Category Archives: Life

Why move to Idaho?

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Before I answer that crucial question, welcome to the first Pick’n’Mix blog post. I will attempt to post something at this same time and on this same site every week. And rather than having a specific topic, this will be whatever seems tastiest – as suggested.

Anyway, when I announced that I was attempting to emigrate across the pond to Idaho, some people questioned that choice?

“Why move there?” they asked. “There are better places for your MS – Switzerland or Spain.”

True. My multiple sclerosis gets worse in damp, cold weather, and in humid, hot weather. And sadly Wales has ticked the first box, this year. The second rules out many places in the more distant East, like India or Singapore. However, the key thing is having family and friends that can be supportive. A non-starter in this park home estate, where I seem to have a communicable disease, and when my family show no sign of caring what happens to me.

But I have another family that does care, and they are in Boise, Idaho. They may be step-kids and step-grandkids, but they are ready to be there for both of us. In fact, they have already showed they care, both in words and deeds. For instance, when my wife, Juanita, and I were with them in 2010 and 2011, they did everything for us from putting us up to carrying me when I couldn’t walk.

So that’s why we are moving back to Idaho, even if the move is complicated – especially by my brother. I need to get the right US visa and as well as copious documents, that includes a medical, which means an eight-hour drive to London. Then a few weeks later an interview at the US Embassy, again in London.

We need to buy a house, which is why we need my brother to guarantee the finance, which is mine for life. Then we have to sell our home in Wales. There is the shipping to arrange, and four pets to fly there, when the weather is right – they can’t fly when it is too hot or too cold. And I’m in a wheelchair so flying is a nightmare.

Before you ask about the culture shock, I should say that I escaped to Canada for three years and had Landed Immigrant status there. Yes, the US is not Canada, but it meant leaving home. And haven’t I already done that when I moved to Wales? This is not the country that I grew up in. The familiar haunts have been left behind. I’d already taken steps away from the equestrian world that I worked in, and I haven’t established similar contacts here.

So I’ve left home, and we are already in another country. Another country where the first language is not English, and we hear Welsh when we go places, even during the tourist season. Yes, the Americans do things different, whether it is driving on the wrong side of the road, or they arm their police. But it was the same in Canada, where I first passed my driving test, and almost joined the RCMP.

The 10 Best Cities to Move to in 2015 - http://www.simplemovinglabor.com/blog/the-10-best-cities-to-move-to-in-2015#.VQXcaHY3dgs.facebook

The 10 Best Cities to Move to in 2015 – No 2 Boise. Image courtesy Bob Young

Oh wait, American-English is not the first language spoken in Idaho. It was either Coeur D’Alene, Nez Perce, Kutenai, Northern Paiute, or Shoshoni, depending on the area. Around Boise it would have been Shoshoni. So I guess we need to learn that.

And those that said Spanish, go stand in the corner. The name Boise has French origins, French-Canadian fur traders travelled the territory in the late 18th and early 19th century. Boise may be from “La rivière boisée”. And any settlers from the Iberian Peninsula of significance were the Basques. Even a Brit knows that.

Well that’s enough of the history lesson from this Brit imposter. More of course next week. But that might be totally off the subject.

Any questions?

The Candle

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There was a single twinkling candle on my chocolate fudge sundae. One candle for another year older, if not a year healthier. Friday August 7th 2015 was a turning point – well it felt that way for my stomach.

It churned and squirmed along with my head as we drove through the lush green Welsh scenery, across the mountains between Harlech and Bodnant. I hadn’t felt so car sick since I was a child – not physically sick, just feeling rotten. Is this because I’m into my second childhood?

But the journey was worthwhile as the food was delicious at the Bodnant Welsh Food Centre, which is “set in the heart of the Conwy Valley and surrounded by the stunning scenery of Snowdonia”. Best part was browsing their farm shop, and being tempted to buy some tasty treats from chili chocolate to locally sourced beef sausages. What happened to the vegetarian? Disgraceful – or not?

I did get to glimpse odd bits of the scenery on the way home. I needed to, as the fictional setting for “Fates Maelstrom” is in this locality, about 10 miles south-west of Bodnant and on the edge of Snowdonia. Through the mists of car sickness, I caught sight of some crags like the one above Crag-o-Niwl, my fictional Welsh village.

There's a crag in there somewhere! Craig Bwlch y Moch poking up out of a dense forest of rampant vegetation above Tremadog. Photo: Al Leary

There’s a crag in there somewhere! Craig Bwlch y Moch poking up out of a dense forest of rampant vegetation above Tremadog. Photo: Al Leary ~ http://www.groundupclimbing.com/newsitem.asp?nsid=185

So overall it was a good birthday, despite the childhood throwback, and a day that I won’t forget.

What next then? Well other than a birthday in Idaho on August 7th 2016. That depends on the emigration process to the USA, which entails many hurdles.

That candle also threw a light on one aspect of my writing future: where this Blog goes from here.

At the moment, I manage to blog once a month, in the IWSG monthly post on the first Wednesday. However, I feel that the posts should be more regular, for instance once a week – possibly on Monday or Tuesday.

If I go to that new schedule, then I need a new theme, as my intermittent ramblings don’t come up to scratch or muster.

There are three possibilities:

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  • Inspiring writers – a weekly blog about authors that have inspired me with their writing. The post would include my favourite books by those writers. I envisage choosing a crime/mystery writer one week, such as Dick Francis or Linwood Barclay. Then a SF/Fantasy writer the next. Like Charles de Lint or Roger Zelazny. I could intersperse these posts with interviews with published writers that I am online friends with. This is the simplest option, and more akin to the A to Z Challenge, but much more laid back.
  • Boise Skyline

    Boise Skyline ~ Copyright: http://www.visitidaho.org/photos/

    Moving to the USA – a weekly blog about the process that my wife and I are going through in trying to get to Idaho, USA. It could address the hurdles as well as the breakthroughs, and the prospects that await us. This would be more of a diary with a few suggestion for others undertaking the same expedition. I’m not sure that this would work as a weekly post, but with so many hurdles it could.

  • fd6a0b9306bea4eb33c76f2f4578481b (1)Living with Multiple Sclerosis – a weekly blog that is a chance for me to explain the condition, vent about the MonSter, and perhaps help others. Much more seat-of-the-pants than the other two, and also the disability gives me good days and bad days. Of course, I can’t help mentioning the MonSter in other posts, especially the American ones. Of course, my health is a key reason behind the move.

Of course, I could intersperse these and do one per week, choosing whatever I was inspired to write. Call it Pick-n-Mix.

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So what would you like to see me Blog about? Inspiring Writers, Moving to the USA, Living with Multiple Sclerosis, or ‘Pick-n-Mix’?

Was Beer the end of Mother’s Ruin?

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When I was growing up, I was often told that my Quaker ancestors had helped bring an end to the repercussions of ‘Mother’s Ruin’ by promoting beer.

This made some sense as the family had been involved with the brewing firm of Truman Hanbury & Buxton.

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Plate 53: Truman’s Brewery, Brick Lane. | British History Online

So, when my writer friend Maureen Vincent-Northam asked me to write about those ancestors, I began wondering whether that was just a family legend, whether that would be an interesting starting-point. Was there was some truth behind the story?

Read the rest here on Maureen’s website.

The Very Inspiring Blogger Award

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I’m beginning to catch up after a hectic month attempting to address all the comments on “Storms Compass” that I got back from my brave beta readers. I tried to address all the points, even if some didn’t feel right – until I gave them proper consideration and explored them fully. Today I passed this first Book in the Gossamer Flames saga to my editor friend Sue Barnard.

Now it’s time to address the nomination that I received a few weeks ago for Very Inspiring Blogger Award, from talented Italian friend, Sarah Zama.

Sarah is a wonderful jeweller and a budding writer so I recommend visiting her blog, The Old Shelter, which has a fascinating collection of articles, stories and links. I liked her jewellery so much that I bought a steampunk pendant for my wife.

Steampunk Heart from JazzFeathers

Steampunk Heart from JazzFeathers

Anyway, on to today’s task. In order to accept the award, I have to do a few things:

Display the award on your blog.

Link back to the person who nominated you.

State 7 things about yourself.

Nominate 15 bloggers, link to them, and notify them about their nominations.

7 Things about me

Having been interviewed a few times, these are the more obscure facts.

1. Although I sound English, was born in England and most of the time went to school in England, I am actually a quarter Chilean. My mother was born in Chile to a Chilean mother and an English father. Although my grandmother lived near us and spoke Spanish with my mother, I didn’t learn the language from them. But I had an ear for it, so with the right encouragement I learnt enough to survive.

2. The only time that I didn’t go to school in England, was when I was in Canada. For two years I did my GCSE A levels at Bransons, a school in the Laurentians, north of Montreal. Think I spent as much time skiing as I did studying. Suspect that my French – learnt at school in England – didn’t improve as Quebecois felt like a different language; in fact it evolved from Breton French.  I also spent a further year living in Toronto, the city that I vowed never to visit. Never make rash statements. I was intending to train as a journalist, but the Canadian system didn’t recognise my A levels. So I spent a year doing a General Studies course that was a step back in some respects. But it turned me green and into a vegetarian.

3. While in Canada, I went on a white-water expedition. The Beaver River trip took a few weeks and entailed the first navigation of this river from The Yukon to British Columbia – by white skins. Don’t ask how many times I tipped the rubber raft over.

4. I may live in Wales now, with a view of the mountains and the sea, but I have no Welsh blood – just second cousins that grew up here. I can claim a touch of Celtic blood though, as some of my ancestors were from Scotland, and proudly wore the Grant tartan. But I speak more words of Welsh than Gaelic.

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5. [Thanks to Sara for this one] “I was a Tolkien fan way before the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy came out.”

In fact, “Lord of the Rings” is the book that influenced me most as a writer, and I re-read it when I can. It has always headed my list of favourite books and has always inspired me whether I need to escape into another world or in my writing. Is that the same thing? And I have been able to see my vision of Middle Earth on screen plus been there in a gaming world. I also have the hardback set that I read in my late teens back in the late 1970’s. Strange fact is that it was not the first Tolkien piece of writing that I devoured – that was his lecture paper “”Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics”, followed by “Tree and Leaf”, which contains the essay ‘On Fairy Stories’, which Sara Zama says, “any writer should read…Tolkien says it takes a lot more than dragons and magic to make a fantasy story. Magic has to be part of that world, it has to be woven in its very fabric to the point you can’t imagine that world without that kind of magic. And that world with that magic has to have the intimate consistency of reality.”

6. I hate roller-coasters to the point that I once bit my ex-wife on the shoulder because I was terrified on some runaway train at Disneyland. No that wasn’t why she left me for a better man. I also tried to throw myself out of a rickety big wheel that had nothing holding us in – except a useless bar. Is there a murder mystery there? Funfair Fiasco?

7. I worked for a few years in the TV/film industry, losing a lot of money trying to make a movie in Malta. During that time, I worked with a few amazing people ranging from Doctor Who actors like Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker, to musicians like Keith Emerson (Emerson, Lake & Palmer) and my best friend Steve Hackett (Genesis).

Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

And now comes the hardest part, choosing the fifteen blogs to nominate. Apologies if you have been nominated, don’t accept nominations, got missed out, or even wonder if I actually know anybody.

http://ailsaabraham.com/

http://nancyjardine.blogspot.co.uk/

https://ashleighgalvin.wordpress.com/home/

http://www.ericstaggs.com/

http://broad-thoughts-from-a-home.blogspot.co.uk/

https://vanessacouchmanwriter.wordpress.com/

http://alexjcavanaugh.blogspot.co.uk/

http://mark-patton.blogspot.co.uk/

http://ginamc.blogspot.co.uk/

http://wendyswritingnow.blogspot.co.uk/

http://theequestrianvagabond.blogspot.co.uk/

http://jbwye.com/

https://awomanswisdom.wordpress.com/

http://elizabethducie.blogspot.co.uk/

http://lonitownsend.com/

Next port of call/task on the To Do list is a new page on this site, called ‘Snowdon Shadows’ and those book reviews that have never got written. Oh and there’s A to Z, IWSG, and so much more.

Why Ignore the Symptoms?

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Ignorance is bliss, supposedly, but that is not the answer. Nor is this a post about Writing. Health is today’s imperative – your health.

This is my contribution to the Survive and Thrive Bloghop! This blogfest, hosted by Stephen Tremp, Michael Di Gesu, L Diane Wolfe, and Alex J Cavanaugh, is “meant to bring awareness of disease prevention and early detection regarding medical conditions that may be averted or treated if caught in the early stages. Our desire is to motivate people to go in for early screening, and if a condition is caught early and treated, then our world just became a little better place to live.”

So why ignore your symptoms, because you are coping? They might go away – or they might get worse. I suspect that the doctor would prefer an early diagnosis than the complications of extended treatment.

Minor-seeming ailments could be the symptom of something worse. My earliest Multiple Sclerosis symptoms were subtle and could have been ignored. I went to my doctor and he diagnosed Repetitive Strain Injury, but, when the symptoms flared up again, I was sent for more extensive tests. These tests led, within three months, to the diagnosis that I had MS. I could have ignored the problems, continued driving – with extreme difficulty – and the consequences could have been far worse than early retirement, a wheelchair and a rebellious body.

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I’m not suggesting that doctors will always get their diagnosis right. There have been some tragic cases of medical incompetence. I might have gained a daughter when I got re-married, but within four months of her birthday in December 2010, she had died of stage four stomach cancer. A tragedy as she was a wonderful person, but the doctor told her that the stomach cramps were just acid reflux.

That suggests that if the problem persists, you should seek a second, third, fourth opinion. Don’t ignore the symptoms because the first doctor says you have a mild cold.

Maybe there is great value in the Chinese philosophy that prevention is the best cure. Traditionally, Chinese doctors had failed when a patient fell ill. But that’s another post. Just eat healthy until then.

 

Chicken Soup ~ Image courtesy of tiramisustudio at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Chicken Soup ~ Image courtesy of tiramisustudio at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

PLEASE VISIT OTHER BLOGFEST PARTICIPANTS

 

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Is the Challenge over?

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When I woke this morning – Tuesday September 2nd – my body refused to co-operate. I was ready to give up all my writing challenges and escape. Does that make any sense?

Maybe it doesn’t if you read my last post on here… my last Insecure Writer’s Support Group post, when I wrote about the inspiration that keeps me going. However, it’s the first Wednesday of the month again and I have the doubts and the fears that we are meant to have conquered. Seems I am back to the struggle stage.

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Writing over the last month had been more about escaping into research… and into other worlds = MMORPGs – gaming. I had great plans for September: write at least one complete story in the Gossamer Flames series every week of the month. Not a lot in comparison with the 100k in 100 days Challenge that I’m failing at miserably and as usual. But this should be so much easier as it’s over a shorter period – just a month. It’s also less intensive than the A to Z Challenge, although that inspired many of the shorts in Gossamer Flames.

Creating a story a week is one bit of pressure that I have set for myself as part of the MS Challenge that runs in September – my Support Page is at https://www.justgiving.com/ChallengeMS2761/ . And two days in I was thinking of giving up, even if it is a central part of my Life Challenge… fighting the MonSter that wants my Life but mustn’t win.

If I have written four complete tales, and edited them, by the end of the month then I will have reached one goal – although some sponsorship would be a bonus.

And thanks to a comment, I’m re-inspired. The words made me visit a fascinating blogsite, where I read a wonderful article on Spirals http://jazzfeathersjewellery.wordpress.com/2014/03/08/spirals/. Following the trail to its creative conclusion, I bought my long-suffering wife a well-deserved present.

Steampunk Heart from JazzFeathers

Steampunk Heart from JazzFeathers

In case you hadn’t realised, this is my monthly post in IWSG and the awesome co-hosts for the September 3 posting of the IWSG will be Laura at My Baffling Brain, mark Koopmans, Shah Wharton, and Sheena-Kay Graham. And it’s IWSG’s three year anniversary of posting!

Oh you were expecting something else. Were you thinking I meant the Ice Bucket Challenge when I said Challenge in the title?

Yes that has dominated the media and is a worthy cause for ALS alias motor neurone disease, another neurological nightmare. Ice Water is also meant to be good for MS, except something cold like water sends me into spasms. If challenged I would sign the cheque and be inspired by Patrick Stewart’s Ice Bucket Challenge, jst as the Huffington Post were http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/22/patrick-stewart-ice-bucket-challenge-video_n_5701036.html.

There is also a link on the Huffington Post report to Benedict Cumberbatch who showed another way to NOT evade the Ice Bucket Challenge. How to douse a dragon?