Labor Day arrives this weekend with appreciation that we have survived summer.

Bill Dodds says “Labor Day is a glorious holiday because your child will be going back to school the next day. It would be called Independence Day for parents but that name was already taken.” We also welcome back the U.S. Flags being proudly flown in large numbers in Port Hadlock, Chimacum and Port Ludlow. Several of us in the East Jefferson Rotary Club are involved in the project soliciting subscriptions and erecting those flags on holiday weekends.

A couple of weeks ago I got an email from a man on Rainier wanting to sign up for the program but also desiring to have his flag be displayed with others in a somewhat more open location, like Kehele Park. BJ suggested we ought to get more folks interested in this approach, particularly the good folks across the street from Kehele Park who would most enjoy the display.

This week John Erickson and I installed the inserts for eight flags to be displayed in Kehele Park! I followed up on an email I sent to one of the neighbors asking if they wanted to be involved. The lady of the house said she needed to check with her husband and they were thinking about refinancing their home. I assured her that the $50 annual subscription fee would not require refinancing. When she called back to confirm their subscription she confessed they figured out the refinancing was in fact not required to participate.

BJ is the new Treasurer for the Port Ludlow Performing Arts so she was a part of the successful “Thank You Party” at the Wreck Room for financial donors and volunteers of all stripes last week. It was great fun. You may have seen one of the flyers for the first program this season, “Three Nights with a Tenor.” I was a tenor in the Hudson High School Choir back in the middle of last century. However I doubt this program is being put on by BJ describing, well, three nights with this tenor. In reality, it is tenor Ken Lavigne singing the music of Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber, Sir Elton John, and Sir Paul McCartney, all having been designated knights by Queen Elizabeth. The next time you see a flyer or poster advertising this concert I suspect it will refer to the “Knights” rather than the “Nights.”

We had children, grandchildren and a couple of their friends in town over the weekend for a number of activities anchored by the Cycle Marrowstone Bike Ride. The six-year-old grandson had fun in the Beach Club pool with Aria, granddaughter of Robert and Carla Wall. The eleven-year-old grandson hiked and camped with his father up to Marmot Pass to catch one of the more memorable views of the Olympics. They ran into the Port Ludlow Hiking Club hikers on the way back down the hill. Our son and his family were more interested in the bike ride on Sunday. BJ and I provided a little transportation and an abundance of food and drink! All you grandparents know what I’m talking about.

So, welcome to Labor Day. Doug Larson notes that, “if all the cars in the United States were placed end to end, it would probably be Labor Day Weekend.” Anybody up for taking a drive on I-5?

Love a curmudgeon and have a great week!

(Ned Luce’s long service to The Leader has rendered him an ink-stained wretch who cannot resist a double entendre. The Leader apologizes to Ned’s high-minded friends.)