HEIRLOOMS HISTORY

Heirlooms, A Love Story

Bio of Mary Cathleen

Former Pippi Longstocking Wannabe, only a much less enchanted version. To be sure, as children, we both walked around in a disheveled state with a monkey on our shoulders, and both rode a horse; however, only Pippi did so concurrently.

JoJo the Squirrel Monkey wreaked havoc in the house, and Skipper the old cow pony hung out in the back yard and various other places around the town and countryside, and both were a cherished part of my childhood, as were various other members of my menagerie.

Growing up Hardcastle in Mobridge, South Dakota in a big outrageous family was conducive to nonconformity, and I'm sure that label fits me. And it's ok. I kind of like to walk to the beat of a different drummer.

Graduation from Mobridge High School was in 1965, and after a bit of uncertainty, my sister and I made our way to Seattle in 1966.

I met Jim Brockamp, a Timber Lake, SD, boy, in Seattle in 66. He was 24, and seemed very mature to me, having spent four years in the Air Force, and much of his youth in Catholic schools.

We were married a few months later, uptown in Seattle, during the commercial of a Cassius Clay boxing match.

Married life suited me. Waking up on Saturday mornings to the smell of coffee, bacon and eggs , and the sound of Jim singing in the kitchen was very pleasant. "Jingo, Jango", he'd sing, "Mighty fine horse, I'm in love of course, and I got me a pretty woman's love. A dollars worth of beans, a new pair of jeans; someone to wash and irono."

Sadly, for him, my laundress knowlege was so lacking that all colors of clothes were washed together. (It saved a few cents at the laundromat.) And, well, all of Jim's sparkling whites were now pink.

For my part, I had never met anyone who was shaved, showered and joyously embarking on the new day before 7:00 A.M. on a week-end, and he had never met anyone who was content to eat left over spaghetti for breakfast. It became Jim's mission to 'domesticate' me, and mine to persuade him to think outside the box and enjoy some spontineity. We both made some headway, and that is proabably the key to the longevity of our marriage.

Jim worked for Glacier N.W., which innitially was LoneStar, until he retired at the age of sixty. I, Mary Cat, enjoyed working in internet research, insurance verification for the last seven years of my working career, but was very happy to pull the plug in 2006, and enjoy time at home with Jim and family.

Because I love working on the internet, I have many projects going on my Mac. Genealogy is a passion, and photography and all things organic. Genetic diversity of seeds, sustainable agriculture and fishing are also strong interests, as is good stewardship of land and it's flora and fauna. From 1994 to 1997, when I was at Highline College, Marine Biology, Botany, Ecology and similar classes drove this passion into high gear.

To this end, I'm hoping Jim and I will be able to implement some of our plans and dreams this year with our land. More about that later...

For now, we are enjoying our home and family as well as our lifestyle. We have three children, Steph, Jamie and Alexa, three grand-children, and a dog and cat, two horses and a bird and my grand-daugter's blind guinnea pig. (Remind me to tell you how we got 'Elvis", the cavie/piggie.)

I'm happy to say that I'm Mama Cathy to some of our children's friends that needed a helping hand.

And there is still a bit of Pippi in my soul, even now that I am a mother and grandmother. Some things never change.

I'll add my links later....... Thanks for visiting my bio.