Today we would like to welcome the newest addition to Spumoni’s Friends.  Please give a warm greeting to Bodo!  His human companion is my friend Martina who lives in Germany. 

I had the pleasure of meeting Bodo a couple of years ago. He is a very lively creature with a great personality. While he enjoys roaming around the family garden he also likes to hang out with people. He is very friendly and affectionate.

Here is Martina’s story about Bodo. 

“I don’t even know exactly where Bodo came from. It was a coincidence via Whatsapp. I picked him up together with my father with the bicycle from a single young mother with daughter.

A year later he was gone. Like never before. For 3.5 weeks I looked for him every night, after the late shift, sometimes until 3 o’clock in the morning.

Then one night to my surprise, my father (he has a key for all cases) stood with him in his arms in front of my bed.

Bodo was back, with a multiple comminuted fracture in his thigh.”

Since returning home he has healed up nicely and is back to being his normal playful self.

Spumoni on PBS

If you are one of Spumoni’s Friends it’s likely that you will remember that he provided the inspiration for Spumoni Circle (which is the roundabout in Incline Village).  The sculptor who created all the bronze statues is world renowned artist June Brown.

Recently, PBS in Reno produced a very nice feature showcasing June’s beautiful sculptures including the one of Spumoni. Please click here to see the video.

The beautiful life-size bronze sculpture of a bobcat features the face of Spumoni. All of the statues in Spumoni Circle represent wildlife native to the Lake Tahoe basin. One of the happiest moments in my life was to assist with this extraordinary statue being installed on the east side of Spumoni Circle.

If you are driving west on Highway 28 from Incline Village towards California you will be looking directly at the statue of Spumoni. Make sure you wave to him whenever you pass by and take a moment to think about all of the joy he brought to the lives of so many people.