Ned Luce

To celebrate Father’s Day I hope you were able to escape the news. I have a few suggestions for you but getting out of the funk of cabin fever is really up to you. 

BJ and I headed to Camaraderie Cellars Winery out west of Port Angeles on a recent Sunday to pick up a couple of bottles of their fine product. Friends, the tourist season was surprisingly in full tilt boogie with traffic in both directions. We followed a group of hot Camaros from Discovery Bay to Sequim as I enjoyed the music of an exhaust system tuned to emulate a NASCAR entry at full throttle. Instead of Camaro, the car immediately ahead of us had the word “NIGHTMARE” on the back panel. After procuring the wine we stopped at the park in Port Angeles for a small picnic lunch, honing our “social distancing” skills. We saw 18 Canadian geese in the water clearly not as observant of the rules as we. I mean, nobody from Canada is allowed into the U.S. and they were clearly closer together than 6 feet! 

Continuing with a “travel” theme, well actually I was just driving home on Water Street from Port Townsend last Friday. I encountered the thousand good folks walking the street celebrating Juneteenth. I turned around and headed out San Juan Boulevard planning to cut over to Route 20 near the Port Townsend Winery when I got turned around due to a collision right out in front of the winery. OK, turn up the after burner and head down 20 to Beaver Valley Road and home. 

Again, being surprised at the volume of traffic, I took it easy in spite of the guy behind me who was in a much bigger hurry and probably thought I could make the traffic in front of me go faster. Then the Port Ludlow fire chief appeared behind us in his big red truck with lights and sirens signaling the end of the world to all. The traffic pulled over onto both sides of the road just south of the Chimacum Co-op. After the truck passed I was gently pulling back onto the highway to continue my trip home when the guy behind passed me! Then he spent the rest of the trip cruising behind the cars that had been keeping me from going faster! I relate this story only to warn you of the hordes returning to the Peninsula. Frankly, that guy probably lives here anyway.

My friend Skip Owen sent me a picture of 1954 Pontiac with a hood ornament memorializing Chief Pontiac from the 1700s. The car was in a car show and the chief had on a mask to protect all lookers from COVID-19! 

Shifting gears now, the East Jefferson Rotary Club is again enhancing the beauty of the area. This is the day we deliver roses to those smart folks who bought a dozen for themselves or somebody else. Something, guess what, delayed this fundraising activity this year. We usually solicit orders and deliver earlier in the spring. Many of you know of TJ Plastow and her capacity to get something done. I am advised she got orders for more than 60 dozen roses, roughly 20 percent of all the orders. She needs a bigger delivery van! 

Now for an important alert. This is for when you want a Ferino’s pizza and you want to take it home and bake it yourself. Be sure to take the pan you have from your last “U Bake” from Ferino’s because the demand for “U Bake” has left many of their pans in local homes, not at the Pizza Parlor! I am advised they might not sell you a “U Bake” unless you bring in a pan to exchange. Actually, it is a good to bring in your pan(s) because you have already paid a $5 deposit on every one of them!

Once again the Washington Post has published the winning submissions to its yearly neologism contest in which readers are asked to supply alternative meanings for common words. The first winner was timely given the current need for social distancing and masks. “Coffee: the person upon whom one coughs.”

Love a curmudgeon, quit watching the news and have a great week!

(Ned Luce is a retired IBM executive who loves all things Ludlow. When talking to him, be careful, or else you’ll end up in his column).