Tilting at Windmills

Author: 
Joan Perry
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"Do you see over yonder, friend Sancho, thirty or forty hulking giants? I intend to do battle with them and slay them. With their spoils we shall begin to be rich for this is a righteous war and the removal of so foul a brood from off the face of the earth is a service God will bless."

 

"What giants?" asked Sancho Panza. 

 

"Those you see over there," replied his master, "with their long arms. Some of them have arms well nigh two leagues in length."
 
"Take care, sir," cried Sancho. "Those over there are not giants but windmills. Those things that seem to be their arms are sails which, when they are whirled around by the wind, turn the millstone."
 
(excerpt from Don Quixote, by Miguel de Cervantes)
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Are we fortunate? We have only the one giant to battle. This adorable windmill watches over the boaters putting in at the Wappoo Cut boat landing. Built by John Roessler at the Wappoo Cut around 1936, it was a landmark along the Intracoastal Waterway. It was donated to the club and moved near Elliott's Cut adjacent to the Plymouth Avenue firehouse boat landing and playground in 2000. She is a sweetie. I've featured her before and I expect I will again.