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A GLASS OF WINE FOR $2.75, AND AN ANGEL IN THE SKY.
Tuesday, and another day in Paradise. I always consider Solvang to be a little Paradise, and that's why I did not move from here when I closed my Art Gallery six years ago.

Stopped off at the New Danish Inn for a glass of wine during Happy Hour. Two friends were at the bar, and there was one seat between them and a group of six people. The six were tourists from a bus, an English couple, two Aussies, and a Dutch couple. They'd been to Arizona, the Grand Canyon and Monument Valley, then Phoenix, and after a stop in Los Angeles they were working their way up the coast to San Francisco. The English couple was from Dover.

The only time I was in Dover, it was full of bomb damage, and there were lots of Tarts around. I don't remember which made the biggest impression on me, the bomb damage or all the Tarts.

We all spent a pleasant hour together in light conversation and then I left. One glass of wine is usually enough for me, and at half price, it was $2.75.

The New Danish Inn is exactly the same as the old Danish Inn, but when Augie, the new owner, and Peggy, the former owner, could not arrive at a price for the name, he did an end run and simply registered it as the New Danish Inn at a cost of $30 and saved himself some money.

AUGGIE WON $55 MILLION IN THE LOTTERY.

I don't remember what year it was, but it was some months after Auggie hit the Lottery for $55 million...about six years ago. He was a rocket scientist, and had worked with Werner von Braun, so he was quite comfortable before he hit the Lottery. His wife, Marguerite, was having a lot of fun with the money. They'd buy a new car and after a few months, she would give it away to a friend and simply buy another. She gave away more than a few of them. She was really enjoying life. They were both around 70 years old when they hit the Big One.

They went into the Danish Inn (which at the time was called Linton's) for dinner one night, and since Marguerite had always liked the place, she (and perhaps Auggie too) decided they should buy it. So they asked for the owner, who was Sly Linton, and told him they wanted to buy it.

Sly had been trying desperatly to sell it for several months, and he had just told me the night before, "Howard, on Monday I am going down to Santa Barbara and file for bankruptcy." Just an hour before this happened, they'd shot up a missle from Vandenberg Air Force Base and the fiery rockets had left a cloud in the sky, a cloud that formed into a perfect outline of an angel!

Someone leaving the bar saw it and went back inside to tell everyone. Sly's daughter-in-law had run back inside after seeing it and said, "An angel is coming to save DAD."

And then an hour later, yep, in walked that sweet angel, Marguerite. I talked to five people who had all seen that "angel in the sky", two of them lived 20 miles from Solvang, and one of them was called by telephone by a friend clear across town to go to the window to see the angel in the sky.

Auggie even hired Sly to manage the place for him, so Sly did quite well on the deal, even if he had lost a lot of money during the time he owned it.

Well, Sly paid off the IRS, which had been dogging him, and Marguerite and Auggie came to Solvang a couple of evenings a week. She'd get a little bit tipsy, but she always had a lot of fun, and would just would socialize with us locals. I think she gave another friend a car about then, a Jaguar if I recall rightly. She liked to dance too.

Some months after that we had a big New Year's party there, and Marguerite came over to our table several times and asked me to dance. She had a great evening, and so did we all. She was so happy.

It wasn't long after that that she went into a deep depression, and refused to come out of her bedroom. All he rmeals were served to her in her room. We haven't seen her in town nor the New Danish Inn since.

Like Sly's daughter-in-law, I too think that it was a sign. It may have been a sign for many other people all around the area, but it worked for Sly.

But then, it didn't turn out so well for Marguerite, did it?

Money isn't the blessing we think it is; our health is our true blessing.

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