Oh Anita, where to begin? You have arranged a feast of gardens but I also agree with Mariannese - some of these are really huge and quite a lot of distance between them. If I did have to choose, I would miss Kew as it is basically a collection of plants rather than gardens - but Wisley is inspirational - can't recommend it highly enough. The RHS garden best for roses is Rosemoor, way of your itinerary in Devon. If you do decide to come up the East Anglian side to go to Peter Beales, You could take in beth Chattos and also, if you continue a bit further to the north Norfolk coast, there is the Old Vicarage in East Ruston - afternoons only but fantastic. Stourhead - huge. Mottisfont - absolutely, Dixter and Sissinghurst too. Cambridge though, does not have any really good gardens unless one of the colleges is having an open day in their Fellows gardens BUT, about 3 miles out of Cambridge (Shelford)is Docwras Manor - a perfect little jewel. Our roads are pretty grim and traffic is always an issue so I think you might want to limit your geographical area of exploration. I think you might get fed up with some of the big estates such as Stourhead and want to visit more intimate gardens where you can see everything and have a nice cup of tea and cake - without sounding mean, some of these places have cafes with the most outrageous prices - think about taking packed lunches and have a picnic. I think you will have a wonderful time and, as you say, the season is the most perfect time for roses and so many other fantastic plants.

Hi Jen, It's good to see you online again. After 25 years on the same motorcycle (1980 BMW R100t) I've now had two in about two years. I loved the Honda ST1300, but on Christmas eve someone turned left in front of me at an intersection and totalled it in my first accident in 35 years. I'm now on a silver 2005 Honda Goldwing. So far this year I've been down to the southeast corner of SC twice. I may head down to Texas in May, and more definitely over to New Brunswick and Nova Scotia in June. Both trips will be a mix of camping and motels. Over the last year, the main changes in equipment are a Sierra Designs Sirius 3 tent which is lighter and more compact than the Eureka Timberline 4, and a Dell Inspiron 700m laptop. The screen size is not ideal at 12 inches, but it is about half the packing size and weight of the old one, so a lot easier to carry with me on the motorcycle. Brian

You can camp at Shawnee Pine Hills Campground in the National Forest (I think that is the right name). Its pretty close to Snake Road and you can herp the campground at night too if you feel inclined. I would think early May might be a good time to find Timber Rattlers, and I imagine a few cottonmouths and water snakes can still be found along the road. Racers, Rough Greens, Ribbons and Black Rats ought to be around as well. April is probably ideal, but if you herp a wide area and extend your hours into the dark, you shoudl see plenty.

You should thank Pebbles for giving you another view because there may be some parents you haven't heard from as yet who don't feel the way you do. It's important to understand that if you are to be effective in changing this situation. It may flatter your ego that you've been ask to "take it to the streets" as you say. I wouldn't go about it that way. I'd take a quiet, methodical approach and attempt to build a consensus with a specific alternative plan of how this *should* work -- a plan which is reasonable, will not sound like you are trying to take over the school and dictate how they should be running things (not your responsibility after all though you can certainly take your kids out of the band), and a plan that has a prayer of being adopted. You can make this into a diva vs diva situation, polarize the community, get everybody screaming, upset a lot of the kids even more and end up in a fight that goes on and on with everyone dug in. Because that's how these things usually go. Or you could quietly call someone who knows municipal and public law, an accountant, a travel agent, a child psychologist, a couple of other parents (maybe one a teacher) who know how to keep their mouths more shut than not, and produce something concrete. Figure out how to get your plan out there to be legally and logically considered, a plan that will benefit everyone and be reasonable. But I will bet that if you are emotional about this and go on about it and turn it into a crusade it will be less effective than it might be. We have a lot of that where I live. Somebody's always screaming about something and even when it's worthy you just tune them out. The bottom line for me -- and I say this as someone who has no children in the school system so I don't know what this sort of thing should/would cost -- it sounds very much like the school board members in our city who were having "meetings" in fancy hotels around the country and traveling there to meet with various educators on other issues and it was a complete reprehensible boondoggle -- free vacations. Or the school superindentant who ordered a $3000 leather couch for her office. In our community the tabloids get hold of the $3000 couches or the $125 catered lunches and people don't stay in those jobs very long because after 1 or 2 front pages and public humiliation and photos that make them look like they're taking the perp walk, there's pressure on the mayor and the school board to act. Public education in this country is a disgrace in many states. And while band is certainly an excellent and creative activity and a great experience I'm sure, I'd rather see that kind of money go into books, facilities, enrichment programs, special education. I'm sure many parents feel the same way (and of course some won't). But if it's not done in the right way the principal and band director are going to marshall their forces and roll right over you and the other parents without even looking back. Then it's your kids who will suffer.