AND THE BEAT GOES ON

Scott has been gone A LOT the past few weeks because he is directing a short film that he wrote. This is in addition to his regular job on the show Dexter, so he's been a bit busy to say the least.

One thing I have been doing on the weekends is planning little day trips to keep the kids and I entertained. My sister Jill, also a Hollywood widow at the moment, decided that she and my nephew would join us. We all headed north for beautiful Santa Barbara. I absolutely love driving up the coast. I feel all the muscles n my back relax instantly just at the sight of the ocean.

The drive was beautiful as I had expected. We meandered into the quaint little town where we came across the zoo and stopped for a short time. After watching the lions longingly peer into the giraffe cage across the field, we decided that we too, were hungry, so we found a local fish taco fave, which was pretty good except for the onions that they were chopping in the back which drove us out in tears. But once our bellies were full and our eyes were clear, we headed for the beach. We saw people strolling, jogging and... drumming. There was a happening drum circle scene going on there at the beach. Many Djambe and Doumbek beats echoed through the palms. We were drawn in. Well... my nephew and I were anyway.

Now I have to tell you something about my little nephew before I go on. He is one straight laced two year old. I think he has probably already labeled me as 'Crazy Aunt Amy'. He finds little amusement in my dancing around and being goofy. I think he thinks I am weird half the time. Even when I try to play his favorite thing 'TRAINS' and get all into an imaginary world zooming trains around with all the appropriate sounds, he simply looks at me like I am nuts and brings me back into reality by saying "NO! Aunt Amy it's not a REAL train Aunt Amy".

Well, back at the drum circle we passed by catching a glimpse of the long haired, bearded drummers and a silver haired lady dressed in flowing purple robes with castanets on her fingers convulsing and flailing to the beats in the center of the circle. I was extremely intrigued and loved the beats that were being belted out, so I ask the kids if they would like to stop but all I got was a big "NOPE" from Zane, a big "LET"S GO TO THE PARK" from Audrey and a eye brow raise from Jill that said "HMMM... I DON'T THINK SO". Now Cash surprised me, he was fully supporting his 'Crazy Aunt Amy's' whim. "YES, YES, YES!!!" said Cash. He was actually more than supporting my whim he was fixating on it. "DRUM CIRCLE!" he yells out with excitement "YES, YES, YES, DRUM CIRCLE!!!" Well unfortunately, the majority ruled and we do live in a democracy so we had to honor the vote, so we pressed on toward the park ahead of us perched up on the cliff.

Cash became a little concerned at this point. "Drum Circle" he repeats. "Drum Circle?" he said hesitantly looking over his shoulder. I told him we would stop by on the way back, because I could totally feel his pain. But after we watched the sun go down into the ocean from our cliff side park and returned back to our percussive peeps on the beach, they were just starting to pack up their drums. Poor little Cash. It looked as if all the air was let out of him. While we drove back to LA, my kids slept soundly, but poor Cash, he stayed wide awake mourning the loss of the drum circle. He rattled on under his breath over and over " Where's the drum Circle?, but where's the drum circle?" My bother in law said he even woke up the next morning longing for one more beat from the immortalized drum circle.

Well, I guess I'll just have to be a good 'Crazy Aunt Amy' and take him down to nearby Venice beach where there is sure to be some good rhythms going on so he can fully experience - the drum circle that he never had.