M

so i just got off the phone with emilia anderson. she likes to text message and send me myspace comments, or more especially, random myspace bulletin posts (which are basically email which you send to your entire address book, also known as SPAM). i get on average about 5 messages a day... quite a bit of chatting. we don't usually talk on the phone, i mean with all that electronic information what's there to talk about? anyway, i called her yesterday and left her a message to call back; and so she calls back, and the conversation is something like this...

(cell phone rings)
charlie: hello?
emilia: hey.
C: emilia?
M: yea?
C: what are you doing?
M: nothing.
C: i guess you're calling me back?
M: uh-huh.
C: where are you?
M: in the car.
C: are you driving?
M: no.
C: so, you're in a car and you're not driving, and i assume that that noise is the sound of the car moving, so someone else is driving?
M: uh, yea.
C: so.
M: (nothing)
C: so who's driving.
M: um. my dad.
C: your dad's driving you somewhere? how's he?
M: (dead air)
C: are you there?
M: (nothing)
C: M?
M: yea?
C: you're with your dad? how's he.
M: good.
C: that's good.
M: uh-huh.
C: so how's your mom?
M: good.
C: she's good?
M: yea i guess.
C: You guess? When was the last time you checked?
M: um, friday. (it's tuesday)
C: i heard she's sick.
M: yea she is.
C: but she's ok?
M: i guess.
C: well, i guess if you're not too worried about her then i shouldn't worry either. does that sound right?
M: well she's pretty sick.
C: that's what i heard.
M: (nothing)

i'm laughing… she's so nonchaloir about everything

C: tell your dad "hi" and check in on your mom for me?
M: k
C: love you m!
M: yea, you too.

meningitis

Hello Family

As most of you know, after a week of being very ill my boss sent me to the ER after recognizing the symptoms of meningitis through an instant message conversation (I know better than to go to the office when I feel yucky). I was pretty impressed with his insight after the diagnosis and asked him how it was that he was so smart, "I have three kids" was his cheeky reply. Well, I have six, you'd think I'd know a thing or two. But I didn't.

I'm fine. The meningitis I have is viral; same symptoms - much lower risk of death, brain damage or disabling after-effects than the bacterial or fungal forms of meningitis. Getting better requires rest, good food and SLOWING down (not my specialty). Jaqui and Mom also know that prayer is also a good idea and I'm happy to have as many of those and/or good energy via kind wishes and love. The only other thing I really want is Grandma L's turkey noodle soup and Grandma W's tapioca. Clay got me some tappi from the store, but hmph, it aint Gram's!

THE REASON for this post is not to elicit sympathy, but to make sure that each one of you is better educated than I was. My symptoms were classic and if the infection had been bacterial I would have been dead before I made it to the hospital (six days post symptom onset). Please, even if you and your children have been immunized - there are several forms of the disease not covered by the immunization, learn about the symptoms of this disease and what to do when symptoms present. This site is a good place to start http://www.meningitis.org/ Hopefully this experience will make all of us wiser and safer.

Back to School Spokane

I am a little slow in posting this. We start school in Spokane the day after labor day. Shelby bought all her own school outfits this year. She had a babysitting job all summer and used her money to buy a laptop, new cell phone, and school stuff. Matthew who refused to buy anything new for school, also would not stand still long enough to have a back to school photo taken.

Jesup Memorial Library

I have found living on this island to be a bit difficult. When I asked a co-worker where to buy socks in town she laughed and told me that he husband had just commented the other day that there is no place on the island to buy socks and underwear. When I asked another co-worker if she knew of a good mechanic she told me that everyone on the island overcharged because they expected that you are a tourist. The mechanic she referred me to was over an hour away in Bangor! I also have very poor cell phone reception and I have spent a lot of my time here trying to find a spot where I can use my phone. I checked out of my motel this morning and I have been worried that I wouldn't have Internet access but I just got a library card and although the library closes at 5:00 I at least have a place to keep up on the blog and upload my photos!!!!

The library is absolutely gorgeous!!! I can't wait for it to snow. I think that the huge window in the back with two big chairs will be a great place to sit and watch the snow while reading a good book!

This is where I am sitting right now =) In the chair on the left. I feel like I am in the waiting room of a dignitary waiting for a meeting.

Big Game

We went to lots of the Spokane Indians game this year this was the last one. Liberty and Matthew got to go on the field to sing take me out to the ball park.

Liberty's Sunflower

Have you ever gone to one of those events that they give the kids a seed in a cup and tell them to take it home and water it and it will grow. Liberty did this spring and this is what it turned in to. Liberty is very happy with what it grew. It is just outside her room and she gets to see it every morning. The other moms in our neighbourhood wish they had not tossed out their seeds. We may have to try and save some the seeds to eat. Anyone ever make sunflower seeds?

Holiday

Hey everybody!
Breck and I spent the labor day holiday weekend in San Francisco, CA. It's a beautiful city, and I've finally fallen in love. We went there previousely, 10 years ago, and I swore I'd never go back (or fly Delta) but more on that later.

The photos are: ... me 1) on the pier seeing "my ship come in", 2) watching bamboo grow and 2) hiking a moon bridge at the Japanese Tea Gardens...



... 4) us waiting for a light rail ride after walking 10 miles through the worst part of town to see a new garden store (it wasn't worth the blisters), 5) Fog rolling through downtown, 6) a favorite Japanese tea gardens garden...



...more of us at 7) at the Marcone Center fountain (the Marcone Center is a big complex of wonderful museums, parks, and convention halls, and 8 & 9) the new de Young Museum (very cool).



So what about our last trip? SF being like Mecca (for folks like us), I was BEYOND excited plus it was one of my first real vacactions as an adult. I left the return airplane tickets (remember paper tickets?) on the plane. When I realized what I had done, I called Delta informed them. They told me that I'd have to pay to have the return tickets reissued. We couldn't come up with enough money to pay for a hotel AND new tickets for the flight back. It was late at night and since we were in a new scary big city, we choose the hotel. Luckily Breck had an old friend driving back to Utah the next day. Needless to say, it wasn't the dream vacation I had envisioned. This trip was MUCH better!

We had a GREAT time. My favorite things about San Francisco is architecture, parks, theater and FOOD! I don't know why we can't get food in Utah like they have seem to have in the bigger cities. Are our tounges desensititezed by all the Jell-o? I blame it on Chuck-o-rama, and other buffet restaurants. I had Oysters at nearly every meal, WOW they were fresh! I ate lots of fish and especially loved the French style restaurants. They flash cook their fish, so the outside is hot and crisp with the inside is cool and tender, YUM!

My Favorites? Plouf (what the French say to imitate the sound of water drops), and Foreign Cinema.

Big news in Bar Harbor

The nursing home was abuzz today with the sights of two huge cruise ships coming into port today. One of the nurses' husbands works aboard a ship that goes out on whale watching trips and she was excited all day knowing that her husband was helping shuttle the passengers from the ship to the harbor (because they were too large to dock in the harbor). It was an interesting experience to be a port of call. As I was leaving Acadia NP tonight I noticed that one of the ships was leaving port and heading South.

Panda-monium

We went to the zoo this weekend and of course checked out our resident baby panda Mei-Lan. Since are members of the zoo we were able to go in early and we spent lots of time with the little baby. It actually a year old and I was the last one in the family to see it. We saw lots of other animals too. While we were there the zoo staff let the Golden Lion Tamarind monkeys out of their cages onto monkey island. This is a spot where the monkeys can be out of their cage in a more natural environment. This gives the animals a chance to be out among predators (hawks are constantly circling around the zoo looking for an easy meal) and to get used to roaming more freely. The zoo has a reintroduction program and several monkeys have been sent back to brazil in the past few years. We were literally 5 feet from some of the monkeys with no cage between us. It is amazing to see how quickly the monkeys move in those trees. We thought that was pretty cool to see.

I pulled into Bar Harbor last night about 3:30. Right now I am staying in a tiny little motel room with about a 15 square foot bedroom and a tiny bathroom. I will move into my three bedroom cottage on Saturday. I felt a bit discouraged when I saw the motel room, especially by the lack of a kitchen ... but I have improvised and made a shelf on the wall and a plastic bag on the door into a pantry and the bed into a counter. Right now I am sitting out on the common porch in the cool of the night eating a delicious sandwich and wild Maine blueberries ... so it is not all bad!!


This is the small little room I am in right now.

This is the house I will be moving into on Saturday.

Here you go Nate!