IT COULD BE

February 22, 2010

Well it isn’t Spring fever. The sun has preformed magnificently here for several days in a row, and the television weather people just don’t quite know what to do with themselves. One reported last night that he had not forecast a sunny weekend since last AUGUST. Wow, I wasn’t here, I was in Montana where the sun usually shines normally. By normally I mean it isn’t the damp, wet, dare I say rainy Pacific Northwest. That said I can understand Trav’s desire to spend winters in someplace sunny, like Arizona. He did some calculating and found he spent seven months in Arizona and only five in Montana. Darn, that does cut down on ones fishing.

For those keeping score, or track of what is happening in my life, I have signed the paperwork with a local realtor and the house in Poulsbo WA is officially for sale. They haven’t put a sign up yet, but that will happen rather soon. I’m actually hoping they will hold off for a bit as our next-door neighbor, with five children, has had a major problem with their septic system. (Why is that not a surprise?) It has been dug up twice, some kind of big black plastic half tubes with lot of strange holes in it, installed and then dug up and removed. Then they dug all around the tank itself and put some sort of relief clean out pipes in it. It is still a mess and still smells. Probably not a good selling point for this house. Hopefully it will be cleaned up before our realtor shows up again.

We still have stuff to do related to selling the place, a little yard work, some pressure washing of the front deck and packing up the odd bits which the realtor says make the rooms seem smaller. Ya, the stuff you use everyday probably is left out because you do use it every day. Don’t know how that will work out yet.

Port Wilson Light

Because we were both so starved for sunshine, we did the “have-tos” the past couple of mornings and have taken off. Thursday we drove up to Port Townsend, a lovely Victorian town on the Strait of Juan De Fuca, which is the entrance from the Pacific Ocean to the inland waterways ending in Seattle. The town is packed with neat shops, not all open yet it’s still winter here. But we walked the main street and did a little window shopping. Just at the edge of town there is a neat lighthouse, the Point Wilson light, which sits in a really nice state park, Fort Warden. The park has the barracks, officer’s homes, parade field and various necessities for a army post. This was the setting for the movie An Officer and a Gentleman.

There are a few of these former bases which were built to defend our country during World War II. The artillery storage buildings and the ramparts where the guns were stationed are all still there. They overlook the water of course, and any ships entering the strait would be a target. So many years later it is strange to see, but they are all maintained and you can walk around on them.

There is a terrific marine science museum on the pier at Fort Warden too, and we could walk out there, but it was closed for the ‘winter’ - they do open on the weekends and by appointment, and there were a couple of school bus loads of middle-school aged kids lined up ready to attack the pier. A great thing to do on such a gorgeous day, whoever scheduled that one got a winner.
We walked the beach from the pier to the lighthouse, sand, then gravel, and cobble. Good for turning an ankle, be grateful for good hiking boots. We did follow a set of barefoot tracks for a bit, which means some people are more daring than I. We picked up a couple of pieces of beach glass, stuff that has been etched by the saltwater and motion of the sea, and a limpet and always a sense of wonderment. 

Have you ever just bent over and scooped up a handful of whatever from a beach? Looked at each little piece of shell and stone? Considered the intricate patterns in every single stone? Sort of like snowflakes, no two the same. And the shells, oh the shells, have you considered that some creature lived in each one? Where did they come from? Where did they go? Which part of the natural system depended on them for their existence?

Mystery Bay

Friday after chores we drove up to Marrowstone Island, about 45 minutes away. Tons of birds, Mandarin ducks, Brant and at the Mystery Bay State Park, which is more of a hidden, sheltered harbor with nice dockage, we saw a 1905 boat which was probably part of the mosquito fleet. Before bridges and the big ferries of today, people traveled from island to island by small commercial boats. The one we saw looked to be very well preserved; I cannot even guess what kind of money that took. The smoke stack indicated it was powered by a steam engine!

On our last trip to Marrowstone we saw some sea lions hauled out on a large rock. The ones in the water wanted to be on the rock too, and some interesting conversations could be heard. There are camping sites at the park on Marrowstone, part of Fort Flagler, yes another in the string of fortifications which protected the Puget Sound from an attack which never happened. Across the water on Whidbey Island, there is yet another fort with the same kind of former army base. It too is a very nice state park.

Trav had packed us a nice lunch and we found a picnic table in the sun and mostly out of the wind. The temperatures have been in the mid fifties, not bad for winter. Dandelions are blooming, along with tiny purple flowering ground covers, crocus, red bud, flowering plum, tulips and we even saw the first blooming hyacinths. We did get some sun, some exercise and spent some quality time in God’s creation. 

Even though it is winter in a lot of places across our country, technically here too, spring to me means stuff in bloom, and we sure have it here. Be patience, soon you will have it too.

 

 

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