When the lake we love for it’s scenic splendor showed up in a photo on the front page of the New York Times with the caption, “ The lake that Mark Twain once called ‘the fairest picture the whole Earth affords,’ looks and smells like the bottom of an ashtray.” Well, that was enough to sink my heart to the very bottom of Lake Tahoe.
So I donned a mask and walked down to the lake. I don’t tear-up easily, but “the fairest picture the whole Earth affords” was not looking so fair. A lady shouted to me along the way, “You are so brave to be out here walking.”
I responded, “Thanks be to our intrepid firefighters we have the smoke, and not the flames.” Then I evacuated on an unplanned road trip to visit friends in the Bay Area who were
not expecting me…
My Evacuation List looked something like this…
1 Check on the neighbors
2 Grab a Twain portrait
3 Pack a toothbrush
4 Grab a Twain portrait
5 Pack a change of skivvy-drawers
6 Grab a Twain portrait
One nice thing about lifelong friends is that they are always quick to feign they are as happy to see you as they might be to see a winning three-way parlay ticket placed at the Hyatt Sports Book a year or two ago. And too, it’s always entertaining to hear one of them whisper through the kitchen window, “Hide the good silver!”
And then our fearless firefighters did it! Twenty nine hundred of Tahoe’s finest saved the Masterpiece of the Creator, the Lake of the Sky, Lake Tahoe. I thanked my generous hosts for their safe harbor and drove four hours home to the lake, still there, encased in hazardous haze, but still there. I was so elated to be returning home that I realized as I pulled into my drive that I had made the entire trip with my left turn indicator on.
Once again home to Layne Haven, I opened a bottle of Mark Twain’s Private Stock and hoisted a glass on high to our gallant firefighters, hung a few Twain portraits back up on the wall, and called St. Pat’s for a possible venue in which to present a benefit for our firefighters, the victims of the Caldor Fire, and the animal rescue heroes who answered the call. Outside of a grateful look from a grounded hoot owl, those animal rescue folks hardly get any thanks.
I’m happy to report our benefit will be at St. Pat’s beautiful new outdoor amphitheater on the evening of Saturday, September 25th, 6pm-7:30, “The Air That Angels Breathe – An Evening with Mark Twain at Tahoe and the Hawaiian Islands.”
Let’s get out and shout our gratitude…a $25 donation is suggested, more if you can stand it, checks payalbe to St. Patrick’s Episcopal Church. For reservations call 775-833-1835.
Seating will be limited to 100.
About the Author McAvoy Layne
For thirty-four years now, in four thousand performances from
Piper’s Opera House to Leningrad University in Russia,
McAvoy has been preeminent in preserving the wit & wisdom of
The Wild Humorist of the Pacific Slope, Mark Twain.
McAvoy is a winner of the Nevada Award for Excellence in School and Library Service.
He plays the ghost of Mark Twain in the Discovery Channel’s Cronkite Award winning documentary, 'Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.'
Says McAvoy, “It’s like being a Monday through Friday preacher,
whose sermon, though not reverently pious, is fervently American.”