Dear Miss Blue,

Reading your letter about the visit to the circus with the orphans from the Kinder Orphanage brought back memories for me.  Mainly about the elephants that were trained to perform with the friendly visitors, especially children who only knew about elephants from their storybooks. So Dieter was brave when he sat on the elephant's trunk as the elephant walked to and fro.  Franz offered a peanut or two to Jumbo, very diplomatic for so young a boy.  

The Detroit Zoo was built in late 1928 and we visited once every summer.  The concept for running a zoo was not to keep the animals in cages but allow them to be in their own natural environment - moats, rocks, caves with, of course, a barrier to keep people and animals safe. One of the most cherished memories is of the elephant ride; for a nickel, sitting on a bench on the back of the elephant, along with five or six other children and strapped in so we wouldn't fall off the elephant's back, we sang and clapped our hands and the parents watched and took pictures of us.  My father with his new Kodak was very thrilled about it all.  He had the pictures developed and I have one still, somewhere in a box along with other long ago moments. 

This very day  when I'm out and about, I'll stop at my favorite liquor store and bring home a bottle of Singer's Lament. How nice that the brewery named their beer after you, Miss Blue.  

Love, Pearl