I never was good in my history class in high school. In fact, I got caught cheating on a test along with maybe a dozen others, all who decided that they would only get one wrong on the test that they/we had received in advance (I can’t remember who stole it). For some reason the vice-principal thought I was the one who would squirm like a baby when they brought me into the office. Squirm, I did not. Rat, I did not. Got a failing grade, I did.
If history had been presented to me like it was presented in the “Lore of the Lake; A walking history tour,” I might have aced my history class.
My friend Mabel picked me up, along with my walking sticks for the tour. She just always has to drive, which is okay by me. Since I was still having breathing issues after my “breathing test” in Ukiah, (see last week’s WGTD) I had fortified myself for the walking tour with every single one of my breathing meds before she got there. I was going to make the tour come hill or high water! (Yes, hill.)
The tour began at the Main Street Gallery and it seemed like old home week with so many people working the tour and people getting their tickets who I hadn’t seen in a while. Mabel sat to the side and watched me greet friends and vice versa. “Now do you believe that I’m famous?” I said with an exaggerated shake of my head. She laughed, in fact she almost choked. “Guess so,” she said, grinning.
We were lucky to get Marie Schrader, the genius behind this event, as our tour guide. I should have asked Marie to walk slow enough for me to keep up. Fortunately, she did. I wasn’t the only one using sticks, thank goodness. Nothing like feeling old having to walk like an old person – It wasn’t but a couple of summers ago that I had dug a 16′ by 14′ square foot hole in my backyard for a patio. It wasn’t but a couple of months ago that I…oh, well, that’s another story.
I loved the references made of buildings in skits that are still standing in Lakeport. Loved finding out about women who were extraordinary in times that didn’t encourage women to be much of anything. It was fun to see Gene Paleno, played by John Tomlinson. I had always wanted to meet Gene and almost did while at a Lake County Theater Company production. I was going to introduce myself to him as soon as the play was over, but he ran (like a really old person) out minutes before the play was over. Damn.
The skit that showed a poker game in which one gambler, with a sexy barmaid hanging off him (played by Zoe Richardson), who so quietly switched over from the loser to the gambler who won the hand and won back the 1,000 acre Arbil Creek property, was hilarious.
My favorite skit was the one about the 1906 Earthquake, and mostly because Pam Harpster (playing a woman at the Pioneer Store that was on Third and Main Streets) was holding a replica of the Lake County Bee. The Record-Bee, which originally was the Lake County Bee, was first published in 1873. I’m proud to have begun writing for the Record-Bee in September, 2018. Now can you all see why I’m so famous?
The tour was a win for me. I made the walking tour (less than one mile) without having a damn exercise induced asthma attack. I’m back!
Mabel and I had parked right in front of the Main Street Gallery and were having a chat with Marie Schrader about how much we loved the “Lore of the Lake.” As Marie told us how they’re planning for another one next year, I had my hand on the door of Mabel’s SUV, resting. Until Mabel shut the freaking car door. On my thumb! Oh boy did I scream.
Mabel, I’m sure apologized a gazillion times, but I was in pain and flashing back on when I was a little kid and shut the same thumb in my mom’s heavy-as-hell Buick station wagon door. I opened that door one-handed; first time ever! Unfortunately, the thumbnail had to be removed because some metal that had gotten into it. This time wasn’t so gruesome, although Mabel did have to unlock my house when she dropped me off because my poor thumb was so swollen and painful.
What’s a girl to do? Keep reminding Mabel how she almost amputated my thumb!
Lucy Llewellyn Byard is currently a columnist for the Record-Bee. To contact her, email lucywgtd@gmail.com
