Saturday, July 18
I got up at my normal time.
After breakfast, I started a load of laundry and got the remainder of my pictures labeled. One less thing to do when I get home. And I picked a few raspberries. There's less raspberries on the canes there than usual.
Mom wanted to go into Port Townsend for lunch and a few groceries today, since the Lavender Festival will have Sequim going crazy. She had a coughing spell after breakfast that left her back hurting (between the shoulder blades). We considered calling her doctor, but she wanted to rest for a while first. So we compromised - she was to rest for 30 minutes and, if it wasn’t better, then we’d call her doctor.
I returned to the garden work I had started (weeding and deadheading) for about 20 minutes and peeked in on her. She was asleep in the recliner. The blanket she had pulled over her was rising and falling at a good rate, so I settled in to read and wait and watch. When she woke up from her short nap, the back pain was gone, so we didn't call her doctor. But she was so tired that we decided to skip lunch in Port Townsend.
So, I grabbed a quick lunch and headed towards Sequim for the short list of groceries. Traffic on 101 was almost at a standstill when I got to the highway and was stop and go until I passed the first of the open lavender farms (Sunshine - about five miles down the road), which was doing a brisk business.
Once past there, traffic speeded up to almost normal, just heavy. Town traffic wasn’t too bad, however. Most of the visitors must have been out at the lavender fields or at the street fair. I stopped at both grocery stores, as Mom wanted something from each that the other didn’t carry. The parking lot at the QFC was pretty full as its lot was one of the staging areas for the buses they used to ease congestion at the various lavender fields.
I got back to Mom’s about 1.5 hours after I left. Traffic heading east was much lighter. Traffic heading west was still bumper to bumper east of Sunshine. I finally got someone to let me turn left across it onto Gardiner Beach Road and I was back.
In the meantime, Mom had rested some more, eaten some lunch, and was feeling much better again. Until she started talking, that is. So, to keep the coughing down, I went back to weeding and deadheading while she read and took it easy.
The rest of the day was quiet. The temperature only got to 74, but the sun made it feel hotter than that. Most of the afternoon had a breeze, though, so that made it almost bearable.
We fixed some crab cakes and fresh peas and carrots for dinner with watermelon for dessert. I went to bed early and let Mom rest her voice some more.
Sunday, July 19
I slept in some. Then picked some raspberries on the way to get the paper.
I worked on Mom’s computer for a while after breakfast.
Then we fixed an apple pie to take to the pot luck memorial/celebration of life for the husband of one of my distant cousins. Mom’s not quite up to going to the event, so I volunteered to represent the family. This should also rest her voice for a couple more hours.
I had forgotten to refill the gas tank when I was in Sequim yesterday, so I planned to fill it on the way down to Poulsbo. I spotted one gas station too late to turn into it - they didn't have any signs making it more visible. So I stopped at the second one. The pumps didn't have individual card readers, like most gas stations do, but a central kiosk that handled all the pumps on that island, just like they do in Europe.
I stuck in my card and it wanted to charge me a $0.45 fee for the transaction. What the heck??? I agreed, then it wanted a pin number. I don't have a pin number on the credit card, so I cancelled the operation, thinking I had grabbed the debit card by mistake. I started the process again and the same thing happened. Cancelled again and went into the office to find out what was going on.
The attendant said they don't accept credit cards - cash or debit cards only. It would have been nice if they'd posted signs to that effect. So I asked where the next gas station was. There was a Chevron station about five miles down the road. I left and drove there. The car got a tankful of gas and I continued on my way. What kind of gas station doesn't take credit cards????
A radio broadcast I listened to later mentioned that some places are discontinuing the practice of accepting credit cards because the card processing fees cut too heavily into their narrow profit margins. Fees for debit cards are lower. That may explain it, but still, they should have posted signs to that effect.
I drove down to my cousin's house, near Poulsbo. I spoke with the widow and her sister, both of whom used to babysit me as a kid. Everyone else that was there was her family, so I felt like an intruder. I signed the guest book, slipped the pie out of its carrying case, and quietly left.
I drove back to Mom’s. They must have opened the Hood Canal Bridge to let a ship by, as traffic on both sides of the bridge was backed up about a mile to a mile and a half. I was at a complete standstill for about ten minutes.
I finally got back to Mom’s. She had had a quiet, productive day, mainly working on the computer, getting her medical files and address lists caught up to date.
I finished weeding and deadheading the main flowerbed on the north side of the house. That leaves a couple of other gardening chores for tomorrow. Mom seems to be doing better after an afternoon of not trying to talk.
I got things somewhat organized for my return trip. Mainly sorting stuff into what goes into what for the return trip so that I can take a box to UPS tomorrow.
We fixed pork steaks, green beans, and a sweet potato for dinner.
Carl called just to get caught up. What a sweetheart. I went to bed early again.
Monday, July 20
Forty years ago today, man first set foot on the moon. How time flies! I woke up early. I think I have a mosquito bite on the back of one ear and sleeping on that side aggravates it...
I picked raspberries again, then had breakfast. It was a slow morning.
The son of one of Mom’s friends (a computer expert) called about noon about Mom’s computer and we troubleshot that for a while. No clear resolution yet.
I drove to town to drop off my box of stuff at UPS and pick up some groceries for Mom. UPS will deliver it next Monday.
Then I did some more weeding. Once that was finished for now, I walked around the yard with Mom for a while. She seems to be feeling a bit better. Progress is slow, but she's getting there. Quiet dinner here. I went to bed early.
Tuesday, July 21
I knew the alarm would go off at 5 am, so, when I woke up at 4, I never really got back to sleep. I gave up and got up a couple of minutes before the alarm went off.
I finished packing and loaded everything into the car. I stripped the sheets off of the bed and the towels off the towel racks and took them upstairs for Mom, then grabbed some fruit for the drive to the ferry dock.
I woke Mom (per her request) to say good-bye and headed for the ferry dock on Bainbridge Island. I had a classical station on the radio and, as the sun started to peek over the Cascades, the station started playing Morning Mood from the Peer Gynt Suite. Seemed appropriate! I got there in plenty of time for the 7:05 ferry. It was another quiet passage.
Downtown Seattle traffic wasn’t as bad as I feared it might be at this hour of a Tuesday morning. I turned in the rental car and had them call a cab for the ride to the airport. The cab driver slammed my camera backpack into the trunk so hard, I cringed. He was busy with his cell phone, so I couldn't complain at the time. By the time we were on our way, it was too late.
I got checked in and through security with no problems. So, here I am sitting at the gate area with three hours to wait until boarding time. Just the kind of time cushion I prefer.
I gave the camera a cursory check. It seems to have survived intact. I’ll check it and the rest of the backpack contents more thoroughly when I get home. (Later edit - everything seems to have survived. They're built to handle a bit of rough treatment and the backpack was well padded, both of which helped them survive.)
Maybe I can get wifi here and check email... While I could connect, the wifi isn’t free. Boo... So, I read for the three hours I had until boarding time.
The flight across country seemed even longer than usual. The row behind me was occupied by a family of six (mother, father, and four kids, all under the age of 10). The next to youngest, about 4, sat right behind me and hasn’t yet learned what an indoor voice is...
When she was actually quiet, she’d drum her feet against the seat in front of her - mine. Very annoying. Mother and father sat on one side of the aisle with their youngest (in a car seat). The other three kids sat across the aisle from them. The parents sometimes attempted to shush the little girl from across the aisle, but they were just as loud as she was...
With just an hour left on the flight, the mother finally had the little girl switch seats with her so that the next oldest one would quit “touching” her.... Typical sibling bickering. It was a long flight.
When the flight attendant was handing out drinks, I asked her quietly if she had a cork. She understood immediately and I thought she would bust a side trying not to laugh...
Luckily, we arrived in Cincinnati almost half an hour early. It could have been worse.
I had plenty of time to make my connection there and arrived home with no further complications.
