Going Once...

I want to invite all of you here in town to attend the 3rd annual auction at Elliot's school, School of Autism. The school is a private nonprofit, so the proceeds from the annual auction are integral to the school's budget. This year, the school plans to use a portion of the proceeds to buy land and build a larger school so that they can eventually expand to serve children on the autism spectrum aged preschool through 8th grade (the school currently has students in preschool, kindergarten, and 1st/2nd grade).

Here are the details for the auction:

Saturday, February 28th, 2009
6-10pm
Portland Art Museum, Sunken Ballroom

We've received many fabulous donations, which you can read about on the website linked above. Tickets are $75 each, and you can purchase them here. Please tell all your friends! We hope you'll support this worthy cause, even in these tough economic times. The school is the only one of its kind in the region, and it has made a huge difference in the lives of many families with children on the spectrum.

I don't know what we would have done without the school these past couple of years. Elliot has made amazing progress while at the school, and he just loves attending. As proof, I offer you this photograph of Elliot with his best friend, Sammy.


Thanks to all of you who donated items this year:

Thomas - preparation of a simple will through his law firm.
Dad - signed books by Barbara Kingsolver and Larry McMurtry and two limited edition prints by illustrator Shaun Tan.
Vic - original shadowbox mixed media artwork.
Phyllis - framed needlework Holly Hobby picture.
John - gorgeous 1950s earrings and brooch set from Decades Vintage Company.
Kevia - beautiful gold and blue topaz necklace and matching earrings from her collection.
Kate - 4 handmade skirts from Hazel Blue.
Chris - two gift certificates for classes at Lost Arts Kitchen.
Allegra - Feldenkrais session and bodywork from her colleagues at Anisha.
Kent - skateboard deck signed by Tony Hawk.
Christopher & Nancy - Peter Yarrow Puff the Magic Dragon gift basket and model ships from The Monkey & The Rat.
Mitch - hair cut and color from Spank! salon.
Pat - symphony tickets, Opera broadcast tickets, and classical CDs.

We hope to see y'all at the auction! Heck, if nothing else, it's a great excuse to get dolled up, and how often do you get to do that in Portland? I'm already excited about donning my velvet dress and hip stockings. I'm even going to wear heels. Y'all gotta show up to see that!

A Few Of My Favorite Things

Last week Idgie and I went to hear a reading by one of my favorite authors, Tom Spanbauer. He's a local Portland author, and it's always lovely to spend an evening with him. He has a wonderful, calm reading voice, and his fiction is gorgeous. He also tells amazing, riveting stories that are often intensely personal, and he's just a plain old nice guy. When I heard him read a couple of years back from his most recent novel, he walked around the room before the reading began, shaking everyone's hand and saying, "Hi, I'm Tom." Imogen was quite cooperative for the event, falling asleep as the reading began and waking up to happily stand in line to get my book signed while being adored by strangers (then she cried in the car all the way home).

Tom Spanbauer gets the honor of having written my favorite book in the world - the one I would take with me to a desert island. The novel is In the City of Shy Hunters and takes place in New York City during the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s. The story is amazing, you'll never want the characters to leave you, and Mr. Spanbauer's writing style is not like anything you've ever read before, I guarantee. I can't recommend the book highly enough.

While I'm on the subject of favorites, I also recommend every last word ever written by poet Naomi Shihab Nye. I attended a week-long women's writing retreat with Naomi in 1995, and she has been my favorite poet and personal hero ever since. Naomi is one of the most genuine, kind, and talented women you could ever know. In her presence, you'll feel like an old friend, and you'll want to talk to her for days and days. She's written countless poems, as well as essays, children's books, young adult fiction, and songs. Every one is remarkable.

And I must show you these photos of my two favorite people. This is Elliot at 5 months old and Imogen at 7 months old, wearing the very same hat.


This will probably be my last April post, so in honor of Autism Awareness Month, I want to give one final shout out to Elliot's preschool (and all educators and specialists out there who are helping children on the spectrum). I can't say thank you enough for everything they've done for Elliot. You can read more about Elliot's amazing school, School of Autism, here. And if you are interested in supporting the school with a monetary donation (they still need all kinds of supplies and funds for the addition of grades 1-2 in the fall), or by buying a T-shirt or a copy of the film that was made for the auction, you can do that here (your donation is tax-deductible!). The film was created by Peter Fuhrman of zodbox, and he did an amazing job. Elliot saw the film for the first time yesterday and immediately requested when it ended, "You want to watch that again!".

And, since April is also National Poetry Month, I thought I'd offer up a teaser for a chapbook I'm working on. It's a series of 40 short poems, one for each week of pregnancy. I started the series while pregnant with Elliot and continued it during my pregnancy with Imogen. I still have a few more poems to write before it is complete. Here are three of my favorites from the series, one for each trimester.

5 weeks

This is the week the heart starts
beating. Little bird, little lizard,

little princess pea. Small round
stairway of spine. Small cleft

body. Small ache in my belly.
Everything moves over –

my insides rearrange. The heart
starts beating. My insides rearrange.

Brittney Corrigan, copyright 2003, all rights reserved.


23 weeks

Little nymph, your skin is like
dragonfly wings. Everything

below is visible, illuminated
through your shimmering limbs.

Your blood travels in quick rivers
beside trees of bones.

Your heart is a small, red poppy
fluttering in a field of rain.

Brittney Corrigan, copyright 2007, all rights reserved.


34 weeks

Little person, we are almost ready.
I am preparing for the suckling,

you are standing back like a painter
from the canvas, adding a brushstroke

here, a whorl of color there. We bulge
under the veil, anticipate the viewing.

Then we can touch each other’s artful
lines, open our eyes and stare, and stare.

Brittney Corrigan, copyright 2007, all rights reserved.

Finally, I want to leave you with a story that my friend Christine shared with me today. Her son Jasper, 2 1/2, is good friends with Elliot.

In the name of friendship
Jasper and I were at the mall today, running errands. I told him we needed to go downstairs and he asked, "On the elevator?"
"Sure," I answered, "or the escalator. You can choose which one you'd like."
"Well, well... well... I love Elliot and he loves me. We love each other, and I'd like to take the elevator." (Pause.) "I don't want to hurt his feelings."
"By taking the escalator?"
"Yeah."
"I don't think he'd mind if you took the escalator. I don't think he'd even know."
"Well, Elliot is my friend and we love each other and I want to take the elevator."
So we did.

You can't ask for a better pal than that.

Grand Central Station

It's been Grand Central Station around here these last few days. On Thursday, Bubba Joe and P. came to visit for a long weekend. They're currently on an airplane headed back to Colorado, and we miss them already! We started our fun-filled weekend with lots of playing.


On Friday we headed to OMSI, the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, to see the dinosaur exhibit on loan from a museum in China and to play in the fabulous science playground. After tearing Elliot away from the two very cool elevators, he had a great time exploring. Here he is playing in the sandbox, more evidence of the enormous progress he has made since starting at School of Autism a year ago. When he started, he wouldn't get his hands or feet dirty with finger paint, sand, or anything else. Now look at him!


Saturday was the 2nd annual auction for School of Autism. It was a smashing success. We left Elliot at home to play on the trampoline with our friends Matt and Sarah while we headed to the event with Bubba Joe, P., Denny, Phyllis, Nona, Mr. Vic Victor, Papa Pat, and our friends Ellen, Mark, Kerry, and Michael. Imogen was of course the belle of the ball. Here she is "spooning" with Ellen.


The school raised more money than last year, which will go primarily towards hiring another teacher for the addition of grades 1-2 this fall. My favorite part of the auction was the film that was shown, highlighting the kids at the school and its mission. It was a real tear-jerker (and money raiser!). The live auction was great, the food was super yummy, and the company was wonderful. Here are Nona and Mr. Vic Victor living it up.


I'd personally like to thank everyone who came to the auction with us and made generous donations to the school. It means so much to us to have your support!

After the big shindig, we spent Sunday relaxing in the lovely spring weather. We hung out with the kids and the birds in the backyard all day long. Here are Bubba Joe and P. loving up Imogen.



We had several friends stop by to visit on Sunday, as well. Our good pals Nic, Kristen, and Japhy stopped in on their way back to Seattle. Elliot loves baby Japhy, who is now 10 months old.


And here are Nic and Thomas being their silly selves with Pippin and Joey.


We spent the last part of the day revamping the chicken coop to accommodate a duck and moved Joey and Pippin permanently into their new digs with Dixie. Everyone made it through the night, so the newly-formed flock is a success. Here are the birds hanging out in the yard and with their proud fowl papa.


And here is more evidence of the progress Elliot is making with his social skills with other kids. Here he is taking his friend Soren to see if Dixie has laid an egg yet.


Whew, what a weekend! Elliot especially had a great time, since he loves to be outside. Here he is modeling his super duper new Crocs (much to the approval of Bubba Joe and P., who swear by the things!).


And things won't be slowing down around here anytime soon! Thomas's brother Mike arrived back in town last night, we have friends visiting from San Francisco this week, and Nana and Atman are due to arrive in a couple of weeks. Woo hoo! Let the season of gorgeous weather and visitors begin!

What We Did On Our Spring Vacation

We're probably the only folks out there who are glad that spring break is over! Elliot really misses school when it's not in session (which, luckily for us, is only for a couple of weeks of the year!), and it was a long week coming through the gluten withdrawal. Elliot is now back to his usual, spunky self, and we hope to have positive changes to report in the weeks to come. Here is the happy boy himself.


We also started Methyl-B12 injections last night. Mama made a quick jab at Elliot's tushie while he and Papa were wrestling before bedtime, and he barely noticed the little poke (which he'll get once every three days). We'll let everyone know how things go now that we've added the last of our new treatments to Elliot's routine. His regimen now includes the GFCF diet (we've also eliminated all food dyes), digestive enzymes, B12 injections, and supplements of zinc and vitamin D.

Little miss Imogen is also a happy camper. Still no teeth to report, though! Here she is looking cute as a button, hamming for the camera.


Also this week we had some light snow showers and hail, which is very unusual for Portland this late in March. Apparently the last accumulated snowfall on record this late in the season was a storm in early March of 1951. The little snow flurries were very pretty, but darn it, we want to see that sun! We occupied ourselves with indoor pursuits, such as Elliot playing dress up and acting out Blues Clues.



And Papa tickling Imogen...



I'd also like to let folks know about the upcoming auction at Elliot's school, School of Autism. April is national Autism Awareness Month, and the school is hoping to top last year's successful auction to raise money for the school. Money raised is going to the renovation and addition of an extra 1100 square feet to the school (which will add grades 1-2 in the fall), as well as supplies, therapy equipment, and computers. We're thrilled that Bubba Joe and P. will be coming to town and joining us at the auction dinner, and I'd personally like to thank several of our friends who donated items for the auction, including:

Kevia Jeffrey-West, who donated a gorgeous pair of earrings.
John Cosgrove, who donated a beautiful vintage rhinestone bracelet.
Kate Wadnizak, who donated a handmade skirt.
Christopher Yarrow, who Nancy currently works for, who donated a handmade hemp dragon from Thailand.
And my dad, who donated 3 first edition books from the collection of his business, Eagle River Books (time to get a website, Dad!).

Thanks so much for everyone's support! Here's to March going out like a lamb and to an April with not too many showers!