Our Word for the Day: scrimshander, n. someone who makes carved or engraved articles from the teeth or bones of whales. [Mid-19th C. Formed from a variant of scrimshaw.] Our word of the day caught me by surprise, because I’ve actually met two scrimshanders, but didn’t know that was their trade name. The first was my neighbor, Russ St. Jean, a Navy Lieutenant Commander back in Newport, Rhode Island, in the 70s. He made beautiful scrimshaw-adorned Nantucket basket purses in his garage. The second artist was John van Opstal, a Dutchman living in Horta, on the island of Faial in the Azores, Portuguese islands in mid-Atlantic, where we had sailed in 2005. This beautifully etched whale’s tooth is John’s work. All of his ivory is “old whale”, meaning that divers in the Azores have recovered the teeth from whale skeletons on the seabed near old whaling stations.
Photo #7: What is this structure, where is it located, and what is the flap about turning off its lights at night in the spring and fall?
Photo #8: What is this place’s name, who lived here, and where is it located?
Today I visited the bank and stood in line to make a deposit that could have been made much more quickly at the drive-up window… this may sound like strange behavior, but our local bank here in The Villages has this great tradition of providing movie theater grade popcorn for customers around 11:00 AM-noon. It’s amazing how many curmudgeons like me find an excuse to visit the bank at least once a week…. Anyway, while munching on my popcorn outside, I noticed a golf cart out front with an Ironman sticker. I have completed three triathlons, but not The Biggie, the Ironman, which allows a 60-64 year old to typically suffer for 13-15 hours while completing a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike, and a 26.2 mile run. I then met Kenny, who lives in Mallory Square here in The Villages, who is a very young 64 and very, very fit. We swapped running and triathlon stories (his were much better than mine) and when I asked if I could snap his photo for the blog, he said, “Want to see my tattoo?” I almost said, “No, this is a G-rated blog…”, but then he turned his leg to show his Ironman tattoo. Kenny is former Army, Vietnam 1969-70, and is only a few months younger than me. (Now let’s see, if I start training now, I might be ready for an Ironman in a year or two…. hmmmm….. thanks a lot, Kenny!)
We received a FedEx package today, and when I saw the postmark, I thought that Terri of the Frozen North might have gotten a bit weary of my repeated smart-alecky swipes at Minnesota and sent a package bomb… but instead she sent a two pound box of Wilbur’s Buds, heavenly chocolate morsels (mixed milk and dark chocolate) made in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, that look like unwrapped Silverbells (AKA Hershey’s Kisses). Terri had mentioned last week that the Buds were even better than the Hershey’s version. If she thinks I can be “sweeted” to blog about the undiscovered delights of her home state… well, she is absolutely correct! (Thank you, Terri… maybe I can work myself back into the good graces of the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce next week!)
1 Comment
Jennifer
The art work etched on that piece of ivory is very interesting…