Quarantine Diaries Part 16: DC Being DC

Just a lot of DC, being DC.

DC’s weekend movie selections.

I don’t know why there are two sitting separately from the rest of the pile... they must be the highlighted selections.

 

He's done a bit of writing and coloring:

Found these hanging on the cabinet (oops... ‘Cub-Board’ ) door this morning.

 

Because I made a big deal (deservedly so) over his pictures this morning, he is now plastering the cabinet - um, ‘cub-boards’ with his ‘princess papers and other movie titles’.
First - I am in awe of his printing.
Second - My favorite: Summer Magic Nineteen Sixteen Three (1963)

 Another Couple of  Birthdays to Celebrate in Quarantine:

Doug's Birthday

Tomorrow is Doug’s birthday (I guess at this point it is today). I don’t have to tell you that this is all I have heard about over the last few days. We don’t have a specific plan yet (which just makes matters worse for DC), due to the weather we may be getting and the fact that we only do outdoor dining. I told him more than once, that I would tell him what we are doing as soon as Doug and I discuss it. But not to worry, we would be doing something.
Me: Please stop asking. I promise to let you know as soon as we have a plan.
Because I told him to stop, he moved on to screeching “Happy Birthday Doug!” over and over again - just so he could continue to bring up the subject without “asking”.
I asked him to stop screeching, so he moved on to singing the birthday song at the top of his lungs at random intervals through-out the day.
Me: DC, I promise I will tell you as soon as I know what we’re doing. Please stop.
Since he wasn’t getting a suitable answer from me, he decided to call Doug and screech Happy Birthday at him and then gave the phone to me.
Doug was at work so we both told DC that we would talk about it tomorrow and let him know.
Right now (it’s 1am)... He’s resorted to sign language.
At least it’s quiet.

 "Grandmother's" (because we have to be formal) Birthday:

“Day After Birthday” porch visit with Grandma, ummm "Grandmother"

 

.

Band-aides and Tree Branches - always:

DC: (He went light on the band-aids, but he’s not finished yet) Poison Ivy - itchy.
Me: Where did you get poison ivy? (He doesn’t have poison ivy; he barely goes outside)
DC: on my hand
Me: but where did you catch it?
DC: on my hand!
Me: but what gave you poison ivy?
DC: (say it with me) Tree Branch

 (Speaking of tree branches... (for those who may be new here) - Those Pesky Tree Branches)

 

File under "He's playing me":

1. Mr Charming

DC has a way of winning over the wait staff immediately.
One minute before she came over, he was mad at me for breathing wrong (or whatever) - 2 seconds later he’s charming the waitress.
Me: DC why are you so charming to everyone else but me?
This was his reply...

2. He CAN hear with the headphones on.

The other day, Doug and I were discussing rainbow goldfish. I told him the green fish tasted like spinach and that I haven't looked at the package to see if that was in fact the case or if it was just my imagination (because.... green). DC was in the back seat with his headphones on which normally means I have to yell a good 3, 4, 5, 6 times before he hears me.
Today, instead of the two goldfish he usually runs over to give me before running away yelling "Thank you for sharing" - he has upgraded me to ALL of the green goldfish; stating "I don't like spinach" before thanking himself for sharing....
So... he CAN hear with the headphones on.
I wonder if this will work with other snacks?

 

 2.5 He CAN hear with the headphones on:

Doug wanted to take DC and his friend BB out for DBD Day (DC, BB and Doug Day formerly known as "Boys Day Out"). 

Doug and I discussed this in the car with DC in the back seat with his headphones on (the rainbow gold fish incident above came later, so it did not occur to me that he could hear with them on, because ... the yelling 3, 4, 5, 6 times mentioned above).

I texted BB's mom as she said that it was fine with her, but she wanted to check with BB when he got home to be sure he did not have anything else scheduled.

When we got home, DC immediately began saying "Have to talk to Donna" - "Have to 'test' (text) Donna". 

I told him that I did text Donna but BB was not home so she would get back to me later.

For the rest of the evening, he sat right down next to me every time I touched my phone and repeated "Have to talk to Donna" - "Have to 'test' (text) Donna"

I texted her again (just to save my sanity, because she knows and is in the same boat, and so he could see me do it):

He's sitting right next to me - staring at my phone - just so you know.

I can yell and scream to get his attention when he has his headphones on and ... nothing. This - he heard when Doug was asking about it; headphones and all (I would not have told him voluntarily)

Her Reply:

Yes, he is available.

Sounds so familiar.

Phew!

DBD Day:

Doug was grateful that I made a modified version of the bag I bring whenever we go anywhere.

They wore masks in the car, with windows open for ventilation. 

Outdoor dinner (masks off only to eat and some distance between them when not eating)

Outdoor activity while wearing masks.

To say that DC was excited when he got home is an understatement.

DC's rundown of their night out:

DC: DDB Day (DBD) with Doug and DC and BB. We had cheeseburger and french fries.

We played "Croquet". (Alice in Wonderland)

Me: Croquet?

DC: No, we played the golf. We had ice cream. 

I got hole in one. I swing club and didn't hurt anyone.

Me: ???? 

Me: (laughing because I don't know where that came from, but okay) I'm glad you swung without hurting anyone.

DC: I had a fun time! Yay! (jumping)

What we have learned:

1. He can hear with the headphones on.
2. Tree branches are responsible for a lot more than we originally thought.
3. I'll get more goldfish if I continue to buy the rainbow variety.
4. He can swing a club without hurting anyone.
5. We will have to find a croquet set.

***

Quarantine Diaries - All In One Place

*******************

In case you are new here: “I tell stories, most of the time; single individual stories about this or that. Some may be written with humor and some may come across as “Oh, look at the cute thing DC did or said” (he does crack me up at times) but my object is always to make people understand how his mind works, never to "make fun of him"

It is difficult to explain “his” autism to anyone without resorting to 1000 examples and 1000 stories. So I tell 1000 stories to make clear that there are other sides to autism than the characters seen in TV or movies."

This blog is used for shorter posts, off topic posts and also for longer Face book statuses. Please visit my official blog site at: Taking it a Step at a Time 

Quarantine Diaries - Part 13: The Couch, YouTube and Deep Space 9

As you may or may not know; we watch a lot of Star Trek around here but lately in-between the Star Trek re-watches, I have been watching a lot of those reunion panels, like Stars in the House, Reunited Apart and The 7th Rule's Virtual Trek Con (links at the end of this post) on You Tube.

All are not Star Trek Related (The 7th Rule is of course), but I have seen reunions of some of my favorite shows, such as the China Beach reunion.

They are fun and I am sort of in awe of the people on these panels who come and do these things daily for free to raise money for virus-related charities and just to give us all something new to watch during this pandemic.

DC is normally on his Ipad in his "spot" in the kitchen while I am watching these.

Last night, he decided to pack it in early and went to get his pillows, blankets and books to bring to the couch (yes, we are still sleeping on the couch. This may be the longest stretch to date. See: The Couch: Another Round from 2019)

I was watching Reunited Apart - The Lord of the Rings Reunion. I could see that DC was getting anxious. I asked him more than once what was bothering him.

"Nothing wrong!"

But he made a big production of announcing when it was over.

I moved on to Stars in the House - RENT with Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp and he became more anxious.

Me: Please tell me what is bothering you.

DC: Nothing bothering you.

Me: (re-wording my question) Please tell Mom what is bothering DC.

DC: Watch "Space Nine"

Me: You want to watch Deep Space Nine?

DC: Yes!

So I put on Deep Space 9 and DC happily took his glasses off, rolled over and went to sleep!?!?

After thinking about it for a little while (because you know that's what I do); I could see that there were one of two possibilities for his anxiety here.

1. You Tube is his domain. He may not have ever realized that I was watching HIS You Tube on the TV and you know how protective he is about what's his.

or

2. Deep Space 9 comforts him when he is going to sleep.

I hadn't thought about that.

I may just be watching Deep Space 9 often when he is ready for bed. Because it is my favorite of the franchise, I watch it and pay attention. 

I use TOS and TNG  as a distraction from my "mind race" so I can fall asleep. I need something to distract me, but not distract me enough to keep me awake and since these are far from my favorites, it doesn't matter if I fall asleep and miss the four episodes that play until Nextfix shuts down. He is not awake for that. He falls asleep to the one I am awake and paying attention to.

I don't know which possibility was the cause of his anxiety, but I am thinking it was a little of both.

Links:

Josh Gad - Reunited Apart

Stars in the House 

The 7th Rule - Virtual Con

*******************

In case you are new here: “I tell stories, most of the time; single individual stories about this or that. Some may be written with humor and some may come across as “Oh, look at the cute thing DC did or said” (he does crack me up at times) but my object is always to make people understand how his mind works, never to "make fun of him"

It is difficult to explain “his” autism to anyone without resorting to 1000 examples and 1000 stories. So I tell 1000 stories to make clear that there are other sides to autism than the characters seen in TV or movies."

This blog is used for shorter posts, off topic posts and also for longer Face book statuses. Please visit my official blog site at: Taking it a Step at a Time 

 

Knock Three Times

DC and I attend many events, activities and parties. Many related to his autism or specifically geared to special needs children and adults, many are not. Although I do write about some of these events or trips, I certainly do not write about all of them as, in most cases, there is nothing significantly related to DC and his autism to write about. This event was not going to become the subject of one of my posts; it had nothing to do with Autism, there would be no princesses, no wizard, no costumes, no bookstore – just DC, my mother and I attending a fundraising event hosted by an old friend of mine.

After attending, I do feel the need to write about it, and write about it from the perspective of DC and his autism and how, at times people really do go out of their way to make DC comfortable.

An old friend of mine invited us to his annual fundraising event. The previous year this event was held at a local theater where DC works as a greeter (with support, of course). We could not make it last year, I can not remember why. It may have been that DC was scheduled to work at the theater more than once that week and attending the event would have been too much for him. DC was scheduled to work at the theater the night before this year’s event but the event was being held at a different venue, so I decided that DC and I would attend. We invited my mother to go along with us. Knowing full well that a sit-down-dinner at a table with probably 6 to 8 other people would be tough for him (and me), I tried, as I always do, to relate* the event to something of interest to him.

Tony Orlando, The Honorary Chairperson, would in attendance. Now, I am old enough to know who Tony Orlando is, but I didn’t know how to relate him to something in DC’s world. There have been many times where I am surprised by who DC does know. Usually I find out that they are “the voice” of a character  in one of his movies. I checked on-line to see if Tony Orlando might have been the “voice of” anyone DC might relate to. He was not. But then I realized that whenever we hear “Knock three times” on the radio, I make DC sing along with me. We’ve done it enough times that he does now recognize the song. It is also one of the few songs that DC does not say, “Mom, please STOP singing!”

First hurdle, relating this event to something in his world – check!

The event was being held in the midst of our Halloween party season. We had already attended one party and we had a few more on the schedule in the next few days. The event’s description indicated that it would be a 40’s style gala. I did not know what that really meant but I went out and purchased a 40’s style men’s hat to go with DC’s suit.

Second hurdle, turning the event into a “costume party” – check!

My greatest concern was the seating arrangements. As I talked about in an earlier post, there are not many things that we avoid because of DC’s autism, but we do try to avoid situations where we will be seated at a crowded table with strangers.  There are times when it can not be avoided, and we get through it, but if I can avoid it, I will.

I am usually not a big fan of eating in the dining room with DC. The tables are crowded with strangers. I get anxious because DC, although pretty well-behaved in restaurants, can get a little bit loud and chewing with his mouth closed does not come naturally to him, he has to be reminded continuously. When he does remember on his own, he feels the need to point it out to me throughout the entire dinner. He likes to bring a book with him whenever we go out to eat, but at these crowded tables, it is not always possible, there just isn’t enough room.
I was never of the mind that other people should be made to just accept DC’s behavior. Yes, if I am trying to manage the situation I can live without the stares and comments – but letting him do whatever he wants in the name of awareness, is not something I ever subscribed to. I do not believe that every behavior can or should be blamed on his autism – it is never used as an excuse.

I was told that I had to e-mail someone for reservations before purchasing tickets. I am not one that ever asks for special treatment or accommodations for DC, but since I had to send an e-mail, I decided I would just mention that DC tends to get a little bit anxious in crowds and if they happened to have a table that was not full; would it be possible to be seated there? I didn’t want them to go out of their way or change anything around, I just thought that if there was already such a table available, I would appreciate it if we could be seated there. It wasn’t a deal-breaker, we were going either way, but since I had someone’s ear I thought it could not hurt to ask.

DC has issues with many types of clothing, more-so now than when he was younger, but there is nothing better, in DC’s eyes, than wearing a suit. I suspect the fact that people tell him how handsome he looks is the number one reason – if you neglect to tell him just how handsome he looks, believe me he will bring it to your attention. Add the hat “costume” to his already handsome apparel and he was over the moon.

The very first thing DC noticed upon arrival was the sign for the “Grand Ballroom”. I had not thought of this aspect when looking for things relatable for DC. Not only was he going to see the ‘voice of’ “Knock Three Times”, while looking handsome in costume, but we were going to the “Ball”! How did I miss that one?

We were in the lobby with quite a few others who had arrived a few minutes early. We were told that we had to wait a few minutes as the staff was still in the process of setting up. DC was having the normal anxiety he has upon arriving anywhere. I always know it is coming, he just needs a little time to shake it off. The woman at the door noticed he was having a difficult time, and shuffled us into the ballroom. We were away from the crowd and he didn’t have to ‘wait”. He would have been alright waiting with everyone else, but it would have taken him longer to shake his ‘arrival anxiety’, so I was very appreciative that she let us in.

We found our table. It was the very last table all the way in the corner. It was perfect.  DC, who generally is not aware of anything around him in terms of pushing his chair out, getting up from the table without looking to see if anyone is coming or putting his coat on, arms flying outward to accidentally hit anyone that might be in range, had room behind him so he would not bump  into anyone else’s’ chair or knock anyone over when he got up from the table. There was no one behind us to bother if he felt the need to get up and dance. We were the only people in the ballroom other than the staff and a few people I assume were with the organization, for quite some time.

Not long after, Tony Orlando came down the stairs. I do not like to bother people. DC has had his picture taken with many people over the years but it was almost always as a photo op. I just do not feel right asking people that are not there for that reason, to take a picture. My mother, had other ideas. She reached into her box of ammunition and pulled out the ‘Mom Guilt’….. “Oh you have to!” , “He won’t mind, he’s used to it” (that went on for awhile),  she stared at me for awhile and then resorted to the sideways glance, “Now, Vickie” in a tone I hadn’t heard in years, I finally gave in, only under the condition that SHE had to do the asking.

She went over and asked him and of course he said yes. I don’t know what else she said to him, but he was happy to do it.

First, he told DC that he looked like a movie star. You know that won DC over completely. I told him that his friend BB and Mrs. H will be so jealous. (That is usually DC’s line when we go somewhere that he is excited to be, but I decided to use it just as an added incentive to help move him out of his anxiety).  Mr. Orlando was very good to DC. They had a little chat and he told DC that they would be “friends forever”, and DC certainly believes they will.

I am officially adding Tony Orlando to the list of people I will always hold in high regard  for not only taking the photo with him, but taking the time to actually try to have a conversation with him and making him feel special.


When they began letting all of the other attendees into the ballroom we realized that we were the only people that would be sitting at our table. One of the women that I had e-mailed before we purchased the tickets stopped by to be sure we didn’t feel as if we were being isolated. It was a perfect table and we did not feel isolated at all. We didn’t expect them to go that much out of their way to give us our own table, but I was so glad they did. DC had room for his ever-present book, he was able to get up and dance behind the table when he wanted to. There was a window right there that helped to keep him occupied; he loves to stand and just look out the window. When it got dark outside, the window then served as his own personal mirror.  There is no one that loves looking at himself in a mirror or any reflective surface more than DC does, especially that night , while wearing his new hat.

Third hurdle – Not siting at a crowded table – check!

He enjoyed watching the ballroom dancers they had performing. At one point I did take him out closer to the dance floor where he could watch them (and follow along, pretty well, I might add) from the sidelines. He sang along with “Knock Three Times” and they even had pizza bites as one of the appetizers! What could be better!

Forth hurdle – DC’s very limited food list- check!

He had a wonderful (oops) ‘terrific’** time. Fortunately the ‘drop the chocolate, frosted, cupcake strategically down the opening of his jacket’ incident occurred toward the end of the evening; the smeared chocolate all over his shirt, tie and the inside of his jacket did not ruin the entire evening.

I did contact my friend, Joe the following day to thank him and to let him know how much his people went out of their way to make DC comfortable. I appreciated everything they had done.

They have also been added to my list.

*(That “Everything is Related” post I keep threatening to write IS now in progress and will be posted at a later date)
** “terrific” DC’s latest word, replacing “wonderful”.

Because, Because, Because, Because….BEEEE CAUSE

Right up there on DC’s ‘fandom’ meter with all things Disney is the Wizard of Oz. I can not really put my finger on how, when or where this fixation developed as it is not a Disney production, but it certainly did. DC owns every version of every book, movie and soundtrack of The Wizard of Oz.
There is nothing that would make him happier than a visit to OZ.
As I mentioned in Part One of this post (Hello Dolly)

I discovered a festival in Kansas called, you guessed it – The OZ Fest. The OZ fest is held in late September, not October, but still close enough to count as our Halloween trip. The OZ fest was the plan for this year’s Halloween get-away. That WAS the plan….. until we calculated the cost of the flights, rental car and hotel for the weekend and realized that it was almost equivalent to booking a cruise for a week.
Plan discarded…………… (for now)
But now I had OZ on the brain and I was not going to give up the notion of getting DC to OZ. I remembered seeing photos that my sister-in-law posted from an OZ event that they had attended a few years back. It was at  Beech Mountain, North Carolina. I facebooked her to get more details. She told me that this event was very popular, but only open for ONE  weekend each year; this year on October 3, 4 and 5. Tickets had to be purchased in advance. and I was told that it sold out very quickly.

Dollywood the day before worked out so, so much better than expected (with the exception of the ‘Mommy-Meltdown’) – so we were excited to get to “the Mountain of Oz’ – as DC calls it. I was still a bit apprehensive about the bus ride to the top, but I realized quickly that most of the mountain drive was by car.

I didn’t realize that DC had packed his watch and was wearing it in the car. I only did realize when we started getting minute by minute updates from the back seat:

“Mom, it is Eight-‘Firty’- Seven, we have to find Uncle ‘Liar’ -

“Mom, it is Eight-‘Firty’ – eight, we have to find Uncle ‘Liar’ -

and so on……….

DC has a difficult time pronouncing most of my brothers’ names. Uncle Larry, is ‘Uncle Lally’ (he can pronounce “Harry” and “Mary” but for some reason “Larry” is impossible for him). Uncle Lyle is ‘Uncle Liar’.  He always could pronounce Ted and Skip – or so I thought. He does pronounce “Ted” correctly, but at one point  I realized that all this time, he was really calling Skip,  Uncle ‘Scamp’ – it sounded so much like ‘Skip’ all of the times that he’s said it that I didn’t realize he was actually calling him ‘Scamp’ until he wrote it down one day.

We arrived at the sky-resort where we were to catch the bus. We met “Uncle ‘Liar’, my sister-in-law and my niece in the parking lot. IT WAS COLD!!!!! My brother was disappointed that we were not in costume (they were not, but he knows me well). My title of “Queen of the Costume” was now tarnished, forever!

(Did I mention that it was COLD!!!???)

- I have to give props to the “Autumn at Oz” people for sending out more than one e-mail to let ticket holders know just how cold it was excepted to be. This would not have occurred to me and thanks to them, we were prepared – But still….. IT WAS COLD!!!

We had a little time after we checking in to have some hot chocolate and coffee. There was a couple of  buildings open for us to go and get warm while we waited.

Needless to say the Italian Ice vendor outside did not do very well on this day. Hopefully he did better on Sunday.

After our hot chocolate/coffee/heat break, we went out to board the bus. We were first in line for our bus, which means we would be seated all the way in the back. My sister in law gets a bit of motion sickness, made worse by riding in the back. She and my brother were allowed to take the front seat, while DC and I took one seat in the back and my niece and Doug took the other, a decision my niece would soon regret.

• Now we were  “Defying Gravity” on our ride up to the top of the mountain -
•  while desperately trying to “Keep  away from the Jitterbug”  -
• to  “Ease on down the Road”,  -
• on our journey to reach “The Merry Old Land of Oz”.

The Wizard of Oz soundtrack was playing on the bus on our way up the mountain; Doug, being Doug, decided, out of nowhere,  to just belt out “If I were the king of the Foreeeeest”*

I will never be able to describe the look on my niece’s face, ever. I told Doug that he was embarrassing her, but that is what he lives for. The look on her face was priceless and although I felt sorry for her, I just could not stop laughing. She was just mortified. Not being able to stop laughing actually distracted me from the ride that I had been so apprehensive about. I will never forget that face and even now as I’m writing, I am laughing.

Exiting the bus;  we soon ran into Dorothy and Toto sitting near a fountain. I have to hand it to these characters, it was so cold but they never let on, one would never know by looking at them that they were freezing.


 (It was never my intention to turn this post into a visual tour, but I can not help myself. It was impressive.)

We followed the path and came upon Professor Marvel. He warned us all about the storm that was predicted to come through at any time!

We continued on the path to Kansas and where we would hopefully find shelter from the oncoming twister.

We found the Gale farm. While waiting to get into the house, Dorothy saw DC waving to her through the crowd. She walked into the crowd to greet DC and launched into the whole spiel – She was very nervous. Miss Gulch tried to take Toto for chasing her cat. She needed to find Auntie Em to protect her and Toto from Miss Gulch.

“If you see Auntie Em, please tell her I need help”

DC ate it up. He felt as if he was a part of the story.

Heading into Dorothy’s house, the Ruby Slippers were on display and a band played on the front porch.


Once inside we found Auntie Em and DC relayed the message from Dorothy. Auntie Em was thankful and told DC that if he saw her again,  please tell Dorothy to come home.

But we had to hurry to the cellar……. the storm was fast approaching!

 “The house began to pitch. The kitchen took a slitch*. … “

Half way down the stairs on the way to the storm cellar and partially through the ‘twister’ DC said, “I am getting very nervous about this” but he continued through the dark through the storm. When the storm was over, we found the house a mess and the floors topsy turvy – it was hard to stand up straight.



We walked outside to hear the Mayor declaring the Wicked Old Witch, dead!

 “It landed on the Wicked Witch in the middle of a ditch, Which was not a healthy situation for the Wicked Witch”*

DC was happy to be out of the house and excited as he was now realizing that the journey we were on  was moving in order, right along with the story. The Yellow Brick road would be coming into view shortly.

We rounded the corner and there we met Glinda. Glinda, in DC’s eyes is equivalent to a Princess. She has “princess status” in his world. He is always happy when Glinda appears, and now he would be meeting her in person!






Onward through Munchkin Land .

Leaving Munchkin Land, the munchkins told us that we had to “Follow The Yellow Brick Road*” – and so we did.

– Along the way we came across every character that resides in the Land of Oz – good and evil.

I can’t say enough about the actors that played these characters. I am told that they are all volunteers. These people were impressive. They were definitely “Disney-Caliber”. Not only were they out there all day, in costume, in the cold, but they never broke character. A few even burst into song.

Let me tell you, if DC decides to throw a line at you, you better be able to respond, in character and correctly. Believe me, his interaction with the Oz characters was no different that his conversations with ‘his’ Disney Princesses. They all had the proper response or song to whatever DC decided to discuss with them and we all know that DC can come up with the rather obscure reference. One HAS to know the movie inside and out to pass the DC realism test. Each and every one of them passed with flying colors.

Once we walked a little bit of the way down the Yellow Brick Road, the wind seemed to die down and we were in direct sunlight; the hats and gloves came off – jackets were still needed but it was really, really nice there.

The Scarecrow sang when DC asked him about his brain and then he pointed us in the direction of the Emerald City – although he could not seem to make up his mind.

DC could not resist knocking on the Tin Man’s chest
– just checking for a heart

“Lions and Tigers and Bears! Oh my!”*
The Cowardly Lion……
- and yes, Doug showed great restraint in not belting out the ‘King of the Forest’ tune again.

We were now getting closer and closer to the Wicked Witch!
“I’d turn back if I were you!”*

But we didn’t turn back……. Who’s afraid of a Wicked Old Witch anyway? But, curses, we neglected to bring our buckets of water! We’d have to take our chances.

After DC and my niece both declined the Witch’s offer to join her flying monkey army, we were on our way, fully intact. PHEW!

We approached the poppy field and said one last goodbye to everyone we had met along the way.

DC, of course had to call an impromptu powwow to make sure that each of the characters were absolutely aware of who they were supposed to be….
– Just in case they didn’t know.




“We’re off to see the Wizard”*

But first……. we had to ask for admittance into the Emerald City.


I so wish I had thought to take a video of this exchange. DC went through the entire scene – he rang the bell, the door guard yelled at him and slammed the door for ringing said bell. He then followed the new directions, now that the sign was turned to the proper side, and knocked… because of course we know that the bell is “out of order” – he laughed and laughed. I think this may just have been his favorite part of the entire day in Oz.

His cousin really got a kick out of how much he was getting a kick out of all of this.


Directions followed properly – we were granted permission to enter the Emerald City and given an audience with…..
The Man behind the curtain……. The Wizard.




Finally DC had the opportunity to recite “There’s no place like home”*.
Wish granted - we made our way back to the bus, but first we came upon the characters once again, this time from the original book.


I read somewhere that the Emerald City was lost to a fire. It is a shame; based on the quality of the Yellow Brick Road – I have to imagine that the Emerald City must have been magnificent. Even with the loss of the Emerald City, the story was told from beginning to end.


We were right in time for the bus. I had photos to post so this kept me occupied on the bus ride back down the mountain.

My niece opted not to sit with Doug on the way back down.

I really do not know just what I was expecting at “Autumn at OZ” but I have to say, it was above and beyond anything I could have imagined. It was beautiful, very well maintained and VERY well staffed. It was such a fun day. Yes, it was cold, but we were warned and we were prepared. The trip was well worth it. We had a wonderful time (“terrific time” – ‘terrific’ being DC’s new word).
The whole adventure from the bus stop to the end was very well organized. There was not a long wait for anything.

I would recommend this event to anyone. It is a shame it is only open once a year, but if you are an OZ fan (even if you are not), it is well worth it. DC will never forget his trip to OZ.

I have to talk a little bit about my niece as well. My brother and his family have lived in Tennessee since DC was born. My niece and DC have only actually met each other maybe three times since she was born. So she has not spent much time with DC at all over the years. I have to say I was so impressed with her. She was not afraid of him – you might think that is an odd thing to say as he is her cousin, but believe me – it’s happened, more than I care to think about. She put up with him hugging the stuffing out of her all day. She made attempts at conversation with him, even if the response she got didn’t have anything to do with what she originally said to him. The day went wonderfully and HE is completely enamored with her.

I am so glad we had the opportunity to visit OZ with them – I think we all had a fabulous time.


Even this guy…………

In the event that anyone may be concerned ……..



after dinner with my brother and his family, we were able to find a bookstore…

*Quotes and song Lyrics from the Wonderful Wizard of OZ