Saturday, May 5, 2007

my humble abode






so this is where i live now. not quite the awesome cabin in the mountains....but yurt life is great! just saying the word "yurt" is fun. basically, it's a glorified tent. when i moved all my stuff over last weekend, i brought a few more things to make it a bit more like home...so it's really comfortable.


we just sent a bunch of kids off yesterday. so i'm enjoying my first weekend on the island. the camp is filled with boy scout or ymca groups on the weekends, so this place is still hopping.


last night a bunch of us walked over to parsons...which is one of the beaches on the other side of the island, just a mile or two away. we got there just in time to watch the sunset....it was beautiful! the waves were all kinds of crazy, so it was fantastic just to sit and watch them. i don't think i could ever get tired of that.


we're going into town this morning...which means that we're driving into two harbors, a town of about a hundred people. since i'm one of the older staff members here, i am now one of the drivers. which means i get to cart everyone around on the weekends. msa has two vehicles...a really old suburban and an even older 15 passenger van. i'm kinda scared that one of these times they are going to break down on me. but, it'll be an adventure. just to give you an idea of the condition of these vehicles...in the suburban (also known as hercules), only one of the windows rolls down. not a terrific thing for living on an island in the summertime. last weekend, one of the guys i work with, ian, rode in the backseat with the door open. there were some close calls though, seeing that he was sitting on the outside seat...and the road follows a cliff the whole way. yikes!


sharayah, my friend who has been in the hospital, is out!! she was actually released last sunday. her and her mom are coming out to the island today just for the day....so her mom can check things out here and see what it's like on catalina. then hopefully she'll be back to work in another week. the doctors still don't know what happened. she has some follow up appointments next week, so maybe that will reveal something.
alright. enjoy the weekend. i know i will...it's been a hectic week, i'm just still getting used to how things run here on the island. but i love it!
until later,
brooke

2 comments:

Valerie Gibbons said...

Hi Brooke,
I love your yurt! Wish I was there! I've never seen Catalina Island but now I want to. Don't leave too soon; maybe I can be your house guest...I mean yurt-guest. Isn't that the same house the Mongolian nomads put up and break down like on a weekly basis while they survive on mare's milk and sheep bladder?! Even more seriously, your mom told me about how you had to teach a bunch of kids about tarantulas with about an hour's notice. Reminds me of the time I taught a group of Girl Scouts at summer camp about knife safety. Before my lesson was over, I was in the Springfield, IL hospital emergency room getting stitches to my thumb. Did it cure your arachnophobia or make you a basket case for life?

Good news on the leukemia front. All oncologists in Rockford, Northwestern (Chicago) and Mayo Clinic agree I am currently showing no signs of cancer cells in my body. My sister Monica is an exact match to my bone marrow type. We expect the transplant to get underway this month.

I'm glad you're able to live and work in such a beautiful place. Make the most of it while you have your health and youth...I know you will.

Love, Valerie Gibbons

Debbie Dimmick said...
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