Help Wanted: Quizmaster

It’s the end of August, and there are only a few days remaining before the close of the Fourth Annual JHWS Treasure Hunt. I would like to thank and congratulate everyone who participated, including my teammates in “An Experience of Canon Extending Over Four Teammates and Three Separate States”. I think we did pretty well, but we will see what “Gwen”, our Treasure Hunt Master has to say about our answers!

Margie Deck, JHWS “Gwen”, is the mastermind behind this year’s test, and some of those questions certainly showed how she earned the name of “Pawky Puzzler”! She will be stepping down from the role of Treasure Hunt Master so that she can play along with the rest of us next year. Before she hands off the baton, I want to thank her for all her hard work!

Now that the Treasure Hunt is ending, I’d like to remind everyone that we are currently looking for a Quizmaster to preside over our regular quizzes. This person would create and post short quizzes every two weeks (except during August, the month of the Treasure Hunt). Some of our past quizzes can be found on the Quiz Page. We are also looking for submissions of individual quizzes, if you would like to just try it out. Have you been bitten by the bug to create your own Canonical Quiz? Send it to selena @ johnhwatsonsociety.com!

Dr. Watson’s Pictures of Devonshire Countryside [HOUN]

There are no events on file for the rest of the month. 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 his gazettes he published are really some of the best around.. I will post some more about Jody, his wonderful Sherlockian wife, his soulmate. But 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.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
“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.

So on to September my dear Watsonians, Ron aka Chips

“And what is left in our hands at the end?”

Hello Treasure Hunters!

We are now at the final ten days of this edition of the Treasure Hunt.  I hope you are having some fun and are not too discouraged if you lack an answer or two.  The final week is always the time for (re)attempting the questions that seem a bit impossible.

If you are not finished on September 1, please submit what you have accomplished.  As always, the John H Watson Society will want to acknowledge your work here on the site and with a small keepsake via mail.  Even if you do not have an answer to every part of every question, you could still come away with High Honors. The scoring is on a point system for each part of each question so results may vary greatly among the various submissions.  You could earn bragging rights yet!

Thank you for participation, patience, and good humor.

Margie

JHWS Gwen

2016 Treasure Hunt Master

 

 

 

 

Ballad of Sherlock Holmes

There is no event on file for August 21st, but let’s consider these words:

And to this day we read of them
their ventures have no end.

(Kredens, Diane. “The Ballad of Sherlock Holmes,” BSP, No. 30 (December 1967), 1.)

Limericks

There is no event on file for August 17th or 18th.  Since the last case was CREE, how about three limericks by a wonderfully talented Sherlockian and Hound of the Internet who is sorely missed? Which ending line do you like? Let me know, and on with the show!

The Creeping Man

He ventured out every ninth night,
To scramble up trees in delight.
But then he was seized
By the dog he’d teased
Whose fangs tore his throat with one bite.

-Don Dillistone, November, 2002

The Creeping Man

He ventured out every ninth night,
To scramble up trees in delight.
But then he was seized
By his dog whom he’d teased,
Who slashed his throat with a well-placed bite.

-Don Dillistone, November, 2002

The Creeping Man

He ventured out every ninth night,
To scramble up trees in delight.
But then he was seized
By the dog he’d teased,
Who ripped his throat with a savage bite.

-Don Dillistone, November, 2002

On August 7th…

August 7, 1888: Jim Browner mailed two severed ears to S. Cushing. [CARD]
August 7, 1903: Professor Presbury took Lowenstein’s elixir of life for the fifth time. [CREE]