Caption this photo

 Yes, that is a travel trailer (caravan in Britain) and yes, it is set up in the middle of an active cemetery.  I am sure there is an interesting story behind the location.  What would your explanation be? 

FORTY-FIVE! - A Randy Rainbow Song Parody

I know I avoid politics, but this is funny.

My Grandfathers Farms

 My grandfather's grew up on farms, farms very much like the one above.  With pigs, and chickens, and ducks, and cows.  One grandfather left the farm as a teenager, to join the manufacturing economy, Ford was paying $5 a day, an 8 hour work day, and a 5 day work week.  The other grandfather stayed on the farm, until health forced him out of farming.  It is hard work (especially they way he did it.)

The grandfather that worked for Ford, returned to the farm in the 1950's, my parents followed, and that is how I came to grow up in a house 1 1/2 miles from the nearest paved road. 

I know how things grow, I can tell a cow from a pig by smell.  An estimated 18% of adults in the United States think that chocolate milk comes from brown cows.  Most can't tell a tomato plant, from a pepper plant.  Having grown both, I can, I know how they grow, how difficult and rewarding it can be.  We need to teach this, we need to expose ourselves to where food comes from. 

An old family story.  Great Uncle John's daughter was an executive with AT&T in Manhattan.  She loved living in the city, AT&T built a new office complex outside of the city, and she was transferred.  She move into her nice new home, and early the next morning she called her father in great distress, she held up the phone and asked her father, "what is that distressing sound???"  Cows, she could hear cows.  She nearly quit her job, because she could hear cows in the early morning silence.  

From April 28th, to about May 12th , I will be on a great adventure and on a digital detox, a couple of weeks without access to the internet. I have been told internet access may be available, but it will be very slow and expensive. So, I am going to try to take a couple of weeks off. I have not been without internet access in a couple of in couple of decades, I hope it goes well.  After that, until about May 30th, I will have intermittent internet access. 

I have scheduled posts to keep you all entertained.  These are not my usual posts, that is either a good thing, or a bad thing, depending on your point of view.  As I have opportunity, I will post updates.  I look forward to reading your comments when I have the opportunity. 

Regular service will resume about the 1st of June, with tales from the adventure.    

The Sunday Five : Eating The World

 1: Have you eaten anything when traveling that would illegal when you at home? 

2: Can you order from a menu not in your first language? 

3: Have you ever been surprised by what you ordered? 

4: Do cute service staff get bigger tips? 

5: In the USA tipping is optional but expected at 10-20%, in most of the rest of the word service is included, and tipped is often frowned upon.  Who gets this right? 

My Answers (for what they are worth) 

1: Have you eaten anything when traveling that would illegal when you at home? Horse, whale, seal, I will try almost anything. 

2: Can you order from a menu not in your first language? I can muddle trough in French or Spanish, most of the time. 

3: Have you ever been surprised by what you ordered?  Definitely.  That is part of the adventure. 

4: Do attractive service staff get bigger tips?  I try not do this, better service will get a little extra from me, kind service by someone who is obviously overworked. 

5: In the USA tipping is optional but expected at 10-20%, in most of the rest of the word service is included, and tipped is often frowned upon.  Who gets this right? I think Europe has this right, pay the professionals in the restaurant like professionals, and include it in the price of the meal. 

Please share your answers in the comments. 

Pont Du Garde