A Big Day

Today was the official, ribbon cutting, politician speechifying grand opening of Zambaldi Beer.  DS and DIL1 are exhausted, new-baby tired, and ecstatic that their new business is looking like a success.  The village president, a county rep, and our state senator were there to say how happy they were to have such a great place for a beer and a snack and maybe play a board game.  All the families were there beaming and grinning at all the people who came and kept coming.  Looks like the brewery will be up and running late next week.  Can't wait.





Did you see the full moon tonight?  It's the Snow Moon and it's a supermoon, which means the moon is closest to the earth.  Gorgeous.






08 February--Barbara Malcolm, Three Cheers for Murder. 

“I took a few Anthropology courses.  I’d always been interested in Native American cultures, and early man in general.  Egypt was my first love, but there was no way I could afford a summer in Egypt.  So, Arizona was the next best thing.  My Anthro professor knew the professor running the dig and wrote me a recommendation and I got invited.  It was fabulous.  There were about 24 of us, boys and girls.  We lived in tents out in the dessert.  It was so hot and dry, but we had plenty of water and we were young.  We worked from sunup to sundown 6 days a week.  Most of it was pure drudgery, digging, sifting dirt, then using tiny dental tools and brushes when we’d uncover an artifact.  One afternoon, in the middle of August, about 2 weeks before we were going to wrap up for the season, I came upon a huge cache of tools and weapons.  It was thrilling.  First, I saw a tiny flake of flint, so I carefully began brushing and scraping away the surrounding dirt.  As I removed the sand and small rocks, the cache began to appear.  I called the team leader, Marx, over and he took one look, told me to stop right there, and called in the professor.  Everyone came running.  It was so exciting to actually be the one to find something like that.  I was surprised when the professor sat near me and directed the uncovering of all the tools.  I thought for sure once he saw what I had he’d take over.  But he didn’t.  He said it was my find and I deserved to be the one to unearth it.  I can still feel the excitement of that day.  I worked so carefully removing tiny bits at a time.  Marx had the clipboard and recorded every step.  Someone had the camera and documented each layer.  We sifted the things I removed of course and found many tiny potsherds and pieces of chipped flint.  The professor thought it might have been the place the tribe’s craftsman worked.  In all there were over 60 knives, spear heads, and arrowheads.  Also, there were the tools used to make the weapons.  In fact, that flint knife you admired in the frame in the living room is from that find.”

“Really?  How come you got to keep it?  I thought all that kind of stuff went right into a museum.”

“Usually it does.  But there was so much in the cache that I was allowed to keep it.  It’s not by any means an important piece.  The professor showed me where the maker had broken it and I’m guessing it was a discard.  He would probably made something smaller out of it later.  There were so many perfect pieces that he let me keep that one.  It’s my most treasured possession.”

“I can imagine.  So, if that summer was so terrific how come you’re not a world-famous archaeologist?”

Marlene bent over her cooking and Len couldn’t see the pain on her face.  “Well, Marx was more than my team leader that summer.  We were lovers.  And we made grand plans for a life together roaming the world uncovering ancient secrets.”  She sighed.  “We’d sit outside at night looking at the stars and planning.  We had such dreams.  I really fell for him.”  She turned to face him.  “But after I got home, his letters got fewer and farther between, less personal too.  Gradually they stopped coming.  I figured he found some brainless cheerleader to love and forgot about me.”

“What do you mean he found a cheerleader to love?"

“Did I say that?  I guess at that time my mom had partially convinced me that cheerleaders where the only kind of woman a man liked so I figured he’d found one more to his liking.”

“Your mom was wrong.  All men don’t like cheerleaders.  Personally, I prefer a nice, quiet intelligent woman with interests like yours.”  Len Graybow blushed at his boldness.  He stood and walked over to Marlene and put his arms around her.  He looked into her eyes, “You’re the kind of woman I like.”  And kissed her. 

The kiss ended and Marlene breathlessly clung to him.  “I’m glad, Len.”  She looked into his eyes, “Dinner’s ready.”

They both laugh and begin to set the table.  During dinner their conversation ranged over books they were reading: Steinbeck for her, Dick Francis for him.  They talked about all sorts of things, getting to know each other.  After dinner Lt. Graybow helped with the cleaning up although Marlene protested.   They took their after-dinner coffee into the living room and sat comfortably side by side on the sofa.  Len put his arm around Marlene, and she snuggled into his side, her head on his shoulder.

“So, Marx stopping writing can’t be the only reason you’re not an archaeologist.  What else happened after that summer to derail your dream?”

“Soon after the letters stopped my mom was killed in a car accident and the only way, I could stay in college was to keep the bookstore open.  That was way before the advent of Internet sites like Amazon.com and the store made a nice living for one person.  After about a semester I realized that I was trapped here.  I wanted to study Anthropology and Archaeology but needed to run the business.  So, I began to take more Literature and Business classes and just stayed.  Now the business doesn’t generate the profits anymore and I can’t seem to save enough to make a change.  Of course, if I hadn’t stayed, I wouldn’t have met you.”  She smiled up at him.

He gave her a little squeeze.  “Guess I have to thank Marx for my good luck.” 

They sat quietly for a while.  Each thinking their own thoughts.

I did a little knitting but didn't make much headway so I'll spare you any photos.
--Barbara