Good Morning America. How are you?

Willie Nelson's seems a good place to kick this blog off.  I have been on a bit of a country kick since landing Stateside. The rental cars radio didn't change for 5 days straight and amazingly no song repeated the entire time. Perhaps my sticking to the country channel  had to do with the feel of Vermont or perhaps it has to do with those "Windshield Wipers slappin out a tempo" as I finally find myself back behind the wheel (What a pleasure that is!!)  

We have been here for a week now. Its been a rather busy one. We landed late on Sunday in Montreal. There where some issues with getting a rental car. The one I had lined up was to small to hold our luggage.  They swapped it out for a car with a van that started screaming warnings at me the minute I put it in drive and after an hour long wait we were lined up with a Chrysler Town and Country which fit the bill. We left Montreal and arrived in Burlington in time to order room service and go to sleep. Jet lag and time adjustment took about 4 days to get through the worst of. I had wanted to stay up on the night of the 21st to welcome the Sun as I usually do on the Solstice but being in a hotel in the dark with kids passed out at 7 pm  made that just a little bit to difficult. Anyway,..

Monday I met with my home loan lender at the IRS. In order to secure my loan, they needed confirmation that our 2015 taxes had been submitted to the IRS. Don't get me started on the process of taxes and dual country filing and ... well... long story short ... we were down to the wire as the house closed on Tuesday. Needless to say that the IRS had changed its procedure (In the last few weeks) and it was not as easy an experience as we were expecting but we got it done and we were able to close as anticipated on Tuesday. Whew!

That doesn't mean we moved in on Tuesday.  On Wednesday our air shipment containing some dishes. towels,  lawn chairs and sleeping bags/cots arrived and were unpacked. Thursday was spent checking out the schools and getting the kids registered as well as doing some shopping and we started painting the rooms that needed it (Two of the bedrooms really needed to be toned down otherwise I love the existing color schemes of the home.) Friday our internet was installed and our mattresses arrived. We fought the holiday crowds as we ran some much needed errands to Home Depot, Bed Bath and Beyond, and the grocery store (all just down the road and easy to get to). Saturday we checked out of the hotel and began to settle in and make ourselves at home. Sunday was spent mostly painting. We had a fantastic feast of Mountain Home (camping .. add water and waalaa) and there were a couple "surprise" gifts on the mantel for the kiddies. Today I went to the Toyota dealership and bought a Tacoma and the last of the painting was finished.

Whew. It has been a very productive week to say the least. The work is by no means done but the bulk of it for now has been seen to and the next few days will be spent attending to smaller details... Like lining up Eye Dr. appointments. Willow keeps laughing at me because I have to take off my glasses and bring things right up to my face to read... could it be time for bi-focals?

The wind is whipping outside and more snow is on the way. It snowed 2 inches on Thursday. I bought a snow shovel on Friday to take care of the driveway and the woman at the registered said, "So you are gearing up for the season." I guess that means we can expect a lot more to come.

It is beautiful here. We are in the middle of a valley with a giant lake not more than 20 minutes away. Already it feels like home. The kids are doing well with the change. Connor is going to do great at his school. And although Willow is a bit overwhelmed by the size the the high school she is happier than I have seen her in a long time.

Meanwhile in Germany,...  The house was packed up on Tuesday and loaded on Wednesday (Hopefully the delivery will be around Jan 20th). Some rental furniture was delivered that afternoon so Greg has a place to sleep and work.  Thursday and Friday he took a Holiday with some friends and  toured a mine and enjoyed some beer and a statue of Karl Marx. Over Christmas he stayed at home and just relaxed. His school course wrapped up. He has two more classes to go before graduating with his MBA in May. He also came in first in the world wide "manufacturing simulation game" that he took part in. He is quite the strategist. In not so happy news, he learned today that the plant has been sold and that things are officially shutting down later this week after he makes the announcement to his team and immediately lets them all go. It is not an easy position to be in and I am hoping that it goes as smooth as can be for him.

With this news, it is pretty certain that he will be on a flight out here at the end of January. We will be waiting..... Unless I devour the children first.

It sure is good to be back! I can't wait to start exploring. As always, more to come soon.

Quick hello before I go

It has been a crazy sort of month filled with the details  and challenges of buying a house in Vermont while living abroad, and managing the process of contract cancellations here. Germans don't move often and their system reflects that. For instance my cell phone.. I can't just go in and cancel it with the payment an early termination fee. I have to submit documents proving my citizenship has been cancelled and then, after three more months, they will disconnect the service. The same goes for Cable, internet and landline services.  Regardless, all the pieces are falling into place and our transition will go rather smoothly. At least this time around we know what to expect at the other end.... apparently Snow and lots of it. I have not driven a car in a year and a half.. it should be interesting.  Anyway.. so it goes. The kids and I leave on the 18th and (it is now official) we close on our house on the 20th. A right and proper way to celebrate the Solstice eh?! Here comes the sun and all that. You know .. making it memorable.  Greg will be out to join us in a few months. We are taking it in stride.

Connor has been busy lately with a new project. He has started a Youtube Channel. Its fun to see how much his editing skills have improved. Check him out at Creed Games.

I could probably go on .. but I wont. I have chores and calls and preparations that demand my attention. I probably won't pop up here again until I am stateside. Despite the insanity there, It will be good to be "home".

Inked

I got a tattoo. And like with everything I do.. well.. Go big or Go Home.  Its healing now. Still sore from the needle and I know that soon it will be itching like a son of gun. But everything comes with a price and I am most willing to pay it.

There are some key elements to the art work that now adorns my left forearm. For starters it has a bird. 

The bird is a skylark.. sort of a totem animal for me. 

Some have described this bird as a "Punk Thrush" because it has a little mohawk. After the artist got done with the outline I realized that the placement of some feathers made it look as though the bird had a ginormous set of balls. Quite fitting in my mind. When I went in for the coloring I asked him to leave it as it was. I explained that it added character. He didn't understand.. But being German this was to be expected but he left it alone anyway.

Another element of the design is the rainbow radiating out of the lighthouse. The rainbow is styled in the Bauhaus tradition of Herbert Bayer's Chromatic Twist (1970).

As Weimar is the home of the Bauhaus movement, I thought it a fitting symbol of our time in Germany. It is also a symbol of "Hope"  and of dreams that carry me through life and feed my soul. 

Some day we'll find it. The rainbow connection. The lovers, the dreamers and me. La da da di da da dum da duh da da dum di da ohhh 

The words "Chasing Rainbows all my days" are lyrics from the Iron Maiden song, Ghost of the Navigator.  This song speaks of Homers Odyssey.  It is a personal anthem of sorts. Paying tribute to the epic adventure that has so far been my life. 

And now for the big colorful reveal:

Now that it is done, I set my sails for new lands and new adventures. Come what may. 

Do you do accents?

Not really. I do my own voice. Sometime I do it funny. Here is one way I have decided to expand my range:

*This is a link*

Its a YouTube Channel. It My YouTube Channel. 

All it takes is a smile

My dear Friend and old Neighbor from the Monterey area, Karen,  has been one of my loyal and dedicated readers for a very long time and she often responds to my posts and encourages my writing. In regards to the last few posts, she sent me a message and indicated that she would love to hear the backstory of my mom and Dunkle.

Since I didn't have a chance to sit down with her and have a true visit while we were in the states, I thought I would sit down with a cup of tea and tell her that tale just as I might have.  So Karen (and whom ever else wishes to sit in) grab a cup of joe, have a seat and I will tell you the tale.

I don't have many pictures with me. For the most part, they are in storage in the States. My mom did send me this one and so here is where I will start.

Flashback ... 1979 ... a year in which -57 degrees was recorded in New York and snow was seen in the Sahara Desert. The year Saddam Hussein assumed power. The year the Iatola Komani  declared the US "The Great Satan" The year walkman's were introduced. But this tale is not about the world stage. This tale, more than anything, is about family.

During the late 70's my immediate family lived in Washington state. We were surrounded by my dads parents, his siblings and their families. Together we celebrated and dined often. Such as in the photo, which I think is of my brothers 4th birthday. (In addition to my brother, my Mom, Dunkle and the back of two of my cousins heads are in the picture. Do you see the arm snaking its way around my mom in an attempt to get some cake? That is me!) Anyway, we were a very close family.  And then in the early 1980's, our course change and we relocated to a small town in Northern Nevada. Population 200. Long distance calls were few and far between. It was super expensive to call and our connection to our family in Washington was stretched thin. Fortunate, in Nevada, We had my moms family nearby and they helped fill the void.

Anyway, life goes on and when I was 18 my parents split up. The reasons why are far to complicated to address in a short blog, however, it wasn't due to lack of love. Perhaps the best way to explain is that wounds of childhood traumas where ignored and festered resulting in poor choices and a little neurosis. Regardless, things between them ended just as I went off to college.

And life goes on...  Until it ends. My dad passed away almost 15 years ago while sitting at home in Washington with my Dunkle who he lived with at the time.

Dunkle then went on to remarry an old childhood sweetheart who turned out to be not so sweet. They took in my elderly grandpa and my dads other brother Don who was severely crippled. When my grandpa died I make the trip North. I noticed at the funeral that his wife choose not to attend. Also, Don told me that I could not come visit at the house. Dunkles wife did not want anyone there...ever. It was left at that but it was odd and I knew that things were not right. Attempts to get in/stay in touch with Dunkle were left unanswered and Don wasn't discussing it.

Then, about a year and a half ago, Don died. Dan was away at business and returned home to find Don on the floor in his room where he had been for three days. I learned much later that, when the police came to investigate, his wife said she had heard a crash but didn't care to check on him. Nor did she care that she didn't see him for three days. Anyway,  Dons ashes were placed next to his parents about three weeks before we moved to Germany and at the funeral, I learned from cousins that I was not alone in my impression that Dunkle was miserable.

Meanwhile my mom remarried. It lasted 18 years. She divorced about 5 years ago and was content being a single woman. She had made attempts to step out into the dating world and found the prospects laughable. Better to be single she said. Little did she know..

Soooo... after Dons funeral (We already had all of our things shipped and were making our rounds to say goodbye) we made our way to my moms. While there I said.. "Hey Mom, Dan is very depressed and is struggling. He has lost most of his family and he could really use a smile. Lets send him one!" So we took a selfie and I sent it to him along with moms contact info.

A few months goes by and mom Skypes me to tell me that she is spending New Years with Dan and they are taking a road trip to the town they grew up in. Apparently they laughed and laughed the whole time. She reminded him he didn't have to be miserable.

The next skype brought news of his pending divorce and retirement.

The next one brought news that he had asked my moms parents for her hand. He took my grandma slippers and chocolate and passed on an heirloom rifle to my grandpa. It was a done deal. They were getting married.

I got the cure you're thinking of..

To my last blog my mother replied:
"You are right about the big men!  You are a pill!"
This has left me wondering:
Am I a upper or a downer?

 I aspire to be curative!

With every beat of my heart (aka... Getting vascular )

Home.
Adventure has its benefits, to be sure.
And I wouldn't cash this cherry ride in for anything.
But .. Home.
Sage and Stone.
Open skies and evening breeze.
Thoughts of Home sustain me.

Our trip back to the states was also full of remembrance. How could it not be? What, with the fact that my mom was marring my uncle, We had family long separated by divorce and death reuniting, And an endless supply of picture albums to peruse. Needless to say my fathers presence was ultimately felt and rejoiced in. Thoughts of Dad happily permeated the atmosphere of the entire visit home.

Actually, his presence began to be felt as we were in the lull between our bags being loaded in the car and our actual departure. To waste a few minutes the kids were flipping through youtube channels and landed on some body builder site. After a few minutes I told the kids that he reminded me of my dad. They looked at me a little puzzled. How was my dad anything like this big black man? I could not explain why but in hindsight, at that time I heard more then I saw and so it had to do with the way the guy stammered.. and his feisty delivery.. its was sort of like my dad.

*For some dramatic effect I am switching to a child's voice.. * Daddy's spirit was definitely at the wedding. Duncle... um...That be my Daddy Uncle.. right there.. my Dunkle Dan. he done did told us a story one night wilst we was having us some chowdown. Its one that he has held secret for most of his life.. and its the story of why my Daddy become a Weider (Stumbles over pronunciation) man. * flash  to a picture of a 7 year old, stringy haired, barefoot, buck toothed girl dressed in a guinea sack dress Ma sewed me all grinning up at the camera.*

*Fades back to my Regular voice* When they were boys.. my dad was older. And..well.. he wasn't always kind to his younger brothers. But then again the younger brothers were not always kind to him either. Anyway the sibling scuffles escalated as they grew older and one day my dad sold his brother Dan's new birthday bicycle to a neighbor boy. Dan was very upset and went to the Neighbor boys house and asked but they would not return the bike. So Dan starts working odd jobs. Earning a nickle here and there. Now at that time, moving a lawn, trimming the hedges and edging the walk would get you about a quarter. So Dan set to work and saved. One night after he had saved up a goodly amount he went to the movies with his siblings and was left with 5 dollars change. After the movie, on the way back home, Dan managed to get away from the group and he slipped into the bar. He was maybe 9 years old and my dad 14.. something like that. So he goes to the bar and saddles up next to Floyd. Now Floyd was this enormous 6'2" Native American Lumberjack with a hell of a mean streak. He was the scariest man in Etna.  And so Dan steps up next to him and slides his 5 dollar bill across the bar and tells Floyd that he can have the 5 dollars if he hits someone. So Floyd accepts and they get in the car and find my dad who was walking along dragging a stick along a picket fence. Dan points out dad and Floyd jumps out, belts dad and throws him over the fence. My dad never knew what hit him or why. Dad started weight training the next day. That is how he became a Weider man.

Of all the photos floating around I only walked away with a few. One was this one.

 It shows my Grandparents and my Dad and his siblings. I would guess my Dad was about mid thirties here. (Dad is pictured on the far right and Dan is on the far left). I look at this picture and I am blown away by the fact that I don't think it ever dawned on me just what a beast of a man my father was then or especially back in his hay day.  This photo does not capture that time. By this time, for better or for worse, fatherhood and life had made him softer. But weights and lifting never completely disappeared from his life. In fact they were a cornerstone of my relationship with him. That one moment helped define my father, helped define me... I miss being that defined.  In hindsight, I wish I had listened to his advice of "reps over weight" as I am pretty sure I did some damage to my hip and knee joints and I really should have done more upper body to balance me out but I think I was afraid of losing my boobs.

Sooo, boobs aside..

My uncles story doesn't end there. And while I may not tell this part exactly right, I  think I have the jist of it. Many years later, Dan stumbles upon Floyd at the bar. Floyd is no longer the man he once had been. The years and the bottle had taken a toll. But he would still not someone you wanted to have hit you.  So Dan slides up and starts a conversation and asks if Floyd remembers being paid to hit my dad. And Floyd says "Yeah, so what was up with that." Dan tells him the back story. Then says Ill give you 20 bucks if you go hit him again for me. So Floyd says yeah I'll do it. Whats his name?.So my uncle says my dads name. Horror flashed in Floyds eyes and he pushed the bill away while slurring " No way. I wont fight him..."
"Not even for.."
"Not for nothin!"
Seems my dad had become quite well known in the valley by that time and no body messed with him. Not even Floyd.
Dad was quite the Brute.

If he were alive today I can just see him making comedy based YouTube Videos to rival Kali Muscle. But I think they would be funnier even though his opening would sound much the same.. "Growin up in Etna.. haha. Let me put it to you this way..I had my first gun when I was in Elementary."   In the back of my mind I hear dad chuckle.

Anyway... enough reminiscing for now...As I depart though I thought Id leave a little video for mom of big men stampeding. (She really likes big men) The first guys build reminds me the most of Dad.. only he would need to be super hairier.

Enjoy!