There are no more events for the rest of the month, but I would like to leave you with the following writing. It was written by a Sherlockian of note who co-founded the only Scion society recognized by the Baker Street Irregulars in a nursing home. Known as Inspector Baynes in his postings, he was Jody Baker in real life. His postings and the gazettes he published are really some of the best around. I will post some more about Jody and his wonderful Sherlockian wife, his soulmate, but for now here is his incomparable style:
Dr. Watson’s Pictures of Devonshire Countryside [HOUN]
Dr. Watson, with pen for a brush and his words for his paints,
pictures for us vivid landscapes of the Devonshire countryside.
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“The journey was a swift and pleasant one… In a very few hours the
brown earth had become ruddy, the brick had changed to granite, and
red cows grazed in well-hedged fields where the lush grasses and more
luxuriant vegetation spoke of a richer, if a damper, climate.”
*******
“Over the green squares of the fields and the low curve of a wood
there rose in the distance a gray, melancholy hill, with a strange
jagged summit, dim and vague in the distance, like some fantastic
landscape in a dream. “
*******
“The wagonette swung round into a side road, and we curved upward
through deep lanes worn by centuries of wheels, high banks on either
side, heavy with dripping moss and fleshy hart’s-tongue ferns.
Bronzing bracken and mottled bramble gleamed in the light of the
sinking sun. Still steadily rising, we passed over a narrow granite
bridge and skirted a noisy stream which gushed swiftly down, foaming
and roaring amid the gray boulders. Both road and stream wound up
through a valley dense with scrub oak and fir.”
*******
Those Hounds, among us, who think of Watson as a dunce or a dullard
(as depicted by Nigel Bruce, in days of yore) may want to pause and
reflect upon Watson’s writings.
Respectfully,
Inspector Baynes
