Saturday, July 28, 2007


~:S O R R Y • B U T • S M A R T:~
My grandfather was a very, very funny man. The best kind of grandfather out there - one who really played with us. His name was Harvey Thomas Anderson, but we called him Bopie (pronounced bah-pee). He had a history of playing practical jokes with a masterful sense of humor.

Now, I can't remember the whole story here, but Bopie did something to really miff my grandmother. So bad that they had one of those silent treatment fights that lasted for a while. To charm her back to him, he spelled S O R R Y out on the lawn with fertilizer or grass seed (I can't remember which) but whatever it was, it was enough to change the look of the lawn for an entire growing season.

Smart, huh?

5 comments:

minus five said...

that is awesome! i always wanted to spell things in our lawn when i was growing up. "sorry" wasn't one of them.

Anne Elser said...

Oh man! A dirty, filthy word would have been fantastic! I'll try to remember that one the next time I want to be offensive. Which is like all the time.

Jessica said...

Anne, your brothers travel log is beautiful and somehow frightening. What a wonderful was to remember a life.

http://jessicatillyer.wordpress.com

Anne Elser said...

Thank you for saying so Jessica!

Nancy said...

I think it was even longer than a growing season. He tried to erase it by treating the whole lawn but "sorry" had too great of a head start. He told mother that this apology will count for further infractions.

The local very small private airline co. was not too far away. The pilots did not know to be amused or nervous but for certain they were curious. they called Daddy for the real scoop.

There are many great stories about him. What a funny man.