Scottish Shandy

Just as you're driving into Blanco, Texas, you might spot an antique shop on your left.  You might do a U-Turn, even though Carousel Antiques and Collectibles doesn't look impressive.  It probably doesn't have a coffee table, but you decide to look anyway.

Last night, maybe you looked at all the coffee tables on all the sites and you kept reading "manufactured wood"  and you want real wood.

When you walk in, you see a dozen model airplanes hanging from the ceiling.  You can buy them with remote controls and actually fly them, or he can 'de-commission" them and sell them to you for decor.  They are meticulously built with balsa wood kits then fabric is stretched over the wings of some.  This is Scottish Sandy's absorbing errand at 79.

He's adorable.  You tell him he should grow out his beard and play Santa Clause. "People tell me that all the time," he says.  He has a beautiful smile and clear blue eyes.  "I smile so people will wonder what I'm up to," he says.

"I made knives for forty years," he says.  "Then I switched to tuning instruments.  Now it's these airplanes."

You might ask him to play his mandolin for you.  He plays every Sunday in a local jam.

'Have you ever heard of Homer and Jethro?" he asks.  "Here I'll sing you one of their tunes.  They are all parodies of forties songs.  I have them all on CDs.  A friend put all my records on CDs, but you can probably hear them on the internet."

He tunes up his mandolin.  "I used to play a twelve-string guitar but now that my fingers are all crooked with arthritis, I play this instead."

How much is that hound dog in the window?
The one with the long mangey tail?
How much is that doggie in the window?
I do hope that hound dog's for sale.

You might want to stay an hour--as I did.  He tells you, "I'm happy cause I'm rich.  Not in money but in everything else that matters."

"Be careful now, getting out on the highway.  Go back the way you came and take a U-Turn, don't try to turn right, it's too dangerous."