I just Googled "horse meat + France" and was led to a chart showing annual French consumption of horse meat from 1996 through 2003. About 10 thousand tons per annum. I knew somewhere in the back of my mind, Dianne, that horse slaughter was prevalent around the world, but I truly never made the connection when I was in France. Those "Cheval" signs? Gosh, I don't know what I thought they were for! The place used to be a tack shop or a ferrier, or maybe an old stable used to be located on the spot? Maybe some old blacksmith guild sign from the middle ages? Wow, was I oblivious! Missed the boat big time on that one! I don't eat meat, but I remember all the times that either Dana, Adam or both would say, "This hamburger tastes weird." I don't believe I will ever tell my daughter that she likely ate horseburgers.

This should be a good day to chat. I'll pop back shortly. Right now, my daughter is getting ready to attend a bar mitzvah. She was invited to both a bar and a bat mitzvah this season, and I think it's marvelous that she's been asked to share in such an important cultural and religious experience. She's in her room getting ready, and she looks like a princess. I'll have to take pictures. We searched for four weeks to find just the right dress, shoes, earrings,purse, and I must say, she looks beautiful.

Back soon. Cheval! Yikes!

Dropped Dana off at the temple. I was so proud of the way she walked up the driveway and went inside by herself. I remembered to tell her to turn her cellphone off. We attended a funeral recently, and during the eulogy, someone's phone rang. It was a difficult moment.

Danita, if I do get the travel/homeschooling article out of my head and onto the keyboard, perhaps I could interview you? This article would need anecdotes of how real homeschooling families use travel as a teachng tool, and you have some marvelous examples (and that infectious enthusiasm).

For years, I brought slides and travel tales into my kids' public school classrooms. We traveled to places like China, England, Greece, Mexico, Peru and Kenya. I'd choose about 10 slides, each of which had a variety of different cultural "messages" to look for: "What do you notice about the clothing/houses/weather/food, etc... in this picture?" We had great discussions. I'd bring handouts with a map of the country, a list of "10 Things We Learned About ____ Today," and a sheet showing how to say hello, goodbye, please and thank-you in the country's language.

The kids loved these presentations, and I was invited back every year until my kids hit the grades where all the teachers' and students' time is focused on preparing for standardized tests. (In Massachusetts it's the MCAS. Next week is test week.)

I have a shoebox filled with thank-you notes from the kids. I'll treasure them always. One of my favorites is from Ryan, a second-grader, who wrote, "Dear Mrs. Hein: Thank you for teaching us about Peru. Now I really want to go see Andy's mountains."

I just posted a short story on my blog telling blog readers about BoomerWomenSpeak and our discussion here. The accompanying photo is one of the great bison of Custer State Park. You'll see he's trying, unsuccessfully, to hide behind a tree: http://RibbonsofHighway.blogspot.com

I used to ride (on the back) of a motorcycle, smilinize. When Mike and I were in high school, he had a little Honda, and if I wanted to keep dating him, I had to get on, so I did. I spent a scare-to-death year clinging to his belt and digging my nails into his back. But I know what Dianne means about the feeling of freedom. Freedom full in your face.

Along with wildfire, bikers are a sort of subplot in "Ribbons of Highway." The reason? Sturgis Bike Week. Have you ever been?

An excerpt from "Ribbons:"


It was on the Beartooth that we really started to see the bikers. We joined a group of Harley pilots on the front porch of Top of the World Store & Motel (“Population 6” - the Milam family). Inside, the family was doing a brisk business in soda, snacks and t-shirts.

The bikers were headed for South Dakota and the mother of all motorcycle rallies, Sturgis Bike Week. The Doobie Brothers and Nitty Gritty Dirt Band would headline. From the Beartooth to the Great Lakes, we’d share highways, byways, gas stations, campgrounds, rest areas and tourist sites with bikers from all over America. Under their leather jackets they packed Nikons and Minoltas, and they stopped at the same scenic overlooks and beauty spots as the rest of us.

They provided Adam with a five-state rolling smorgasbord of chrome and parts, gadgets and detailing, spokes and sidecars. I was nervous, telling him not to get too close to the parked machines. There were so many of them lined up everywhere we stopped that if one went down, it would take at least a dozen with it. I had nightmares of having to pay for a mass of toppled, bruised Harleys because I was the mother of the kid who’d set the domino line in motion. I respected their outrageous expensiveness by parking far away and making a wide arc around them as I walked to the bathroom or coffee machine or gift shop.
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Lori,

Your blog was awesome! I loved the bison trying to "hide" behind the tree! lol.

I would be thrilled to participate in your article when it comes to pass. I even have pictures of my children dressed up as Colonial kids (costumes that WE put together) in Williamsburg.

What you did in the classroom was amazing! THAT, is true education! I bet the kids WERE thrilled with what you brought to them. A living, breathing, tour of places they've never been!

The world is such a huge place, and so many people (and children) have not been outside their neighborhood. It is so sad!

Hope you are having an awesome week end!

Danita

Danita, you'll be my muse for the homeschooling story. I'm going to devote some time next week to focusing on queries and submissions (didn't I say that last week??), and you've inspired me to get moving with the homeschooling piece. (And what editor could resist photos of homeschooled kids in hand-crafted Colonial garb?)

I've been meaning to return to rockgarden's questions. I apologize for taking so long. Let me talk about her campground safety question:

Yes, I did feel safe and secure at the campgrounds we chose. But this was not wholly by chance. As you know from earlier posts, I don't leave safety to chance when I travel, especially when I travel alone or alone with my kids. I felt safe because I picked "safe-feeling" places. On our trip, we were always on the road by 8 am, usually before. We tucked about 300 miles each day under New Paint's tires. The early departures made it possible to stop driving by early afternoon, which had numerous benefits. The kids (and I) had plenty of time to hang out, use the campground/motel pool, explore our destination, watch TV, meet other people -- whatever.

And, I was able to check into a place, whether a motel or campground, in daylight, which gave me a chance to scope things out pretty thoroughly before checking in. If something didn't feel right (remember intuition?), we had pressure-free time to look elsewhere. We passed on more than a few campgrounds (pigs snuffling around the grounds; men and boys in camouflage t-shirts riding around in pickup trucks...).

I took other measures to increase the safety factor at campgrounds:

-- We always chose a site that afforded us privacy but was close enough to others that they could hear us and reach us quickly. We never camped "far from the madding crowd." "Remote" was not something I was after when sleeping in a tent with the kids. Even in some of the more hardscrabble federal campgrounds out west (Bluff, Utah comes to mind)that had no staff, few or no facilities and check-in by the honor system (you throw your five bucks into a box nailed to a tree), I sought out people and camped near enough to them to feel that help was a shout away.

-- I always made it a point to introduce myself to campground owners and staff and to make sure they knew where our site was. They were invariably interested in our journey, and more often than not, would come around to chat or check on us. I also took care to introduce our happy trio to camping families, and they kept their eyes on us, too.

-- I kept my cellphone and pepper spray with me in the tent, and each of us had a flashlight. No one made a long, dark trip to the outhouse alone at night. We peed near the tent if the toilet was beyond viewing distance from the tent.

-- At night, I parked New Paint very close to the tent, sometimes in front of the tent door. This meant less distance to travel if we needed something from the van and created a buffer between us and a would-be intruder.

And, I'm a light sleeper, a condition that can be annoying -- or fortuitous.

Hi Lori,
Thanks for the info on safety when traveling without another adult. Good stuff. I've also enjoyed reading about the villas. We're thinking about that ourselves for a European trip next year. I found it interesting to read that the cooking and cleaning services are not necessarily cost prohibitive and may actually be cost effective. I would have thought otherwise and was not going to even consider looking into that. I thought it would be way too rich for our blood, but now I'll "explore" the options. Thanks again.

Be careful with the cleaning service. I think the girl who cleaned for us, stole a couple of t-shirts from my daughter.

Yes, be careful. I've never opted for the cleaning service because I don't want to have people in and out of "my" house all week. (Just like I keep the "Do Not Disturb" sign on my hotel room door for the duration of a short stay, so maids and others are not in my room. We were robbed in New Orleans, and it's made me wary. If I need towels or soap, I grab them from the cart when I see the maid in the hall.) I operate on the maxim, "The fewer people who come in here, the better."

And as far as villas offering chef services, I've found that one of the great pleasures of having our own house is shopping at the local markets and cooking up wonderful, fresh meals ourselves.

Would love to hear more about your villa hunt as it unfolds!

Dear Lori,

Thanks for your response to safety at campgrounds. I know they can vary greatly, and you are right to trust your instincts. Arriving early enough to get a good look around is a good tip, but hopefully not too early to get a feel for the renters. I think women are pretty good at listening to their "inner voices", and to be aware of their surroundings. It is a learned response that can save lives.

I also wanted to mention to Explorer that my family has also enjoyed renting villas in Europe. One of my favorites was in Nerja, Spain, on the Costa del Sol. I do agree with Lori that I preferred not to have cleaning people or chef services come into my house, because the fewer people who can come and go into my space away from home, the safer I feel.

Enjoy the rest of your weekends.
Rockgarden