May 18
May 19
May 20
May 21
May 22
May 23
May 24
May 25
May 26
May27
May 28 - 30
A travel day. Carl drove me to the airport and I boarded the plane to Atlanta, where I had almost a two hour wait. Traffic out of Atlanta was light. I noticed that the clerk at the gate desk was not doing anything, so I asked if there were any upgrades available. She took one look at my ticket and said I couldn’t upgrade. Since she wasn’t busy, I asked her to explain segments to me, as I didn’t understand them. Seems my silver frequent flyer card had expired in February, but I still had all these left over segments. She checked with her supervisor and called me back to the desk, handing me a new boarding pass. I flew from Atlanta to Seattle in first class!
Wish I could afford to travel that way more often. The seats were okay, but I really liked the extra leg room and the foot rest built into the seat. The flight was uneventful and I soon arrived in Seattle. I immediately realized what I had forgotten to pack - a sweatshirt. I wound up swiping one of Dad’s. (Edit five years later - I still have it....)
I picked up the rental car and headed for the ferry and across to the Olympic Peninsula. I stopped in Paulsbo for a late lunch (soup and salad - clam chowder, of course) at Mitzel’s. And discovered I didn’t need my careful notes on how to get to the folk’s house. Drove right to it!
Mom looked better than I expected from her recent back surgery. She’s let her hair color return to natural, which means it’s white for the first time in my memory. She asked me a couple of times if I liked her new hair color. I could tell from her expression that she wanted me to dislike it, as she does. But I couldn’t tell her that. Frankly, it looks appropriate and quite good. Hope she keeps it that way.
Dad looks really good. He has more lines on his face, but he’s lost weight and looks as trim and slim as I remember him from way back when. He’s walking a lot and it shows. He tires easily, but, considering how physical his days still are, that’s not surprising.
And he still wants to carry just as much as ever. I managed to grab some of my stuff, but he had already picked up the rest and headed for the guest room. I spent some time resettling my stuff, then joined them for the rest of the evening.
Most of the next four days were spent at their house, mostly just doing what comes naturally. The hummingbirds put on quite a display, usually going through two containers of food a day! And the ducks on the pond were quite entertaining. Towards the end of that week, the mother brought her brood of eight ducklings out onto the pond for the first time. They were interesting to watch.
I took my camera for a walk a couple of times - up the creek one morning, around their flower beds most of the time, shooting until the morning breeze came up.
The three photos above were taken at my parent's house.
Friday, May 16, 2003
We packed an overnight bag each and the three of us headed for Ferndale. It was a leisurely trip - up to Port Townsend to catch the ferry across to Whidbey Island, stopping at Deception Pass for pictures. We had a late lunch at the Beary Patch in Burlington. Good food, overly generous proportions, reasonable prices. Then on to the motel in Ferndale.
Now, the main reason for coming to Ferndale on Friday was to possibly see my brother's family before his wife and daughter left for Camp-o-ree with the Camp Fire Girls that weekend. They were marching in the Junior Ski-to-Sea Parade that evening. We were there in plenty of time to have gone. However, the parade was in downtown Bellingham, which is a maze of streets, and there would be little parking within 6-8 blocks of the parade route. With Mom’s back, she might have been able to walk a block (and was willing to try that much), but 6-8 was out of the question.
So, here we were in Ferndale at 4 pm and nothing to do until 10 the next morning... Why? Don’t ask me. So we went for a drive. First, we drove by my brother’s place - but don’t tell him. He wanted to show it off the next morning.
Then on to Birch Bay and Blaine. The folks hadn’t been to either since Dad went fishing out of Blaine, back when I was a preschooler. Needless to say, neither had I. While I didn’t remember any of it (other than repeated stories), Mom and Dad were looking for familiar places. Didn’t find many. However, the place where they had rented a cabin appears to still be there - and looks pretty much the same. Pretty sad, considering that half a century had passed since they were there...
We eventually made our way back to the hotel. Although it was late, none of us were hungry - still full from lunch. So we dropped into Denny’s for dessert only. Then back to the hotel for some cribbage before bed. Neither Mom nor Dad had played recently, but they soon remembered the nuances. There was one funny hand, however. Near the beginning, Dad had dealt. At the end, when it was time to count the crib, he was just sitting there. We asked if he wanted the crib and he looked startled, then picked it up, like he was going to play the cards. And he just sat there with a silly grin on his face. We asked if he wanted to count the cards. He had forgotten that part of the game. Once he laid the cards down, we almost wished he hadn’t. Lots of points.... I can’t remember the last time I laughed that hard. We would continue the cribbage match over the rest of the visit. At the end of the visit, Dad and I had tied with 5 wins each and Mom had won one.
Saturday, May 17
We walked over to Denny’s and my brother joined us there. He’s put on a bit of weight, but looks the same. How can someone pushing 50 still look like a little kid?
His wife had left the van at the school and my brother was trying to figure out a way he and Dad could get it back to the house without taking too many trips. He seemed to forget that I’m a licensed driver, too.... So, we loaded up and checked out and my brother and I drove over to the school while Mom and Dad drove straight to my brother's house.
We soon arrived at the school and the mini-van was the only vehicle in the parking lot. Easy to start and drive, but the “Feed me” light came on immediately. I wasn’t sure there was enough gas to get to my brother’s, but figured that was his problem and took off following him. We made it there all right. I mentioned the lack of gas and he nearly flipped. Then fiddled with some of the switches and discovered that it wouldn’t run out for another 20 miles... He showed us around the yard and house and we chatted a while.
Then we all got into the mini-van and headed to the small beach near their house. There are factories very visible in each direction and lots of rocks, but it’s a beach of sorts. Only then did he head for a gas station...
From there, we drove over to Lynden, a small town that’s on his delivery route. Cute, but not really worth going out of one’s way to see. Then back to the hotel to switch back to the folk’s car and the drive back to their place. No stop at Deception Pass this direction - the tide was at the same point, so...
We were just about to drive off the ferry when my cell phone went off! Luckily, Dad was driving, so I chatted with Carl for a few minutes. He had called to see if I wanted the peonies trimmed. They were dropping petals all over the place and making a royal mess....