Found Note in a Bottle

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Found Note in a Bottle

October 19, 2011 by artistatexit0

For many years I’ve been beach combing at the Falls of the Ohio and I bet I’ve looked at thousands of bottles and never found one with a note in it…until now! I was going through a bag at home where I’ve stored bottles I’ve collected in the park when I noticed one that had something rolled up inside of it. I don’t know how long I’ve had this tiny bottle, but the enclosed note didn’t register at the time of discovery.

The bottle itself is somewhat unusual because it is so small. It’s the size I remember being served on airline flights when people purchased mixed drinks. The bottle is plastic and originally contained cherry flavored vodka which doesn’t sound too appetizing to me, but what the heck. I fished out the note which is made of waxy paper with silver foil on one side. The note itself is written with what looks to be orange color pencil and was a bit hard to read. I got a little lump in my throat when I read it and it says…”I miss you Mom & Dad, New Albany, IN”. New Albany is found down river from the Falls, across from Louisville, and couldn’t have floated here from there. So, I surmise the note was written in the park and then thrown into the Ohio River which then washed back on the beach. Today is my Mom’s birthday and now I’m going to call her to see if she had a good one? So long for now.

Posted in collections, Falls of the Ohio, Louisville, Kentucky, recycled art, unusual collection, watershed | Tagged artistatexit0, Beach combing, Falls of the Ohio, flotsam and jetsam, found objects, lost and found, note in a bottle, Ohio River | 8 Comments

8 Responses

on October 19, 2011 at 8:36 pm | Reply Julia

What a heartbreaking note–I hope that sending it off in the river gave the writer some comfort. How amazing that you found it…
- on October 20, 2011 at 11:41 am | Reply artistatexit0
  
  I hope so too Julia. Putting notes in bottles strikes me as being similar to hanging up prayer flags. You hope the forces of nature will take your message to who needs to hear it.
on October 20, 2011 at 11:14 am | Reply whitewolf1607

What a wonderful post Al, absolutely love it 🙂
Hope your Mom had a great birthday 🙂

d.
- on October 20, 2011 at 11:34 am | Reply artistatexit0
  
  Fielen dank! I hope she did too.
on October 23, 2011 at 9:12 am | Reply Bernard Paquette

If fish could write, I wonder what messages they would enter into floating bottles. I bet there would be a LOT of messages. Might open up new competition to newspapers and magazines. Why I bet you would see hundreds of people on the beach every day picking up bottles on shore to read the notes inside. Now some of those notes would be pleasant… news about the fish family, how the worms have been old and soggy lately (note to fishermen). But I bet some of the notes would be down right angry, and get right to the point of telling us to stop polluting aquatic environments-FISH HOMES.
Whats bubbling up in your favorite watershed…. anybody read fish bubbles?
Bernie
P.S. Ck out the Halloween story I wrote, titled “At the drop of a spoon”.
http://litterwithastorytotell.blogspot.com/
- on October 25, 2011 at 2:57 pm | Reply artistatexit0
  
  Bernie…When it comes to the environment, I’ll bet these fish could “school” us! Sorry for the bad pun!!
on October 27, 2011 at 1:04 pm | Reply lesliepaints

What an awesome find. The best, really! And thankyou for connecting us all to it, Al!
- on October 29, 2011 at 9:45 am | Reply artistatexit0
  
  Thanks Leslie…I found the message to be poignant too.