Whoever heard of a US Post Office having an “open house”? We had one in Port Ludlow a couple of weeks ago complete with bratwurst, drinks and music. The new owner of the post office decided to have a party and celebrate the redecorated facility. The town showed up. My source for all news automotive, Skip Owen, has recently been alerting me to the vintage automobile theme and the general upgrading and updating of the much frequented post office. There were two bands playing music from the ‘60s through the present. Actually one of the bands was just one guy with several instruments, primarily steel drums, and some background music. There were several successful attempts to get attendees to sing and dance, the most prominent successful one being Eve McDougal who was both entertaining and entertained!

The generally appreciated US flags flew again on a beautiful Labor Day weekend. This year’s Rotary Foreign Exchange student, Cai, got up early for a high school student and helped. She is from the Netherlands and the club asks that these students help put up/take down the flags with us. BJ particularly enjoys having her in town because Cai is actually about an inch shorter, which makes her really short. Or, as BJ says, “optimally sized”.

The weather on Labor Day weekend was really nice and we took advantage of it first with a crab feed dinner at the Yacht Club. The crab was excellent and frankly one of my highlights was that I sprayed not a drop of that juice from the shell onto my clean and pressed shirt. BJ appreciated it too, having just ironed the shirt for me that afternoon. The maximum of 60 signed up to partake in the fine meal and good fellowship.

Also on the weekend we found ourselves with nothing on the schedule and a beautiful Sunday perfectly suited for an adventure, such as we are able to do with a couple of rusty backs. So, we headed for Alderbrook for lunch. Along the way we considered Hama Hama for oysters but the parking lot was jam packed with cars driven in by folks with the same thought. We had a delightful lunch on the patio at Alderbrook with live music and many families on the lawn. It seems we cannot escape that area without also stopping at the Cameo Boutique and Wine shop nearby, a favorite of some of the Yacht Club women. I sat and talked with a George Stenberg who was selling excellent photos of scenes in the Hood Canal area. Fortunately BJ found the shop had changed its focus from women’s clothing to wines. As a result, BJ joined me in conversation with George having found no clothes with “her name on them”. The drive home was highlighted by a stop at the Hoodsport Coffee Company in Hoodsport for some Olympic Mountain Ice Cream. Unfortunately there were crowds of tourists with the same thought. Fortunately the 30 minutes we devoted to the wait was worth it.

The first First Wednesday luncheon of the season was last week and by all reports was successful. About 70 local women enjoyed a program by Janette Force of the Port Townsend Film Festival as well as contributing to the support of the food bank. A “food committee” provides lunch and the attendees make a financial contribution for at least as much as they would have spent on lunch. The group has a long history of consistently donating money to the local Tri Area Food Bank.

It seems as if the smoke thankfully may have left us for the rest of the year. However, if you are from Southern California and have experienced a similar air quality issue, you know what I mean when I say that when the smog lifts in Los Angeles, U.C.L.A. Even I groan at that one.

Love a curmudgeon and have a great week!

NedLuce@sbcglobal.net