Toilet Paper Chronicles: a unique way to share travel stories with a 10-year-old
My grandson is about to turn eleven and I fear he will soon be too cool to hang out with his grandmother. We have some catching up to do before he arrives later this summer for surf camp. In the meantime, he'll have some letters to read.
On a recent trip to Ireland, I decided to write a diary to this history-loving child, but in a format he might find compelling. Thus, the Toilet Paper Chronicles were born.
For the two weeks of the trip, I collected samples of toilet paper in various hotels, museums, and attractions and wrote near-nightly letters on the sheets chronicling my Irish adventures.
I included facts about Ireland and a map. Who doesn’t love a map? I know he does.
I think he’ll enjoy the letters, including the little holes in some of the sheets where my pen just couldn’t maneuver the soft paper. Maybe he’ll think I’m cool. Or maybe he will think I’m a little bit loony.
The toilet paper was varied; some was almost too soft and thin to write on and some was more suitable for writing than its true purpose. Everyone likes getting a letter in the mail, no matter the material it’s written on.
It's my hope that the letters encourage him to be adventuresome in his future travels or that they spike his interest in diving further into Irish history. Knowing some of his relatives from the early 1600's came from Scotland and Northern Ireland might interest him.
He will more likely be interested in the Vikings, walking the walled city of Derry in Northern Ireland, seeing the graffiti Peace Walls and the Peace Gates that separate the Protestant/Unionists and Catholic/Nationalist communities in Belfast, the Megalithic Tombs of Carrowmore and Newgrange Neolithic stone-built passage, the Giant’s Causeway and the lore of the dueling giants, the Beehive Huts, Connemara National Park, the stories of the tragedies of the Potato Famine, many ABCs (“another bloody castle,” said the tour guide), Rock of Cashel, and the fields of sheep and adorable spring lambs that sometimes got loose and blocked the roads.
He’d also love the food – especially the big breakfasts, the butter, the delicious and varied brown soda breads, the Guinness beef stew, and the delicious craft chocolate at Hazel Mountain Chocolate. I’ve come up with a recipe, based on input from several chefs and restaurants, for the brown soda bread. Using the large bag of their special brown flour that I carried home with me, I plan to make the brown soda bread when he is here next month and set the stage for some Irish adventure tales.
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