Saturday, February 26, 2011

BSL Mystery #8, or ....

The Message in a Bottle


Long ago and not so far away
there was a little boy who
loved adventure of all kinds
but especially the kind that involved
water, boats and fishing.


This is what he looked like in the olden days ....




And this is what he looks like now ....



One fine summer day
while fishing for blue gills off the dock at Elhart's cottage
this little boy decided to inject
klein beetje more excitement into his little life
and he wrote an ultra-secret note
and put it in an empty pop bottle
and tossed it in the lake.

KERPLOP !


Fast forward a year or so
and imagine yourself barely existing in the
Dreariest Of All Months, aka, January
where it's doing all kinds of this ....

(genuine disgusting photo taken by author
and yes that's 31 inches in 24 hours)




.... and out of no where
(Okay .... Ohio)
this shows up in the mailbox!


A letter from Ohio!
(We know no one in Ohio)

A letter from Ken Pearson
of Westchester Ohio
to be exact.
This considerably brightened
an otherwise dreary January day.

You see,
Ken had found the bottle
containing the little boy's letter
and then he took the time and effort
to write the little boy
and then we promptly did Two Very Bad Things:

1. We LOST the letter!!!
I know! Stupid stupid stupid.

Then

2. We NEVER wrote back to Ken to thank him for being so great!!!
I know! Lazy lazy lazy. And mean.
Our Protestant Work Ethic just went
right out the window.
(Loosely illustrated below. Don't ask!)


So Ken, if you ever see this blog,
we are so so sorry and we hope you
have a wonderful life
and that everyone else you know
is thoughtful and kind and
promptly answers your emails,
and considerately RSVPs on time,
and quickly passes all your messages along
and you never have to be on hold for
an hour listening to Kenny G or Barry Manilow.

Our Calvinist guilt is eating us alive.
(Sing first stanza of Amazing Grace here.
The one about what wretches we are)

P.S. This was not really a mystery for us,
but if Ken ever reads this posting,
it will solve a big mystery for him.

P.S.S. That first photo is by Kraftwerk on flickr CC A licensed
(hope I did that right)



Saturday, February 19, 2011

So so sick ........

of winter.
Gag!

Lies, Val & Grace
in happier warmer times
on the beach at Elharts.

Monday, February 7, 2011

Houston ....

We have lift off !!

Where there's smoke
there's fire,
and where there's fire
there's warm toasty bodies
or warm bodies toasting



(Hah! I know this looks kinda like a cadaver
due to the waxy white legs
and strangely blue toes
but no human beings were harmed
and/or killed
in the making of this blog)


So, it was an extremely
perfuhlicious weekend
for finalizing all things sauna
with just the right amount of sugary snow.




First you have to make a door



and then hang it so
don't nobody see
no nearly nekkid bodies.
(triple negative!
Please refer to this post here)



Then you have to make a fire

(We don't know why he's wearing that hat, either)


And then you have to get some water
and carry it uphill from the creek
in a rahther heavy container
and make hernia-like sounds humping it
across the threshhold
and into the sauna




And then get it up on the stove
(grunt, gasp, groan)



And, voila mes amis
in a word,
STEAM !


A veritable pillar of cloud
doth issue from the rooftop
and the hand of the Lord
doth pass over them.
"And the pillar of cloud by day
and the pillar of fire by night
did not depart from before the people."
Even people with weird hats.
(Exodus 13 : 22)
Yay!



And now
on a completely different note .... birds.
In particular, a large, prehistoric,
Jurassic Park-like bird
called the Pileated Woodpecker.

They come to the birdfeeder here
and they are impressive indeed.



And here is Dave's graven image ...

(photo stolen from Ellen)



and a close-up I took
to show the carving detail


I know you want to worship it
but .... not a good idea.