one's life at that point :), I chose college in Los Angeles. And then, I stayed. It almost wasn't a conscious decision, life just kind of kept happening, and I was swept along with the things I was doing - college, work, marriage.
And then I got sick. The next ten years plus years of dealing with lupus and dermatomyositis have been just survival mode.
It was at this point I started to make the plan. And maybe a small thought... what if?
What if I actually did it? What if I moved somewhere with clean air, and clean water right out of a well, organic food, and community support? What if I got out of the smog and traffic and stress of Los Angeles? Then I found Whidbey and the Intentional Community.
#3 - LeeAnn, are you living in a commune?
Sort of? The Intentional Community is the modern day version of what started out in the sixties, but these days with just 99.9% less free love. There are different types of intentional communities, many with a particular focus like permaculture or a particular spiritual tradition. They range widely in their interactions, some have common houses and daily meals together, some are just like small neighborhoods with people owning or renting their individual homes. My community, Talking Circle is a neighborhood eco-village. Each person or family has their own small house, and all eight are situated around a common area, with a common house facility for meetings or dinners, organic community garden, chickens and goats, and 25 acres of trustland forest.
That's the small description, I'll have plenty more to say and show about what it's like to live here as time goes on, because boy, it's very different from my life back in L.A. I've been six months without a tv, which is radical for me, and where's my microwave? Is there any Irish music around here? What was that outside the window last night - owl, coyote, eagle? Whatever it was, it's definitely going to try and eat my dachshund. Obviously I have internet access, but the cellphone doesn't come in well here. I'm a compost newbie. A week in, and I'm prepared to write openly about the adjustment, which has been difficult at times so far, but I'm determined to make a change, one that hopefully will impact my health in a positive way.
Here are a couple of good links about Intentional Community:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aw3_UOw0kV0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyeaTLi3EsI
#4. Who the heck is Lizzie Markham? My "outrunning the insurance company" alias. Lizzie Markham was Mrs. Crotty's maiden name (for all the Irish music folks who care about that kind of stuff :)
More to come!
Langley Marina, Whidbey Island, Washington. I'm a quarter mile and up the hill to the left.
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