The Red Accordion Diaries

Jason Isbell, Paul Thorn, and ... me!

noreply@blogger.com (Brigid Kaelin) — Wed, 22 May 2013 14:44:00 +0000

Doesn't that sounds like a fun show?

Iroquois AmphitheatreFriday, June 7$20 in advance/$22 day of show

I play 7:30-8:00, so don't be late.
Steve Cooley will be joining me on some strings of the to-be-determined variety.
Mr. Isbell and Mr. Thorn will have their respective bands with them.

Buy tickets here.

Now who wants to make my setlist for me? How can we fit in saw, yodeling, and still have time for an accordion/banjo duet? Work on that for me...

My irrelevant superpower.

noreply@blogger.com (Brigid Kaelin) — Tue, 21 May 2013 14:42:00 +0000

People hate Facebook for lots of reasons. My main grief with it is that it totally negates my superpower.

What's my superpower? I remember when your birthday is. If we went to high school together, I probably also remember your parents' phone number (not so useful anymore), but I definitely remember your birthday. It may take me a few minutes to figure it out, but I always get there.

Try to schedule a meeting or book a gig with me on July 12? I'll tell you I already have something that day because it's so familiar. Then I'll remember that it's Alan's birthday, not actually a music festival, and accept the gig. But Alan and I are also Facebook friends, which means I don't get to show off my superpower. EVERYONE CAN FIGURE OUT HIS BIRTHDAY!

Anyway, I've pretty much stopped wishing people happy birthday because I feel like it's cheating these days. Although, come to think of it, that's a pretty dumb reason. Maybe I should just get over myself and develop a new, more relevant, superpower.

Crickets and roses.

noreply@blogger.com (Brigid Kaelin) — Fri, 17 May 2013 13:30:00 +0000

Last night I heard something I hadn't heard in almost two years: crickets. For about five seconds I smiled and though, "Oh, how I have missed those charming sounds!" Then I tried to fall asleep, which was more difficult than sleeping on the second floor in Manhattan with the windows wide open in July because there's no air conditioning (which I have done). So, yeah, it turns out I didn't miss the crickets after all. Apparently, there aren't crickets in Scotland. At least none that invade the cities and keep you up at night. Who knew?

roses roses roses

We did live right across from a swanky cricket club in Edinburgh. They were strangely quiet, however.

Off to prune my rosebush, which I'm pretty sure puts your rosebush to shame. Fighting words to other gardeners, I know, but take it as a challenge! Check these babies out:

Daydreaming about the castle-church I'll live in.

noreply@blogger.com (Brigid Kaelin) — Wed, 15 May 2013 13:23:00 +0000

From the looks of my blog comments and messages, you and I (and a few others) will be going in on buying St. Stephen's Church in Edinburgh. I mean, did you see that pipe organ inside? Or just do a Google image search for all the gorgeous pics of this beautiful 1828 building.

I'm already daydreaming about the fabulous garden parties, and the concerts, and the organ jams, and the community theatre, and the massive four-poster royal bedroom. It'll be grand, folks. Princess Kate bring the wee royal over for playdates and/or piano lessons, and then she and I will run up the street to Leo's Beanery for a latte while Mary Poppins watches the kids.

It's good to have dreams, folks.

Draft posts, birth, baby playing.

noreply@blogger.com (Brigid Kaelin) — Tue, 14 May 2013 14:51:00 +0000

I'm feeling better, y'all. I've got a shiny new (albeit used) computer to replace my precious drowned Macbook, and I'm actually feeling like writing again. The problem now is that I'm completely overflowing with things to say.

I've still got about ten blogs in draft in my series on "Having a Baby Abroad" and the NHS. I'm trying to decide just how personal to get. Birth stories aren't really my thing, but many of you have asked about it. I also feel someone obligated to share what I learned during the process, seeing as I feel like I could write a dissertation on the subject of childbirth. Most American women I've talked to seem scared and baffled and intent on having as much medical intervention as possible. That seems pretty backwards to me, especially when America has worse infant and maternal mortality rates than other developed nations. I came to my opinion from the opposite end of the spectrum, however, and I don't want to sound preachy. Still, I feel like childbirth is a huge feminist issue, and y'all know how strongly I feel about health care systems...

And so my blogs sit in draft.

But I digress ... there is music, and there are babies. Those are the two things on my mind of late. Both are pretty great, to be honest.

Are y'all on Vine? It's my newest addiction. @davidcaldwell44 is on there too.

I'm buying a building in Scotland.

noreply@blogger.com (Brigid Kaelin) — Mon, 13 May 2013 18:15:00 +0000

St. Stephen's Church

I miss Scotland. I know I'm not supposed to say that. I'm supposed to be excited to be back in America. I'm happy to be close to my family, and I do love Louisville. But I miss looking out my window to a cobblestone street overlooking a winding river, just steps away from the Royal Botanical Gardens and a magnificent view of the Castle. I miss our lovely neighbor, Joan, who had us over for cocktails post-baby and gave us our wee boy's favorite bouncy chair. I miss the local coffeeshop and the friends I made there.

I was browsing Edinburgh real estate today, and I saw this for sale. It's the church that was the center of my favorite neighborhood -- Stockbridge -- and they only want £500k. That's a lot of money, but that's a lot of old stone building, too. Like most of the churches in Edinburgh (at least so it seemed), St. Stephen's Church operated as a community center rather than a religious center.

So who wants to go in on St. Stephen's Church with me?

Headliners Show Canceled

noreply@blogger.com (Brigid Kaelin) — Wed, 08 May 2013 13:26:00 +0000

Don't come to Headliners on Monday, May 13! Well, at least don't come to see me and Martha Wainwright. She just canceled her tour.

Sorry to tease you.

In other news, I think I've found a replacement computer, which cheers me tremendously. You see, my precious MacBook (the one that drowned) was not only my only means of recording and writing (my fingers cramp when I use a pen, so I can't even be old-fashioned), but it was our entire home entertainment center. Remember that our television (and liquor collection and David's shoes!) was stolen while we were abroad, along with our DVD player, and much of our CD collection. So when my precious laptop met its demise, David and I were forced to play dominos and read and hold hands.

Really, it wasn't so bad.

What are you reading? David is tearing through every single Inspector Rebus novel in chronological order, while I try to beat him with Agatha Raisin mysteries. Apparently, when you become parents, you start reading mystery novels. Who knew?

Brigid shows this weekend.

noreply@blogger.com (Brigid Kaelin) — Tue, 07 May 2013 16:47:00 +0000

Just as I was finally starting to feel better -- actually wanting to write again -- my precious MacBook drowned. I try not to get upset about material things, especially when so many of my friends have lost so much more this week than a stupid computer. Still, I mostly just felt like I ripped up a thousand dollars.

I've managed to procure another machine for a bit, so I thought I'd at least let you know about some upcoming shows.

Saturday, May 11
10:00am-10:45am
Louisville Free Public Library, Main Branch
I'm doing a little Q&A and a few songs and a little talking at the library's How-To Festival.
Free

Saturday, May 11
7:30pm
Clifton Center
Kentucky Homefront Taping
I'm playing solo during the second broadcast. They tape two shows that night -- the first at 7:30 and the second at 9pm. I'm on stage during the 9:00 show, assuming I can stay awake that late.
$12

Monday, May 13 -- UPDATE AS OF WED MAY 8 -- THIS SHOW HAS BEEN CANCELED, SORRY!
doors at 7pm, show at 8:00pm
Headliners Music Hall
I'm playing an opening set before the Martha Wainwright show.
$15

Good vibes today, please. (And some baby cuteness for you)

noreply@blogger.com (Brigid Kaelin) — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 18:36:00 +0000

We like to do things all at once here in the Kaelin household. Weddings, international moves, pregnancy, more international moves, a few domestic moves, and two people balancing self-employment (not recommended with a baby). There's been some big stress in our little family. Things are looking up, though. Whether you're into The Prayer or The Secret or just The Good Thoughts, send a little our way today, would you? Something big's afront.

Much love your way.

Here's some baby cuteness for you.

It's garden time.

noreply@blogger.com (Brigid Kaelin) — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 18:30:00 +0000

I used to write about gardening all the time. Then I spent a year and a half away from the dirt. Our garden in Scotland was prim, proper, and probably planted by people of yore -- a problem one doesn't usually encounter in shiny new America. My plot of land in Kentucky, however, is mostly a blank canvas.

Perfect Scottish Garden -- but with nothing edible.

This weekend, David and I filled our front-yard raised bed with seeds. We'll have radishes and lettuces within a month -- herbs sooner. The mint I've let go wild in the yard over the past several years is back with a plan of dominance, already making the yard smell like Derby.

I can't tell you how much I'm anticipating the first tomato.

What are you planting this year?

Scottish words for baby things.

noreply@blogger.com (Brigid Kaelin) — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 17:45:00 +0000

We are trying not to be obnoxious with our use of UK terms when it comes to the baby. Some things just roll off the tongue more easily. Also, we've been way isolated since moving back to the States, so we haven't exactly heard people use the American terms.

Here are some baby-related British words we've adopted. We probably sound like jerks when you hear us in public, but we aren't really in public very often ... so I guess it's cool:

Pram. It's just so Mary Poppins! I love taking the wee boy off for a walk in the pram.

Nappy. Diaper sounds medical and weird to me. It's much more cute to change a nappy.

Poppers. As in, I prefer the nappies that have velcro, as opposed to the poppers. Or, "This outfit has too many poppers for my arthritic hands!" Poppers are snaps, if you don't get it by now. How cute is that??

Lie-in. This is the equivalent to sleeping in, except you "have a lie-in." We don't actually use this one anymore, though, because who ever has a lie-in when you have a baby?

We DO have friends!

noreply@blogger.com (Brigid Kaelin) — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 13:33:00 +0000

We've had a rough several weeks over here. I once posted with glee about the time the wee boy went from 10:30-4am without waking. Well, that was a one-off, apparently, and it's been sleepless nights for the most part since then.

Wee Baby Boy currently seeking representation.
He's not earning his keep, but he sure is purty.

Please don't offer me sleep advice. I've already read seven sleep books, from one extreme to the other, and have heard anecdotes galore about what worked for everyone else's baby. I, however, have the most stubborn boy in the world (karma, I'm sure).

Just when David and I had pretty much convinced ourselves that we have no friends (surely our own fault for being terrible at email and unable to return a phone call), we had two people come by and visit us this week. One of them brought a craft project, and the other gave me an unexpected therapy session. It was great fun, and it reminded me how much I do like spending time with my friends.

So yeah ... if we haven't returned your email or phone call (and I'm sure we haven't), it doesn't mean we aren't thinking about you. It means we forgot how to put words together. It means we don't have hands-free headsets for our phones (my new recommendation to new parents), and the baby won't let us put him down. It means when you called us at 8:30pm, we weren't ignoring you. We were already in bed.

Interview in The London Diaries.

noreply@blogger.com (Brigid Kaelin) — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 19:35:00 +0000

In case you didn't learn enough interesting facts about me yesterday (smile, please), here's an interview I did for another ex-pat's blog. Stephanie lives in London, hence her blog Stephinlondon.com.

Reading fun blogs likes hers makes me wish I could pull myself out of these baby blues and get back to what I love: writing. Steph has done a series of blogs for International Women's Month, and you should go check them out.

Here's the interview about me, where I babble about ex-pat life, EX-ex-pat life, and feminist issues.

Brigid the bassist. And we're in the paper!

noreply@blogger.com (Brigid Kaelin) — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 13:28:00 +0000

Tuesday night I went over to my friend Peter Searcy's studio and played some music. Even more fun, I played BASS for him. It's weird, but that was the second time since I got back that someone has asked me to play bass. I mean, I can play the bass, but I would never consider myself a bass player. I've got to say, though, I didn't suck. And I kind of liked it.

Time to get the ol' bass out of storage and start a new career. It's definitely a lot lighter than the accordion.

Also, in case you didn't see the Louisville newspaper, voila! Me and the wee boy.
It's nice to know y'all haven't totally given up on me. I'll be back soon enough. Working on booking an actual live, full-band show.

Sistine Chapel pix and Conclave time!

noreply@blogger.com (Brigid Kaelin) — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 16:31:00 +0000

Conclave!! I know that I'm not the most likely person to be obsessed with the papal election, given that most of my knowledge of the Vatican come from a Dan Brown novel, much like most of my knowledge of Christianity comes from Jesus Christ Superstar. (Seriously though, I think Angels and Demons is a great read, and I don't care if you roll your eyes at that.)

Anyway, I woke up at 4am with the baby, and my first thought was, "Ooooooh! It's 9am in Italy. Conclave time!" If our television hadn't been stolen (along with David's cowboy boots and all of our booze), I would have absolutely been up watching live coverage at St. Peter's Square. Instead, I got a little bit more sleep and have had this on in the background since I woke up for real.

I thought I'd publish my photo of the Sistine Chapel ceiling -- one that probably looks exactly like the one you took when you were also trying to be sneaky and break the rules. It's a pretty awesome building. The coolest part (to me, anyway) is imagining Michelangelo hanging all upside down on scaffolding. I also think it would be pretty distracting to have all that magnificent art on the walls and ceilings during conclave. But then, maybe that's why I'm not a cardinal.

In my many google searches this morning, this was my favorite tour and informative look at the Chapel and conclave:

And if you need to watch live coverage, here's my favorite site:

Real, actual whisky in the faucet! (almost)

noreply@blogger.com (Brigid Kaelin) — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 17:51:00 +0000

This article was sent to me by multiple friends and family members, who all have excellent senses of humor. It's kind of a travesty, but thousands of litres of scotch were accidentally flushed down the drain by mistake while some workers were cleaning equipment. Oops! That's worse than when that farm in South Africa accidentally released 15,000 crocodiles into the wild back in January.

Why did they send this link to me? Well, not just because they know I love whisk(e)y. If you don't follow my music, you don't know that I've got a song called "Whisky in the Faucet," a daydream about a similar accident.

If someone out there would care to make a YouTube video for the recorded tune, I'll give you twenty bucks. Instead, here's a live version of me singing that song at the Musicport Festival in England.

And because music is free nowadays, I might as well give away the recording from my first studio album. I think if you click "download," you should be able to get it in whatever audio format you wish. Savor your whisk(e)y, my friends!
Whisky in the Faucet by Brigid Kaelin

The Devils Wears Prada Red Shoes

noreply@blogger.com (Brigid Kaelin) — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 18:24:00 +0000

Is that joke in poor taste? My dad's Catholic (or "ex-Catholic," rather), so I suppose I should be a little more reverent.

Here I am at JP2's tomb. I liked him, so that's a genuine pouty lip.

Anyway, this is one of my favorite Elvis songs. I remember sitting next to him eating dinner in the green room, when he was typing up a setlist, and asked what he should play. (Seriously, that happened.) I suggested "Red Shoes," and he added it to the list, which I now have framed in my living room.

We all know now that the Pope wears Prada red shoes. To be fair, maybe he was just buying local.

"I used to be disgusted, but now I tried to be amused." That's pretty much how I feel about the church at the moment. I'm actually pretty stoked about the conclave. Speaking of other pop culture references, it makes me want to re-read Angels and Demons. Excuse me while I google who the camerlengo is...

Fantasies of being in a musical...

noreply@blogger.com (Brigid Kaelin) — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 14:53:00 +0000

Lately, I've been really wanting to be in a musical. I used to do theater. In fact I did a lot when I was a kid. Sometime in high school, I suffered a self-confidence blow when it came to singing (I never had as good a voice as the other people in my choir), and I was relegated to the orchestra pit for the musicals. In fact, I pretty much was the orchestra pit, playing the majority of the score on a fancy Kurzweil.

Clearly, I'm over that now, though I do still adore playing my Kurzweil.

Every night at the wee boy's bathtime, I sing most of the score from The Sound of Music and fantasize about dancing around on stage with seven little Von Trapp children. (Note that my fantasies are about seven children ON STAGE, not in reality.) I've thought about auditioning for some of the local theater stuff, but this little boy's just taken all of my attention. Needy baby!!

Anyway, I know the stage version of TSOM doesn't include "The Lonely Goatherd," but I'm still going to wander around and yodel it the rest of the day. High on a hill ...

A Moment to Myself

noreply@blogger.com (Brigid Kaelin) — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 18:12:00 +0000

I'm still a bit off-balance. It's hormones, sure, but it's also me trying to deal with not having alone time. I am re-energized when I get some time to myself, even if it's just 10 minutes to walk around the block. This silly baby is not cool with me even leaving the room, so I've been busy mood swingin' and going crazy.

Yesterday, David took over baby-duty and insisted I take some time to myself. (He's been freelance consulting and looking for full-time work, mostly because I cannot handle two self-employed people. Someone needs a retirement plan and health insurance. Hire him, will you? He'll be the best employee you've ever had. But I digress...)

You know what? I forgot what I like to do. If I were in Edinburgh, I would have walked to the castle. I would have popped into a free museum. I would have strolled through Princes Street Gardens or watched the swans in Inverleith Park.

I love Louisville dearly, but there is very little to do when you have no expendable income and no car. I walked up to Heine Brothers and sat outside on a bench (even though it was way cold yesterday -- yes, colder than it ever is in Scotland) and wrote "I think I'm going crazy" a hundred times in my journal. That is a slight exaggeration, but it's what I felt like writing. I'm pretty sure, instead, that I wrote a To Do List of all the things I should have been doing rather than writing in my journal.

Prove me wrong. What can you do on a cold day in Louisville with no money and no car?

Sorry for the lame blog. I'm about to get serious with those NHS blogs. I have loads to say about the birth and the postnatal care. Don't worry; it's nothing graphic.

Also, can someone help me move this blog to WordPress? I've had it up to here (pointing to my chin) with

Having a Baby Abroad (7). NHS. Midwives. Birth choices.

noreply@blogger.com (Brigid Kaelin) — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 15:22:00 +0000

Now that I've finally been feeling mildly social, I've talked with many of you about my blog. Apparently the most interesting posts were not about music tours or backstage with Elvis Costello ... they are about my experience as an American living and using the National Health Services of Scotland. I've had loads of blogs in draft about it, but haven't managed to get away from the baby long enough to make sense of them. Here is my most recent attempt.

A quick refresher: Maternity Care in the UK is led by midwives. If a midwife decides a patient is high risk, she is referred to an obstetrician and is supposed to give birth in a hospital. All other women (the majority) have the option of a home birth, a birthing centre, or a hospital.

My last NHS Maternity Care post was written six days before the baby was born. Here's the link, if you'd like to catch up. It was a basic overview of all of the prenatal appointments I had, and about receiving the good news from my obstetrician that I was not, in fact, high risk, as suggested by my mother's history.

If you had asked me before I was pregnant what kind of birth I was interested in, I would have told you I wanted to be completely knocked out -- 1950s style -- and feel nothing and remember nothing. Modern medicine is an improvement, right? Women no longer have to feel that whole pain of childbirth thing.

The minute I saw that positive pregnancy test, however, I

was completely terrified of childbirth
knew this creature was going to have to come out of me somehow
remembered that I hate taking medicine of any kind, even ibuprofens
eat organic and non-processed foods the majority of the time
wondered how I could balance #3 & #4 with a having a standard hospital birth.

The whole "standard hospital birth" was, of course, the American in me. The British system, being midwife led, does not automatically assume you want an epidural (though they offer them to anyone who wants one and who qualifies medically). Oddly (to me anyway), the midwives seemed to assume I would want to use the new Lothian Birthing Centre -- a spa-like facility connected to the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary that opened in October of 2011. I was still confused.

As with anything new I attempt, I turned to my favorite adviser: the library. I am not kidding when I say I read twenty-five books on labor and childbirth, from the Jenny McCarthy book to the Ina May books. I could write a dissertation on the subject, from one extreme to the other. Some books heralded the benefits of epidurals and hospital interventions; others wrote of natural childbirth. (Maybe I'll do a literature review in another blog.)

If you research something long enough, you eventually come to your own conclusion. Mine was that there was no way in hell I wanted any sort of unnecessary medical intervention.

How very UnAmerican!

This series of blogs is not intended to be a graphic description of childbirth, but to show the rest of the world how the NHS actually worked for me -- a self-employed American who has been fed the same stories about universal health care that the rest of us had. I attempt to be unbiased, but with every doctor/dentist/midwife appointment I had, I grew more and more impressed. And this blog grew more and more biased. Sorry. But it turns out the NHS was amazing. I promise to tell the downsides too though ... Previous blogs:

Previously on NHS/Baby Abroad blogs:
Part One: Having a Baby Abroad
Part Two: Registration, Doctors, Midwives, etc.
Part Three: NHS, midwives, home births.
Part Four: Waiting Lists, Emergency Room Visits.
Part Five: High Risk Obstetricians and Hospitals.
Part Six: Appointment Schedule

Guess what I DIDN'T do last night? Also, Downton Abbey.

noreply@blogger.com (Brigid Kaelin) — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 19:37:00 +0000

This photo was taken when the boy was
one week old -- not last night.
We stopped taking photos of the baby
screaming because we realize
that's not cool.

Sigh. So much for sleep! I got a good five and a half hours on Sunday night. Last night, however, was a screamfest at Chez Caldwell/Kaelin. Baby for sale!

Being awake in the middle of the night was more fun when I was living in Scotland. When I was on GMT, I could browse Twitter and Facebook and see all the crazy antics my friends back home were getting into. Eleven pm on the Louisville twitter feed is really fun, but four am is really dull. Instead, David and I browsed Closet boards on Pinterest. Rock star life, right?

Speaking of things that happened sooner in Scotland ... Downton Abbey! You've all seen the finale by now, right? Don't worry, I'm not going to write a spoiler.

But seriously, folks, can we all quit complaining about people tweeting spoilers when you haven't seen the episode yet? Stay off the Twitter if you haven't seen a big pop culture event in real time. I was tempted to tweet: If you don't know that ______ dies in this week's Downton, you should probably stay off Twitter today. #spoileralert

I think my Mom still doesn't understand Twitter, though, so for her sake (and yours, of course) I restrained myself.

Also, I forgive you all for ruining the State of the Union and the Superbowl for me with your spoiler tweets. Just nobody tell me who shot JR, okay?

Guess what I did last night?

noreply@blogger.com (Brigid Kaelin) — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 14:21:00 +0000

Guess what I did from 10p-4a last night? SLEEP!!!! Hallelujah. This nursing thing is hard on the sleep cycle. (UK friends, most Americans seem to say "nursing" rather than "breastfeeding," at least in these parts. I think that's because saying the word "breast" still makes most of us giggle.) I'm thankful that nursing is going well, but I'm admit I'm a wee jealous of my formula-using friends whose babies have been sleeping for months. Sometimes I feel like feeding the boy is the only thing I'm good at when it comes to this whole "parenting" thing, though, so I'm going to stick with it as long as I can handle.

Sleep is grand. I feel lucid. I feel like talking to the grumpy neighbors. I feel like baking a pie and meeting the new neighbors. I feel like ... checking my email.

This is big, folks. Really big.

Mardi Gras fun in Louisville!

noreply@blogger.com (Brigid Kaelin) — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 15:20:00 +0000

It's Mardi Gras! That doesn't mean much in Louisville, of course, but we do still like any good excuse for a party. I'm booked tonight (along with every other accordion player in town, I suspect) playing a private event, but there are plenty of other good Mardi Gras parties going on in town. If I weren't booked already, I'd be heading out to Uncle Slayton's for the Billy Goat Strut Revue's show tonight.

If you haven't heard the Billy Goat Strut Revue, well, first ... think again because you MAY have heard them at my farewell show right before I headed off to Scotland. You see, they were the opening band, and I used to sing with them! It's one of many jobs I was bummed to give up when I moved abroad.

I can tell you now, however, that there is not a more perfect frontwoman in this town for BGSR than Laura Ellis, aka @funambulator, whose song "Inertia" (from her days in Shine-Ola) has been stuck in my head for approximately eleven years. Laura's voice has long been a favorite of mine, and she is certainly a better dresser than I am. She's also wicked smart and always makes me smile.

Anyway, if you're looking for fun and sweet New Orleans music tonight, head down to Uncle Slayton's. Here's the Facebook event.

details:

8:30 pm

a lucky $7 @ the door gets you in, be on the lookout for King Cake, happy beads, a drink special or 2, and a surprise or 10 thrown in just cuz. doors open at 8 and the show cranks up at 8:30 so no messin' around - get there!

Hibernation, babies, just checking in.

noreply@blogger.com (Brigid Kaelin) — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 15:05:00 +0000

So you haven't seen my wee boy yet? Guess what? Neither has most of my family. We are sorry. We've been hibernating, albeit not really on purpose.

David is madly hunting for a full-time MBA-type job (know anyone? want to look at his impressive resume? want to hire him? please? I don't want to breastfeed until this baby is four. We need groceries!).

I've been depressed. (More about that later.)

The boy has been awake. (All. The. Time.)

Anyway, we've just been hanging out at home having our own private Baby Music Classes in the living room.

So far, the boy is really into 90s rock, which I find really weird. He also likes three-quarter time, thank goodness, and dirges (emo).

Thought I could squeeze in a blog today during his regular 25-minute nap. But he's whining.

Anyone out there an aspiring nanny? I have an awesome internship available for you.

Richard III and faith.

noreply@blogger.com (Brigid Kaelin) — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 19:45:00 +0000

This whole Richard III thing has me thinking. I first read about the discovery of his bones back in September, when I was still living in the UK, and I thought it was one of the coolest things I'd hear in ages. The skeleton was found underneath a parking lot (way to act on a hunch, archaelogists!) and had head wounds matching the story that the King was killed with an axe or sword, and the skeleton's spine was curved in the same manner that King Richard III's was said to have been.

I think that's the key -- how he was said to have been. Lore. Legend. Story.

York Minster

The recent news that DNA evidence actually proves that it is the King's bones is, of course, an amazing piece of history. But it also takes a lot of the fun out of the find.

I think, today anyway, that I prefer that legends and stories be the test.

I'm not a religious woman, so this tangent may be completely off base. But what if scientists announced that they had DNA evidence that there is a God. Wouldn't that kind of be disappointing? Did I just insult all of you? I bet Richard III wouldn't have minded a slight comparison to God.

Anyway, I supposed you could say I don't have faith in religion, but I do have faith in stories.

Also, it's fun to say Plantagenet. Plantagenet. Plantagenet. Plantagenet.

And, for the record, I think he should be re-interred in York Minster, not in Leicester. You can't play finders-keepers with bones! (Unless you're the British Museum.)