Rosie isn't thrilled at the prospect of a luxury train tour of the Scottish Highlands...mostly on the grounds that the tour will be full of Americans and possibly a few Germans...plus no one under 50. (Dear Betty, I ignore your antipathy for Germans. Though lovely as a people and delightful administrators of mass transit, I allow that having participated in a fairly significant war against them might lead to irreconcilable feelings. But Betty. Darling. Angel. Sugar. Lots and lots of Americans are nicer than you think. Yours Humbly (not peddling a hint of cultural chauvinism), Your American Bettys.)
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| A 'cheerful matron from Chicago' was mighty thin beer to throw a parade on but the city father's couldn't pass up the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. |
On the train tour, Rosie chat's with a 'cheerful matron from Chicago'. (I would write more but I am busy hand-shredding my own ticker tape for my celebratory parade. Betty spoke well of an American!)
He quotes Robbie Burns in broad Scots:
'To see her is to love her and love but her and her for ever, for Nature made her what she is and never made anither.' (Oh dear. Stop me. I'm going to do it. I think I am. It's the only thing...Oh the shame! I'm going to steal from Paris Hilton. Yes I am.)
That's hot.
He makes a house call to visit a patient who had recently had a cast removed. It was a boy from a family with six kids. "since there are six children I've had arms and legs to deal with." I think Betty Debbie takes that personally. I've only had the one small leg issue with one of my little ones but mostly we're looking at stapled heads. Is your family prone to certain kinds of injuries?
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| The third van Voorhees is the accident prone one... |
When he lets her tour the Royal Infirmary - she takes the opportunity to sit in the gallery and watch him operate. She does close her eyes when he picks up the knife. I wonder if the miracle of the modern cable shows have made it easier to watch that sort of thing. (
A Baby's Story and
Medical Miracles I'm looking at you...)
I'll admit -- I watch Gray's Anatomy every week, so I'd have loved to be in the gallery. But then I was pre-med in college (that would have been a disaster, but at the time it seemed like a good idea), so I did my share of dissections.
ReplyDeleteIs saying "that's hot" irretrievably tied to Paris Hilton? Because I have my heroine saying to His Honor, the hero, that the black robe is hot. Only his, though. She categorically denies having a judicial fetish...
(I love my characters...)
I'd have to change that if "that's hot" instantly makes people think of Paris Hilton...
(I don't love Paris Hilton.)
Having six I can say we've had no broken legs.
ReplyDeleteTwo fish hooks in kids hands, and one in Dad's. (and we aren't big fisher people.)
One sliced open hand (lots of stitches),
One fractured elbow, (something I did as a child, too),
One gory split knee,
Another more serious knee injury that cut a tendon - that was a college kid getting injured during a summer factory job.
Torn ACL's and the surgery right before this daut's weddding. Good thing those dresses are long.
Many jammed and sprained fingers.
Various cat and dog nips & scratches to toddlers at the In-Laws (who didn't destroy the animals, which I wanted at the time, but I cooled off.)
So, I guess the answer is Yes, knees and fish hooks!
I have one who has chipped nine teeth in three different incidents, and no, he has nice strong enamel... it's just that he has a stooopid gene in there somewhere. He fell off a scooter, and then later launched himself from a second story balcony into a pile of pillows at summer camp (note to son: When launching from high balcony, remove knee from underneath chin before hitting pillows).
ReplyDeleteDaughter broke a wrist when skating. The interesting thing is that it has given her a real, honest to goodness weather ache. How about that!
I've got a real, live, teen in the house and I'd never heard that 'That's Hot' was exclusive to Paris H. But I don't watch anything she'd be on, so I'm no P.H. arbiter.
ReplyDeleteBetty Magdalen, It didn't start with her and sure as shooting it ain't stopping with her. By the time your book is out, hopefully she'll be a faint memory. (That means that she'll be gone soon, not that it will take eons for you book to be printed! lol I know it sounded bad to me too!) Nerd Guy shares my opinion of Paris
Betty Magdalen, don't take it out, I implore you! It isn't limited to The Dreaded Hilton by any means but, if employed in a certain tone...
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9Z8qjK-bcM
Crivens!I forgot to mention that when I was commenting at your time 8:30ish, the "As the World Turns" globe was shouting that someone in Edinburgh Scotland was tuning in. How cool is that! On the Day you review the Scottish Betty, some scottish Betty is hooking up!
ReplyDeleteThis is Barry. She's a real lady from Edinburgh while I'm just a chookter from the boonies!
Thanks, Betty Keira! That clip was more than a little unnerving, but as I'd never watched The Simple Life, I was unaware of the ubiquitous nature of that phrase. But, I'm reassured because Elise, my heroine, doesn't actually say, "that's hot." She merely used the word "hot" to described the black robe.
ReplyDeleteKilts are hot. Now, how to get a kilt into a romance novel set in Philadelphia...
Funeral, Betty Magdalen, or a wedding he's in where all the men wear kilts. ;-)
ReplyDeleteYou people have had it easy with your kids and injuries. We only raised one and he had more "ER" visits than all of yours combined, Betty Mary! Gosh it was hard getting that child to adulthood. If he wasn't trying to die with some horrendous illness (pneumococcal meningitis at age 20 months, his theophyline suddenly went toxic in his system and he nearly died of an overdose) he was breaking a bone or cutting himself or having a serious concussion. When he left his pediatrician's practice to a family physician, his reduced and copied to two pages on a side version of his medical file was over an inch thick! It was more than 2x that in its original state.
Just before he moved out of the house he got a new pair of rollerblades. They were on the porch when he got home from work at 4:45 pm - he'd done a rare day shift in the ER as a unit clerk. (Think Radar of MASH) He put them on and when my husband and I got home he was across the street in the Mormon church parking lot. He came skating over and we all sat on the steps a moment talking and then his friend called and went in the house to check movie showings on the Internet. He left his skates on.
He came back out from his room, skating up the hall, slipped and fell hard onto the floor, hitting so hard his head bounced off the floor. I heard the crack of breaking bones but thought it was his back. Nope - he'd caught his arm on the edge of the doorway and broke both of the long bones in his wrist, clean through.
By 5:30 we were back in the ER. He narrowly missed surgery - fortunately the bones lined up the first time.
He didn't even have a headache. I was sure his head or back would hurt. I guess having Dr Hash (it's some long Indian name and they always shortened it to Hash) pull the bones into alignment a scant five minutes after the pain killer shot rather focused his pain in one spot!
Our "adopted" kids (Jason's best friends - identical twins) never even broke a bone. Joe got burnt once on the tail pipe of a motorcycle, and their mom says one of them - she doesn't remember which - cracked his head open as a toddler, but that's it. We always joked that Jason had enough booboos for all three!
Both the twins have served in the military and even there they have been blessed with safety and good health, even with four deployments between them. Jim's in Iraq now so we'll trust it holds true. Joe's set to go back over to the Middle East in the fall. We're hoping it continues that way.
me<><
I've 2 boys, ages 8 and 10 -- they've each had one ER trip. One (age 6) was playing hide and seek and jumped through a glass porch door (yes, we replaced it with safety glass) -- straight to the ER for us -- he had numerous stitches applied all over his arms and legs, including a particularly deep gash on his wrist. He has some amazing scars for a 10 year old. I am not going to tell you all the details about the 8 year old's ER trip at age 3 (you moms of boys can probably take a guess) -- it involved an accident with a toilet seat and the "nether parts" as we call them in our house, in polite company. Let's just say that there was no permanent damage done. How many times have I called the paediatrician's office to ask can I just go there (1 mile away) or should I go straight to the ER? Countless. Really, at least 4x/year. Each. And only 1 time, the 3 year old's incident, did we get the message to go straight to the ER (urologist on duty). We love, love, love our peds.! No broken bones yet, but there was a dislocated shoulder following a sledding incident that involved jumping out of a tree onto a sled to go down the hill -- no, I did not approve this activity in advance. I gave permission to climb the tree on one occasion -- on another occasion I said one could go sledding. Somehow these became combined into it's ok to jump out of the tree onto the sled and take off down the hill, right toward the chain link fence surrounding the baseball diamond at the park. He's lucky to have got off with a dislocated shoulder. I have become clearer in my directions, i.e., wash your face, with soap, and water, and a wash cloth, right now, not later, brush your teeth, with toothpaste, right now, not later, etc.
ReplyDeleteIn our house, we call 'nether parts' the 'wee dandy Dublin'...And, yes, my directions to the kiddos have become hyper-explicit. But they always find a loophole.
ReplyDeleteBetty Barbara here--
ReplyDeleteHmmm, one boy child. At age 4 he went face first off the sofa into the coffee table--major gash over one eye. Called the paramedics on that one. Amazing the quick service you get in the ER when your child is carried in by the paramedics! That gash took 8 or so stitches to close. He has a very dashing scar now. Then there were two trips to the ER while we were in Australia--both times he slipped, hit the back of his head on a sharp-ish edge and split the scalp open--no stitches. The worst was when he tripped and fell onto the hot wood burning stove in the family room. He caught himself with his wrists(his hands were full) and he ended up with second degree burns on the inside of each wrist. No ER for that, his pediatrician bandaged him up. Thankfully no broken bones.
Sunday morning on the way out to church (where Prof. van der Hertenzoon was the lay preacher for the day delivering his first sermon), the Littlest Princess stepped off the short stool in the bathroom where she was checking her hairdo in the mirror, slipped, hit her head with enough force to send her weaving into me in the next room who was holding her coat to leave. "Mommy, I feel funny" and slumped to the floor. Her pupils were uneven, and she was completely white. The Professor, upon being called from the front door, scooped her up and the other three and rushed us to the ER. The doctor said she could have had bleeding on the brain or a skull fracture, but she recovered quickly (a long 15 minutes during which her head was lolling around) so a mild concussion. So I spent my Sunday morning in the ER; the Professor made it in time to deliver his sermon. I heard it was good--opening joke, three points, a poem, and 22 minutes.
ReplyDeleteBetty JoDee -- Betty Henry has a quip about the virtue of a short sermon, but he's unavailable, so I went to see if I could find it on the Interwebs. Couldn't, so as a stop-gap, here's this observation:
ReplyDeleteHow long should a good sermon be? It should be like a woman's skirt, long enough to cover the essentials and short enough to keep you interested!
I'm so glad the Littlest Princess is fine! I really would like to meet these precious children before more accidents befall them!
I'm doomed to being an also ran on this thread. LOL I heard this same sermon quote on Mitch Albom's radio show this week and was going to post it!
ReplyDeleteBetty Jo Dee. {{{{{Huge Hugs}}}}} to the Littlest Princess. Hope all else is well and nothing else befalls your cuties!
Omigoodness, we did have a broken bone story that I "forgot" about -- because it paints me in a very unflattering light. I dropped my 8-week old baby boy on the floor and broke his arm. Yup, I did this. I was extremely sleep-deprived (you think?) as I had a 2-year old also, and it was 2 or 3 days after Christmas (and the housefuls of company we'd had since the birth and for all the holidays, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, we're a multi-religion family). I was laying on a sofa, long, marathon nursing session with the new one, the 2-year old playing on his new train table a few feet away, husband in another room working from home at the computer -- when I fell asleep, baby on me, and he shifted/rolled right off me. Onto the floor. I grabbed him as he rolled and heard the tiny little "snap" of his arm. Clean fracture of the humerus. If I'd just let him roll he'd probably have been fine, it wasn't a long drop (low sofa). But I grabbed him instinctively and that's what broke his arm. They heal amazingly quickly at that age. Sigh. Extremely unpleasant ER visit, as you can imagine, because 8-week old babies with fractures need a lot of investigation. My husband says they were just doing their job as they should, but I was defensive/hormonal and extremely upset for many weeks after. The baby is now 8 and loves the story of his broken arm when he was a baby. Reading all your stories above does make me laugh, because our kids have had some amazing accidents, but most of the time seem to have gotten off lightly! Phew!
ReplyDeleteMy third child was always the one who managed to break things. He broke the same arm twice the SAME summer...He spent about 2 weeks of summer vacation without his arm in a cast that year. That was when he was five. When he was ten he broke his arm (same one) by trying to reach down to the lower bunk bed...and slipped off. About two weeks later I had to carry him (he wasn't a scrawny little guy) - into the 'walk-in clinic' because we were pretty sure he had broken his foot jumping off the stage at church. I made him tell the story to the doctor - it was a relief that he could explain to the doctor that he had broken those bones all by himself. Did mention that these injuries were during summer vacation too? I have a picture of him at cub scout day camp - with his arm in a cast and his leg/foot in one of those large black boot/casts.
ReplyDeleteMy 7 year-old grandson is currently sporting two casts - he broke his arm jumping off his bed (mom was sick in bed with bronchitis and dad was trying to get four kids under eight into bed. Just over a week later he broke his foot while wearing pirate boots at the Children's Museum...he tripped over his dad's feet.
Oh my - ok, I feel much better now - I didn't even tell the story about the FIRST time Jason broke his collar bone when he was 3.5. My niece, who was about 15 at the time, was chasing him around their backyard one evening as we all were enjoying the coolness of the summer evening. They may have been chasing fireflies, I don't recall. Jason fell and started to howl and just lay there. Robin scooped him up and played ambulance and brought him to me. He seemed to be fine but he was quiet all the rest of the evening and went to bed as soon as we got home.
ReplyDeleteNext morning, he called to me to get him out of bed. That was odd. So I went in and he couldn't sit up. I called my sister Hazel and she said, "Knowing Jason, he probably broke something, get him ready and we'll go to the ER."
Repeated the story for the ER doc - one we had never seen before - and he made some dismissive comments and said nothing could have broken in that kind of fall. Haz and I looked at one another and I said, "I'm really not going to be comfortable leaving until you x-ray that shoulder."
He shrugged and said, "It's your co-pay."
An hour later he came back with the x-ray and said, "How about you tell me what REALLY happened to that kid." And he was holding Jason's inch-thick ER file in his hands.
I told him and it was obvious he didn't believe me. Hazel assured him she was there and that's what happened. About then one of the docs we knew went by, stuck his head in (most of the staff knew us) and asked what Jason had done this time. But it was a rather tense 20 minutes before that happened!
And, I add my thankfulness that the Littlest Princess is ok - how frightening when she slithered to the floor! Made my knees go weak to read it!
And the story about the newborn's broken arm - that broke my heart - for you! How awful.
But, Betty Debbie, as interesting as Jason's medical history is, I must say your grandson truly tops it. Two casts, from two separate incidents, that trumps most anything Jason's done.
:)
me<><
Great - I found the right comment thread. I finally called Betty Henry for the quip about how long the sermon should be:
ReplyDeleteIf you haven't struck oil after ten minutes, stop boring.
Betty Henry says hi to all the Bettys!
Betty Magdalen,
ReplyDeleteI love both quips about sermon lengths. My grandfather would have appreciated them also. He only stayed at church meetings for an hour. If it went long, he just got up and left. While I wouldn't do that, I can tell I have the same genes...I'm fine right up until the clock strikes time to be done - after that my mind starts wandering.
Best way to stop fidgeting and clock-watching in church? Take notes. Truly - My more conservative PCA pastor preached 45-50 minute sermons weekly, and when he was really fired up he'd go an hour. One famous Sunday he went an hour and FIFTEEN minutes! His wife was practically standing on her pew flagging him down. ;-)
ReplyDeleteHis sermons were always full of such good stuff, though, and he has a wonderful style - passionate and a great voice, so even those who didn't take notes could keep up, but I liked taking notes - it keeps me honest. And, I'm a much better visual learner, so writing it makes me see it - I remember what I've learned, then.
My much-loved pastor who nurtured me through the early years of my Christian walk was a 15 minute guy. If he went much past 20 minutes, someone was in trouble. He quoted the "oil" bit frequently. Of course, he'd been at that church for 34 years when he retired so he'd honed his craft quite well.
His youngest son and my nephew were best friends as boys, and they'd watch one of the church elders, an older man named Mr Snyder, and try to beat him standing up for the hymn following the sermon. They told me once that they could never beat him - for an old guy he'd pop right up out of that pew like he was on a spring. Bugged the heck out of those boys!
:)
me<><
For three Sunday's a month, Mormons all have a pretty set program (until the other Sunday when we turn into Southern Baptists):
ReplyDeleteOpening song
Ward Business
Song
Sacrament
Two Very (2 min or so) Short Teenager Talks
One 15 minute talk
Rest song
Another 15 minute talk
Last song
On one occasion we had a woman in our ward (most all the speakers are from the congregation as our bishops are lay ministers and they've got a full enough plate holding down a full time job and shepherding the flock without having to do all the sermonizing too) who stood up as the first speaker and spoke for more than an hour. (I think the parents of young children were shooting darts out of their eyes at her.) When she sat down her husband leaned over to have her look at the time and it was almost worth it to see her look of horror at what she had done. We pretty much had to scrap the rest of the speakers and rush to the closing hymn to get out of there anywhere near on time.