It's funny you should mention "No smell" in regards to the bagpipe. I just saw an article in the Wall Street Journal about bagpipes. I didn't know that the bag is traditionally made of sheep skin. Apparantly they can be quite smelly..........

Which reminds me of the day that I ought to have stayed home instead of going to my Judo class. At the time, I owned a small Cafe in southern Oregon. I was the owner, cook, waitress, dishwasher, and anything else that needed to be done person. It was a consuming job, and I was pretty well exhausted by the time I closed the doors. My dinner would generally consist of whatever I could quickly grab in the restaurant.

Unfortuneately, that's not very healthy. I got away from cooking good food for myself and became run down. The doctor, after interviewing me, said that my body had become a cesspool of bad things and that I needed to change my diet, which I did right away.

Have you ever suddenly began eating a high fiber diet after not having done so? It has a definate effect on the digestive system. Lots of gas. You can see where this is going.

I really liked my Judo class. The instructor was one of those gentle giants. His grand stature and buzz cut might initially give the impression of a tough guy, but not so. I came to class as usual, and as we gathered and stepped on the mat, I had my first clue that I ought to leave. Part of the ritual of Judo is bowing.

You bow before stepping onto the mat, you bow to your partner before you attempt to send him flying through the air. I bowed at the edge of the mat and whoops! A humdinger of air pollutant escaped from my shocked intestinal system. I figured I'd wait a minute there at the edge of the mat.

But you know how it is. When you walk, the vacuum sucks the air in behind you and the putrescent air follows. With the exertion of the excerises and hitting the mat with an odiferous splat I managed to create quite a cloud of undesireable atmosphere. Finally, waiting in line and standing next to my teacher, my secret got out.

Yes friends, the old childhood acronym of SBD's was applicable that day. (SBD=silent, but deadly) My teacher wrinkled his nose and turned to me saying, "It smells like a sewer pipe broke!" Now at this point, you would think that no self respecting person would admit to being reaponsible for perfuming the air in such a manner. But not Margo, no.

I sheepishly admitted that I had changed my diet......I think his embarassment was at or above my level. Maybe I wanted to share that too!

(I'm not really such a stinker)

Margarita