Vanilla Loves a Little Lamb

Hi Kids,

Wow, last week was really exciting. I got to go to a dairy farm -- but, guess what, it didn't have cows. It had sheep! Kim McGarr, her husband Lee and their two daughters Sarah and Ashley live on a farm near Comanche, Oklahoma. Can you find that on the map? It's almost as far south as Texas.

Miss Kim milks the sheep and makes cheese. She makes a kind of cheese called blue cheese because it has blue-y veins in it. The blue part is actually mold -- but a really good kind. It takes a lot of work to make cheese. First Miss Kim has to milk the sheep, then she has to heat the milk -- called Pasteurizing -- to make sure it's safe to use. It takes about three days to get it from the sheep to looking like a wheel of cheese. Then it has to "age" for about 4 months. In the picture you can see Miss Kim with a young cheese and a cheese that is almost through aging. Some of the liquid in the old cheese has evaporated so it looks smaller. When it's done, it's kind of fuzzy on the outside and all crickley looking inside. Miss Elaine says it tastes great.

The McGarrs have about 300 sheep but Miss Kim only has to milk 103 (some are boys and some aren't old enough) twice a day! That takes a long time!

I got to meet a little lamb named Paco. He minds Miss Kim when she calls him -- just like a puppy. I think he really liked me.

Love,

Vanilla

Meeting a Hero

Dear Kids,

I had a really special treat today. Miss Elaine and I went with some friends from Respect Diversity to take flowers and a birthday card to Mrs. Clara Luper. Mrs. Luper is 87 years old. And she played a very important part in Oklahoma history.

Mrs. Luper was a history teacher. She wrote a play about Martin Luther King and took some of her students to New York City to present it. The students had a great time -- they saw the sights and ate anywhere they wanted.

This was in the 1950s and in many parts of the United States, including Oklahoma, black people were not allowed to stay or eat in certain places. They weren't allowed to swim with white people in public pools. Mrs. Luper and her students knew that this wasn't right -- in America all people are supposed to be equal.

She and her students decided to go to the Katz Drugstore in downtown Oklahoma City. In those days, drug stores often had lunch counters. They sat down on the stools. They were told to leave. The students were very polite, but they didn't move. The people who worked in the store wouldn't take their orders or serve them.

Even though Mrs. Luper and her students were thrown out of many places, they kept coming back and, eventually, they won.

Do you know what a coincidence is? It's sort of when two things happen that you don't think are related -- but then they turn out to be. While we were visiting, Miss Elaine got a phone call from a man she was going to interview for a newspaper article. When she told him that she was at Mrs. Luper's, he said, "Oh, she was one of my grandfather's favorite people. He threw her out of his building. But, you know what? When he died, Mrs. Luper came to his funeral."

That's another thing that makes Mrs. Luper a hero. She disagreed with people and stood up for herself but she was never mean about it. She just felt sorry of people who acted badly toward her -- she thought they just didn't know better and, with patience, she tried to teach them a better way to behave.

I felt really honored to get to meet her. And I think she liked me, too.

Love,

Vanilla

This Is The Life

Hi Kids,

I LOVE travelling with Miss Elaine. She goes such neat places! We just got back from Wildcatter Ranch in Texas. There were so many things to do I didn't have time to do them all even though Miss Elaine made me get up early. We checked out the swimming pool and hot tub early Friday morning then Miss Elaine let me sit in the seat of a surrey. It has fringe on the top -- just like the one in the song from "Oklahoma!"

Next we went down to the pasture to feed the longhorn cattle. This is me with Big Boy. He has the third longest horns of any longhorn -- they stretch 98 inches from tip to tip. He was very gentle so I wasn't scared but I had to watch out when he turned his head!

We had lunch at the Dinner Bell Cafe in Graham. That's me sitting in the big dinner bell. It looks just like the ones the cowboy cooks used to call the cowboys to dinner -- just bigger. We had a real Texas cowboy meal -- chicken fried steak with gravy, mashed potatoes, beans, a roll and fried okra.

This is me with my new friend Trey. He's in the second grade. His dad works on the ranch. Trey let me ride with him in the back of the mule -- that's a kind of ATV that holds a bunch of people and is good for work. You can haul feed or tools in the back -- or Trey and me!

Here's a picture of Miss Elaine's friends -- they're all travel writers. Do you see me up in the tree? They call this the longhorn tree because it has two big branches like horns.

After such a busy day, a good massage was just the thing!

I'll write another post soon about my horseback riding adventure!

Love,

Vanilla

Seeking Independence

Hi Kids,

I hope you got my postcard from Independence, Missouri. This town is just east of Kansas City and is important for a number of historical reasons. Lewis and Clark came through here when they explored the Louisiana Purchase territory in 1804.

By 1821, it was the beginning of the Santa Fe Trail, a trading route that went to Santa Fe which was then part of Mexico. As the trail went west through western Kansas, it split briefly into two routes. One went across the corner of Colorado then south to Santa Fe. The other was called the Cimarron Cutoff and went across the panhandle of Oklahoma. Both trails wound up in Santa Fe. My cousin Teddy went to Santa Fe last year -- if you look back in the blog, you'll find a picture of him at the end of the trail.

Later, as pioneers traveled west, they split off the Santa Fe Trail and headed northwest on the Oregon Trail. Another split happened when gold was discovered in California in 1849. Gold seekers split off the Oregon Trail to head southwest to the gold fields. But most everyone started in Independence.

While we were in Independence, we took a wagon ride. The horses' names were Ruby and Pearl. Most wagons west weren't pulled by horses. Mules and oxen were stronger and could last longer. And most pioneers didn't ride in the wagons -- they walked beside the wagons. Think about that when you take a long ride in the car. I bet the kids knew better than to ask "Are we there yet?"

We also went to the National Frontier Trails Museum where we learned about the trails and the pioneers. It has a neat area where kids can load a little wagon. They have to think of all the things they'll need on the trail. Lots of times pioneers tried to take their favorite things with them but discovered they needed the wagon space for food and tools to survive on the trail. If you were going west in a wagon and could only take one favorite thing, what would it be? I travel very light -- but I'd like to take some honey!

Miss Elaine has to go now so I have to say good-bye. I'll try to write some more this afternoon. I have lots more to tell you.

Love,

Vanilla

Art Smart

Hi Kids,

I hope you got my post card from Dallas. As I told you, I went to a lot of museums last weekend. The picture above is me in the Nasher Sculpture Garden. I'm sitting in a sculpture by Barbara Hepworth, a famous English sculptor. After Miss Elaine took my picture, she saw a sign that said, "Do not touch the sculptures." I don't think I hurt it -- I sat very softly.

We also went to the Dallas Museum of Art. This little girl was drawing a picture of some of the art. There were lots of pictures but also pottery, sculpture, even furniture. The dressing table and stool pictured below were made of silver. They were made over a hundred years ago for the 1900 Paris World's Fair.

Our guide at the Dallas Museum of Art was named Molly Kysar. That's her married name. She thinks probably her husband is related to Mrs. Kysar's husband but she didn't know for sure. She was very friendly.

We also went to the Crow Collection of Asian Art. I loved this dragon. There were also lots of things made out of jade. I saw lots of beautiful things in Dallas.

Love,

Vanilla

Sweet Story

Hi Kids,

The maple leaf is the symbol of Canada -- you'll see it on their flag. Maple trees have a sweet sap that can be made into syrup or sugar. While I was in Quebec, I visited a shop called Le Delices de l'Erable -- or The Delights of the Maple. There was a little museum in the shop and I learned more about maple syrup.

The Indians first discovered uses for the sap. They made vee-shaped cuts in the trees and let the sap run out through a hollow reed or bent piece of bark. They collected the liquid in birchbark buckets. They drank the sap or used it in cooking. Later European traders and settlers brought wooden buckets and iron and copper kettles.

In the winter, the sap is thick and protects the tree from freezing. When the snow and ice begin to thaw, the tree draws water through its roots and the sap thins down. Cutting a hole in the tree to gather the sap is called "tapping." When the sap comes out of the tree, it isn't very sweet and it is as clear as water. When it is boiled and becomes more concentrated, some of the water evaporates, leaving a darker, sweeter liquid -- maple syrup.

In colonial America, sugar had to be imported from Europe. During the American Revolution, Benjamin Franklin thought it would be a good idea if the colonists used maple sugar so they wouldn't be dependent on England for sweetener.

Maple syrup is great on pancakes and waffles and it makes great candy. I hope you enjoy the samples I sent you.

Here's something cool they do with maple syrup. They get it really hot and pour it onto clean snow.

As it cools, it gets firmer and they take a wooden stick and roll the semi-soft syrup around it.

Voila! A maple sucker!

Love,

Vanilla

Bear North

Hi Kids,

The picture above is of me sitting on a statue of Bonhomme (that's French for snowman) in the lobby of our hotel, the Quebec Hilton. Bonhomme is the king of the Winter Carnaval -- but I'll tell you more about that in another post. Today I want to introduce you to Quebec City, the capital of the province (the Canadian equivalent of our states) of Quebec.

Canada has ten provinces and three territories. It is the second largest country in the world in area. It's a million square miles bigger than the United States. That area is bigger than Alaska, Texas and Oklahoma put together. The capital of the country is Ottawa.

Quebec City is very old and very beautiful. It was founded in 1608 by Samuel de Champlain. The historic area of Quebec (from now on, I'm going to call the city Quebec rather than Quebec City -- it's shorter) has been named a World Heritage Site by UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) because of its historic importance. This area is surrounded by a city wall (an old European tradition). The city has built up outside the wall but I spent most of my time in the historic areas.

The old town is divided into two sections. The lower town is on the banks of the St. Lawrence River. The upper town is high up a hill. There are steep streets that connect the two areas but for a quick and easy trip, I took the funicular -- a sort of sideways elevator. It was fun.

You'll notice that even though my visit was in February, Christmas decorations were still up. Quebecers have a long winter and the people like to see the cheery decorations so they don't take them down until Carnaval is over.

I loved looking in the shop windows -- especially this one. The name of the shop is C'est Si Bon, which means "it's so good." The shop was full of candy. Mmmmmmm. I love candy. I even brought some for you! Watch for a package -- I'll try to get Miss Elaine to mail it this weekend.

Love,

Vanilla