On the third Monday of each month, the Watson's Tin Box of Ellicott City scion meets at Union Jack's in Columbia MD and we gathered on February 16 for another great gathering of members - 28 in total - and it was a rowdy bunch!
As always I took a census of where people were attending from, and Columbia MD was the winner, and we had two first-time visitors! Al Hafner lives locally, and decided it was time to convert his lifelong love of Sherlock into sitting around with a group of Sherlockians and talking about it! and our guest speaker Emily Miranker was also a first-time visitor to WTB. Wonderful.
The story of the meeting was Norwood Builder.
After introductions, we moved to the toasts. Evy Herzog have the toast to 'The Woman' (Irene Adler), and Liane Luini presented a toast written by April Curnow and published in Irene’s Cabinet Vol 9, 2011.
Another Medical Minute, Circa 1895 To Brandy
by April Curnow
by April Curnow
Not the gin of the slum
Nor the docksider’s rum,
It’s highly respectable: brandy.
A drink most restorative,
Nothing pejorative
In a delectable brandy.
So let’s drink to brandy! It’s really quite handy
For treating the faint and the weak and the ill.
It revives the dulled senses at modest expense
And it’s far more relaxing than taking a pill.
A medicinal tot will just hit the spot.
Administer one shot, or possibly two.
Any doctor of worth keeps a flask of the stuff
In his little black bag. No mere tonic will do.
So let’s drink again! Fortifier of men
And ladies with vapours and delicate souls
Most in need of support. If you haven’t got port
Or claret on the sideboard, try brandy.
Nor the docksider’s rum,
It’s highly respectable: brandy.
A drink most restorative,
Nothing pejorative
In a delectable brandy.
So let’s drink to brandy! It’s really quite handy
For treating the faint and the weak and the ill.
It revives the dulled senses at modest expense
And it’s far more relaxing than taking a pill.
A medicinal tot will just hit the spot.
Administer one shot, or possibly two.
Any doctor of worth keeps a flask of the stuff
In his little black bag. No mere tonic will do.
So let’s drink again! Fortifier of men
And ladies with vapours and delicate souls
Most in need of support. If you haven’t got port
Or claret on the sideboard, try brandy.
Tom Fahres then delivered his traditional Haiku for the story:
A bloody thumb print
Is the key to solve the case
For Lastrade, or Holmes?
We then moved on to Announcements - (I hate to say I've lost a page of notes so these are limited)
- The BIG NEWS from Liane Luine is that the 2026 Irene's Cabinet will be available for purchase at the March WTB meeting, then available more widely (while issues last). We are all SO EXCITED that our annual journal is back.
- The DC Whiskey and Sodality meeting will again take place again soon. As always, contact Terry McCammon for details. "Excellent ventilation, excellent pub type food. Good whisky and draft beer list. I have cigars to share." Smoking optional ; ventilation excellent.
- The next Red Circle next meets on Saturday March 14 - details here - I will be speaking.... about the Dancing Miners.
OK the next part of our meeting is becoming a wonderful tradition. The exceptionally creative Michelle March shared a range of new Sherlockian creations. Some were inspired by Watson's Tin Box, some by the canon - and all are amazing.
Next was a fantastic t-shirt design for 'Norwood Builder' which was a prize for the quiz:
Jonas Oldacre
Lower Norwood
1 star out of 5
Would not recommend. Drafting department only does suspicious wills. Design department only does malicious schemes. Attic seems smaller. Sounds like a rat's nest in wall. Door handle installed without door. Billed twice, second time by a "Mr. Cornelius, who never even showed up."
Michelle also shared a new Rubix cube, with Sherlockian designs on each square:
Finally, for every person present, Michelle had made a personal Watson's Tin Box (!!!). Inside was a hammer, the first of many charms that will be added as we discuss the stories. We also received a BRAIN if we attended the recent Mycroft quiz.
We thrill and we marvel at Michelle's creativity. There is a book in Michelle's future that captures all of her Sherlockian creations.
Speaking of the Mycroft Quiz, we were able to present Victoria Wood with her 'Strangers' Room' prize, which she will care for till 2027. Victoria was THRILLED :
We next moved on to our story for the month: Norwood Builder. As always, Debbie Clark presented the contents of the evidence box. This box had a LOT of documents, some very original. I've placed here a layout of all the items from the evidence box - you can look at all the items here in detail at the Watsons Tin Box website.
There are some wonderful items here: a mutilated photograph of a young woman, telegrams, a very small horse-drawn fire engine, an original (not faux-original) will, cheques (or checks), and of course a thumbprint in wax.
The story discussion was a good one!! We all decided we wanted to know a lot more about Jonas Oldacre's colluding housekeeper... she was arrested at the end of the stories, but how involved was she? Did she kill the rabbits? Start the fire? What else?!?!?? There was a lot of discussion about the hidden room.... how do you not see a door, and well.... did he go to the bathroom in there?
The new fingerprint, and the method of creating it, was disputed. Luckily for us Al brought his career to the meeting as a crime-scene expert and confirmed that yes, it is absolutely possible to create a copy of a fingerprint from a mould (or mold).
Emily Miranker was our guest presenter for the evening. Emily is a second generation Sherlockian, tagging along to scion societies until after college when she started attending ASH and Priory School meetings and the Birthday Weekend, getting her shilling in 2015. She is in the first cohort of women members of the Speckled Band of Boston; an erstwhile attendee of Sons and Daughters of Copper Beeches of Philadelphia, Norwegian Explorers of Minneapolis, Scowerers and Molly Maguires of San Francisco, and her local Scion is the Red Circle in DC.
It was a wonderful presentation. I do not describe the details of our presenters - they are usually evolving into articles. Emily spoke about American women in the canon, and drew on examples from other Victorian and mystery literature. Emily's slides were amazing, and she spoke about the Victorian view of America - it's space and the social freedoms it provided compared to class-restricted British life.
I can't wait to read Emily's article, and I'm exceptionally thankful for her taking the time to spend an evening with us.
We ended with with traditional quiz, set by our torquemadae Olivia Millunzi. Olivia's wonderful quiz is shown below.
No comments:
Post a Comment