Junior Goes To the Masters

By Linda Madrid

Junior and Baby Quackers have gotten to go to many interesting and very pretty places searching for Ms. Quackers.  The Masters course was such a place.  It was here that the idea of Baby Quackers riding on the hat was formed.  Junior wanted to ride also but he is a little heavy in the seat and kept falling off.  This affliction (heavy in the seat), for some of us, comes with middle age; however, like Junior I have had the affliction all my life.

You may notice that in the picture of me in front of the Master’s board I was not wearing the duck hat (Junior and Baby Quackers are peeking out from my purse). My oldest daughter, who says she likes to humor my insanity, was not sure a duck on a hat was appropriate for the Masters.  (Do you think I embarrass my offspring?).  While walking around the course we saw a woman wearing hot pink peddle pushers decorated with pink flamingoes and wearing a hot pink hat to match.  Lorna, my friend, (seen here with the ducks, who also thinks she’s humoring my insanity, but is just as crazy as I am) made the comment that a duck on a hat did not seem that bad after all and Christina had to agree.

We visited the Amicalola Falls on our way to Dahlonega.  Johnny, who is always full of suggestions on where to put the ducks, suggested this shot of the ducks on the railing over looking the falls. (I did let Johnny know if Junior and Baby Q. fell in, he was going in after the ducks.)

 Lorna invited us to “Bear in the Square”, a blue Grass festival, held in Dahlonega (an old gold mining town).  When I first asked Johnny if he would like to go to “Bear in the Square”, he made the comment that he did not like taking his clothes off in public. (I wonder when he ever took his clothes off in public; to find out he did not like it.  I thought I was the only one who mooned the neighbors.)  I had to explain it was not “Bare in the Square”.  How they came up with the name “Bear in the Square” was not apparent to me.  There were booths with crafts and many little groups playing Bluegrass music.   I heard the song “Mountain Dew” at least a dozen times throughout the day.    Baby Quackers took time to pose by some of the crafts.  If you cannot tell, the second picture is a moonshine still.  The maker of the still warned Baby Q. not to drink too much, that moonshine was powerful stuff. (Yes, there are people out there as goofy as I am.)

 Junior, seen here, was listening to some old favorites such as, “Kickin’ Mule”, “Old Slew Foot”, and the all time favorite “Mama Don’t ‘low”.  (It made me wants to dig my old Banjo out of the closet and tune her up.)

Dahlonega has a lot of Antique and Craft shops. While exploring one of the shops, a shopkeeper commented that I had a duck on my hat.  I showed her Junior peeking out from my purse and told her the ducks have been traveling all over the world with me.  I have had many different reactions to this comment; but, this is the first time, I had someone grab my arm and call out “Harriet call 911; we have a basket case here”.  Johnny even came running to see what was going on.  She was rather loud but at least she was laughing.

Junior did find himself in a 911 pose in one of the Antique shops.  What caught my attention after I got home was the sign in the background, which you cannot read because the picture is too small, but says “Who stopped payment on my reality check?”  (How appropriate.)

As Johnny was leaving on his most recent trip he asked if I would like him to take a camera along.  Without pause or taking a breath, he added “I am not taking any ducks”.   He always seems ready with suggestions on where to put the ducks, how to pose the ducks, and what would make a good picture, so I thought he likes the ducks.  I asked if he was developing a love-hate relationship with the ducks.  His response was “no, just hate”.  Junior and baby Quackers have decided to make him pay for that remark. They just might pop out of his computer briefcase unexpectedly at one of his big international meetings one of these days.