Tag Archives: children

Ranch therapy in paradise

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By Louis the Scooterer

On my way to the original MyPoP the other morning to drink a coffee, I saw some horses with riders, from the nearby regular horseriding ranch. They were crossing the road, and heading into the bushes, from where they found a track down to the beach to amble back to the ranch.

Further along the road I have also seen a sign showing a “horse head” and I took no notice, but this sign is not about the regular horse-ranch ?? (and I wondered?) I drank my coffee and afterwards decided to scoot on the road that I thought would be next to the horse trail.


After a few hundred meters on the tarmac road..I came to a “soft sand” road and I saw another signboard with “horse head” and word “INTRA” ?.

Usually I dont scoot on soft sand coz the wheels on my current scooter are small and thin and not designed for “offroad”. I decided to have a look anyway, and slowly scooted another few hundred meters on the soft sand.

I came to a “horse riding place”..and went in to ask…”what is this place?”

A couple of young women were riding, and working with horses in a closed area, and I learned from them..
briefly, that this is a place where horses are trained.. to accept *”handicapped riders”.. and “handicapped people” are taught to sit on and ride the horses.

They suggested that I speak to Anita who is in charge. At an eye-opening chat with Anita and her husband Giora I learned something about INTRA. (Please visit this website http://www.intra.org.il/ ) and MUST watch this incredible video ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4J4F7fXLGtI )

As soon as I heard that they use volunteers, I immediately became one. I am a “fixer, cleaner, do whatever” man.. and I go there often. Here, I learned that the word “*handicapped people” is regularly widely misused, and many people who are mentally or physically challenged, are NOT “handicapped”.

This “horse riding place” on top of the cliffs overlooking the Mediterranean Sea has become a second My PoP. This time it is “My Place of Patience”.

While I do some chores or just sit around, I have watched the trainers training the horses, and after a session, they groom and take care of the horses.. and their chores are ongoing and never-ending.. and they love what they do ! I have watched as these patient persons teach a rider..oh so many “things”.. about the saddle and other equipment, how to sit and hold the reins..how to do some grooming. This teaching, and the learning, are also ongoing and never-ending.

Hats off to this incredible place, and as a side comment..I’m very happy that no smoking is allowed close to the horses. A smoking area is to one side..and that will be a pleasure for me to tell smokers to “move along”!

I will be relating to you from here, and from time to time will tell about new things that I see and things that I’m told. So watch this space.

On my way back home I stopped at a tiny kiosk where Ofer makes felafel in a pita bread..and another delicacy made with boiled eggs also in a pita. I say its the best in Israel..certainly the cleanest kitchen I’ve seen, all 3 meters x 3 meters square, and he has the necessary pots n pans n stove n fridge that he needs, and always a customer or two eating at the counter, which is across the road from the sea. I put up 1 finger on each hand and he knows I want 1 of each..to take away..and while I was waiting, I sat at the little table..
staring into space and thinking back…

I looked at my scooter helmet on the saddle…and thought back to when I was 18 years old and living in Johannesburg.. and 55 years ago when I had my first Vespa scooter. NO helmets were necessary in those days, and the scooter also came with a spare wheel, and life was so different then.

I used to park the scooter on the sidewalk, outside the building where I lived, and night after night NO one ever interfered with the scooter. I often scooted to The Dolls House and collect takeaway hamburgers and toasted cheese sandwiches. I dont remember ever feeling unsafe while scooting all over the places IN and outside the city.

One day my friend Bob who also had a Vespa was involved in an accident, and a photo appeared in the newspaper with caption “scooter and wheelbarrow in accident” ! Bob said he didn’t see the wheelbarrow, and the pusher of the wheelbarrow said he didn’t see the scooter.. no serious damage..the matter was settled on the street..out of court.

Another memory flashed back.. I belonged to the Vespa Scooter Club which had about 40 members, and we often went for outings in a group..maybe 20 scooters, and many of us carried a passenger, so perhaps 30 people on an outing..(usually one every month). I was club captain for one month which was a marvellous idea, so 12 captains in a year..who chose a route, and arranged with a restaurant or picnic place, that a group would be coming, and we always were welcome at these places.

I’ll never forget when Dawn invited us to her home at the end of an outing..and about 20 people queued outside the one only toilet in her small apartment. In the tiny lounge 6 or 8 drank a coffee or colddrink, then moved outside so the next 6 or 8 could come in for their drink. I remember most drivers seemed to drive more carefully in those days, and many smiled and waved as they passed the scooters.

My packet was ready, and I realise that since I began scooting here in Israel, I have asked perhaps twenty riders of 2 wheelers, to ride with me a while, and as yet none have. About 12 other riders have suggested to ride with me sometime.. but, NEVER yet have I had another rider to do a ride with me.

I still ride alone. Perhaps if I had company on some trips then I wouldn’t have seen what I’ve seen, and probably wouldn’t have met some of the great characters that I’ve met along the way(s).

Please dear reader.. dont forget to visit the two websites I mentioned earlier.

Louis the Scooterer is a retired South African living in Netanya, Israel.

Earthquake Weather

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By Donna Schwartz Mills
© 2001

February 9th was sunny and hot in the Southland. These were the same conditions we experienced 30 years ago when a 6.5 earthquake struck at Sylmar; the kind of unseasonable temperatures some native Californians describe as ‘earthquake weather.’

February went on to become one of the wettest, coldest months in recent memory, resulting in rainfall stats that were higher than Seattle’s… which was hit that month by a quake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale. (I wonder what the weather was like there that morning?)

As damaging as that temblor was, the citizens of Seattle were lucky in that the epicenter was 30 miles below the ground surface, more than twice the depth of the ’94 Northridge quake. They were also very well prepared.

Most of us living on the West Coast have benefited from building codes that help minimize the damage caused by a moderate to strong quake. However, these standards vary between communities and are non-existent in many regions that are also at risk. While earthquakes are most common where the earth’s tectonic plates meet — like along the San Andreas Fault — they can and do occur all over the world. In fact, some of the strongest quakes in the contiguous United States history were in *Missouri* (New Madrid, MO suffered a 7.7 earthquake in 1811 followed by a 7.9 in 1812, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The fact that these occurred nearly 200 years ago does not mean that the area is no longer active; a century is like a nanosecond in geologic time, which looks at events of the course of millions of years.)

According to the National Earthquake Information Center, earthquakes have been felt in just about every region of the United States. While most are minor with little or no damage, every so often one will hit with enough force to topple building walls and chimneys — and that’s when the people inside are most at risk.

My daughter’s pediatrician asked all the usual questions at her last check-up. How is she eating? What is she drawing? Have you taught her what to do in an earthquake?

‘Mommy, what’s an earthquake?’ my daughter asks.

‘That’s when the earth decides to shake a little,’ I tell her, trying to sound calm as I remember that morning seven years ago, when the violence of the shaking moved our queen-sized bed four feet from the wall… with my husband and me still in it. We’ve been extremely lucky in California – many of our significant quakes have occurred so early in the morning that most people are still safe in bed, away from freeways and bridges and falling debris and windows. ‘If you ever feel one while you’re in bed, just put your pillow over your head and stay there,’ I tell her. ‘Stay in bed until Mommy comes to get you.’

As a lifelong Angeleno, I’ve learned a lot from Northridge and Landers and Whittier and Sylmar. We live in a single-story home with nothing heavy hanging on our walls; no cute ceiling ledges with breakable plates or knick-knacks, nothing that could fall on someone’s head if the house starts to shake. It may lack the charm of the Pottery Barn catalog, but at least it’s safe.

Megan’s bed is in the corner of her room, as far away as possible from her window and the closet with the sliding mirrored doors. I remember tales from ’94 of sliding doors that shook off their runners and crashed into rooms. I make a mental note to see what it would take to replace those mirrors with something less shattering. Unfortunately, our 1960′s era house is a veritable hall of mirrors. It makes it seem roomier, but I’m not too sure it’s a good idea here in earthquake country. I shudder at the chances in our own bedroom, which also has the mirrored sliding closet doors and too many windows. I keep a flashlight and a pair of shoes in my nightstand; that way I will be able to get around when the electricity goes out and the floor is covered with shattered glass.

Of course, we should do more. I don’t remember the last time I changed the batteries in that flashlight. The bookcases in the living room are not bolted to the wall (one of them covers one of those mirrors). We should call our Sparkletts man for extra bottles of water to keep on hand (after Northridge, some people were without potable water or power for weeks. I’m told that several of our neighbors carted buckets of water from our pool to flush their toilets).

I show Megan how to duck and cover if the house starts shaking when she’s *not* safe in bed. We go from room to room and pick out spots where she can protect herself from anything falling from the ceiling.

We’re lucky to have bought our home a couple of years after the Northridge quake. We know it’s bolted to the foundation and that our water heater is secure. But we should be doing more.

The American Red Cross suggests that every household keep an emergency preparedness kit both in the home and in each car. This would include:

* First aid kits and essential medications
* Canned food and can openers (with care given to replace food that has expired)
* Bottled Water (at least three gallons per person)
* Protective clothing, rainwear, and bedding or sleeping bags
* Battery-powered radio, flashlight, and extra batteries
* Written instructions for how to turn off gas, electricity, and water if authorities advise you to do so.

Purchase a big plastic garbage can to store your home supplies and stash it in a safe place. Because the banking systems could be down when the power goes out, I’ve also heard suggestions that you keep about $100 in cash somewhere safe within your kit – money may be hard to come by when the ATM machines don’t work. Read the rest of the Red Cross guidelines here.

If your children are in school, there is a good chance that you could be separated should an earthquake strike your community. Anyabaganya sells emergency kits for children, small and light enough to stash in a backpack.

Because local phone service could be out, you should select an out-of-town or out-of-state relative or friend to be a contact person for each member of the family to call.

There are some other resources to help prepare your children for the possibility of an earthquake:

‘Disaster Dog’ – This is a free coloring book for children (in PDF format), from the good folks at the American Red Cross.

‘Wee Ones’ Issue #3 – This children’s online magazine features a very good article about earthquakes and even attempts to show the kids what a quake would be like by shaking your screen:

Learn2 Prepare for an Earthquake: This ’2torial’ from online learning center Learn2.com was revised in March following the Seattle quake. It’s simple and to the point.

February 9, 1971 – Sylmar woke us up at 6:00 a.m. My bed in the room I shared with my sister was right next to the wall, which I cowered against until the shaking stopped. In the meantime, my sister was holding onto our great-grandmother’s antique lamp, which rested on the nightstand between us. It still has a place of honor on my nightstand and I’m grateful to Linda for saving it.

There was no school that day, so we spent the morning talking with our neighbors and watching TV. Again, we were lucky — we had been set to move the following day and almost everything we owned had been safely packed into boxes. Some of our neighbors were not so fortunate, and suffered extensive damage to their homes and furnishings. That afternoon, a crack was discovered in a dam in the hills above our neighborhood; we were told to evacuate the area until the water could be pumped safely out of the reservoir and repairs could be made.

It was a week before we returned home and back to school. The weather had been in the 80-degree range that February and for many of us kids, it had been an extra vacation, with tales of adventure in emergency shelters (or like us, with relatives who lived outside the evacuation zone). Sylmar was my first earthquake and once the shaking had stopped, I thought it had been fun. Even the aftershocks — which lasted for over a year — added some excitement to our days. That’s youth for you; like most young people, I had no sense of mortality.

I grew up in ’94. Those of my friends who were also around for Sylmar agreed that this quake was a whole different animal, with the most violent shaking we had ever experienced. Driving around the L.A. area and seeing the extent of the damage was heartbreaking; no neighborhood was spared.

Both the Northridge and Sylmar quakes registered 6.7 on the Richter scale; the long-awaited ‘Big One’ could be 10 times stronger (or more). I am truly terrified, but not about to show it to my daughter.

Earthquakes happen and we cannot predict or control them. But by being prepared, we can at least affect our chances and our children’s chances of getting out safely… in any kind of weather.

Donna Schwartz Mills is married to a geologist, who goes on a rant whenever anyone mentions ‘earthquake weather.’ Donna is the Webmaster Mommy of SocalMoms.com, a new resource for moms in Southern California. She is also the work-at-home expert behind the ParentPreneur Club … and recently edited ‘Baby Tips for New Parents,’ a free eBook.

What will your children say?

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By Lauri Jean Crowe

I’m pretty open about my life in general, not just my sexuality. So I often hear the phrase, “but what will your kids say when they get older?” and “do you want them to know their mommy is a whore?” both of which I answer the same way. First off, I am not a whore. In my thirty-one years of existence I have had no more lovers than I can count on one hand and those have been in loving relationships except for the one-nighter where  I lost my virginity. Second, I hope that I raise my children to be open and honest just as I am. For some this is inconceivable. I mean, you just don’t talk about sex. Period. Much less write about it.

But, I do. I have two male children who are currently one and two years old. Both have budding little penises that will no doubt benefit from some of what I pass on to the next generation through my writings on sex. Perhaps when they are older they will even read my articles and think they have a pretty cool mom. Perhaps the reverse will happen and they will condemn me as a whore as so many others seem to want to when they read what I write. It’s a risk you take, but then so is childbirth which may I remind us all, occurred thanks to sex.

I don’t understand the pseudo-Victorian attitude toward sexuality which crops up so often in the modern day. What precipitated it? Was it the mass love fests of the 60’s and 70’s which in turn where represented in the 80’s by the AIDS scare? Perhaps it had something to do with STD’s and their reported mass spread, which frankly I attribute not so much to a growing spread of disease, but of reports of the actual infections. We have become a much more health conscious society. Does that mean we also have to become more prejudicial against those who would still indulge their basest pleasures even if they do so safely and in the seclusion of a steady relationship? Shouldn’t that be something that is honored? I guess, but only if you don’t tell anyone about it.

I, on the other hand, think people need to know what really happens. This push for abstinence which was so prominent in the news media of the 90’s coupled with the on the hour condom ads was an interesting change to the whole issue of sex. People, teens even, were allowed to talk about not having sex, or choosing sex only with condoms. At least there was some voice to the topic. But the truth is, no matter how scary STD’s are, no matter how scary the thought of a teen pregnancy is people still do the nasty without protection. To me, these people are stupid and they are stupid because they don’t have all the facts or they have diluted ones or mass marketed ones. Perhaps by sharing my personal opinions and experiences I will place some actual knowledge into those heads.

I had a distant cousin who died of AIDS. I watched him go from a thriving, successful photographer who was always bubbly, charming and the life of the party with a v-shape male figure that any model would die for. Within a years time he had shrunken and withered to a shell of a man who you wouldn’t have recognized unless you were there to see the slow process of physical deterioration. The man who had once hugged me, and lifted my six foot one body off the floor he was so robust, now was so slender that I could almost wrap my arms around him twice and was afraid to squeeze when I hugged him. I’ve seen the dangers of unprotected sex first hand, and I don’t take sex lightly or promiscuously.

So, yes, I wonder what my children will say when they read my articles in the future. More than that, I wonder what sort of sexual climate my children will experience in their teens and early adulthood. I hope that as a sexually educated, and even explicit mother I will be able to talk with the openly about issues other parents refer to as simply the “birds and the bees”. I don’t want my boys to grow up like the Jehovah witness girl down the road who told us matter-of-factly one day in middle school on the bus that “the man pees in you and you get a baby” because she was uniformed and her parents wouldn’t talk about sex. I want them to be awake and aware of both the pleasures and the dangers of an active sex life. I want them to know that experimentation is okay if done safely. I want them to know that everyone has a preference, and that unique set of preferences and expressions is part of the human organisms, of an individual person – someone like their mom.

Lauri Jean Crowe is a freelance writer known for such diverse topics as dreams, sexuality, gardening, health and parenting. She is a freelance writer, artist and designer living in Michigan, USA