Lesson 245: A List of Suspects

Bonus Mid-Week Blog Post:

--for those of you helping me solve the Fionnula Flanigan mystery

This rainy Wednesday evening you'll find Eloise in her thinking spot.

I'm in the Lamp Post, which is the highest window in my house.  It is where I write,

and photo edit,

and think,

and ponder life,

and on-line shop when I'm really bored (shhhhhhhhhhh!).

My feet are propped up on the window.

You can see I added my summer toe ring.

On these gnarled feet, it's kind of like painting a turd.

On my lap sits my lamp post, leather bound journal.

Fitting, because it is the one Fionnula surprised me with on Good Friday.

What began as a random act of kindness from an anonymous blog reader,

has turned into a game, Eloise style.

I received a letter from Fionnula on Tuesday.  I had just returned from Zombie Run mission 19 where I found a mysterious letter I had to deliver.  When I checked the mailbox on my cool down, low and behold, I too received a real life puzzling note--literally!

It was cut into pieces!

The plain white envelope had an Erie post mark dated the day prior.

The address was type written to Eloise Hawking.

The return address was this:

815 Oceanic Avenue

Orange Beach, AL

42186

My girls, Aunt Terri, and Grandma went right to work on the puzzle.

I continued to ponder the return address.

815 Oceanic Avenue refers to my favorite TV series of all time--LOST.

Orange Beach, Alabama is where Andy Andrews, author of The Noticer, is from.

The Noticer is one of my all time favorite books.

The zip code was bugging me.  In the last letter, the word zippy was in bold, leading me to think that there was a clue somewhere in the zip code.  I knew the number looked familiar, but I couldn't remember where I saw it before.

Grandma and Deb sent messages telling me that the zip code was for Hidalgo, Mexico.  "Who do you know in Hidalgo?" pressed Grandma. (sigh)... That didn't seem right.   Lisa from North East recognized the North East zip code numbers (16428) were scrambled.  This made me add some North Easters to the list.

I didn't need to think very long because when the puzzle was assembled, Fionnula answered it for me.

This section of my blog was the meat of the puzzle.

The words from my birthday blog, Lesson 217, are in red to ease confusion.

The letter included this picture regarding the number 42 (my age)

 and the angle of sunlight a water droplet needs for a rainbow to form.

And here is the number from the zip code!

But mostly, I've been waiting for #42 because I was anticipating this statistic:

Pageviews all time history

42,186

The Lamp Post hit 42,000 visits this week!

I am humbled to know that my words have touched so many people.  I love the communications I have received, verbally and through messages about my posts. People are so interesting and hearing their perspectives on various topics is such a great learning experience for me.  A blog follower even sent me some snapshots of lamp posts from her recent Disney vacation. How cool is that?

This picture was included at the bottom.

The puzzle itself was cut into sharp, angular pieces.  

This quote was included in the envelope.

My students and I studied Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass.

I've made many mentions of the works on my past blogs, as well as in lesson 217.

 Fionnula, you are one sharp cookie!

What a quote to select!

You must be a lover of literature.

In your past messages you left some clues:

• You are not a writer
• You are not a LOST fan
• You have not read The Noticer, but it is next on your list
• You went to college
• You are not retired
• You knew my sister's name was Karen when I only refer to her as Kenyan on this blog
• You have a big enough vocabulary to use the word "gaffe"
• You used the word reveal which makes me think of something, but I can't remember what
• You are thoughtful enough to send a random act of kindness
• You are humble enough not to want to be known
• You are clever!  Clever enough to outsmart Eloise!

I'm closing in.

On my rainy afternoon, I did some thinking.

I've made a new list.  You can see it on the left.

I also made my own logic grid---my students will be proud of me.  That is what I teach them to do!

I'll continue to fill in the rest and see who has the most X's.
Those will become Eloise's SUSPECTS!

 SUSPECTS, prepare yourselves for some blog attention on a future post.

Fionnula--are you on the list of 23?

Send word to the Lamp Post.

Eloise and the rest of Blog World awaits....

See you for my regular post on Friday night, Readers.  Until then, enjoy my favorite TV commercial of the week.  Discovery Channel's Shark Week is coming up.  This commercial will help you remember!  Hilarious.

Eloise
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