Traveling the Road of Life: Happy Mothers Day!

Many of my girlfriends have daughters and tell me that it is my job to teach The Kid how to be a good husband...

I guess that could a subject in Life Skills, "Husbanding 101". Being a single mom, my opinions on what a good husband is may be very different, though I do pay close attention to this development in The Kid!

Part of our Mother’s Day Tradition is that The Kid makes mom a pot of coffee, brings in the paper and we have a special “mom outing”. The Kid thought bringing in the paper sounded more like the job of our faithful dog than a teenage son, so this year it was breakfast. I still got to be the mentor to this event. Egg in the Nest , sausage and coffee. There are skills that need to be taught in breaking an egg into a slice of thick French Bread, it is tricky business....

Recently, I went with a new friend to a Jerry Garcia Art show and I thought The Kid might enjoy it as well so I suggested it as our outing. He had remembered that I had gone, so he asked if there was any place else. I suggested the Marvels of Maiolica at the Cincinnati Taft Museum. It’s an Italian Renaissance Ceramics collection, from the Corcoran Gallery. That was not a huge hit, though we’ll still go. The kid thought a day of Italian Pottery and Hippie Art was the perfect thing for mom!

Happy Birthday to The Kid

We celebrate a birthday at our house for a week. Often the celebration includes some sort of trip or a series of outings, often a chocolate cake with raspberry sauce and always some laughs. This week is a birthday week for us.

So far our week has included our annual trip to Amish country for a checkers set. I have an agreement with the Kid that when he can beat his mom at checkers, he’ll be ready to leave home. That agreement can contain a lot of symbolism if you know the rules of checkers. People generally react to the idea of this simple pleasure that it is an easy way for The Kid to stay at home forever, or they’ll say “what if he never beats you”. (Those folks do not understand the true nature of a homeschooler or The Kid!) Our outings in this week of celebration in addition to Amish country include a trip to the Cincinnati Flower show , a golf outing to maybe beat Grandpa this year, a trip to Montgomery Inn for world famous ribs. There will also be Birthday cupcakes from Grandma, hamburgers on the grill and of course, a game of checkers.

Visit our archives to read about a year of our adventures!

Celtic Music, Bockwurst and a Pint of Guinness®

Quite often travel can involve not leaving your own backyard. You can tour the world in your mind through the study of music. Music study doesn’t need to involve the Symphony or Opera, it can involve World Music too. World Music is one of the best ways I know to travel when travel isn’t an option....

Recently I had 2 tickets to see a popular musical group that has been around for 40 years and always sells out when they come to our town. The Chieftains have had 19 grammy nominations and have won six grammys and have collaborated with Jackson Brown, Elvis Costello, The Rolling Stones, Sting, Sinead O’Connor, Emyylou Harris, Ricky Scaggs, Willie Nelson, Lyle Lovett, Earl Scruggs and others I am sure I have missed. Paddy Moloney and The Chieftains were nominated for the 2006 Grammy Awards for Best Traditional Folk Album- Live From Dublin - A Tribute to Derek BellThe thing about this group is that they always surprise you and you don’t need to travel far to see them, especially if they come to your town.

Though The Chieftains still invite you to enjoy the finest Celtic music around, they also invite your mind to venture into listening to sounds and songs from other places in the world. In concert with The Chieftains was The Cottars, a group from Nova Scotia also incredible musicians and capable of some pretty interesting music.

The sounds you hear when you listen World Music inspire you to recall imagery from your own travels. If you are unable to conjour up the imagery yourself, enjoy the poetry of the stories that come with the music. This particular form of World Music has drawn many cultures and age groups together. The Vice Mayor of our town, Jim Tarbell, was on hand to make that observation and to present the key to the town to Paddy Maloney of The Chieftains.

And speaking of our Vice Mayor, as luck of the Irish would have it, I was able to tie the whole evening together for "The Kid". Earlier for dinner we went to Arnold's Bar & Grill, Cincinnati's oldest tavern, was owned by Jim Tarbell from 1976 to 1999. (Owner Ronda Androski bought Arnold’s from Jim Tarbell in 1999 [history].) So that appearance by the Vice Mayor was really perfect for me as I was able to string that Cincinnati history together with the culture of the food we ate.

At Arnold’s we ordered 2 Bockwurst Plates, a pint of Guinness® and a soda. Even though we were going to listen to Celtic Music, but being in a German town and having dinner at Arnold’s the oldest Bar and Grill in town, we naturally ecountered the Springtime tradition of a Bock Festival. Bock is a style of lager beer which originated in Germany. It is traditionally brewed in the fall, at the end of the growing season, when barley and hops are at their peak. It is "lagered" all winter and enjoyed in the spring at the beginning of the new brewing season. Bocks can be pale (helles) or dark (dunkles) and there are double (doppel) bocks which are extra strong. Even though I do appreciate a good Bock, I definately prefer Guinness®, it’s a better dark beer and just the ticket for the evening! Typically eaten with bockbeer is Bockwurst is a german kind of sausages. Bockwurst is one of the most favourite sausages eaten in Germany, but tonight we ate it with Guinness® and Soda in honor of the Celtic culture we were about to absorb.

Our study of Music and the culture of the world continues! We’re thinking about Southern Europe next!