Okay, follow me with this. It's kinda like a "back to the future," once you get to the end.
First, let's go back. On Monday a dear Shutterchancer (photo-blogger) from Germany, Philine, posted a photo of a waterboy statue in Hamburg:
Yup, that's the waterboy on the left.
[Philine's image]
That took me way back to memories from 2005 (13 years ago!) when my ex-partner, Donica, and I took a trip to Hamburg, Germany. I did a post on it then, talking about the origin of the 100 statues, painted by different artists, auctioned off to benefit the homeless. Back in 2005 I was making photo albums (instead of collages) whose links no longer work. So....
I really got motivated to bring those waterboys back to life, to not lose them forever!
That's Donica, giving scale to the size of these Johann Wilhelm Bentz (1787-1854) waterboys.
Johann was an ill-tempered bloke the kids made fun of by calling "Hummel, Hummel" (bumble bee).
Because he was carrying water, he couldn't catch them but would yell after them, "Mors, Mors,"
a Low German word translated as "Arses, Arses."
We walked around the city in 6 hours to find as many as we could.
Who knew we'd have to also look up!
We even found a modified one inside.
In those 6 hours, we found 67 of the 100 statues.
Yes, I was "collecting" even back then!
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
Now, zoom from 2005 to the present...and then into the future.
This past weekend we got the BIG NEWS that grandson Nicholas was accepted to Oregon.
As daughter Amy said (The Mom!), "You gotta hand it to Nicholas. One application
to only one school, the only one that mattered to him.
And (drum roll), he was accepted!
A strange mixture of pure joy, pride and panic just set in.
For now I choose pride."
Me, too!
Back last September Amy and Dennis flew Nicholas out to Oregon (from Atlanta!) to check out the University of Oregon campus in Eugene, attend a football game...and to see if Nicholas really DID still want to attend university there.
He had the chance to tour campus with an orientation group...
and immerse himself in the GO DUCKS team spirit.
Even with a bit of rain, his spirits were not dampened.
He wanted to be a student there EVEN MORE than ever.
Now we'll all be saying "GO DUCKS" forever and ever, amen.
Okay. Waterboys and Ducks. You know there's got to be a connection there somewhere...like water, of course. But wouldn't it be fun to suggest to someone that "they" come up with 100 ducks for artists to paint and auction off for something like...football concussion injuries?!
You're welcome!
At first my congratulation to your very successful, wonderful grandson - and then my pleasure to see so many waterboys in Hamburg photographed by you, a very colourful bunch of boys -and I could imagine also a colourful bunch of 'go duck' boys and girls at the university! A happy time in Oregon to Nicholas!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, Philine, for being the jump-off for this post. I got so excited to go back to find those 2005 images. I probably never would have done it without you. And thanks for the congrats on Nicholas. We're all so very excited for him.
DeleteCongrats to your grandson! Best wishes for a wonderful university experience.
ReplyDeleteThe waterboys are incredible! You are quite the explorer to have found so many in such a short time!
Thank you so much, Marie. We're all very excited for Nicholas and wish him the best, of course. The waterboys really ARE incredible, aren't they!
DeleteWow, great photo compilation of the extremely creative and colorful waterboys! And of course, love the post about our Oregon Duck. September will be here before we know it!
ReplyDeleteIt was fun to connect these two different "things," Amy. I have a feeling our Oregon Duck will surprise us all!
DeleteCongratulations are in order to Grandson Nicholas, I think I have to call him 'Sir Nicholas' now HA HA HA. Of course I wish him all the best there and I hope he enjoys!.
ReplyDeleteThose waterboys are something else. what an amazing collection you collected, I like it that Donica gives scales. This is a great post, very colourful. GO DUCKS......
IHVJ.
Sometimes the dot-to-dot connections are a bit stretched, Astrid, but I did enjoy putting these two together. GO DUCKS!
Deleteauctioning off for concussions... i really like that idea!! the waterboy statues were just amazing!! so much colour!! like modge podge :) the thing that really caught my eye, since they were auctioning for the homeless... is that dog, resting at the foot of one of the statues... was the dog homeless? did the statue seem like a person that would rescue him? it pulled at my heart strings for sure.
ReplyDeleteback when i was young, living at home with my parents... a small poodle came up to our next door neighbour, who was sitting out in the sun in her back yard, and the poodle just sat down beside her and wouldn't go away... so finally our neighbour went and called a nearby vet to see what to do with the dog, and the owner of the dog had done the exact same thing, and they were reunited... it seems the poodle knew just whom to pick to sit beside <3
It was good to be reminded by Philine just how astonishing those waterboys were from back then, Elaine. I hope they still exist somewhere?!
DeleteWhat a sweet poodle story, connecting it to homelessness. So inspiring. Thanks for sharing it.
Oh how cute are these little waterboys! Oh, and Nicholas...what a cutie he is! So exciting for him! I know you are sooooo proud!
ReplyDeleteI was so glad Philine reminded me of these waterboys, Robin, so that I could go back and admire them again (and retrieve them from the Black Hole). And yes, that Nicholas is something else. We all are very proud of him! Thanks for joining the chorus. :)
Delete