The new year, the opportunity for you to get rudely awakened by participating in one of the several polar plunges available for the more adventurous and less temperature-sensitive folks. At least five of them were held from Marrowstone to Port Angeles with one here at the Port Ludlow Beach Club.

This year was the fourth annual with 10 hearty souls blindly following Brian Belmont by braving the 45-degree waves of the outdoor pool at the Beach Club. The first edition of the event three years ago drew almost 40 people with more than that as spectators. We need to pick up the slack and re-energize the hearty people here in town for next year.

We had a few folks over for a New Year’s Eve celebration. Our agenda for the evening required celebrating at midnight Eastern time, 9 p.m. here. I think everybody but Steve Gross appreciated the earlier cutoff. He may have gone home and waited up for the local celebration anyway.

Fun new neighbors Maureen and Mark Makarowski also came over to make sure they could tolerate being in the neighborhood.

Last week, BJ and I drove the almost 400 miles to Red Mountain in British Columbia with our children and their families for a few days of skiing. Not us, but them. We got massages!

It was entertaining to watch our offspring deal with putting ski gear on the grandsons just as we did 40 years ago for them. The chaos was way too familiar.

The 6-year-old grandson graduated from the red beginner group to the green group and now rides the chair lift. His 16-year-old cousin says the 6-year-old is really “sick” on the slope. Yeah, you don’t really care, and if they weren’t related to me, I probably wouldn’t either.

My sister and her husband from California came for a short visit last week. I have a cousin who lives on Whidbey Island, so she and her husband joined us for a delightful dinner at Alchemy. Business was light so the six of us were able to sit, talk and eat for almost two hours. BJ is not a fan of fixing lamb, so I had a wonderful rendition of lamb shanks without subjecting her or me to any preparation of them.

It happened again this year. Yesterday was my birthday. I am joined in celebration again this year by locals Peggy Kulm, Don Whipple, Rae Watkins and Elvis Presley. Among many others with birthdays this month are Harold Brunstad, Fran Gross, Richard Nixon, Martin Luther King, etc.

I guess it isn’t so bad given the alternative. I mean, Richard Nixon and Martin Luther King aren’t here to enjoy the good times with a free drink at the yacht club. (Yes, Elvis is still alive.)

The next Beach Club potluck dinner is Jan. 19. It is the annual combination Chili Cookoff and Bingo Night with Vic Draper again calling the numbers. The fun keeps on coming.

Happy New Year again, and may your troubles be as short-lived as your resolutions.

Love a curmudgeon and have a great week!

NedLuce@sbcglobal.net