When daughter Lise and I were talking about visitors Magda and Basia, we took a short cut by using their last name. Instead of the Polish name, we used an English translation of “Duckling”. It was much easier, and I love the sound of it. Because of the name, they had a special encounter on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

We had stopped several times at lookout points, and this particular time there was a Jeep that had a full row of toy ducks lined up on the dash. Magda spoke to the owner and asked about all the ducks. I didn’t notice any of this, but she told us as we drove on to another spot. We got out of the car and found that the Jeep had pulled in, too. The man gave Magda one of their ducks – a small one, all green and as cute as could be. Isn’t that amazing?

Magda put the duck on the armrest between the front seats to ride to the next stop. I had a chance to take its photo and didn’t think of it. When it fell off, I was glad she put it in her bag so that it wouldn’t be lost in my car. I’m sure it will be a treasured souvenir of this trip to the US.