brightnorm
Flashaholic
- Joined
- Oct 13, 2001
- Messages
- 7,160
I have only one real gripe about the Cafe; it's the same gripe we all have and it's boring to repeat it but I'm going to anyway in a longwinded manner, which you should probably skip.
This discussion calls to mind the time many years ago when a giant valley above Basalt, Colorado was flooded and dammed and became "Ruedi Reservoir", a beautiful man-made alpine lake in the middle of the Rockies. A small beach was created and a few folks would come up from Aspen and other towns to swim, sail and paddle canoes and rowboats in the cold clear water. It was a truly wonderful place, quiet, peaceful and never crowded, at least in the beginning. One sunny afternoon during my third summer in Aspen my girlfriend and I drove up to "Lake Ruedi", inflated my 9' Sea Eagle raft and started out across the lake, rowing leisurely and enjoying each other's company and the quiet beauty of the water.
We gradually became aware of a strange buzzing noise that grew louder as we rounded an outcropping and saw a small motorboat fitted with a huge outboard motor roaring across the waters. Being naive and idealistic youngsters we felt angered and betrayed by what seemed like an obscene intrusion into a bucolic idyll. Worse was to come as more motorboats appeared during that summer along with water-skiers and loud, loud noise. Even when dusk came and the lake grew quiet the pristine illusion was shattered by small telltale oil slicks.
What really impressed us was that it took only one or two loud motorboats to spoil an entire lake, or so it seemed to us back then.
Just a few loud boats spoil a lake
A single bad apple spoils the barrel
One belligerent drunk spoils the party
One indelible ink stain ruins your best shirt
A couple of bad leaks sink your boat
A few words said in anger screw up a friendship
A couple of criminals spoil a neighborhood…
Well, you see what I'm getting at with this non-subtle tirade.
Rant over.
Brightnorm
This discussion calls to mind the time many years ago when a giant valley above Basalt, Colorado was flooded and dammed and became "Ruedi Reservoir", a beautiful man-made alpine lake in the middle of the Rockies. A small beach was created and a few folks would come up from Aspen and other towns to swim, sail and paddle canoes and rowboats in the cold clear water. It was a truly wonderful place, quiet, peaceful and never crowded, at least in the beginning. One sunny afternoon during my third summer in Aspen my girlfriend and I drove up to "Lake Ruedi", inflated my 9' Sea Eagle raft and started out across the lake, rowing leisurely and enjoying each other's company and the quiet beauty of the water.
We gradually became aware of a strange buzzing noise that grew louder as we rounded an outcropping and saw a small motorboat fitted with a huge outboard motor roaring across the waters. Being naive and idealistic youngsters we felt angered and betrayed by what seemed like an obscene intrusion into a bucolic idyll. Worse was to come as more motorboats appeared during that summer along with water-skiers and loud, loud noise. Even when dusk came and the lake grew quiet the pristine illusion was shattered by small telltale oil slicks.
What really impressed us was that it took only one or two loud motorboats to spoil an entire lake, or so it seemed to us back then.
Just a few loud boats spoil a lake
A single bad apple spoils the barrel
One belligerent drunk spoils the party
One indelible ink stain ruins your best shirt
A couple of bad leaks sink your boat
A few words said in anger screw up a friendship
A couple of criminals spoil a neighborhood…
Well, you see what I'm getting at with this non-subtle tirade.
Rant over.
Brightnorm
