What do you mean by that?

Today it occurred to me that the word "handicapped" does not mean what I think it does. Question 1 when people see my daughter is what is wrong with your daughter, to which the answer is autism makes her different, I am not sure there is anything wrong with her. Question 2 is What is autism or how does it make her different, to which I have to say I have no idea. To me she seems so normal.
One of my dear daughter's friends, S., was patiently explaining to me that a certain young man on their bus was disruptive and annoying because he, "you know", does not have language. Today Dear Daughter was telling me about another of the students at school - a girl named C. "She is like K.", says DD, "no language". For S. and DD having no language is no more peculiar than being left-handed. One of the sidecar drivers in Brno wheels himself in a wheelchair when he is not driving his sidecar. He won the race, so I would not say that the limited use of his legs is in anyway a handicap. If he cannot walk, is he handicapped? What does it really mean to be handicapped? Do physical or psychological impairments constitute a handicap, or is a handicap how you deal with the cards you are dealt in life?
So, DD reads this over my shoulder and asks "am I handicapped" and I have to say "I do not know. Do you feel handicapped?"

Her Birthday

Truth be told, I would have paid for a birthday party anywhere for my little angel. She wanted to celebrate at the Farm (Jens raises rainbow trout). I was quite touched. Here is a wretched picture of her little classmates and her teachers from the walk we took in the forest. I took some video and gave her the still camera. She apparently thought taking pictures of mushrooms was more fun than taking pictures of people. All a matter of taste, I guess.

Two wheels

When I paid for parking at the AMK/IHRO raceday event, the man gave me to fives as change. "Two wheels" he said. It was quite appropriate!

a beautiful day at the races

Here he is with Bjarne, Helen, and Bent Møller.
On the 20th and 21st Jens participated in sidecar races for the first time in a decade. He was graciously invited by Bjarne Karlsson, the current Swedish champion, to ride as the sandbag (I kid you not - that is the technical word). They won both days, but it would have be fabulous even if they had just finished. Jens was Danish champion in 1986, and I had never seen him ride. This weekend completed the experience for me. Nobody seemed to be in the race to win. It seemed to be much more important to have a good time and to come home in one piece. True, you can only fall about 2 inches from a side car, but at 80mph, that can be far enough.

Nifty disguise.

How can you not be impressed?

I have read that you have been in Denmark too long when you no longer notice the windmills. It is my tremendous good fortune to see the "wings" on my commute between Hannerup and Aalborg. They look to be about 100 feet/30 meters long. Riding on their special trucks they look like great majestic whales sliding silently through the water. Here is a picture of a typical car trying to pass one. How could you see something like that and not be impressed?

Pediatric Dentistry - however you spell it.

Yesterday my little Darling went to the dentist. Pediatric Dentistry is just one more thing that is light years ahead here in Denmark. When we lived in Virginia I took her to the highly recommended Pediatric Dentist who gave a whole new meaning to the expression "going medieval" with his handling of her: drilling to the root on her tooth without anesthetic while she was strapped to a board, for example. He looked me in the eye when this torture was over and said "she will never be able to have a tooth filled without total anesthetic". Here in Denmark the dentists are, gasp, trained to handle children, even little autists like my baby. During her first visit the Dentist gently but firmly talked her through the process. On the next visit the Dentist even managed to fill two of my baby's teeth without even upsetting her. When we got out to the car from the first visit, I burst into tears of joy. It has been said that Danes are very full of themselves and smug about the superiority of their culture. When it comes to Pediatric Dentistry, they have every reason to be proud. Anyway - I just wanted to say that.

Aunty Margrethe's socks

Here they are! She insisted that they fit, even though she did not try them on. Being the mistrusting soul that I am, I immediately became suspicious. That was foolish. The gift is a symbol, really. It shows here that for 15 hours (give or take) she was more important to me than anyone else I could have been knitting for. That has to mean something.