Sunday, April 04, 2004
Once upon a time RollyPollyJoelly said of his daughter, Zuleth, "Whe are you not going to look like an elf? You look like a figure out of Grandpa Duffner's garden near Mt. Bisbee near Barney's Junction, WA...."
"But Pops, what is elf?"
once upon a time, there was a talented old man named Ralph L. Duffner. He was a very talented man with wood and paint and as we would say today, in the visual. He was also a very practical man, having been raised in the practical lands around new baden, Illinois.
His wife had a huge garden with the largest variety of flowers and crops and trees in the whole area. Her name was ethel. In reality Ralph was the one who took care of the garden most of the year. Ethel would come out in the spring and watch Ralph do the tilling of the soil; she woud smoke and he would work, quite often in the rain, for it rained a lot in the spring at the foot of Mt. Bisbee where they lived.
So by July the garden was in full bloom, birds and bird houses everywhere. Little green finches even made nests out of ethel;s hair and built them in the raspberry bushes, which got tall by July. Ralph said the secret was the sheep shurk he put at the foot of the raspberry plants.
Anyway, ethel asked ralph to put a little white fence around the garden just to make it look a little more homey. he agreed and went into his workshop to design some little picket fences.
Then he got an idea: I will also make some figurines as we had in southern illinois when i was a kid. i will use all kinds of colors to paint all kinds of figures.
since he was not a very tall man himself, he decided he would make some elf figures, especially with those funny big buck teeth that he himself had at least when he smiled. so he took ethel's traveling mirror out of the 1959 pink and white oldsmobile in the garage and looked into the mirror.
"But Pops, what is elf?"
once upon a time, there was a talented old man named Ralph L. Duffner. He was a very talented man with wood and paint and as we would say today, in the visual. He was also a very practical man, having been raised in the practical lands around new baden, Illinois.
His wife had a huge garden with the largest variety of flowers and crops and trees in the whole area. Her name was ethel. In reality Ralph was the one who took care of the garden most of the year. Ethel would come out in the spring and watch Ralph do the tilling of the soil; she woud smoke and he would work, quite often in the rain, for it rained a lot in the spring at the foot of Mt. Bisbee where they lived.
So by July the garden was in full bloom, birds and bird houses everywhere. Little green finches even made nests out of ethel;s hair and built them in the raspberry bushes, which got tall by July. Ralph said the secret was the sheep shurk he put at the foot of the raspberry plants.
Anyway, ethel asked ralph to put a little white fence around the garden just to make it look a little more homey. he agreed and went into his workshop to design some little picket fences.
Then he got an idea: I will also make some figurines as we had in southern illinois when i was a kid. i will use all kinds of colors to paint all kinds of figures.
since he was not a very tall man himself, he decided he would make some elf figures, especially with those funny big buck teeth that he himself had at least when he smiled. so he took ethel's traveling mirror out of the 1959 pink and white oldsmobile in the garage and looked into the mirror.
