My house faces an easterly direction. Walking out the door early this morning was to walk right into the sunlight and birdsong. From the beginning I was walking through musical notes suspended on a sea of suffused light, excited to be alive but cutting my walk to half because I wanted plenty of time to prepare for today’s luncheon. For some time now I’ve wanted the “Thursday Boys” to join in my home and today is it. For the reader’s information, the “Thursday Boys” is a group of retired men, just six of us at present (we’re not sure we want to get much bigger), who meet each week at the Waterfront Cafe (located in the Pier 7 building across from the post office in LaConner}. We make it a point of not having an agenda, i.e. our agenda is no agenda. What does on older guy prepare for old guys? First of all, coffee. Two of them are consummate coffee drinkers. Because it’s still cool these early May days, I fixed chili from scratch, naturally, with ground round, Chirozo, pinto beans and stewed tomatoes to which I added a lot of Italian seasoning and some cayenne pepper. To offset the spiciness, I made a fruit salad of what i had on hand, white grapes, cut-up apple, walnuts, sliced avocado and dried cranberries. mixed with chopped lettuce and ranch dressing. And of course, corn chips and salsa dip to start with. Dessert? We don’t have desserts normally but today I will offer the guys Nestle’s frozen drumsticks (vanilla ice cream and chocolate fudge).
Yesterday had its own special flavor, complete with a dessert. It began with breakfast with Marcella, who you’ll remember is the pastor at the Methodist church where I’m a member, We try to get together once in a while to confer about church matters. We had a number of interesting things to talk over. One was our plan to visit the homes of our membership. New to me is the requirement that I not visit any single members in their home without being accompanied by a second church member.. Also, before I make any calls on behalf of the church, I must undergo a “background check”. Wow! Another indication of how the times have changed. I’m glad Marcella mentioned these requirements because I was about ready to start visiting on my own. While lingering over breakfast (at Slider’s, one of my favorite places) we arranged to meet with a younger friend of the church, one of the few still living alone in a small cabin on the Skagit river, to walk the dike along the east side of the Hedlin farm.
So by 2 PM, there the three of us were, walking through the tall grass on top of the dike heading south toward a wooded hillock. The dessert came at the top when we feasted our eyes on a rocky hillside filled with the bright blue camus, pink sea blush, and a smattering of spring gold. A delicious dessert it turned out to be particularly when we were able to view the world below, the Sullivan Slough and Steamboat Slough and beyond to Bald Island and open water. This is the route our friend takes home to his cabin, first dragging his canoe and paddles from hiding for the trip. I can’t imagine living such a solitary life or long enduring the inconvenience of it. That however is exactly how a number of people lived in the 60’s and 70’s, such a sizable number they referred to it as a “town”. “Fish Town” has become a colorful chapter in Skagit Valley history. Our friend is still living it and has no interest in living any other way, preferring nature’s system to our man-made alternatives. .
After my long walk in the morning and an even longer walk in the afternoon, I was only to happy to get back home at 4 PM to stretch out on my sofa in a warm, clean, pleasantly arranged room, put my stockinged feet up on the soft hassock and sleep for an hour. With all repect to my younger friend, I’m content to be where I am at this moment, willing, so far, to put up with and even contend with many features about modern life that I don’t like.
