February 2013 - Home to Home - Part 2

Stirling Castle, Scotland

I would like to know what happened to January.  It was always my mom's favorite month she once said, explaining that she got to write my name every day.  But this past January just vanished into the mist.

After enjoying December with family and friends, cuddles with grands, making and sending handmade ornaments and Christmas greetings across the United States and beyond, lunches with friends, and just being with my husband, it was bitter-sweet to return to my second home in Wales.  I was prepared for the journey but was not prepared for the ravages of jet-lag nor did I understand what jet-lag was beyond sleep deprivation.  Okay, so as a researcher I set out to discover what it really is.

It's different for each person but the overall response is 24 hours adjustment for every time zone travelled, a bit more if you're over fifty but who's counting! The UK is 8 time zones different than Oregon.  The adjustments to our circadian rhythms can result in inability to sleep as well as depression, anxiety, eating and elimination issues.  Makes sense when one considers all that is involved, as the body doesn't necessarily follow where the brain leads.  Case in point, I look at the gymnasts in the Olympics and say I can do that; and then I look in the mirror and realize that it's probably not going to happen soon.  So for those of you planning a trip from West to East (takes a longer adjustment) or East to West (takes less time to adjust for most), here are some tips.  Set your watch to the destination time zone when you get on the plane.  Bring Melatonin with you (natural sleep aid). When it's night, do NOT stare at the computer screen to go back to sleep.  It will actually do the reverse and tell your body it's morning and wake you up.  Drink plenty of fluids.  Exercise through the day and try to avoid late afternoon naps for a few weeks.  Above all, stay busily engaged in seeing and enjoying your trip or your home.  Understand that there is nothing wrong with you, your body is just trying to catch up to your adventurous travel plans.

After adjusting to the 8 hour time change and delivering my

scheduled presentation, I began to enjoy life again and journeyed with friends to Scotland where we stayed in Sterling and visited Edinborough.

   

Stirling Castle is being beautifully  renovated and the colors used were truly remarkable.  Opulent is the only word that quite covers the interior royal chambers.  One wishes to lie upon the floor and just observe the ceilings.

As I wandered through the castle and stared out across the fields toward the William Wallace monument, the gradual realization of where I was and what I was doing began to dawn... again! I was in Scotland... in a real castle... I was going to school... I was having an adventure... I was seeing a childhood dream fulfilled.  Looking out from the castle parapet at the lush green fields or glancing skyward at the architecture and gargoyles and even playing dress-up with medieval costumes, I paused to be grateful for the experience I was sharing with friends and how my life and understanding of humanity is broadening.  It felt more like I was visiting the home of a friend, walking on their cobbled courtyard, admiring their taste in decor.  There was a definite connection that time and space did not account for.  Perhaps it is the writer in me, the fact that I live within an imaginary world a good part of my day, but just as reading takes us on a journey through time or into the mind and heart of another person, this new adventure removed barriers as I lived "in" history and became a part of it.

January saw the completion of my doctoral in-class classes and the freedom to work intensely on my research and novel, which has passed 22K words.  I'm not sure what adventures February will offer but I do promise to keep you posted.  Until then learn to laugh while you live and don't forget to dance.

Week 7 & 8 - Remembering

November 4th - It snowed during our early afternoon visit to the Rollright Stones in Long Compton, which is about halfway between Stratford Upon Avon and Oxford.  When visiting here in 2008 with a college class, it was just a little side trip, a blip in a well-planned theatre tour itinerary, a gift from a bus driver who thought we ought to see standing stones.  Yet it sparked an idea for a novel, which formed part of my application to Aberystwyth and is currently being completed for my PhD Thesis.  Our journey through life form a complex tapestry.

As I walked around the stones and counted them - the legend states that they cannot be counted three times with the same number - I was drawn to the magic of being in Wales and in England.  The very ground of the United Kingdom breathes myth, mystery, and magic.  NOTE:  These are two separate countries that form part of the UK!  As well as Scotland and Northern Ireland and there IS a great deal of national pride.  Do not refer to Wales as part of England - It's like saying Oregon is part of Texas!)

King Stone

 

Whispering Knights

Greeted with snow, rain, sodden ground, and a cold that penetrated our winter jackets, we retreated to the Crown and Cushion in Long Compton for lunch by the fireside. Again I was struck by the very British tradition of visiting.  One eats and then one sits and shares their life, thoughts, dreams, news, family, and self.  A table near us was filled with a collection of locals, raising a pint as they laughed and talked.   We in America rush through life with instant this and that.  What shall we remember at journey's end?  I take more time now to see, to listen, and to enjoy.  

After lunch, a warm sit within the cozy atmosphere of C & C's pub, and clearing skies, we journeyed back and visited The King Stone and were delighted to find David Gosling’s newly placed art installation, the witch who tradition says turned the king and his men to stone.  Our photo fairy was working overtime as we got just the right angle to see the witch look eerily out of the branches that compose her body.  

The Whispering Knights are across the road from the King Stone and a field away from the King's Men stone circle.  It is said that you can hear your future if you listen quietly to the whispers of the Knights.  Evidently the legend holds, as the fallen stone in front was liberally peppered with coin of the realm from pence to pound.

Late that night, we watched the Cotswold Druids perform their Samhain Ceremony, circling the stone with drum and rattles.  Calling for the four portals to be opened, they honored their kindred dead, shared refreshment, and danced beneath the cloud covered sky.  Researching, I sat unobtrusively on a fallen stone and watched three female Druids dance with fairy lights to what sounded like a medieval rendition of "My Lady Sleeps."  Eerie, haunting and beautiful.

British Sky

Week 8 was taken up in intense classes back on campus, while I tried to unpack the impressions of the Druidic celebration and to convert emotion into text, imbuing words with the magical setting I had witnessed, and trying to remember, to capture, and to give form to the gift of this experience.

The colors are changing and this past week-end was spent just outside of London with new friends, a road trip of colors and comraderie.  I was introspective as I thought of the passing of life, remembering my loved ones who have passed the portals of mortality, combined with the joy of the present as I see my two newest grands learn to crawl and my first grandchild accept a mission call to Brazil... at 4 AM... on Skype.  Life is good.  

London LDS Temple Grounds

Remember to live, to love, to witness life.  One of my daughters gave me the gift of a song years ago.  It is by Leeann Womack, "I Hope You Dance."  I'd like to recommend the lyrics to you... "... and when you get the choice to sit it out or dance, I hope you dance."  See you on the dance floor.