So not only did you teach me about writing memoir, you also taught me about reading and thinking about how others write memoir. Thank you so much! Rebecca

Accepting what is to come

You can’t change the direction of the wind, but you can adjust your sails.
Showing posts with label MCS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MCS. Show all posts

Friday, November 16, 2018

Finding a Safe Vacation House is not Easy


I am down to the last two days of a vacation - a quiet one with only my sister and brother-in-law with me. Well, I did take Lexie with me. She loves to travel in a car. 

I have to face facts -- taking a trip today is much harder than when I was younger. I had more physical strength and less need for medications and other things that help me sleep, help we walk, help me ride long distances in a car. 

On this trip, I missed Barry. He would have had me laughing more, relaxed more, and we all would have had more fun. I realize that I cannot capture what we had, the four of us, and trips long or short are never going to be the same. Now Gay and Stu help me with luggage and then handle their own. Gay is protective of me. "Don't go up and down those stairs so much," she said. "I'll take these things." The steps were wet and with my bad knee, it was difficult to manage them. 

But we still enjoyed being together. They brought their dogs along so we had lots of dog-walking time. 

The rental house had no Internet service so Stu and I had to go into town a few times to get our email. We found that McDonald's was our best bet until we found a small coffee house with free WiFi. The daily rain altered some of our plans, but we did take a walk on the road to nowhere. Gay and Stu took several walks with their dogs. 
I slept really well in the rental house even though my room was too warm. I opened almost every window in the place because housekeeping didn't honor my request to have a clean place with no sprays or chemicals that would trigger my MCS. When in the house, I felt awful, but if I went outside or stayed in a room with all windows open I felt much better.
 
We were awakened each morning by wild turkeys grazing on the lawn. They were perfectly silent, but Lexie knew they were there, and she woke me with her growling. The setting for our  vacation was in the midst of farm land. Horses were pastured on one side and cows on another. It was quite pretty around us. If only the housekeeper had done what I asked, I would have really liked this farm house with three bedrooms. But, the house is toxic to me. As days passed, I grew worse until we decided we must leave and find another safer house for me. I can't live all the time with a charcoal lined mask over my face

We hope to fill the next two days having a good time even though rain is likely to try to spoil our fun. I enjoy my sister and brother-in-law so much, it doesn't bother me if it rains. I feel such contentment today, relaxed, and happy.


We are taking book orders for Paws, Claws, Hooves, Feathers and Fins. This book is a great Christmas gift.
Visit www.riceandbeall.blogspot.com for more information.


Tuesday, August 21, 2012

The North Carolina Poetry Society recognizes health issues of members

The most heart-felt appreciation goes out to the editor and others in the North Carolina Poetry Society for their support of those of us who must deal with chemical fragrances in today’s society. In the most recent issue of Pine Whispers, the jam-packed informational newsletter of the poetry society, a small article titled  “Clearing the Air” requests those who attend meetings of NCPS refrain from using scented products.
Artificial scents in deodorant, aftershave, hair products, cologne, shampoo, laundry detergents or other personal care and cleaning products release chemicals into the air, causing breathing difficulty and other adverse reactions for some people. 

See www.ncpoetrysociety.org for more information on the contests sponsored by the North Carolina Poetry Society. 

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Thank you, Governor Perdue

Those of us who live with the affects of MCS appreciate the governors who have brought attention to this miserable and dangerous health issue.  Massachusetts has also proclaimed May as MCS month. Read below to learn why many of us wear masks out in public.

NORTH CAROLINA GOVERNOR DECLARES MAY 2012 AS MULTIPLE CHEMICAL SENSITIVITY (MCS) AWARENESS MONTH

Christiane Tourtet B.A.
North Carolina Governor Beverly Eaves Perdue signed a proclamation declaring May 2012 as Multiple Chemical Sensitivity Awareness Month in the State of North Carolina. As stated in the Proclamation, people of all ages have developed a condition known as Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS) often following either a single massive chemical exposure or repeated low-level exposures to chemicals in the environment, and that MCS is a chronic condition for which there is neither a proven treatment nor a cure, and which usually presents with several of the following signs and symptoms: chronic fatigue, muscle and joint pain, asthma, cognitive difficulties involving memory and concentration, headaches and other respiratory and neurological problems, and that MCS can have profound impact in the area of employment, housing, access, personal relationships, and economic well-being for those who have this condition.

More....

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Oh, Canada, I could make you my home


Hi to my Canadian Friends,

I heard tonight that Halifax, Nova Scotia is the first place to make a law against fragrances worn in public places. Wow! How nice it must be to live in a city that cares so much about people. How great it must be to attend concerts, plays, and church and not have your throat close up.

No one has the right to invade the space of other people with fragrances that are toxic, just as they don't have the right to blow smoke in the face of others.

I loved my day in Halifax last September. The clean air away from the terribly smelly ship - it was one of the few places I was able to visit before the chemical smells on the cruise ship made me so ill I had to stay in bed or try to make it outside to a place where no one was smoking, where I could actually breathe.

I also learned that Halifax has the largest environmental illness hospital.
Evidently, Canadians have great concern for clean air and limiting exposure to toxic chemicals.

I just wish it was not so far from NC. I'd drive up and spend my summer there. I can't fly. Toxic air in planes is awful for me and thirty million other people who have to deal with MCS.

In the past when I imagined myself in a place where I am happy and feel good, I sat myself down in the Canadian Rockies. What a glorious place. Now that I've been to Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, I want to think of myself settled on the porch of a little house on the water watching sail boats or sitting high above Fundy Bay.

I feel the breeze and clean ocean air, the unfettered view over water that changes color as often as the velvet mountains here in the Appalachians.