Lesson 244: Free

Happy weekend, Readers!

If you are American, you may be celebrating a long one due to the Fourth of July holiday.
How great it feels to be free!

Eloise spent the holiday with family and friends.

We picnicked at my parents' Lake Erie cottage.

The lake draws lots of visitors on nice weekends.



Cars lined the little stretch of road as far as you could see.



They all came to get a glimpse of this natural wonder.
She's a fresh water beauty.

For those of you who aren't familiar with the Lake Erie region, the shoreline is really unique.  The cottage sits in the center of a little cove that the Gay Road neighborhood as nicknamed The Gay Bay.

We have a nice stretch of beach.  

It's not the white sand of the ocean shore, but it's a beach just the same.

Much of the shoreline is also rocky cliff,

and there is no beach to be found.

We don't pick up seashells when we beach comb.  We bring home other treasures.

This is Ellen's beach glass find from yesterday.  She beat me with the blue!

This is mine.  Yes, that is a glob of zebra mussels.  They are interesting.

Look for the round brick, the lime green glass, a piece of pottery,

and the overall win for the evening--a big chunk of lavender glass!

This is Natalie's collection.  It cracks me up every time.  

"Oooh!  Look at this rock!" says Natalie every time.

Proof that Natalie is able to see what most of us cannot:

the extraordinary in the ordinary.

What about Sam's collection? you ask.

I............lost it.   He found:

 some feathers,

a sheephead skeleton, 

fishing line tangled with seaweed, 

and a plastic tampon applicator.

When we get home from the beach, we dump our treasures into a glass jar. 

It always pleases Eloise to see how beautifully they all work together.

I'll be sure to post the filled up jar at the end of the summer.

Ever the cheerleader for things I love, I invite you to come to my city to experience it for yourself.

Maybe you can go visit someone who lives in one of these primo properties.

Or you could affordably rent one for a week just down the beach a bit.

You can take a boat ride,

or go for a swim.

It was a spectacular day.

Eloise was very happy because she found the owner of these red sunglasses.

They have been at the Lamp Post for at least three years!  Someone at the party recognized them, and we determined that she was the rightful owner.  Too bad, for Girlie.  Finders keepers, says Eloise.  I told her to prepare herself for much blog and facebook torment.

The mystery I DIDN'T solve, however, was the identity of Fionnula Flanigan, my mysterious pen pal.

My pen pal has also taken on a pseudonym.  The real Fionnula is the Irish actress who played the elderly Eloise Hawking on LOST.  This is what the actress looks like.  I used this as my facebook cover photo for a long time.

On a mid-week bonus blog post plea, I asked my Readers to help me solve the mystery.

Several have answered the call.  Here are some good thoughts by some amateur sleuths:

Lisa 

The numbers are the NE zip code out of order. 16428

You can keep me ruled out, but I wish it was me. What fun. I wouldn't however, rule out other NE people.

They could've had a spouse mail it. Maybe someone had an appt & dropped it off on their way.

Originally I had ruled out all suspects living or working in North East because the first postmark was from Zuck Road in Erie--way too far away.  But after Lisa's considerations, I've formed a new list (to which Lisa, a North Easter herself, is removed from.  She told me that she is not Fionnula).

Cousin Bonnie has been on the case.  She's earned the nickname of Sherlock.  Here are her thoughts that came in throughout the day.  She's on to the librarian..........


Bonnie 

Your friend Debbie has a profile pic that says she's a ginger...Lesson 217 has a Newman's Ginger tin!

Debbie is a librarian-->Dewey Decimal-->numbers ....booyah!

Okay, so here's the best part...421 is the classification for English WRITING! I have been searching for something with a 421.86 classification but can't pinpoint anything yet. Hoping it might lead to 'journals' somehow.


Bonnie also had some other good ideas.  Nervous anyone?


BTW...if the 'Bonnie' on your list is me, I promise it's not! Perhaps others on the list will follow suit and erase themselves...part of your plan to smoke Foxy out I assume! Speaking of plan...did you find the use of the words "master plan" odd when the lone word 'plan' would have sufficed? It just stood out to me as something someone would say that is used to using that terminology...architect, teacher, builder, etc...


Eloise welcomes any other thoughts on the matter.  Fionnula, send word via the postman if we are getting any closer.

Given the holiday, Eloise would be remiss in mentioning the word free.  What does it mean to be free, Readers?  That can be the question of the week.

Is it something you inherit?

Is it a hope?

Is it a noun or a verb?

Is it something that is internal more than external?

Veronica Roth's book Divergent has an interesting projection how freedom is interpreted in the future.

If anyone is reading along with me this summer, did you find this interesting?

This is regarding the part where Beatrice, the sixteen year old, attends the Choosing Ceremony to determine which "Faction" she will live in for her adult life.

From page 43---"Welcome to the choosing Ceremony.  Welcome to the day we honor the democratic philosophy of our ancestors, which tells us that every man has the right to choose his own way in the world."

"Our dependents are now sixteen.  They stand on the precipice of adulthood, and it is now up to them to decide what kind of people they will be."  

"Decades ago our ancestors realized that it is not political ideology, religious belief, race, or nationalism that is to blame for a warring world.  Rather, they determined that it was the fault of human personality --of humankind's inclination toward evil, in whatever form that is.  They divided into factions that sought to eradicate those qualities they believed responsible for the world's disarray."  

Those who blamed ignorance became the Erudite.

Those who blamed duplicity created Candor.

Those who blamed aggression formed Amity.

Those who blamed selfishness created Abnegation.

Those who blamed cowardice became the Dauntless.

As I read the book, I tried to determine which faction I would choose.   Eloise is a teacher and has grown a thick skin over the years of dealing with children, but I will refrain from asking my readers which would be the first factions to lock their doors.  Instead I'll volunteer some information.  Rather than tell you straight out (now what fun would that be?), I'll give you a few to eliminate.  

• I am a teacher of the gifted, not gifted myself.  I still struggle with fractions, so we can eliminate me joining the ranks of the Erudite.
• Abnegation is also out of contention.  They only wear grey and have no mirrors.  Poor, poor photography opportunities there.  Also, I'm not much of a volunteer.

I'll let you think on the remaining three factions, Amity, Candor, or Dauntless.  Is Eloise a peacemaker, truthful, or brave?  I'll let you know next week.

The biggest freedom of the week is not the remembrance of the day we told King George to stick it.  It involves Sam.  He learned how to tie his shoes.  I sure do hope Mrs. P reads this blog!

FREEDOM!

My son has also taken a few liberties with his summertime promise.

Busted.  

What faction do the undercover cops live in?  That's what faction I should choose.  For now, Eloise is staying right where her seed was planted.  The place where I can live free.

Speaking of Free, that is the song I chose for my photos this week.  It is actually a combo of Zac Brown Band's Free and Van Morrison's Into the Mystic.  It is the live version I fell in love with at the Darien Lake concert last week.  It's a long song, and thoughts of Uncle Albert's vacation slides kept entering my head as I filled the 6 minute song with my photos.

If you like music, sit back, grab a warm mug or a cold bottle, and enjoy some scenes from Lake Erie.  Images from my Fourth of July holiday and the July 4th Challenge Erie workout are on it.  A neat violin intro leads you into Free, and about halfway through the song slides flawlessly Into the Mystic.  It's a lyrical powerhouse.  Research what a bonnie boat is, and let the lyric rock your gypsy soul take you to another place, even for just a moment.  Please come back though.  There will be another lesson from the Lamp Post next week.

Fionnula, you are free to contact me any time.

Peace,
Eloise