Butter Bread Sandwiches
by Delores Miller
The dust has settled, the suitcases are unpacked and stuffed into the attic, jet lag has concluded and I can once again begin a normal life of a retired farmer's wife.
In June 2009 daughter Robin invited her Mother to a 3-week trip to England and Europe. A professor of occupational therapy at a large university, she wrote a grant to attend a conference in Brighton England. Connor, 10, and Madeline 13, her children were to accompany us.
After that ended we hooked up with a Trafalgar tour of Europe. First it was several days in London to see all the historical sites.
Nine countries in twelve days, no grass grew under our feet.
One of the first things we noticed was the price of food. With our weak American dollar we just could not afford eating out. Breakfast was always included with our hotel stays, and we began taking the extra bread, butter, cheese and salami. And fruit, apples, pears, peaches, bananas. And refilled out water bottles.
Robin packed us a lunch to eat at noon where ever the bus dropped us off, in front of a cathedral, no matter if it was pouring with rain. The cheese and salami spoiled, weather was so hot, so we ended up with butter bread sandwiches for over two weeks, every noon, no matter where we were.
McDonalds and Burger King were everywhere, sometimes we splurged and ate there. One had to buy the ketchup, so when it was free, we stocked up. Europeans did not understand our love of the red sauce.
But for the most part, it was butter bread sandwiches.
The children enjoyed the family-friendly trip, there were 41 people on our tour, 7 from the USA, the rest from South Africa, Australia, Japan, Singapore, Canada, Viet Nam. Half were children, who meshed, even with their different cultures. What good friends we made.
This will be my last overseas trip, hassles in airports and large citiesare not for this old lady. Oh, how good the farm looks! No more butter bread sandwiches, at least here I have cold cheese to stuff the bread.
copyright Delores Miller, 2009
No. 107, August, 2009
Journal