...




(click to enlarge)

THE DISTANCE IS GREAT AND THE WAVES ARE (MOSTLY) QUIET

We've had some brief moments of contact, with borrowed brief internet access and a cell phone. I was fortunate to be able to speak with Sam on the phone today. He told me "Daddy lost his teeth." Sam sounded good, sounded like he was settling in, sounded very far away. I hear there's a nice playground, with a special water spout that Sam discovered and claimed as his own (The itsy bitsy spider type of water spout/drain pipe).

Sonja is happy so far with her job at NAVA. If you haven't done so, check out the photos of Sam in various yoga poses on their site here, click on 'english' then scroll down and click on "Photo Galleries". Sam is on the upper right...

ENGLAND HAD SOME UNEXPECTED PLEASURES


(click to enlarge)

Sam had the privilege of spending time with some Uncles and Aunts: Ryan, Louie, and Jodie. Paul managed to e-mail the photo of the visit, which I do believe was their introduction to Sam, and verse vice-a. But unfortunately the photo does not include what was, apparently, a great thrill for Sam: their gerbils.

Ah, memories of the Mouse House.

During Paul's magical mystery tour of countries and embassies that might help him regain his lost identity, and provide a genuine passport, the family made a stop in Liverpool. And like good tourists, they made a pilgrimage to The Cavern. Considering that Imagine is Mom's favorite song of all time, and that Grandpa has always been mad for the pre-Imagine John Lennon, and that his favorite Christmas presents were the Yellow Submarine Beatles given to him by his Uncle John and Aunt Desiree, Sam had no choice but to revel in that shrine to great music.

Wish I could have taken him to see the Beatles in their Cavern days, but since I didn't land in England until '65, at age 15, and Sam would have been even younger than that, and thus perhaps unable to appreciate what he was hearing, history is all he's gonna get. At least Sam still has the music. [historical note regarding the photo at the top of this post: damn, couldn't they have made a statue of John Lennon that actually looked like him? Truly bizarre. He's wearing his 1963 clothes, has his 1966 haircut, and looks as much like him as I do.]



By the way, if during his continental rambles he runs into any of you with cameras and internet access: send them to me at kvanatta2000@yahoo.com.