Another interesting angle to the diamond pattern.? It eats up 13 slots in the 5 X 5 square (the number of jewels) and leaves 12 behind (the number of jewels we started with).
Well, I finally got away from work, and tomorrow morning I get up early and head off to search for my first token, testing my theory. Of course, I am dying to give my destination away--it seems so perfect based on the clues, but I will wait until I am a bit closer as I am still 2-3 hours away.
However, in the past two days of my vacation--the following has happened (some of this may give some of you clues as to where I am right now):
1.? ?I walk into my hotel room and discover a destination booklet the name of which is "The treasures you will find here"
2.? ?I find a radio station here that plays great 60s and 70s music.? Only after the third or fourth song did I discover that the call letters for the station are KJUL (K-Jewel).
3.? I stop at a great sidewalk cafe and saw a type of wine on the menu I love but rarely see. When I looked at the vineyard producing it, I discovered it to be "Jewel Valley"
4.? If my theory is right, the token I will find will be for the ladybug (the least valuable of them all, alas).? Five minutes after leaving the aforementioned cafe, I pass the Ladybug Nursery on the highway.
5. This morning I went to the art museum here. I turn a corner in the exhibition gallery and there staring me straight in the face is a floor to ceiling sized painting of a petrified tree with a huge knothole in the center of it.
Wish me well.? I will say this much--I do believe the sanctuary of the jewels is a knothole--too much in the book leads us in that path and the claims of why that would not work do not convince me, given my theory of WHERE the knotholes are.? Also, I find it odd that people are not questioning the Old English spelling of 'tweleve' but question the Old English spelling of 'rizing' and gulden' in the anagram I unearthed:? Look in me, look in me, under rizing moon a gulden prize you will see" (Moonlike, moonlike...).? Might that anagram be trying to tell us that the trees we're searching for all have knotholes on their eastern side (since the moon rises in the east)?
Final clue:? maybe it's just coincidence, but this "just happens" to be the 100th anniversary of something very important that has a strong connection to our story.? I have to believe Stadther wrote the book with the goal of having us respect that anniversary AND make money to boot.
By 7 pm Friday EST I should know if my theory is valid. I have high hopes but only moderate expectations. I'll share what I learn with the many of you who have helped shape the solutions along the way.
Gemini (a HE, not a SHE, by the way).
