National Lampoon's European Vacation

...well, just Scotland really...and Amsterdam for a few hours.

I've finally gotten around to posting some of our trip. This will have to be broken up into 2-3 days per blog given the amount of things we did.

May 14: As usual, my procrastination left me scurrying around getting things done the day we left (copies of passports, mailing back the books I didn't want from the book club, etc.). I took Dagan to school, walking him all the way to his room instead of dropping him off out front, and tried not to cry on the way back to the car. It's a whole different ball-game leaving the kids to go out of the country.

My mom drove us to the airport with Ian and Bronwen as co-pilots. Ian did okay saying goodbye but Bronwen was scared of the drop off area (dark and loud-the same reason she hates parking garages), and she got a little tearful when we left. I choked back emotions that were probably big bright signs on my face, and we went inside to check our luggage.

I started "The Gargoyle" by Andrew Davidson @ the airport. Thoroughly enjoying it. Dark humor, medical stuff, the hint of a love story...all good ingredients. John tried to finish up "Dragonfly in Amber."

Incoming storms delayed arrivals which made our flight a half hour late. Luckily we had a three hour layover in St.Paul. The flight was okay-small plane, no kleenex, no paper towels, and no ice. But thanks to the continuous flow of cold air up my jeans, I never needed the ice to cool me down. An hour into our flight, I realized what I'd forgotten to pack-my decent blouse for dinner at the castle. Bummer. So, I told myself I'd surely find something to wear before that night. I'm lucky that's the only thing I forgot.

During our layover in St.Paul, we stopped at Itasca Grill and had nachos and Beer (well, I had beer-John is stubbornly not drinking though I'm not sure why). The Jalapeños were laced with ninja fire, so I picked mine out. Didn't want to be stuck on an eight hour flight with the green apple trots! Talked to my mom, and she said it was pouring in Nashville. They had to wait thirty minutes outside Dagan's school, because of hail, before allowing the kids to leave. Talked to my dad, and he informed me we "might even see some Americans [bands] while you're there." I passively agreed to search out said American musicians. Called Erin to see how their flights were going. She and Scott were just getting to Nashville airport, but so far there were no delays. All good, for now.

After we settled into our seats on the plane, our neighbors just behind us started getting ready. I was blessed with a pre-teen Dutch boy behind me. He must have had a thousand things to put away because every minute I felt him open the pouch behind my seat and let it snap back in place with a thud. It literally happened 20-30 times. This would be a very long trip at that rate. Thank the Gods he stopped...eventually.

I read a bit and tried watching movies. I gave up on the latter due to our position over the wings/engines preventing me from hearing anything through the earbuds. I finally attempted sleep after dinner was served thinking a belly full of food and a beer would put me out. Wrong. I must have woken up every thirty minutes. No rest for the weary, just like home.

May 15: I woke up for good at 09:00 (Amsterdam time) to find ice on the windows, and beyond that-the ocean below us. Still not there...

Had a breakfast snack before landing. Got our tickets transferred since they didn't print our boarding passes in Nashville. Then we were off to find the mini-museum (Rijksmuseum). Pretty underwhelming actually. I was expecting more pieces, but there were maybe 15 total. It was nice though. Got some coffee at Starbucks, checked my email and updated Facebook to let everyone know we'd made it that far. Didn't do any shopping since we would be back in a week for a much longer layover.

The flight to Glasgow was quick. After getting through the passport check we got our bags and looked for Erin and Scott. The plan had been to ride to the B&B in Edinburgh together. Their flight landed at 14:53 and ours at 15:30. We looked for over an hour, but without cellphone service to call them, we left for the bus station. It was a pretty drive, and I was amazed at how similar the landscape in the Lowlands of Scotland was to Tennessee.

Our B&B was the Burns' House. We found out from her, that Erin and Scott had missed one of their flights and wouldn't be in until late. John and I lugged our bags up to the third floor (this will become a theme for our travels), and set out for dinner. We met Brenda & Jenn, the other third in our tour group, in the hall. They'd been there since the night before and showed us to the eateries. Since we couldn't get our calling card to work, we stopped off at a Wifi hotspot and sent my mom a message that all was good, and we were safe in Scotland.

(below-the view from Burns' House B&B)

We ate dinner @ The Footlight-more pub than restaurant. Burgers, chips, and Amstel Light X2. Feeling more than exhausted, we went "home" to bed at 21:30 with the sun just beginning to lower in the sky. Mrs. Burns told us Erin and Scott had made it, but we just missed them going out for dinner. Oh well, I was too tired to be good company anyway.

The thing I learned about B&Bs in Scotland (in general)- very little water pressure and extremely hot water.

I'm back!

Some of you keep up with my ridiculous life via Facebook or Compuserve, but in case you don't... my three year old son has been in the hospital for two weeks for pneumonia. He ended up having surgery to clean out a pocket of pus in his left lung which resulted in a chest tube after surgery. He's been home since this past Wednesday. Ian is a little weak after basically being in bed for almost three weeks, but is getting stronger everyday.

During all the drama, there was an enormous outpouring of thoughtful wishes and prayers from the aforementioned online communities (feel free to catch up on the trials and tribulations of our hospital stay via the links above; I don't have room or time to rewrite it all here). I really can't thank y'all enough; it meant so much to me and my family.

Now we're counting down as the date for our Scotland trip approaches. I truly can't contain my excitement. I think about it hundreds of times a day. John confessed that he's nervous about leaving Ian after the recent hospitalization. I'm hoping that as it gets closer to departure time he'll be more comfortable with it. Kids are resilient and bounce back from things like this so much faster than adults do.

Anyhow, there's not much new here in Nashville. Just every day stuff, spring cleaning, work, kids, blah blah blah. I'm scrambling to catch up on the April writer's exercise for the Comuserve Writer's Forum, as well as get some work done on Blood Song. If I can, I'd like to polish up the short story about a cigarette for the Writer's Digest annual competition this year (due May 14th). We'll see how things go.

Music, sweet music.

After yesterday's serious post, I'd like to talk about something more upbeat and easygoing... Music. I don't discriminate, I love all genres. Well, that's not completely true. I can do without new country and new rap. I stopped listening to anything newer than, oh, probably 1994. Anything after that just doesn't do it for me.

Music plays a very large part in my life. It inspires my writing, can lift or drag down my mood, and I like to think my iPod as the soundtrack to my life. Someone at work recently told me they were "not really into music." This idea floored me. I can't imagine a day, no... an hour, of my life without music. Honestly, pick any song, and I can relate it to some incident in my life. Most of my major scenes in my WIP were sparked by music.

I've done a couple of blogs about We Were Promised Jetpacks. Don't worry, I won't tarry too long here. (Sorry boys, you'll have to share the limelight for a bit.) They are definitely the best band I've heard in a long time, and their album "These Four Walls" is IMHO the best release of 2009. And here my obsession threatens to take over again. Let's move on, shall we?

Here's my current playlist (artist-album). What are you listening to lately?

Heartless Bastards-The Mountain

Mark Knopfler-Golden Heart

Ray Lamontagne-Trouble

The Black Keys-All You Ever Wanted

Fanfarlo-Reservoir

Panda Bear-Person Pitch

Autism Awareness Month

April 2, 2010 launched World Autism Day, and the month of April is Autism Awareness month (at least in the states).

My eight year old son, Dagan, was diagnosed with High Functioning Autism/Asperger's Syndrome when he started kindergarten. We knew something was different about him, but we never considered Autism. He could talk, for Pete's sake! Really, really well in fact. By the time he turned two, he could recite and recognize the letters of the alphabet, as well as their phonetic sounds. He was conversing with adults, using the speech of a 4 or 5 year old. He could spell his name. And by age 4, he had already taught himself a few words to read. I never made any effort to get him reading. He followed along while I read our stories every night, and actually taught himself to read. If he couldn't pronounce it, he'd ask. Once. And that was it.

In my head, Autistic people had a language deficit. They didn't interact well with adults. So his diagnosis was a shock to say the least. I cried a lot, wondering what I might have done wrong somewhere along the way. And then I started reading, and reading, and reading some more. I researched for a good six months before we found a DAN! doctor. And we've been very pleased with the results. While Dagan hasn't had the drastic turnaround that some kids have had. There is a noticeable difference however.

He suffered for four years with horrible constipation before unconventional therapies turned his life around. It's been a hard road and a longer one ahead. Dagan still has some difficulties socially at school, and is at an age where other kids are starting to notice he's different. And every year, new fears arise...how will he live on his own, will he be able to hold a job, will he find someone to love that will accept him as he is? It's a long way off, and hopefully the research will continue to uncover more each year.

To all the people dealing with Autism and it's large spectrum of disorders...You're amazing!

Not many people can understand what it's like living with this. People assume that since it's not a medical problem (which it actually is) and they attend school, that it can't be all that bad. Well, you're wrong. It's hard, but at the same time I wouldn't change anything about his personality. Dagan is an affectionate, creative, intelligent, joyful boy, who loves to make others happy. I just want him to have some resemblance of a "normal" childhood, and grow up to function in society.

To all the folks not living with this disorder, educate yourself and others. You never know when you might be faced with it. Last time I checked 1:100 kids have Autism.

Check out these sites for more info:

Autism Society of America

Generation Rescue

Age of Autism

TACA

Margaret and Helen

Thank you Pam (from Compuserve Books & Writers Community) for introducing me to the funniest blog EVER. Margaret and Helen are in their early 80's, and have been best friends for over 60 years. From breastfeeding to healthcare reform to Britney Spears underwear mishaps...there's plenty of food for thought. Most rants revolve around politics though, and Helen does most of the posting. I'm telling you, I haven't laughed that hard in Lord knows how long. They're sarcastic, smart, witty, and just plain hilarious.

Their commentary is funny enough on its own, and then you remember their age, which makes it even funnier. You just don't think of women from that generation cursing, and making fun of politicians. Not what I'm used to, at least from my grandmothers. My mother, on the other hand, will be just like this in another 25 years.

So check out these wonderful ladies, you'll be glad you did. Unless your a Republican, and then you'll just be pissed off.

p.s. I highly recommend reading the Thanksgiving letters. Priceless.

Eidolons Lost

This is a photo of a painting I bought today, though it really doesn't do it justice. The artist is Shana Kohstamm. I work with her husband (one of our Pulmonary Fellows). Thank the Gods/Goddesses for Facebook, because I never would have seen this without it. Let this be a lesson to all artists (music, writing, painting, etc.) ... online networking works!

After looking at it obsessively (yes, this word comes up a lot in my life...it's a theme) for days, until one night I laid in bed thinking about it instead of sleeping. All right, I said to myself, just buy the damn thing since you like it so much.

The thing that struck me so hard about it is it's resemblance to a circle of standing stones. I can find any number of ways to relate things to my Outlander obsession (here it is again ). In Outlander, Claire Randall, gets taken back 200 years through a group of standing stones called Craigh na Dun.

This painting reminded me of it, and the almost blurry effect makes me feel like someone has just "gone through." I asked Shana what her inspiration for the painting was and this is her description. "Eidolons can either be defined as 1. an idealized person or thing, or 2. a specter or phantom. This painting is about what is left behind when we make choices. Paths not taken, people not loved, dreams abandoned."

Also a theme in Outlander is the question of whether you can change the future, from the past, or is it predestined. Every action we take or don't take has an effect on the future. But do our inactions leave behind a ghost as well?

Whether you see stones or ghosts of the paths not taken, it's captivating. And I love it.

Here's a link to Shana's Facebook page.

Support the arts people!!

Today's Edition of "My Soapbox"

The title eludes that I've had other editions of "My Soapbox." I haven't, but given the plethora of things that get me going, I think I'll make this a regular blog entry. Kind of like Peter Griffin's news bit "What Really Grinds My Gears." So for today's edition, I have two subjects; annoying news and annoying neighbors. Let's get right to it.

Sarah Palin is a Ritard

I consider myself to be an open minded person who's sensitive to the feelings of others. That being said, I also have a sense of humor. It's a dark one perhaps, but it exists. For those who haven't heard, Sarah Palin is angry with Family Guy. I won't waste precious blog space

with the story, but you can read this article from the New York Times which does a great job of summing it up. The short version is an episode had a minor character who has Down's Syndrome, and her mother was the former Governor of Alaska. I think Sarah Palin needs to take a Xanax and call it a night.

This is funny. If you don't think it's funny, you probably shouldn't be watching Family Guy. Did I take offense to this scene in "The Hangover" where they call Rainman a 'ritard/retard' just because my son has Autism? No, I didn't. I thought it was hilarious; one of the funniest parts in the movie. And, stirring up all this shit is just giving them more attention, and probably increasing their ratings. As someone who is a public figure, you know you're going to be made fun of. This is most likely the tamest thing Seth MacFarlane & Co. have come up with. So brace yourself, it will get worse; and I look forward to it. My verdict: hilarious, even more so since the actress doing the voice of the character has Down's and intentionally makes fun of Palin. Lovely :)

Age of Autism

No segue, just gonna jump right on the next item of news. I am a fan of The Onion. They make fun of things that are completely made up, and I like it. Now many in the Autism community are furious over this article where two parents blame their Autistic son for being unable to save their marriage. I don't hear the pit bull folks screaming discrimination from the mountain tops (they get a little jab here too). In my oh-so-humble opinion, this article is taking shots at people who have kids for the wrong reasons, not the fictional Autistic child. The only thing that bothered me in the slightest was naming the child Evan (presumably after Jenny McCarthy's son who has Autism). My verdict: not hilarious, but funny.

Yoda Cuts Grass

Some of you may have heard my tales of the grass cutting senior citizen who lives next door to me (AKA Yoda, AKA Father Time, AKA Mr. Gill). If not, he is at least 80 years old and he religiously mows his yard every Saturday, twelve months a year. The only exceptions are heavy rain/snow, below freezing temps, and possible medical emergencies. The last one is in question though. The man loves his yard.

This morning I took Bronwen and Ian outside to play while John ate his breakfast. This is the first day it's been warm enough. And I shit you not, three minutes into our outing, and Yoda is out in full force riding his new mower, cutting the grass.

I understand that old habits die hard. But COME ON! The grass is dead, brown, crunches under your feet. It hasn't grown a millimeter in at least four months! He doesn't just cut the grass either. He covers every square inch at least four times. I'm not exaggerating. He really does. One day he spent twenty minutes mowing the patch of grass right outside my bedroom window. Not even my earplugs can drown out the sound of a mower.

My verdict: NOT funny. Highly frustrating. He's either so senile he can't remember it doesn't need cutting OR his wife is so damn annoying he has to mow to get away from her.

Thanks for reading/listening. I feel better now.