OK, I may be unduly optimistic, but it sure felt like spring last week, for a day or so anyway. Nancy Leeds of the Port Townsend Rotary Club showed up at the East Jefferson Rotary Club lunch selling “Running of the Balls” tickets, an fundraising event held during the Rhody Festival. She reported seeing the first daffodil on the way to the meeting.

My friend Skip Owen sent me a picture of a “Hot Rod” birthday cake prepared for a friend of his. He confessed to eating a tire. Spring must be close at hand if the car guys are coming out of the caves. Our foreign exchange student, Pang, was kind enough to give BJ and me a nice box of Whitman’s chocolates for Valentine’s Day. It was an assortment of eight different pieces. BJ enjoyed one of them, I enjoyed two of them, and then the rest were gone! Hey, young people need the energy, right?

On the subject of energy, Pang has a couple of friends in Port Townsend: Anna from Brazil and Roxanne from France. She spends a lot of social time with them, and they were all kind enough to join BJ and me for a trip to see “La La Land” at the Rose Theatre and then dinner at Doc’s Marina Grill. The three of those girls are a movable party. We had forgotten how teenage girls can giggle at the strangest things.

For instance, Roxanne accidentally dumped about half her bag of popcorn into her backpack on the floor and then accused Pang and/or Anna of committing the offense. The three of them could not stop giggling about the whole thing. Strange, right? It is great they enjoy each other so much and are able to put on such a show for the more mature members of the community. Like me.

My friend Larry Howland had a knee operation last week, so it gave me an opportunity to stop in and admire the newly remodeled/expanded Jefferson Healthcare Medical Center. I was impressed. On the way to Larry’s room, I walked by the gift shop and saw that Jane Navone of Port Ludlow was volunteering as a part of the shop’s mission to provide additional funding for the hospital’s needs. Jane is one of 14 good folks from Port Ludlow and Port Townsend helping out. Oh yes, Larry is doing fine and is now home.

If you need real evidence that spring is near, I offer the fact that the “Bear of Port Ludlow,” also known as Bob Ammerman, left his cave to visit with his daughter and son-in-law in Lake Stevens and was back in town last week. You would think his hibernation would have dulled his poker skills, but alas, he brought them back in full glory as he took a couple of bucks from the rest of us. Unfortunately, he was not able to stay and lead the aquatics exercise class he has been a part of for the past 40 years.

I walked by the outdoor pool at The Beach Club on a sunny day recently and was reminded that spring is coming soon. Then that thought collided with the plethora of local and national political issues, and I came up with this observation: The gene pool of our country needs a little more chlorine.

(Contact Port Ludlow resident Ned Luce at nedluce@sbcglobal.net.)