Thanksgiving Travels

I was speaking with a friend tonight who has a daughter in college and she's taking the train (Amtrak) for a 3 hour ride home for Thanksgiving.  I told her about how when I was in college, albeit my last couple years, with no car and needing to get home for the holidays I'd go to the "Ride Share Board" located in the student union building.  If you had a car and needed passengers for gasoline money you'd fill out a blue card indicating how many spots you had, the days and times you'd be driving and your contact info.  And if you had no car but needed a ride you'd fill out an orange postcard in place it in its designated, map-divided section.  If you'd see a card with a solution for you, you'd jot down the person's name and number and call.  I think I'd pay like $10 toward gas money.

One time I needed a ride home for Thanksgiving (5 hours) and I got a ride with a nice boy and the kicker is that about halfway through the trip he needed to stop and have a sit-down dinner with his aunt and uncle (he told me in advance).  So we pretended we knew each other and I had a home cooked meal with total (and kind) strangers. I am sure he was very happy that I was normal (and vice versa).

But mostly I would arrange rides via the ride share board to visit a boyfriend who lived about 6 hours away.  One trip was in a 4-seater plane.  A twenty year old kept his dad's plane nearby and I actually got in it and flew with a couple other 20-year olds to an airport in Miami.  And then back again on a Sunday.

During our conversation tonight my friend said she used the ride share board too from her college days in New York and had asked her daughter if there was such a thing at her college.  Her daughter had not heard of this and when it was explained, her daughter said "You want me to get in the car with a stranger and ride three hours home?"  Well, I guess not, said my friend.

It is a different world and I am not yet a parent of a college student.  But I do have to shake my head and think about how that is how we found roommates--an ad in the school newspaper, and that is how many of us got rides home with other students like us.  Today, kids will post their photos (and have you seen the photos of 13 year old girls on Facebook with their groceries all practically completely showing) and talk smack online but a face to face meeting with a peer who's a stranger is unfathomable.  Hopefully when ours get to college age, we will find a place in the middle that works.

In the meantime tomorrow I head to the busiest airport in the country on one of the busiest days of travel to join the family who is already in Florida (and we'll all drive back).  I hear the North terminal does not have the scanners and if I find myself being asked to get into one I'll ask for the pat down and ask if I can tape it or at least get the name of the agent.  If I don't arrive to my destination I told Hubs to look for me the nightly news.

Actually I have an idea that would work well for someone like me who is against the body scanners.  I say for those who opt out, we could do so if we had a prescription drug provided for this purpose..you'd take it and get knocked out so you couldn't possibly even move during the flight.  We opt-outers wouldn't endanger anybody, and as a bonus I wouldn't have my usual plane-flying worries.  Maybe I'd even arrive rested.

However you travel this year to be with the ones you love, I wish you a Happy Thanksgiving.

Some Crazy Photos and the Full Moon is on Sunday

Blogger or something is being fussy and my post below is not showing up. Anyway, it's a Full Beaver Moon this weekend! Check out the deets below.

Some Crazy Photos and the Full Moon is on Sunday

Like everyone else, it’s been crazy busy between Halloween and Thanksgiving and fortunately I've had some time on the weekends to take some photos.

I have to say I am so glad that the weather is cooler. First, this is because my internal temp is higher these days so it suits me. Secondly, we haven’t had to have our air conditioning on at home for about a month, which means our electric bill no longer looks like this:

(way over $500 per month)

No, we do not live in the Taj Mahal, but we have old AC units which keep chugging away. So much for looking for a break after Hubs personally replaced every single window last year with double-paned ones and put in new insulation.

Our 4^th grade son asks me to sign his agenda every night as required (another ban from recess if not signed). I asked him to show me his homework…and I had no clue what this was all about:

And here I thought I could at least still understand one out of three son’s math homework. I’m happy to say though that this week is long division, which I do understand.

Middle son is in a slightly advanced math class in 7^th grade. His teacher asked for a meeting because in the first quarter he earned a 72, and if it’s under a 74 you have to come in for a meeting. Crazy thing is, the next week his avg was a 94. I guess he improved quickly. But here is something consistent with Middle Son:

Two weeks after Halloween the wastebasket next to his bed was filled to the brim with candy wrappers just like last year. He has never had a tooth cavity and so I just asked him to pick up the missed wrappers off the carpet and bring it down for a photo for my blog.

And, not to leave out Oldest Son regarding his math, last night at 9:30 p.m. he asked if I could take him to school for a math help session at 6:30 a.m. I said no way. A few minutes later I felt bad and said that one of us would take him (it is a 17 minute drive). So I rolled out of bed at 6:00 and we pulled out of the garage at 6:12 a.m.

But onto some celestial facts….if you do happen to be out in the dark before sunrise you can see the brilliant planet Venus. Not to be confused with Jupiter, which is in the early night sky. Did you know that Jupiter is so huge that all of the planets could fit inside of it with room to spare? Did you know that after quizzing three children for years on the solar system that I know a bunch of facts and still learn more every year ?

Other bright lights--last year this neighbor set up his outdoor Christmas lights on November 2^nd, but this year they went up November 14^th:

Have I mentioned that we have a break from sports for the month of November? I can spend the extra time marveling at the leaves which are at their most colorful here the second weekend in November. I am in love with these yellow, gold leaves all over this (chestnut?) tree in front of our house.

Have you seen the moon waxing this week? The Full Beaver Moon is our November’s full moon which is fullest this Sunday. The largest rodent in North America--the beaver--was trapped by the Native Americans, and in the 1500s European fishermen brought beaver robes back to Spain. The Europeans traded beads, weapons and blankets with the Native Americans for the furs, but then Europeans hired French-Canadian young men to trade and trap (like the Hubs of the kidnapped Sacagewea). So, not only are beavers significant to Native Americans' history but they were a huge factor of the motivation to explore Canada and large parts of northern U.S.

I wish you a wonderfully busy, but not too crazy weekend, under this Sunday’s full moon, named after this trailblazer.