WPA posters from Katherine Milhous courtesy of WPA Posters which links to the Library of Congress WPA Archive (!)

To Win at Every Game One Engages In
Tie the heart of a bat with a red silken string to the right arm, and you will win every game at cards you play.
Long Lost Friend,(Der Lange Verborgene Freund)by Johann Georg Hohman,
published first in Pennsylvania in 1820

We have bats behind the shutters of the Camp House-- so the temptation to wear them on my arm is huge as Pat the Bugman (our exterminator) says there is no way to get the bats when they are happily hiding there. No way to trap them, no way to shoo them away.
So, in the tradition of the Pennsylvania Germans, we can tie their hearts to our arms with a red string. Just like the Kabala, the Powwowers love red string.

I was reading a bit on Conrad Beissel and his poetry, particularly the hymn about roses linking a year of a rose to the year of the Solitary within the Ephrata Cloister and am working out a little rosy picture to go with it. However after reading this very detailled description of Ephrata, it's traditions and lifestyles: Ephrata, Hotbed of Religion>> it is far more severe and less rosy than my fantasy picture I drew today...However, the reality is far more severe and interesting than I could have ever imagined. Fabulous...and worth our talking about tomorrow. Its late and the day has gotten away from me.
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Alex is on day two of the flu--but is better. Kitty is busy with plays and work. Rob is busy with the Ennion Society meeting/dinner and the Seminar on Glass this week...and I am just slugging away.