Thursday, April 12, 2007

Element(ary), My Dear Watson

As some of you may remember, Christmas 2006 was quite bleak for me. A snowstorm of biblical proportions hit Denver just as my son was preparing to fly out to join us for Christmas. He was unable to come home so we postponed our holiday. Others of you may recall that our family was finally able to get together in late January. That celebration, while belated, was the best holiday celebration our family has had since mom passed away in 2001.

Wonderful things happened during that time. My son, Wolf, flew home and when he arrived at the airport, my brother and I surprised him with a new sunset orange pearl Honda Element. We proceeded to Absarokee to spend a long weekend with my dad, Uncle John and Neighbor Lois. Wonderful presents were given and received, but the most precious gift of all was the time we spent together.

After our days with Dad and Mike, Wolf and I drove to Billings to spend the last night with Cousin Kay and her nieces and nephews. Wolf, took the lead in his Element (gee, I wonder why?), and I followed behind in what my brother and son call the boat car (Pontiac Bonneville, so not cool when compared to a Honda Element).

During the hour long drive we talked to each other via cell phone. The main topic of our conversation was what to put on the license plate for his new vehicle. We thought about using the periodic symbol for copper, Cu, but I remembered seeing the plate already in use, and besides, according to Wolf, it wasn’t cool enough.

We quit talking on the phone as we neared the city. I was concentrating on the traffic (such as it is in a city of around 100,000) and staying right on Wolf’s tail so as not to get lost (I know the thought of me getting lost boggles your mind). We were almost to the hotel when it came to me. I knew exactly what to put on the plate and after a brief phone conversation (where I was berated for calling in traffic--by the way, who's the parent here?), Wolf agreed that my idea was perfect.


So now, 3 months later, the state of Montana has finally issued my son’s new plate.


Some of his friend's "got" it and others didn't. How about you?

29 comments:

Anvilcloud said...

I dunno, I'm so bad at these things. Pleading the 5th or 5th wheel?

Carol said...

No, don't get it ...

Cuppa said...

Hmmmmm? Sorry! I don't get it either.

thailandchani said...

ROTFL!!!! Is he referring to the movie or Plato?


Peace,


~Chani

dmmgmfm said...

AC, nope, but thanks for playing...

Carol, I thought for sure you'd get it.

Cuppa, thanks for trying!

Chani, you are a smart cookie!

KC said...

My guess would have been Boron, the fifth element...

Mary said...

I remember all of these events but I...just...don't...get...it. What is it that Chani knows? The fifth of what? I'm so damned dumb.

dmmgmfm said...

KC, good guess, but not the correct one. I like it though....

Mary, you are anything but dumb!

Ur-spo said...

as in "Henry the..?"

dmmgmfm said...

Ur-spo, nope, sorry. But please accept our parting gifts and thanks for playing!

Menchie said...

um, the only thing that comes to mind is the movie or amendment.

dmmgmfm said...

Menchie...good guess! But which one?

Pam said...

I would have guessed Beehtoven's Fifth.

WithinWithout said...

Hmmm...Must admit I've had to look at the comments to get a clue...my initial thought was the Fifth Element in the table of elements, but someone already guessed that.

Then I thought of the American Constitution's fifth amendment...

"The Fifth Amendment protects witnesses from being forced to incriminate themselves. To "plead the Fifth" or to "take the Fifth" is to refuse to answer a question because the response could form incriminating evidence."

That's from Wikipedia. If it's correct in Wolf's licence plate case, I don't know that story.

My guess is that Wolf is the fifth generation of Kelleys, as hard as that might be to believe...

Do I win a prize or do you press a button and I disappear beneath a trap door into a pool of piranhas?

thailandchani said...

So when are you going to tell us? :)

Peace,

~Ch

Cathy said...

Whaaaaa! I'm clueless! Whaaaaaa! Think . . .think . . . .think.

Cathy said...

I found it! In the movie, "The Fifth Element" - About the fifth element after Earth Wind, Fire and Water - the medievals said of it: Call it love, beauty, the life-force, the Supreme Being.

Now, THAT makes for a good license plate :0)

dmmgmfm said...

Pam, no, but very good guess!

WW, Ha! Those are both very good, although incorrect, guesses. No prize for you today, and no piranhas either. Thank you for playing.

Unknown said...

Are you gonna tell us? After reading all of the guesses I still do not know.

WithinWithout said...

I'd rather face the piranhas...

The Fifth Estate...he lives on 5th Street...he grew up on 5th Street...

Wolf's astrological sign is whatever the fifth planet from the sun is...

You and your brother plead the 5th on how you came up with the money to buy him that Element...

I'm taking the Fifth on why I'm continuing to wrack my brain over this, uncontrollably...

Bonita said...

My turn, my turn! I'll guess, uh, 5th Dimensional Artwork, which is expressed by: Vibrant Colors,
Energy Consciousness, Constant Movement. That would fit your son's car.... notes here:

5th Dimensional Artwork was developed in 1990, Berkeley California.

One artist writes, "This particular style of mine was born out of a deeper awareness of how vibrant colors and the medium of oil can convey a certain vibration of other energy consciousness and symbolic movement. My art comes to celebrate the imagination of the human soul, the cosmic energy patterns and deeper mysteries."

5th Dimensional language is also a medium used to enhance a sharper sense of seeing "beyond the canvas".

What might appear as one image, unfolds into more of an expanded observation if one takes the time to look closer and deeper into the content. The paintings are created in a manner where the images become gateways into another world of interpretation.

The symbols are integral parts of the paintings, as it comes to remind us of fluid sacred geometric forms of the universal life forces embedded in our consciousness as well as in nature.

Well, there you have it, Laurie. I think it fits.

Drew said...

Figured I would throw my guess into the hat as well. My initial guess was The Fifth Element, like the movie, which I think still might be partially correct. Any really good, blog worthy, license plate might have two meanings, which I'm assuming.

So I started looking and it turns out that the last year that the Honda Element was given a Sunset Orange Pearl paint job was the 2005 model. So could the plate be a play on the obvious movie title and its manufacture year? That's my guess. "The 5th" has a double meaning with its year and the movie.

Dysd Housewife said...

Ohhh I love a good riddle. Okay. I will guess. My first guess is that it was the first of 5 BIG gifts given at your X-mas shindig. Thinking that is probably not it, I will guess my second guess which is: "There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of a man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area we call the Twilight Zone."

dmmgmfm said...

Chani, see below :)

Cathy, you (Chani, and Menchie previously, though they both picked two so I didn't give away the answer) are the lucky winner(s)!! The The Fifth Element is one of our favorite movies. We've watched it together so many times, I can't even count them all. It's a fast moving, fun movie and it has a very strong moral. Good job Cathy, Chani and Menchie!

Dave, see above :)

WW, as always, you crack me up! Good answers all, but unfortunately, none of them are correct. Thanks again for playing.

By the way, I'm still looking for appropriate avatars for you, so check your email frequently. ;-)

Bonita, great answer! And it fits well, if only we'd thought of it.

Drew, great guess!!

DH, wonderful answer!!!

Unknown said...

Too bad I got in on this late, I got it right away (I could have astounded you with my knowledge of all things useless). I like the reference especially since Wolf's Element is also the same colour of Leeloo's hair.

dmmgmfm said...

You are so right, Courtney, that thought came to mind after we named it too!

Unknown said...

Unlike Courtney, I'm glad I did arrive after you provided the answer. Otherwise I'd be up trying every possible "The Fifth" around. (I am a reader who skips to the end of a mystery novel when I think I know who the culprit is).

Gina said...

Got it, and didn't have to look at any other comments!

My dad just bought an Element (silver) and he loves it.

jnuts said...

hahahaha. love it. yes, I got it.