Friday, October 30, 2009

Bye, bye Bend and Baseball

Some things just don't work out. Pete has the old Dodge loaded up, and a new plan has been laid. We are flexible, but there are limits to just how much we'll bend. A couple very long time friends have offered us a place to be, so we're taking them up on the offer where a toilet and shower and a basement where we can set up an inside kitchen awaits us. We know the town and the home we're headed to aren't perfect and at this point, we're going to settle in and work around it from this vardo. The vardo will give us safe sleep and the rest will have to be part of the settling in process. Winter and a vardo without facilities is just too much to ask of these old folk.

Life is imperfect, and yet there are examples of enjoyment among all the challenges. We find the richness of our life together in something as simple and distracting as listening to the World Series (Baseball) Game on a radio. A radio that works right from this Bend, Oregon hay field. For two nights now, in the comfort of this wee home we have been transported from this field to the baseball field at Yankee Stadium where pitchers throw curve balls, change-ups and 90 mph fast balls. Baseball players with names familiar and comforting ... especially that Maui-born center fielder Shane Victorino who reminds me of my cousin Patrick, soothe me away from the reality of life in a field in Bend. The announcers are good at their art and they know the game and we are there!

Building an MCS-safe tiny home community may have to be a dream set to rest. Our tiny home has come a long way from the dream of origin born more than two years ago. It takes a lot of energy to live this life, let alone try to build a home for someone else or grow a community of folks who live with this illness. This winter, we need to settle in, cozy up and attract some comfort wherever we can find it.

Wish us luck.

6 comments:

Joan Tucker said...

Moki and Pete,
Sorry it did not work out. Hope the truck gets you safely to next site. Having an indoor bathroom and a place to cook seems like a reasonable need. Hope you can escape the other scents and factors by driving away or staying in vardo.
L and I do our own much less intense yet stressful dance with scent and smoke. We have to hole up here at the hacienda and literally live by the air cleaners.L is working so the avoidance issue is challenging for her.
We both hope you can get stronger at the same time as you identify sites that will work.

Petey the truck sends his best to
Bernadette. JT

linda said...

The simplest of needs still must be met. May all your needs be fulfilled.

Miss Voodoo said...

Aw - you know building an MCS community i think would be so hard- there are so many variations to account for- each person is so different and it's sometimes more then the avoidance of chems, some people have gotten sicker and can't breathe dust particles....
in which case i would choke some people with MCS cause i am like Pig Pen (the peanuts gang) ... but get me around fresh paint and I'll nearly black out or feel like i am dieing.

Mokihana Calizar said...

Dear Joan,
Your good wishes are precious. Thanks. Holing up in the hacienda is just what we would like to be doing this winter as well. Vardo can do that to a great extent, and the Scout is always the get-away car. So we keep trying to do the best we can and then pray for help from the big folk. Didn't know L is out in the work field; blessings to you L. Bernadette appreciates the Petey stuff. Take care and thanks for keeping in touch.
M.

Leslie! Thanks for your thoughts about the challenges of creating community with canaries. We are finding it a call beyond the abilities we have. So many triggers and then there are the personalities that are as fragile as the bodes that hold them.

Linda. Thanks for that. The basics, all the bases are what we are after this winter ... we'll start with that.

Thanks all of you's for the good luck commentary! Mokihana and Pete

Joan Tucker said...

Moki and Pete, as Voltaire wisely said: tend your own garden.. in this case dealing with the immediate needs and letting the mcs comunity etc wait till you have the basics planted sounds like a good idea.

I am disappointed so often that I cannot always respond to the larger community needs but we are as Voltaire suggested stressed enough with tending our own garden.
Just getting through each day and each economic and health related obstacle is alot.
Safe travels and keep up your writing..
Joan T and LW

Mokihana Calizar said...

Joan and LW

Thanks for the inspiring and supportive garden image. What a timely and timeless bit for us. It's true. And, writing is my job so I'll keep at it. Thanks for the encouragement there, too.

M&P