Waiting for the Big Chill

Every neighborhood needs one. The tinkerer, the gadget guy, the crazy inventor. Fortunately we have the king of all of the above who is also a really sweet guy with the nextdoorneighborly patience of a saint with all the little kids who constantly stream through his yard asking a million questions about his very interesting activities. And it is no wonder they are drawn to the kidmagnet he has created by building ponds, bridges, treehouses, playground equipment, stilts, sandboxes, and anything else that anybody even slightly mentions might be fun addition to his amusement park. Last summer the inventor took on the ultimate big project - a beautiful new garage and workshop built in cooperation with his equally handy son.

This summer's plan (after the sailboat was scraped, repainted, and moored at the yacht club) was an iceboat. One day we looked down the alley and saw this headshaking hallucination.




On approach it seemed that the inventor was napping in the sun, sitting straight up in his new contraption. If one of the 55 MPH wind bursts that we have been experiencing for the last few days had come along just then, it would have been a very exciting surprise launch. We asked and he sheepishly admitted he had been dozing, and then goodnaturedly recreated the situation for the camera.







We love the detailing that looks like a big old paint chip sample in colors of Sky, Little Boy Baby Bootie, Robin's Egg, Swimming Pool Bottom, Larkspur, Forget-Me-Not, Robert Redford's Eyes, Horizon, Windex, and Anemic Smurf. (We have always wanted to be in charge of naming paint colors. It is actually harder than it seems. Can you tell we had suggestions for this lovely blue spectrum from someone who offered their help, but who is clearly not qualified or able to take the responsibility seriously?)




When the lake freezes over, not so very long from now, and wheels have been replaced with runners, we hope we get an invite to the inagaural ice run. If we do, you will hear about it. Stay tuned.