Martin O'Brien writes:

 

Groop:

 

Greg Williams and I are fortunate to live close to and to have been invited to Indrek Lepson's beautiful home, property and SAUNA.  Yes, a real true Sauna that Indrek had shipped, in parts, from Estonia.  I've never seen anything like it.  It is a woodworker's dream and displays craftsmanship of the highest order.  The ever humble Indrek though quickly pointed out his favorite detail of the Sauna:  the hand carved sign by Groop's genious, wizard and all around nice guy Frank LaRoque.  Not only is the carving beautiful, but the overall design is first rate.  Frank obviously worked in graphic arts for a time.  I've been studying lettering for some years now and can tell you that it's more frustrating than learning how to French Polish a French Poodle.  Pictures of all this are attached.

 

When you enter the sauna building, there is a room with a table upon which Indrek had laid out an international assortment of snacks and beverages for us to ease into the relaxed ritual of what the sauna is all about.  After some eating and drinking and exchange of bovine ordure, we visited Indrek's shop (Greg has a photo), where even more scatalogical musings were bandied about.  Actually, Greg gave us both a serious lesson in aerosol can technology and spray booth technology.  Things quickly deteriorated though into how to turn aerosol cans into fireballs.  Backyard Ballistics 101.  (Can I say that here?)

 

We got back on track and returned to the sauna hut for more eating, drinking and looking at some incredible photos of Indrek's incredible life.  He is truly one of the most amazing people I have ever met.  Keep in mind that he has probably spent most of his life on the deck of sailboats, really large WOODEN sailboats, circling the globe, swimming with crocodiles, fighting off death (numerous times) and marrying Barbara who is his equal in every way.  She lived most of these adventures with him.  Seeing these pictures, hearing his stories and examining his works of art, both large and small, left me feeling as if I have frittered away my relatively short life of 44 years.  Indrek is one of the few I know personally who have grabbed life and squeezed the absolute maximum out of it.  See also, the very useful hammer that opened our beverages.  Mike, do you have one of these?

 

It was time for the out-of-body experience:

 

The sauna is heated entirely by wood and Indrek went easy on us and only let it get up to about 110 degrees, that's Celsius!!!  Yep, past the boiling point of water.  He's had it past 120 degrees, but this is for professionals.  There is a small room right before you go into the sauna itself that is essentially a shower, that is, it has a large shower head suspended from the ceiling and a drain in the stone floor.  It's here where you rinse off and then enter the sauna.  The wood benches in the sauna are so hot that you have to sit on wet towells or you'll get really uncomfortable, perhaps burned.  You immediately start sweating.  The heat comes from a small stove in the sauna proper but fed  from the room we were eating in. It had really hot rocks on the top. When the heat got to the point where we thought we couldn't bear it any longer, Indrek threw water on the rocks which created superheated steam and it felt like the temperature soared and burned like H-E-double hocky sticks.  Yes, it hurt, but like they say, no pain, no gain.  This is the point that you become a believer and have the out of body experience.  One or two more of these 'heat whippings' and we were led out doors into the cold night air.  Yet another out of body experience.  We repeated this hot and cold cycle a few more times and ended it by beating ourselves with Estonian birch branches.  It actually feels better the harder you hit.  You feel purified, both physically and spiritually.

 

As if this were not enough, Indrek's wife Barbara had prepared a traditional meal for us.  We went to the house and enjoyed lutefisk (which we partially cooked in the sauna), Estonian blood sausage,  Estonian sauerkraut (I want the recipe), bratwurst and very hot mustard, Swedish Akuavit (sp?)  the list goes on.  This was a gathering that even some kings don't get the opportunity to experience.  Great conversation, great people, we talked until quite late.  Falling asleep was no problem.  Leaving this morning was difficult as I felt truly part of the family.  Thank you Indrek and Barbara and Greg.

 

MartinO

NC