We went down to Eileen’s home for dinner. The roasted chicken from Wednesday, was turned into chicken soup.
Chicken soup with rice
Eileen baked a loaf of bread to accompany the meal. We spread butter across thick slabs of steaming bread. The crust was nice and crispy and the center soft and light.
Oven fresh baked bread
I split a bottle of PT Stout with Eileen while papa drank pinot grigio.
PT StoutWoodbridge Pinot Grigio
Between the good soup and pleasant conversation the evening went by in good spirits. I cleaned my plate down to the last grain of rice.
I should mention, we first filled our bowls with as much cooked rice as we wanted and then ladled the piping hot soup on top.
After dinner we had brownies. I inquired about the preparation and Eileen graciously provided me with her mothers recipe and some of her own refinements she had made.
Homemade Brownies
Eileen’s Brownie recipe:
5 Eggs
3 cups of Sugar
1 Cup of Butter
8 oz of Bakers Chocolate
1 1/2 Cups of Flour
1 Tbs Vanilla
2 cups of Walnuts (optional)
Beat the eggs and sugar throughly to fold in air. The more air the smoother the brownies will turn out. Add the vanilla during this step.
Melt the butter and chocolate together in a double boiler or a ceramic bowl suspended in a pot of hot water.
When your eggs are nice and fluffy, add the flour and the melted chocolate.
On Wednesday, I posted Out in the Bay, in which my father and I took Wren out for a sail.
Wren in the harborUnder power Rigging and center board Aft sprit an mizen (furled)
Wren is a 15 foot, two masted, open seating sailboat. She has a center board and an electric outboard motor. The outboard battery was especially heavy and needed to be hoisted out and over the stern to be fit in place.
The mainsail is rigged with lines to allow raising and lowering while still seated aft near the tiller. The main is complimented by a roller-furling jib and mizen. The mizen also rolls up, but manually.
A single line going out the stern was used to control the aft sail, which was connected to a permanent aft sprit extending out past the tiller. I am told the position of the sprit and the mizen spar make for better runs on some tacks.
With the wind to port the mizen sail could not fill entirely due to pressure from its spar. On the other tack however, it filled out nicely.
The weather report had been mixed and somewhat uncertain. As we motored out past the entrance to Point Hudson marina there was a light shower from passing a cloud.
My father set the jib and mizen and had me pull on some lines to hoist the mainsail. It stuck momentarily as one of the sail ties which had not been removed. With the line cleared, the main was raised fully and set into place.
It’s a gaff-rig like our second boat Anares, the navy whale boat. I will have to write about all of my father’s boats in another post.
There wasn’t much wind initially. We could see the steam rising straight up, down at the far end of the bay from the paper mill. So we motored out further into the bay until we hit a spot of wind.
Eventually a stronger breeze presented itself and the motor was cut. We had a nice sail and got to see the ferry boat crossing from PT to Bainbridge.
The sun broke out from behind some cloud cover and warmed our faces. The earlier rainshower had generated a rainbow and as we shifted our position we began to see it was a double rainbow.
We continued for awhile across the bay under sail, but the wind lessened. After the sun disappeared behind the clouds again I asked to turn back for the harbor.
My father remarked that we likely could have made it to Rat Island. But I wasn’t quite up for that long a journey, possibly under power for a considerable portion.
On the return journey the ferry was making its trip back after depositing its passengers at Bainbridge and picking up travelers bound for Port Townsend. As our position shifted and the ferry moved closer it became apparent that the ferry would pass under the rainbows.
I timed my shot but forgot to enable the high resolution shooting mode on my phone. Even so I got some nice pictures of the ferry passing through the end of the rainbow.
Eileen’s later remarked at dinner that had it been a telephoto lense shot picture, I might have sold it to the ferry system.
I think I may print a copy of the photos to frame for my bedroom back in NC.
This was Wednesday, the next post should be Roast Chicken, but I forgot to take photos that meal. So skip ahead to Scramble Eggs.
I had a couple of Zoom meetings this morning at NC time (-4 UTC). So I woke up at 5:50 and logged in for those. They ran for just under 3 hours.
Afterwards I ate a light breakfast of granola and banana slices in yogurt. I added some hazelnut milk to balance it out.
Around eleven a friend of my mother’s, Julia, came and picked me up and we went downtown to Tommy Knockers for brunch with another friend of my mother, Ruby.
Scotch Egg at Tommy Knockers, PTCross section of scotch eggReceipt: $30.20 for eggs and drink
I had the Scotch Egg, a hard boiled egg wrapped in ground bacon and spices, topped with mustard and paprika. The eggs lay on a bed of garden greens quite stylishly.
To drink I ordered the tap cider, Alpenfire. I didn’t care for the cider, it was a bit like light beer. It didn’t have much body or depth of flavor. It was maybe like a semisweet apple juice.
Alpenfire Cider at Tommy Knockers, PT
It was a very nice opportunity to meet up with old family friends. Ruby’s son, Cedar, was my best friend growing up. I still consider him my best friend, that’s a position that could never be replaced.
Julia’s daughter, Nina, was another young friend. I can remember playing together with dolls and LEGOs. Her father raised stick insects and had games on his computer.
The Powerpuff Girls (1998)
I recall watching the premiere of Powerpuff Girls at Julia’s house. They had a special event running on Cartoon Network with some prize giveaway you had to call in for.
Fond memories. I got a chance to inquire about the other children I had interactions with. Kali lives in Tennessee, Cherese is in Florida, and Becky is in Oklahoma. Rebekah is still local and something of a sports prodigy.
Rebekah
After the meal we must have chatted for an hour and a half. All sorts of topics. Quite pleasant.
I was able to get a phone number of another friend’s sister, Lily, and I left her a voicemail inquiring about her brother, Lang. Hopefully we can meet before my flight home on Monday.
During the drive back to my father’s house we stopped at Laurel Groves, the cemetery, and I had a chance to pay my respects to my best friend, Cedar. He was just a year younger than I. It’s been 13 years since he passed. I wish I had kept in contact with him more.
There are many people I have lost contact with. I recall my first email was a Hotmail address. I lost the password sometime around going to Job Corps on February 5th, 2005.
At the center I had a Yahoo address and I was introduced to MySpace. I recall connecting with mostly students at the center and maybe someone from Port Townsend.
Sometime in 2006 the kids around me started talking about moving to Facebook. I remember logging in to MySpace and someone snorting and saying, “you still use that?”
I’ve always been regarded by others as being good with computers, but I’ve never been good with keeping up with trends. I expected Social Media to be a fad that would eventually go away.
Anyways, Facebook was quite effective. I was able to put in my schooling history and it brought up the profiles of several friends. That was quite impressive compared to MySpace.
I used the Yahoo email until I moved to NC. At some point the account became inundated with spam and I made an Outlook account. I initially try recovering my Hotmail, but I couldn’t quite remember how it was spelled, Aquila13 or something.
I still use the Outlook account these days. I tried getting back into the Yahoo, but it’s totally gone. I think Yahoo went away at some point. Been sold off or something. But the email address wasn’t recoverable.
So, unfortunately, I was never able to copy my contact lists over between any of the accounts. Additionally, I had multiple technology scares that led me to purging my social media accounts time and again over the years. Now I don’t use it at all.
Now with all the AI stuff going around I just don’t feel like I understand computers anymore. The last technology hurdle I successfully passed was Bitcoin. I chased the mining game from 2013-2020.
I should have just held with the HODL crowd. If you count all the Bitcoin and Litecoin I ever bought, I would have a multimillionaire by now. Thousands of coins to pay for GPUs and then ASIC mining rigs that were soon obsolete.
My last mistake was liquidating my last coins to cover the EIDL loans and other bills. I did it two months before Bitcoin hit $10k. I could have paid my debts and had plenty of cash left over.
As I mentioned in, Grilled Cheese and Pears, Tuesday’s at Rosewind are potluck dinner days. I didn’t join I the festivities being tired from the trip.
Dinner that evening was a two part repast of Potato leak soup followed with a cut of poached Black Cod with a side of fried potatoes. A garden salad rounded out the meal and added some needed fiber and vitamins.
The first coursePotato leak soupFresh garden saladPoached Black Cod with fried taters
To drink, my father provided a Guinness Extra Stout and a Lemon San Pellegrino. The Stout was nice and bitter and paired perfectly with the Black Cod.
Guinness Extra StoutLimonata San Pellegrino
The ingredients were all sourced, other than the fish, from the local community garden here at Rosewind.
During my walk on Thursday I came across and spoke with some community members. Cathy, Oma, and Dan.
Actually, when I was still a child, my mother rented a blue house from Oma on the corner of F & Fir. That was while I was still attending OPEPO at Mt View, before our brief relocation to Everett.
After breakfast on Thursday, I decided to walk across town to my old house on Eddy Street.
1265 Eddy. It was part of a first time home owners project. There were six homes to be built, 3 each on two different streets. The future homeowners took part in the construction process.
The other development
I recall afternoons after school visiting the work sites where my mother was busy hammering nails and hoisting lumber.
After construction I lived in a big two-story home with a nice yard, a tree out back and my dog. I had my own room, we had a guest room for company.
1265 Eddy Street
A friend of my mother visiting from Canada stayed with us once. And another friend lived with us for a time in the guest room. She had a little one-eyed cat, I think it’s name was Fafnir.
I would ride my bicycle to Grant Street where I attended an alternative school program called ICE. It provided some classroom instruction for home schooled children. After graduating ICE, I attended the local high-school through my sophomore year. From then on I rode the bus most mornings, unless I slept in.
My mother worked at the nurse’s station at Jefferson hospital for a awhile but she couldn’t continue.
The housing was an inventive idea, but we couldn’t make the payments on the mortgage and sadly had to sell the home. We got very little after paying the bank back. After that we lived in a single-wide trailer outside of town on a gravel and dirt track named Hidden Trails Road.
One of my childhood homes was down in an old funky boatyard, nestled away below an old railroad track. The boatyard was home to many folk working on boats and dreams of returning to the water.
Up a short slope there was the old track and down an embankment on the far side was a beach, partly stones and partly sand. At low tide you could walk all the way to the ruins of an trestle bridge.
Many a meal included shellfish gathered from the beach or fresh vegetables grown in a little garden beside our home. We lived in a small 12 foot trailer parked beside an old step van. The van in turn had been expanded using scrap wood and construction materials to include a workshop alongside it.
Now years later I stand atop the spot where our roof would have been. The entire old funky boat yard is gone. All that remains is a sandy paved driveway and parking area with a lavatory nearby.
I had seen it once before after returning from school in Oregon. I think seeing now has had more of an impact on me. Being older now I feel a greater void when recalling the past and from my memories the life I once lived.
Also gone is the trestle bridge, that at least was still there 18 years ago. Now the beach is uncluttered excepting of course the driftwood, a staple sight in the PNW.
After the trestle beach we drove through downtown and on to the other harbor. I saw connsiderably more buildings around there than we had in the past. The whole town has seen much development.
Other parts seemed the same. The food co-op hadn’t changed a great deal other than some interior remodeling. The public library and uptown businesses still stood. Although, Aldrich’s had been rebuilt. I think I heard it had burned down while I was away at school.
In the harbor I got a good look at another boat my father shares with a delightful lady who lives in the flat below his home.
The beach here was also littered with driftwood and seaweed. The pungent aroma of salt and seaweed could not be avoided.
After reviewing my phone I see I took over 300 photos the other day. This included a nostalgic drive past old homes of mine, two beaches, and a walking tour of the housing community my father has retired to.
There is a large community garden with a green house and hefty compost piles. The trees are covered in apples and pears. Truly a vibrant garden with the markings of care and diligence readily apparent.
I start to realize now that my writings cannot keep up with the speed of my photo taking. Its also a bit rude to have my nose in my phone typing away in the presence of company.
What I mean to be saying is that future blog entries for this trip will have to be made after the days activity has ceased. So, if I perhaps begin to refer to actions and thoughts in the past tense, it is only because I am writing post-action.
So, starting the first post for today; I awoke at 2:30 AM. I got around five hours of sleep before I awoke. I think my body has not yet shook off the early hour rigors from the prior days flight.
I managed to fall back asleep after some time before reawakening at 5:40AM, at which time I driven to relieve myself. Afterwards, I layed about in bed till 7AM having heard some movement beyond my bedroom.
To start my day, I had a nice cup of mint tea to chase away the cobwebs and wet my appetite.
My father had also awoken around five and was preparing for breakfast.
In a cast iron pot he placed diced apples from the orchard, dried raisins, cashew nuts, and pumpkin seeds. Today’s morning meal is porridge.
CashewsPumpkin SeedsRolled Oats
With some rolled oats added to the pot and set to simmer. A hearty repast. Porridge sticks to the ribs and lends energy to muck through the day.
After the ferry boat ride we stopped in at Town & Country Market for some lunch and coffee.
I purchased the Maka Special which was a sushi dish of Yellowfin Tuna and Sockeye Salmon with some rice rolls topped with flavorful sauce and some crunchy bits.
I also grabbed a Power Green Salad; edamame, chick peas, quinoa, rainbow kale, and bulgar. A tasty assortment I must say.
Prices are certainly higher on the west coast. I spent $26.04 on my lunch. Back home that would be enough for dinner for a family of three.
Although, you’d never get such premium fish at such a price in NC. The sushi at Publix is half the size and often you’d be given the cheaper cuts and variety of fish or it would just be topped with Indonesian shrimp.
For coffee, I ordered an 8oz Mocha with a single shot of espresso. I was surprised how fast the drinks were ready. I must have gotten used to long lines at the Starbucks drive thru back home.
After lunch we had a slow drive up north through Bainbridge and along wooded roads off the main drag.
I didn’t realize it initially, but I later heard from my father that we had crossed a bridge to the Kitsap peninsula and then crossed the Hood Canal bridge.
Clearwater CasinoBainbridge Island Hood Canal Bridge Mount ?Bainbridge Island
I had been expecting a ferry ride across to Port Townsend, but that turned out to be unnecessary with the rout we took. The detour also allowed my father to show me the slip where his sailboat Cornelia is moored.
After visiting the slip we drove through Hadlock and into Irondale an then we took a more scenic route into Port Townsend.
I got to see the old spots where I and my mother used to live back in the woods in a trailer. I also saw homes and properties where schoolmates once lived.
We passed by Discovery Bay and Cape George. I had friend from Cub Scouts who lived in the private community at Cape George. I recall his mom was our Den mother before we graduated to Boy Scouts.
After my father picked me up from the airport, we drove in his little electric-blue Prius to the Seattle ferry boat. We took the Bainbridge ferry “Tacoma” to Bainbridge Island. It was maybe a 20 minute crossing.
We had a 45 minute wait before the boat arrived which we spent walking down the waterfront in Seattle. The overpass was gone and the waterfront had gone through a lot of beautification improvements.
Fat Wallet Refugee 