Message in a Bottle

We had a little bit of  today.   Oh, how I wanted to be outside.  So I spent my lunch hour with my camera.

Here at home, while doing a little work in my room, I came across my photocopy of my great grandmother's journal.  At first I thought about how very different it is from the journals here in J-Land, but then I realized it's not different at all.  My great grandmother Lela kept this journal over fifty years ago, and yet, were it not for the dates it could easily have fit in right here at AOL.

Curious about what her journal contains?  Just a mish mash of her life, and it tells me a lot about her.  In these pages I found the person she was, and what she cared about.  It's mostly clippings...newspaper clippings.  Poems, articles, photos.  About people.  And what she thought was important to know.  Quotes, stuff like that.  Gee, does that sound familiar to anyone?   

So, here is a sample.  It's about my Dad.  :)

Who'd A-Thunked It When He Dunked It?

     On June 11, 1954, on his 18th birthday, Donald E. Gruell of 318 Lapwai Rd. launched a bottle in the Clearwater River.
     In the bottle was a note which read: "This bottle was launched at Lewiston, Idaho, in the Clearwater River, June 11, 1954.  Will the finder please notify by mail Donald E. Gruell, 318 Lapwai Rd., Lewiston."
     Yesterday, the Associated Press reported the bottle had been found by John Rockwell on a beach at Oceanside, near San Diego, Calif.
     Rockwell, studying a may [sic] which showed the Clearwater flowed into the Snake River and the Snake River flowed into the Columbia River, determined the bottle traveled 400 miles to the sea and then at least 1,200 more to get to Oceanside -- not counting possible meanderings.
     The Lewiston Morning Tribune called Gruell's home to report the bottle found.
     His mother answered.  Donald was not home.  He had joined the Marine Corps on June 13 -- two days after he launched the bottle. She hadn't heard a thing about his experiment.
     Where is Donald now?  After completing basic training at San Diego, Donald is at Camp Pendleton, awaiting assignment to Japan within a week.

Think about it.  Basic training lasts about 6-8 weeks.  My Dad threw that bottle into the river two days before he left for basic training.  Then he headed for San Diego.  Two months later, the bottle was found, on a beach, near San Diego.

Pretty cool, huh?  Dad loved stuff like this.  I still remember the day he told me about it.   The way his eyes flashed in the retelling of the story.

Who'd have thunk it...indeed.

 

~~When life throws you a twist, make it a daisy.~~