I was born in a 1949 Studebaker in the parking lot of a bar near Mission Bay, San Diego. My father said the back seat of the car was never the same again.
We stayed in San Diego until I was seven, when we moved to the mountains west of Boulder near a town called Nederland, where we lived for 9 years. I got my BA at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks, Alaska. I have also lived in Juneau Alaska, San Francisco California, Bremerton Washington, San Rafael California, Eldridge Missouri and Lebanon Missouri.
I have worked (not necessarily in order) as a seamstress, waitress, secretary, housekeeper, executive secretary, legal secretary, legal researcher, campaign office manager, receptionist, hotel maid, viola player, orchestra manager, orchestra librarian, library clerk, clerk typist, greenhouse worker, landscape laborer, camp counsellor for the Olympic Music Festival, massage therapist, organic chemistry lab tech, technical typist, office temporary, baby sitter, and a few other things too, I’m sure. I’ve probably forgotten something by now.
Right now I live on two acres in a medium sized town in Missouri. I earn a pretty good living as a massage therapist. I have trained in Swedish massage, reflexology, polarity, neuromuscular retraining, ideokinesis, lymphatic massage, craniosacral therapy, myofascial release, acupressure massage, and shiatsu; and have been certified as a Conscious Bodyworker, and in Prenatal Massage, CORE myofascial release, and Muscle Release Technique. I am a Reiki Master. We recently completed a Finnish Sauna with a dressing room which we make available to my clients, in addition to enjoying it ourselves.
I am married, have one adopted son who is presently in the US Army, and am owned by two cats, Smokey (the Siamese-y one with blue eyes) and Mike (the black one with the attitude), who grudgingly share me with a Golden Lab/Golden Retriever mix named Ruby.
We have many flower beds, a vegetable garden, a table grape arbor, a raspberry patch, an espaliered apple orchard, and a 64 vine vineyard which will produce red wine once the grapes have grown up. All of this is done strictly organically.
The property has been certified as an Official Backyard Wildlife Habitat by the National Wildlife Federation. This means we provide food, water, shelter and places for animals to live. In addition to an extensive list of birds, we have frogs, toads, salamanders, a wood chuck, squirrels, skunks, raccoons, opossums, and the occasional deer sharing our space.
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I was glad to get your message about the blog!! I’ve enjoyed reading it. You’ve got a way with words.
Karen and I did move to DFW. Karen started this fall as a 5/6/7 grade math teacher. Right now her current feeling is that she’s never had a job that she enjoyed so much that she sucked at. I’m sure that she will get the systems she needs in place to not “suck at it”. She always has been her toughest critic.
I’m doing IT down here. Enjoying texas even if it’s been over 100 for over 30 days this year.
Hugs
Hi Ellie, Great checking out and reading your blog. Fascinating read! Now I’m off to read poetry.
I miss your massage work. Hmmm, one very good reason to move to MO! Of course another is to hang out with you in your garden. ( : Until a visit, I’ll imagine your labyrinth.
Thanks for your visit this month. Love, KJ
Hey you!!! Don’t you stop!!! I’ve got you RSS so your blog is delivered to me at work everytime you write a new article. It’s like a breath of fresh air in this I/T area. I could get jealous that you write so wonderfully, feeling my feet in that mud.
Hi Ellie, I have been sneaking in here & there, reading several of yur stories — what great writing & sharing of your life, thank you! As long as it feeds your soul, keep it up. Peace, Vendoni
G’day, Ellie!
Seems we’re neighbors. I, too, live in a moderately sized town in Mid-MO, though likely not the same one as you. I found your blog via your link in posting to Hypatia’s discourse on her New Year’s reminiscence, on the BBC’s H2G2 website.
You have a very intriguing bio. And your place of business/pleasure–the Havens–sounds like it’s begging us to visit. Let me know how to contact you to set up a healing meeting for my wife and/or me.
Blessings betimes,
TJ Weeks
(aka B4 [insert pun here])
Hi there Ellie, sounds like you are working your butt off! This was fun reading and your occupation list…I can say I remember you when….you were so many of those things. It was good to hear from you! It does sound like you have very nice surroundings. Keeps Jim busy too, right! Take care Ellie and maybe one day our travels will come by your way! Love, Lydia
Hi Lydia! Good to see you here.
Hi,
I’ve really enjoyed the Arctic Chamber Orchestra stories. I played with the ACO (double bass) from about 1974-1979. You’ve said you were in the violin section, and I think I remember you, but I’m not sure. Anyway, the stories are great. You remember more about he trip to St. Lawrence Island than I do – I was too sick!
Thanks for writing it all down.
Hi Ellie, I discovered your site while researching the term Blackberry Winter, which I must have missed when I moved from the Boston area to Florida (no real spring involved in either area) where I’ve spent the last 28 years, 20 of them as a massage therapist with NMT certification with Paul St. John. I’ve also writtten articles for Intermezzo Magazine and Diabetic Living (no I don’t have diabetes, but I’ve worked on lots of people who do.) I live on 5 acres/3 ponds south of Ocala and north of Tampa; have grapes, citrus, herbs, 2 border collies and still mourn the loss of Sapphire the blue point Siamese. I’ve also had lots of wildly varied occupations, so I find your site extremely interesting and somewhat “alternate universe.” How do you go about getting designated an “Official Backyard Wildlife Habitat?”
Hello Emily, glad to meet a fellow child of the universe and massage therapist. You have five acres??? How in the world do you keep up? We are snowed under with only two.
The National Wildlife Federation is the organization which is running the Backyard Wildlife Habitat certification program. If you go to their website, at http://www.nwf.org/backyard/70000goal.cfm you will be able to find the form you need to fill out to become certified. They want you to provide information to show that you provide water, food, shelter and home-sites for wildlife on your property. When you are certified they will provide you with all kinds of information and encouragement to use native plants rather than exotics in your landscape. Lots of info available there on how to attract wildlife to your yard.
Thaks for the info, Ellie (gosh, even your name is close to mine.) I think your “snowed under” descriptive is a key to understanding relative maintenance. Since we never get any, and only few hard freezes, we have less variables to our climate; although if you visited in August/Sept you probably could shovel your weight in bugs! Besides, those 3 ponds take up a good 2 acres, so it’s more like having 3 acres, and 2 of those are kept wild for the hawks, owls, and various “varmints” who share the huge old oak trees with us. There’s no use trying to introduce exotics into this landscape; it seems only the natives know how to deal with what we’ve got going on here. My grapes are native muscadines, better for jelly than wine.
Well, that was easy. My property is now a certified Backyard Wildlife Habitat! We’ve always regarded ourselves as stewards of this land, but I didn’t realize what a good job we’d done of it until I filled out the questionnaire for certification. With a new subdivision going in just 3 miles down the street from us, maybe the forthcoming sign will inspire my neighbors to get busy on their habitats. Thanks again, Ellie!
Sorry to read you were so sick. We do need that good healthy dirt and fresh air to get better. Here in upper central Florida we’re having a beautiful spring despite a rather serious drought — we could use some of your rain. We did get an outpouring of bluebirds! We planted summer rye (millet) just around the house to keep the sand from lifting up and moving away. It sprouted a pretty spring green, and then a huge flock of bluebirds showed up to help us thin it out a bit. Funny how I don’t mind something so beautiful decimating my grass seed, yet I resent the squirrel’s rifling through my garden and stuffing huge hickory nuts under the roots. I know these beautiful birds won’t stay long, so I hope they’ll visit you next! Hope your river clears along with your health, Emily
Hi healingmagichands — I just wanted to thank you for all of your comments…I appreciate any feedback. I too wonder why Harper Lee only wrote that one book — she is an amazing author and I wish she wrote more…I look forward to reading your posts 🙂
by the way…I am horrible at this blogosphere thing 🙂 and I barely know how to work it…i need to figure out how to add people to my list
I saw your post on THREE CUPS OF TEA and decided to write to tell you about a book that Doubleday is publishing MAKE THE IMPOSSIBLE POSSIBLE by Bill Strickland
Last November I flew to Pittsburgh to meet Bill Strickland. All I knew was that he had built a center in the middle of the ghetto, six blocks from where he grew up, and “was saving the lives of troubled youths and disadvantaged adults through arts and education.” Exactly what that meant didn’t hit home for me until I stepped foot inside his building and met the man himself.
Bill started off his center, The Manchester Craftsman’s Guild in a row-house that was donated by the local church. His method for getting kids out of trouble and off the street was simple: physically take them and show them how to work with clay. As word traveled from person to person and school to school, he no longer had to go seeking them; they came to him and his little center grew to become a world-class facility.
Designed by one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s students, the center is bathed in sunlight despite the cold and snowy November day, fresh flowers are everywhere, and a buzz of activity from both students and adults is in the air. The flowers are not just any flowers, but prize-winning orchids grown in their state-of-the-art greenhouse just next door. Some might ask what a poverty program needs a greenhouse for and to that Bill would be the first to say that it is NOT a poverty program. It is a training program for poor people and why shouldn’t poor people be given a sanctuary from the streets where they see no light ahead of them? By teaching them horticulture, along with culinary, computer, mathematics, chemistry, ceramics, photography, and much more, Bill is helping to change the conversation and help them see that they have a future outside of what they know. In building this world-class facility, he is helping to create world-class citizens.
Over the years I have worked with many different authors, all with their own unique backgrounds. Bill is the first author whose story has brought tears to my eyes, has received a standing ovation at every speech I have seen him give, and has even tempted me to leave my job so that I might follow in his footsteps. Luckily for me, Bill’s message also shows us that we don’t need to do anything that drastic. There is always something we can do right in our own backyard that will make a difference in people’s lives. It is my hope that in writing this letter and offering you a complimentary copy of MAKE THE IMPOSSIBLE POSSIBLE, you too will be inspired by his remarkable life and share it with your blog readers.
I look forward to hearing from you and getting your mailing address to send you a free copy of this amazing new book.
To find out more about Bill, the book and view a video of him please visit http://www.bill-strickland.org.
To see more about the center in Pittsburgh watch: http://youtube.com/watch?v=qg4bqejzCkc
Best,
Meredith McGinnis
Associate Director of Marketing
Doubleday 1745 Broadway New York, NY 10019
Tel: 212-782-8967
E: mmcginnis@randomhouse.com
Kyle…
I just came across your blog and wanted to drop you a note telling you how impressed I was with the information you have posted here. I also have websites & blogs so I know what I am talking about when I say your site is top-notch! Keep up the great w…
agree with Kyle! 🙂
If after I live my entire life, I have the opportunity to have one more day how ever I ant it, I will most definately, have a massage with Ellie. Ellie is, hands down – oh forgive me – my #1 favorite massage therapists and one of my favorite people on the planet. Kathryn Potter
Your story is inspiring and I too have had a host of jobs/training, lived all over…including Alaska (Fairbanks, where I went to UAF and taught, Kenai, Juneau and Anchorage) California (Santa Barbara, where I attended massage therapy school BTI) and was born in Lawrence,KS though my family all live on the Missouri side of KC. I am gardening in zone 8, making art, writing, doing yoga and raising my kids in an urban garden with 10 pets. I also am a certified Backyard Habitat and my property is 11 years organic. If I could zoom over to your place I would love to see how you’re growing your grapes! Most of the wine in central Texas is fumigated with fungicide…I wish I could make organic wine…we brew beer! I really enjoy your blog!
Greetings
I met you at Kathryn’s Performance/Unveiling:) I was the woman sitting behind you in the church with the earrings you admired.
Kathryn showed me the wonderful card you created and that began a discussion about your writing and gardening. I usually spend all my free time from May to Nov in my garden. The colder months bring me to my art table to make things with paper and “stuff”.
I enjoyed reading about your new garden space and plans fpr plants.
Yesterday I discovered 2 Dwarf Iris, a yellow Crocus, several purple Crocus and the Hellbore has lavender buds. The Daffs are starting to bud as well. Perhaps Spring is arriving early, and isn’t that a lovely thought.
Ciao
Shiner
Nice to meet you too — I look forward to reading through your posts, always great to discover a new and interesting blog! Reading all about massages makes me remember how good I used to feel back when I got massage therapy, years ago…maybe I need to start that again…
Dear Ellie (?),
I am working on a paper for the AK Humanities Forum about music in AK and was wondering if you would mind me quoting from your stories about touring with the Arctic Chamber Orchestra? If that would be OK, please let me know via e-mail how to site you — your name etc. etc.
Best wishes and thanks,
Jocelyn Clark
Dr. Jocelyn Clark
Director, CrossSound, Inc.
1109 C St.
Juneau AK 99801
+1.907.586.9601
crosssound@crosssound.com
I have been reading your blog and enjoying it, decided to make a comment if only to say hello. While you have good friends moving to Costa Rica, I have two moving back from there. I enjoy blogs where I get some sense of place from the writer. Thanks for your posts and all the best to you… Albertus
I just came across your blog. Your title caught my eye, and after reading about you, now I know why. A massage therapist. What a gift of healing for others! I’ve had several full-body massages spread out over the last 10 years and they do wonders. At the moment I can’t afford them, but I can almost feel the healing magic worked. DH does give me little massages using essential oil blends I’ve made up and they are healing too. The last full body massage I had, she used the hot rock therapy, and oh my goodness.
Your life sounds very interesting and I look forward to visiting here more often, to learn, be inspired, to enjoy.
FlowerLady
Good morning. ~ I tried to find an email addy but didn’t so here I am. The lady I have gone to the past year or so for massage therapy has lovely, soothing music, fake flickering fat candles, and small table top waterfall. The sheets are soft flannel, and the bed is slightly heated. Very nice, relaxing atmosphere. She charges $60, that’s why I haven’t been back this year. There are others in our area who charge more. I have to say though that each time I’ve gone to her, she’s given me 1 1/2 hours instead of 1. My job has been cut back and I’m making half of what I did last year, so a massage is a luxury, even though it is healing therapy. I am thankful for the massages DH gives me.
Aromatherapy is great also. I have quite the collection of essential oils and use them for our health and well-being.
Thanks for visiting my blog.
FlowerLady
HMH, not long ago I stumbled upon your blog and I’m glad I did. I really enjoy your photography and writing, which is why I am extending an award to you in my latest post “Tree Traditions and an Award.” You’re not obligated to pass it on, but I wanted you and others to know I think it’s great!
Hi there HMH – could you do me a favour and email me before commenting on my blog. I’m having a spot of bother I’d like to sort out. Thanks so much!
nursemyra
rocky@geko.net.au
[…] laisse la parole à Ellie (la blogueuse du middle-west autrement connue sous le pseudo Healing Magic Hands) qui me décrit […]
Really enjoying your blog – what a gift for words you have! I, too, live in Missouri, (Southwest) enjoy reading and writing poetry, am a nature lover….and am always delighted to discover like-minded people here. Thanks for sharing the gift of your words and experiences.
Hello, my name is Randi, I am a student currently working to get my massage therapy certificate, in Michigan. from what I have read of your posts, you seem like an incredible person and I would love to ask you some questions about your massage experience. If you wouldn’t mind e-mailing me at reasti02@baker.edu that would be lovely. thank you for your time.
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HI! I was thinking about you and looked up your note on Messenger. I haven;t time right now to read all your blog but did enjoy the stamp one from the other day. I have not been participating in the Joggles weekly prompt but did join another group with is lots of fun and I am learning new things. This means I am getting behind in my work. I would love to hear from you and hope you are well!
Jennifer Miller