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left behind on purpose



> Indiana cantaloupes are in season - I'll bring some of those!
>
Actually the ones you want come from Green River, Utah, the self-
proclaimed Melon Capitol of the World.  Melon Days should be
happening in a week or two, complete with various melon-related
activities and, I kid you not, a Melon Queen, one of whom is
married to a guy I know from running rivers.  The melons thrive,
especially this year when it's been so hot!, on good sandy soil and
plenty of water from the Seedskeedee Agie, or Green River.  I've
stood at my kitchen sink and eaten honeydew from Green River
until I just about foundered.

Speaking of melons and since it's Friday and all the industrious
archivists (just kidding!) are in Denver, may I tell a quick river story--
being after all, a river archivist ....

There I was (as all river stories are supposed to start), on a 10-day
canoe trip down the beautiful flatwater canyons of the lower Green,
just below the town of Green River.  It being August, we had canoe-
loads of melons and ate them every day.  One guy on the trip was
a tall, stooped man with a long grey beard and equally long grey
hair.  His name was John.  He was also tanned almost black; he
said it was from hanging out in Micronesia when he was younger.
There he learned the trick, he said, of using fruit rinds for a natural
sunscreen; papaya, mango, guava, whatever else is available there.
 But then, taking that morning's honeydew and canteloupe rinds
from the trash, he said that they worked just as well.  He
proceeded to rub the rinds all over his body (and he wore only
speedos, it being very hot).  We all scoffed at first but then I
thought, as I always do, you're on the river to try something
different so why not?  And I became the first to try it.  Surprisingly,
and contrary to what you might think, it was not sticky; did not
draw flies; did not sour on your skin nor smell.  Within 10 minutes
you didn't know it was there, and after baking for ten days in my
open-cockpit foldboat under cloudless August skies in the southern
Utah desert, I can testify that it worked.  About four other people
tried it and we all agreed it was wonderful, cooling and smelled
good going on.  We agreed that we had become accolytes, and
dubbed him King John of the Melonites.

And that's no ... stuff, as river stories are supposed to end.  Sort of.

Back to work, and I apologize for being so totally off-topic; it's just
the end of the season and it makes you nostalgic.  What _will_ the
rest of archivy think of us?!

Roy


Roy Webb, C.A.
Multimedia Archivist
Special Collections
J. Willard Marriott Library
295 South 1500 East
University of Utah
Salt Lake City, Utah   84112
(801) 585-3073  //  fax (801) 585-3976
rwebb@library.utah.edu

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