Integrity

Third day trapped on the island, though trapped is a word with negative connotations that really has nothing to do with how I feel. I have been looking for down time to cook, read, write and get caught up. Which, of course never happens. Something you would think I would have realized after all these years. I can see me with one foot in the grave, the other foot dangling, not willing to die, because I'm just not quite caught up.

So the drum keeps on beating! Caught up or not, the ferry has been shut down for two days due to the high temperatures, hence ice melting, flowing down the river from Port Huron and piling up in the narrow channel. This channel hosts the pathway of the ferry so therefore we are stuck. Because of the rain, even the blow boat isn't running. I hate to miss teaching and many of my students have agendas with getting ready for auditions and what not - but I will double up if I can and (here goes those three evil words), get caught up.

In the meantime, I am on the couch, curled up in front of the fire (we even turned the heat off to save oil) - bundled under blankets after a breakfast of eggs and bacon. The eggs come from the crusty 70 year old farmer here on the island. He has his own slaughterhouse and believes in complete self-sustainability. The Weavers, who have lived on the island since the turn of the century (no not this century), made a gift of homemade venison sausage. They and their young sons who are ten and thirteen, still trap for furs, fish and hunt, selling what they don't eat. The small community comes together in times like this, everyone checking in on everyone else. A tough deck hand, needed some pain meds after a bad fall, Joe happened to have some stored away - grateful thanks returning the favor with venison sausage with bits of jalapeno pepper. This of course, means I won't be eating it as hot food is not my favorite but Joe says it rocks.

It's no mistake that I am going on about community reliance and sustainability. I am reading "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. The same author who wrote the Poison wood Bible. Run and pick up this book. It is a must read. She and her family, abandon the industrial food pipeline to live a rural life--vowing that, for one year, they only buy food raised in their own neighborhood, grow themselves, or learn to live without it. Part memoir, part journalistic investigation, it will open your eyes in a hundred new ways to an old truth: You are what you eat. Joe and I are taking this on this year, as we felt that we needed a year to know what is available, what can we grow, what can we put up canning and who are the local growers. The term for this, I believe is locovores. Eat food that is grown locally as it does stop our food from being shipped from god knows where, probably genetically modified, everything else loaded with corn syrup and starch, while newscasters, local dietitians (the fool on Fox 2 comes to mind - what's her name?) scratch their heads wondering why we are all getting fat. Oops! How did I get on another soapbox?

I have just found out that the "organic seeds" that I was ordering last year, are actually from one of the Genetic Food monster corporations that are ruining our food. So today I go on an investigation and find out where I can get "heirloom seeds". I did order a bunch in the fall last year, these seeds have a shelf life of five years, so I will go ahead and order more. I am so upset that Traditional Seeds and Johnny's are not what they pretend to be.

I miss the integrity of our health, food, natural resources, government, human interactions - that used to be something that people would strive for. Though it all seems incredibly dark sometimes, I have felt and feel that there is a hum lending itself to an undercurrent of change. Many seem aware that we need to go back to what we used to know and with that, add what is to come. But wasting time, trying to keep everything the same, is well, a waste of time.

Let's take health care for instance. I had a kidney infection about two weeks ago. Now, I am a really healthy person, so this caught me off guard. I am not a fan of most doctors as I believe they have become nothing but pill pushers. After my trip to emergency, I realized that all these docs were missing, were big shoes and red noses to stick on the ones they have stuck in the air. If you quack and swim like the proverbial duck, must be the same for clowns

I remember growing up with a chiropractor that practiced the "recoil" adjustment. Same as Dr. Bowler in Ferndale. He used to have a goat farm in the Irish Hills - a real character. He would come out to the house and give us the adjustment on kitchen chairs and phone books. He'd even apply the adjustment to my dog, who would, after receiving the adjustment, sleep for a day and then run around like a puppy after his long nap. The doctor's name was Doctor Ingram. He gave minerals, food supplements and adjustments to his goats, each who had exotic names like Zsa Zsa and Eva. That was the best tasting goat's milk I ever had. My mother used to make yogurt from it, which tasted just like ice cream. Boy, I wish I had that recipe now.

About a year ago, I was incredibly lucky to find Dr. Bowler in Ferndale. She convinced the university where she was studying, to teach that adjustment which had just about become obsolete. I hadn't had the adjustment since the early 70's and had found her early last year.
After the treatment, I threw up for about four days. However, I not only felt 100 per cent better but all of my scar tissue disappeared from various incidents over the years. Not only for me, but for my hard to convince husband who comes from a very in the box upbringing as he studied to be a brain surgeon, later to drop it and become a medic in Special Forces.......even Joe was impressed.

So I thought, if I found her (these people are easier to find on the West Coast where I lived for 30 years), there must be others.

Then there's Kathryn Conlen - who Dr. Bowler and Dr. Cayle work with - Essential Oils, Massage, Cranial Sacral - I see her twice a month for general healthcare. I am a big believer in preventative medicine. But she guides my cleanse. .....hey, what can I say, I'm getting old and I do what I can.

Next... Dr. Cayle the OBGYN who uses essential oils and straightens out the tailbone. Actually, he was trained as an OBGYN and a fighter pilot by the Navy. He has done something like 1,000 deliveries with only two being Cesarean (I might have those numbers a bit wrong)......His wife is a physical therapist and also does cranial sacral - she works out of the same office. I broke my back in the early 80's (at a party and fell through a ceiling - my wild days)....even with Dr. Bowler and other's that I have worked with - there was still remnants of that injury. One visit with Dr. Cayle about four months ago - zero back pain.

And then finally, Acupuncture. I see James (very Chinese) in St Clair Shores - See him twice a month - same thing - general health care.......

So yes there are people out there with integrity, community conscience, and a willingness to help, but maybe one day that will be the norm and not the exception.

Back to baking bread and the lentil stew.