Keeping up with the Joneses

So, us Jubileers have many inside jokes that have sprouted up throughout these 8 months. One of these jokes is something that we call ‘The Jones Names’.

Let me take you back to one rainy day in Venice when my dad took a picture of me and my mom in front of the grand staircase in The Doge's Palace. I think he was taken aback by the sheer difference in our dress and that’s what started it.

My mom had been carrying all sorts of necessities that we might need that day. Phones chargers, rocks, umbrellas etc. So as a result, she looked twice her usual size and, quite frankly, kind of lumpy. But she, correctly, said "look don't I always have what we need when we need it?"

So my dad my dad took the picture and laughing said, “Ok Junkyard Jones, move to left a little bit.”

We laughed at that and continued with our day. That nickname stuck throughout the Italy trip.

Now, when we got to Japan, we went to a cafe and I got a piece of sponge cake and wrote a chapter in my novel. When it was done, I read said chapter to my parents and they actually started to cry. After that I would constantly badger them about going to get some sponge cake, thus, earning me the name ‘Spongecake Jones’

One morning (still in Japan) we woke up and found my dad wrapped in a towel. When we asked, he said he had jumped into the freezing cold river by our house at 4:00am in nothing but his underwear......’Icecube Jones’

As you know some people joined us on the jubilee in Greece and Norway so each of them earned Jones names as well.

This is a short tribute to the Joneses who joined us on the jubilee:

JUNKYARD JONES: aka Jessica Thebus

SPONGECAKE JONES: aka Willa Marie Thebus O'Donnell

ICE CUBE JONES: aka David O'Donnell

KitKat Jones: aka Joanie Afton

She was absolutely in love with all of the cats in Greece to such an extent that she got the Jones Name above.

SEA OTTER JONES: aka Cousin Cameron Shaw

Because whenever we went swimming in Greece she would float on her back for such a long time that she reminded us of a sea otter floating about.

SCOREBOARD JONES: aka Kristina O'Donnell

During some of the World Cup, we were in Germany and we watched some of the games there. My grandma, Kris, didn’t seem to be able to comprehend how the score worked during the game. Eventually she was gifted with a Jones name for her confusion. (She figured it out in the end).

GOAT EAR JONES: aka Simone Danzig

In Berlin we went out for lunch with the Danzigs and Simone had her hair up in braids. While we were eating my mom tied these braids up into the little loops that looked like goat ears.

8:02 JONES: aka Leslie Buxbaum-Danzig

When the whole big Norway team met up, we had a very long train ride to Trondheim. Leslie booked the tickets and told the group that the train left at 9:15. In the morning she had a sudden urge to check again and realized that the train actually left at 8:02. In a fury, she kept up and rallied the troops, stuffing us in taxis like a bunch of Marshmallows. In the end. 8:02 Jones prevailed and we made it onto the train.

SNAIL'S BANE JONES: aka Silas Thomas

We were at a beach made of giant rocks and Silas wandered off. Later, we heard him shrieking and saw him dancing around on the rocks in fear. He ran back to us and said, “I was over there and there TONS of snails and I accidentally stepped on one and they all started to move. It was like a rebellion against me”

Snails-bane Jones.

SUPER SCRATCH JONES: aka Abraham Thomas

In Bodo we all went to a bowling alley and played pool for a couple of hours. During the last game, which was three on three, Abe’s team was onto the 8 ball and he went up, ready to win......and scratched. The other team won and everyone burst out laughing. Boom! Super-Scratch Jones.

Mr. ARCTIC CIRCLE JONES: aka Adrian Danzig

The first night in Stamsund, we were going to bed and we looked into Adrian and Leslie’s room and saw Adrain without a shirt and two comforters with a winter coat draped over his chest. My mom cried from laughing when we said Mister Arctic Circle Jones.

Å JONES: aka Sheri Doyel

You know the Norwegian letter Å? Well, Sheri was trying to pronounce it and kept on getting corrected to such an extent that she became A ('ouuh') Jones.

POE JONES: aka Blair Thomas

While we were in Stamsund Blair was working on his puppet show about Edgar Allan Poe. So, with all of our creativity we named him Poe Jones. It has a double meaning however, since he was working so hard he couldn’t join us on our daily adventures so we would call him Po’ Jones because he was missing out.

NO JONES JONES: aka Ezra Danzig

Ezra never really did something that stuck as Jones worthy material, like teflon, so he was dubbed No Jones Jones.

So there you go, all of the Joneses. We couldn’t be happier that they all joined us on this amazing jubilee.

Love to all,

WM