Life presents so many opportunities for us to endure and manage personal and public change, and it seems as if this time of year holds most of them.

The weather changes as it becomes gray and drizzly for much of the time but at least we gain an hour of sleep, for one night! I suspect many of you keep those habits of going to bed and arising at the same time in spite of the time change, at least for a few days.

I also am afflicted with an inability to adapt immediately to the time change. Shoot, as a youth I worked on a dairy farm and those cows seemed to want to be fed and milked at the same time of day irrespective of what the clock said. Go figure.

A change came to the world of college basketball as legendary basketball coach Bob Knight passed away last week. I have followed his career since I grew up in northeastern Ohio not far from where he was born and raised.  He then played on an NCAA championship team at Ohio State, graduating from OSU the same year I graduated from high school.

Geography does play a role in determining your interests. He was noted for the following assessment of those who contribute to the media, like newspapers. “All of us learn to write in the second grade, most of us go on to greater things.” Noted sports writer Mitch Albom says that Knight “was a big man who frequently behaved like a child.”

An old friend came to visit here in Port Ludlow last week. The changes in his physical abilities were jolting to BJ and me as he struggled with the stairs and carrying his bag. However, it might have helped him if the faucet in the shower hadn’t malfunctioned and he was forced to take a cold shower. I have since fixed it.

The changing restaurant business is a dynamic merry-go-round. Locally, the Dusty Green Café at the Port Ludlow Golf Club is planning to close by the end of the year. The folks at El Molcajete have been talking for some time about opening up a hamburger joint(?) next door. The Cucina pizza restaurant in the plaza area is being remodeled into a place appearing to be called “That Pizza Place.” The Chimacum Café is now operating under new ownership. There certainly are some long-time fixtures like Fiesta Jalisco, the Spruce Goose, Ajax and others but there is always change in that business.

This weekend brings some events with little change. Veterans Day was established in June of 1954 and is celebrated on the eleventh minute of the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of November. The day was celebrated by other names beginning in 1918 after World War 1 but was changed to honor veterans of all wars in 1954.

For over 10 years the East Jefferson Rotary Club has erected US flags around Eastern Jefferson County to celebrate Veterans Day. The only change to this program is when additional folks seek to subscribe in this fund-raising program supporting the scholarship program of the club.

This coming Saturday is the 129th Monon Bell football game between Wabash College and DePauw University in Crawfordsville, Indiana. The only change in this game is that Wabash will avenge last year’s defeat and bring the Monon Bell back home. (Actual results will be posted next week.)

George Carlin summed up the issue of change for me when he said, “Just when I discovered the meaning of life, they changed it.”

Love a curmudgeon, be kind, be safe and have a great week!

ned@ptleader.com