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Discover Mid-America — July 2004

Different strokes for different folks

It has been known that as people age they get addled... Maybe that is what has happened to me. I am taking on a GREAT ADVENTURE. Crazy, maybe, but at the same time, this adventure may be a wonderful thing.

I am taking my four grand daughters on a trip overseas. We will be going to England, Ireland, Wales and Scotland. I am learning to appreciate what a travel agent goes through setting up things for the traveler now that I have had to find the FIVE beds in the various places that we will be visiting.

The gamut of interests shared by these girls is wide. The eldest is a stately girl, twenty-two, quiet, and learning to play the harp. She loves to work with children. The next one is nineteen and is street smart. Where the eldest is extremely modest, this one follows the current trend of bodily exposure. The third one is seventeen, an academic, loves to play soccer, jazz and classical piano, and willing to take chances. The youngest is sister to the seventeen-year -old and she is a song and dance girl. But the nice thing about this one is that she LOVES to mess with antique things!

While they may be searching for CDs of well-known musicians, I will be looking out for flea markets and antique shops. My research has alerted me of the days that some of the smaller towns have an open market. Having visited there before, those markets are the ones that will have smalls that I can pack easily.

Maria, the youngest, is particularly fond of clothing, of fine cloth, of jewelry, so I think that she and I may split and take off for some of these places that are bound to have intriguing items for us to paw over.

It may be that the other girls, also in the spirit of adventure, will want to come along just to see "how grandma does it". Regardless, for all of us, this will be a fun, exploring time.

While in Ireland, we shall be visiting the eldest girl's uncle. He has bought an 11th century castle in Cashel. It has been in renovation for several years, the work following 11th century traditions. He also will devote a day showing us the other castles and around the countryside.

From Ireland, we shall fly to Birmingham and then bus to Chester, a favorite of mine. Chester has a town crier that comes out and advertises the old-fashioned way, but of modern goods. There are still some Roman ruins, a wonderful covered market and great guides on the walking tours. From there we shall spend a day in Crewe, where my husband's family originated. The girls are quite excited about this angle. There is a fine genealogical library that has some wonderful family information. Because the Potteries are nearby, there are many china and pottery shops in Crewe to tempt us.

We then will head to Scotland. In researching for B&Bs for this trip, I found that there is something going on every day, it seems, in each of these places. On arrival, it is a Bank Holiday, corresponding to our Memorial Day date-wise.

Then in Edinburgh, which was the wished-for destination, there is a marathon scheduled, so plans had to change. The choice ended up being a very nice one, as we shall go to Dumfries, the home of Robert Bums, the beloved poet. Braveheart, with Mel Gibson, was filmed there. A moated castle, crags — the typical Scottish countryside — will be described in the journals that we are each keeping.

It will be interesting how this plays out. We will team with each other's tastes, each other's interests, maybe even find some new ones. I think it will be interesting to see how the personalities interact. The four girls will be spending much time together, which they have not had a chance to do in previous years.

Whether it will be antiquing or sightseeing, or gawking at a handsome kilted Scot, this will be this grandmother's gift of future memories for these grand daughters.

Norma Crews is a native Texan, graduate of Texas Tech, former teacher and rancher, mother of three grown sons and six grandchildren, and raised in South Texas on a ranch as a member of two pioneer families.

Upon retiring from teaching and ranching, she and her husband James became pickers for large Texas shops, before branching into doing shows for a number of years in Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas. She currently resides in Neosho, MO.

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