The photo dg calls “Swimming With the Loons,” also the title of his next book. It shows the now famous NC blue dog Lucy anxiously watching her fearless master (large dot) as he swims further and further into the lake in the company of a pair of loons (two smaller dots) whom he befriended. Initially, he gained their trust by mimicking loon calls and diving under water for extended periods. This is on Misty Lake in Algonquin Park, Day 9 of the EPE (Epic Paddle Event). (No animals were injured during filming. All stunts were performed by the author.)
It was during a moment of sublime unity with Nature such as this that it occurred to dg that the winner of the First Ever Annual Numéro Cinq Translation Contest had to be Gary Garvin, not just because of his hilariously parodic official translation but also (as Jacob suggested in his People’s Choice vote comment) because of his incredibly witty first response, that passage of Chinese characters (when he quite correctly noticed that dg had neglected to stipulate the language of the final translation–see all the entries here). Congratulations, Gary. Please feel free to fly out here at any time, and bring Rich Farrell’s bottle of Talisker when you come.
The other finalists were nearly equally brilliant and this is what flummoxed the judges for so long. The level of attack, of wit and arrogance, far exceeded our expectation. (See the finalists here.)
With this out of the way (luckily, most of you will have forgotten the contest, so we expect no protests), we can now push on to other literary competitions.
dg