We Have a Winner!

The Great Northwest Glass Quest in Stanwood and Camano Island is in its last weekend. It's an annual event, lasting ten days, where merchants hide clue balls in their business or at a public park and folks go from business to park looking for a clue ball. The finder is entitled to a beautiful handblown glass ball, identified with the year and the number of the ball. It's quite a big deal, and I'd love to have one of the beautiful balls. But I am not an avid enough hunter to set aside several hours and drive many miles, nor have I yet develop a sharp enough eye to guarantee that I will eventually win a ball.

I get distracted when I go hunting. I go to stores that are not on the list. While looking for the clue ball in an establishment I am just as likely to pay more attention to the merchandise and have to retrace my steps to see if I looked right at the clue ball and saw only the lovely scarf beside it. I am, I realize, exactly the kind of person the creators of this quest had in mind when they came up with this game.

There were several places at the east end of downtown Stanwood that I wanted to explore today. I went down the north side of the street and was heading down the south side with only two businesses left -- A Guilded Gallery and Snow Goose Bookstore -- before going home. I stepped inside the art gallery; my hand was still on the door knob when I heard a loud cry, "I found it! I found the clue ball! I can't believe it! I found it!!" I was disappointed, yet I couldn't help smiling. Around the corner, clutching a small clear plastic clue ball wrapped in a red knit covering, stepped Barbara, the ecstatic winner. "Finally, I found a ball!" she announced. 

I talked to Barbara later. She's been trying to find a ball for years. She has just the spot for it, on the shelf in front of her Picasso piece or her work by Pissaro. She said that the ball she selected was the perfect colors for her room. 

Until today, I'd never seen a clue ball. I didn't know that they might be camouflaged, as the one in the red knit covering was, and I'd certainly never been around when someone found it. Let me tell you, it was worth it just to be there and hear how excited Barbara was to win!

One of these years it just might be me!