The Battle of the Bulbs, part one. "The Set up"

Attention America!!!!!

Not since the days of Henry Ford and Thomas Edison with the help of their new invention (the assembly line) has man had the ability to make thousands of an item and make them all exactly the same, and not since the days of Chevy Chase and Tim Allen has man had the ability to destroy thousands of an item in exactly the same way.

Yes. Folks, looking at the calendar it appears we are once again in that time in history known as light wars, or Chistmas lights, or as we call it in Port Gamble, "The Battle of the Bulbs."

I'm not sure how the masses in Port Gamble through the years have had Christmas lights without a competition, but that has got to come to an end. Why, now that all we have to deal with is LED bulbs (light emitting diodes) instead of the old tungston style, burns are a thing of the past and all we have left to avoid is ladders, (and an occasional burned out transformer!)

So at various locations today, men of many of the households of Port Gamble discussed who might want to be involved and what the chances are of winning the Battle might be.

First, of course, we decided early on that we would not set criterea for beating your neighbor until we knew what everyone's strengths are. So those are probably to be discussed over coffee or a beer later, perhaps after everyone has flipped his last switch. And we also dicussed finding an impartial way of judging, which could involve such things as comparing electric bills for December, or even comparing the heat emission of lights shown on satelight photos. But why worry about that yet? First we need to identify some of the players. What follows is not a list of all the people who can win, only the ones who's egos would make sure they were willing to get involved.

Me) I'm new at this which gives me an advantage ... you don't know how good I am at this, so you won't feel threatened and thus won't keep watching. I have two venues at stake, Quilted Strait and our house.

ERIC), also new this year. He took me on a tour of the General Store today and does he have an armament! The entire third floor is full of lights and trees, and he has a full complement of employees and friends coming over on Friday night to help decorate. A top contender.

GREG), the "old timer" at this in this town, having done a "solo" battle for years so we assume he is ready for the real thing. Normally I would fear him the most, but if he's been doing solo, then I would expect him to drop out early, probably with a case of no-staying-power.

JANICE), a top contender if "class" is a criteria. But I don't think girls really know how to compete in this game. No, I shouldn't say that. I don't think girls really know how to win in this game. No, I shouldn't say that either. How about "I don't think guys really know how to let a girl play this game" Yeah. That's it.

SHIELA), another contender with class, but the additional burder of moving soon might make it more difficult to play. On the other hand, that might make it more rewarding.

SEAN), would be a rough candidate, but his venue lacks space to really stack the deck. Only one coffee stand is a terrible handicap.

Mike), especially since Steffi will probably be helping. If she puts her mind to it, look out.

SCOTT). Now there is a man with no time. He's playing Scrooge here at Port Gamble (7 performances, on the stage in the top floor of the post office), so he might not have enough time to play. However, he does have a full complement of kids and has a huge playing field (house) so with his direction they might do well.

Anyone may enter at any time. If we see you with more than two ladders out at a time, we will assume you are in it for the rewards.


Just  add Snoopy to the roof .....


And we will be watching and making reports, so don't let down!!! And remember, Tom and his crew of maintenance people will take care of holes in the roof, doors broken, etc.

Halloween slideshow

Well, I'm trying something new, thanks to the trick-or-treaters. Let's see if this works. It's a slide show, which will fill the screen if you click on the box in the lower right hand corner. (If that works, and you want to get out of it again, hit escape.) To move faster, hit the arrows on either side. It has about half the kids that showed up at Port Gamble. Since it's 4:19 am, I'll try the rest of the kids another day.   I think if I pay them something, the company will even take their name off the show.

But seriously folks, this is a testimonial which gets me nothing...this slide show was easy to learn, seems to work good, and has several options I haven't used. As my daughters and wife will tell you, I'm no computer geek, so it has to be easy to learn for me to use it.

Three events - one weekend

I’m going to repeat myself, but once again it appears that some events in really small towns can be more personal, more meaningful, and at times more fun to experience than events in big cities. To explain what I mean, let me tell you about three events that happened in Port Gamble over the weekend. Nothing unusual, nothing special, just a wedding, a halloween trick or treating day, and a seance. Well, alright. It’s not too often one talks about a seance.

1) THE WEDDING

This was a cute evening in an unusual setting. Let me explain. The postmaster of the Port Gamble Post Office got married in Port Gamble on Sunday. Nothing unusual about that, right? A Postmaster gets married, somehow you expect a “formal” wedding, especially in Port Gamble which hosts nearly a hundred weddings a year, many in a church built not in the last century, but rather the one before that, in a style with the narrow building and tall steeple to match the formal churches of New England. Or the weddings are held in “The Vista Pavilion”, a building built just for such occasions, with a special tent along side for the reception. The receptions often include string quartets to provide that formal atmosphere, (although karaokie is also known to break out). People really do come from other states just to have their weddings here and they do appear to be fun. I had never been to one here before last Sunday.

The Postmaster, Laura, married her beau, Terry, in Port Gamble Sunday. Now let me add some fun elements to that which made a whole different wedding out of it. The Postmaster, Laura, married her beau, Terry, who she met through an electronic dating service, and had the wedding in Mike’s BBQ Restaurant, on Halloween, which was held as a costume party by all who wanted to come in costume. So many elements were different from a “typical” wedding, each one making it more personal and meaningful than a “typical” Port Gamble wedding.

Informal!! Those of us in attendance were asked to stand in a circle around the bride and groom at the start of the service and we went around the room, each of us giving one word which said something meaningful about marriage. The words came out like “joyful, dedicated, love, commitment, gamble...” (“gamble”? that was my word. Well, we were in Port Gamble, and let’s face it, some marriages are indeed a gamble...)

After we all sat down the bride and groom lit candles together, gave each other a ring, and voila! suddenly were married.

Like at all weddings, they had a “first dance”, we ate (BBQ style), and there were many pictures taken, and in no time at all Kris and I were on our way home. We talked about the changes the economy has brought about for newlyweds since we filled that roll thirty plus years ago. We had one house to share, they have at least one extra they are having trouble getting rid of. Kris and I had virtually no commute. Laura has been commuting two hours EACH WAY to work and home, and now they will share that drive, each going the extra time three days a week. It must be tough being a newlywed these days, even for those who are old enough to have gone through it before. But I figure anyone who gets married at a costume party on Halloween, who laughs at “gamble” as a word to describe marriage, and meets his or her life partner through an internet site has got a leg up on having a successful and long term marriage. Kris and I wish the absolute best for the most recent couple to tie the knot in Port Gamble ... although they won't have that distinction for long.

2) THE HALLOWEEN VISITORS

A week or so ago my entry into this blog was a description of what the merchants here wanted to do for some of the kids in the area, wanting to show them the fun of Halloween, not just the greed, and hoping the whole families would join in. That’s exactly what happened and it was a delight!! Last year, as in previous years, the number of visitors was up (to 75 last year) and once again this year we had more, over a hundred this time, all appearing to have a good time. I mentioned in the last entry that Kris' quilt store, until we moved to Port Gamble, resided in a town which had 2500 or more trick-or-treaters and they trolled through the downtown area looking for handouts, like tunnel drilling machines under the streets of Seattle.

2500 is too many for anyone to have a good time. But a hundred was just right. And even those weren’t all just kids. I was nervous when the first visitors showed up, when Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson appeared, middle school aged and unaccompanied, but I learned in an instant from their comments and behavior that they were extremely polite, appreciative, and they left us glad to have seen them. If I'm not mistaken, they were the only treaters who arrived without a parent or two.

In our store (the quilt shop) we were giving away photos of all the kids (more for the benefit of the parents), with a candy bar for the kids. And it was fun.

(I’ve included some of those photos so you can see. But I've been having a terrible time posting photos, so my apologies to parents of kids who came but don't have a child here. As the Seattle ball teams always say, "Wait till next year.")

Afraid of a little blue spider? Never!



This young man was torn between the camera,
which he didn't like and the candy. He finally
came in.



I'm not sure what her costume was,
but she was having fun.

The spider won out.




Well, I did ask him to squeeze in tighter.

 

But could it have been like this in a larger city? Only if it was limited somehow. The kids played games to get their treats wherever they went, and that takes time. At one stop they had to throw a fishing line over a curtain. At another, they had to throw a bean bag through a hole. And at our stop they had to stand still for a minute. Maybe that’s the lesson to be learned; any part of raising kids takes time and should not be rushed for everyone to get the most out of it. When the parents stick with their kids and the whole family is having a fun time together, there's a whole different kind of "growing up" going on. Those become the kids that can't wait to come home at Chistmas, the kind that don't move far from home when they move out of the house, the kind that will raise their kids pretty much the way they were ... with respect and a touch of discipline.  And in a neighborhood.


3) GHOST CONFERENCE

I still have comments to make on the Ghost Conference which was here this weekend. In the meantime I got some photos of the trick or treaters I'm including. They are here under the title "Photos To Go With Halloween." I'll  have the ghost conference comments soon;  I'm not sure what to make of it (ghosts) after what happened to me when we moved here, and after what happened to some good friends here this weekend.

I also want to tell about some of the plans for adding to the events and use of the buildings here. It amazes me!!!   I should have that in a day or two.

Photos to go with Halloween

Finally, I have some photos of the Halloween Visitors!! A lot of kids, but a lot of Moms and Dads, too. I  found only one girl who I would say was unhappy (make that "cranky").  She looked ready to have a tantrum, ran over by the spider, whipped around with a phony smile on her face only to have the flash go off at the same time. She had thought she could ruin my day by giving me a big smile which I would miss, and she would never give  it again. But I beat her to the punch, and her's is one of the best photos here. But I'll protect her ... I won't tell you which one she is.

"Who's the Fairest In the Land?" (Sorry, that's a cell phone, not a mirror.)

One of many happy families.

Personally, I think the families were happier with their photos more than just the kids.

Halloween at Port Gamble

It would seem that more and more commercial areas are providing "safe and sane" Halloween visiting areas, those spots where parents can send their kids and feel confident that trick or treating will not result in razor blades in apples, although it's been years since I've heard of anyone dong that. Most of those commercial areas, though, have become so overrun that what many of us grandparents remember from our youth is no longer taking place, and instead the goblins are running from store to store, grabbing what they can get and heading on home in a short time.

Port Angeles, for instance, has been doing this for so many years that it has grown to the point that a business needs over 2500 pieces of candy (or whatever else is being given out) to still be able to pass the gifts to the last visitor. I saw a sign at the Silverdale Mall yesterday which said they are no longer carrying on the tradition. No explanation, but having been the owner of a downtown business I can see the frustration of trying to preserve a tradition which seems to be out of hand.

So what does all this have to do with the small town of Port Gamble? A lot!! I mentioned earlier that most places are no longer having the events that we grandparents remember from our youth. You are probably a grandparent if you remember  "dunking for apples" (especially if you actually did it), or pressing cider, or even hay rides. Small towns did those sorts of things, and as I've said just a few times, Port Gamble is certainly a small town. There are fewer and fewer such places, but this one is proud to stand and invite kids and parents from throughout the area to join in on the fun and visit us on Halloween for fun as much as for candy.

Don't get me wrong, this "tradition" of inviting goblins on Halloween is just a few years old for Port Gamble, but it is growing,  and plans are to keep it going. So on Halloween, from 1pm  to 5pm, parents and young kids (there is no age limit, but you can tell from the "1 pm to 5 pm" that we are dealing with fairly young kids rather than middle schoolers) are invited to come to Port Gamble and join in the fun. Each business will not only have a gift for each visitor, but it will have to be earned through a game of some kind. Maybe it will be a mask that has to be painted; or maybe a "fish" caught from the other  side of a screen, or maybe a photograph to be taken home and shown to the rest of the family, or maybe a crank on a cider press to get real, fresh cider. We won't tell; you will just have to find out for yourself.

Yes, it's always a lot easier to give kids a ride to the nearest shopping center and turn them loose for a couple of hours to fill their bags with sugar. But while those kids of yours are still with you why not come and watch them having fun. Why, we might even have a treat for you!!!!

Is street repair easy to get in your town?

This is one of those quick posts which could easily be replace with a photo, but it happened so fast that I nearly blinked and missed it.

I awoke yesterday am (yes, brother, it was still am) to the awful noise of buildings being torn down, or maybe it was Mike cleaning his bbq cooker with a new kind of scraper, or perhaps it was the sound of yet another car missing the 15 mph turn and scraping its way over the cliff (2 since we moved here seven months ago, but that's another post).

The worst of the noise soon quit and I forgot about it until I got to the post office, when Laura (the postmaster, and she is indeed a master with the post office, but that too is another story) asked me what that noise was coming from the quilt store. I might have panicked, matching some horrible grinding noises with the quilt store, but since I have found no cause for panic yet at Port Gamble, I wasn't going to start now. So I promised her a full report, and headed toward the noise and  the quilts.

I soon found what the noise was. Half the street was torn up and being loaded into a truck to be hauled away. For what reason? I assumed because of faulty underground wiring or septic system, or some part of the grid work under the street that was failing. I've been told that the streets belong to the county, so I assumed that the failure was near catastrophic. And then I saw Tom, our chief of maintenance, and as always I expected a full and accurate report, and I got it.

Have you ever noticed that every once in a while a slab of asphalt will get some cracking in it, perhaps from some soft dirt underneath, or perhaps some heavy trucks from above? The asphalt is still good, can be driven on for years, and no one replaces the street because it LOOKS bad. No, but they do replace the street at Port Gamble when it is becoming rough in an area heavily frequented by wheel chairs, like in front of the pavilion  where many of the weddings are held.

This is soooo typical Port Gamble. Streets are a problem? Fix them. Don't haggle with some agency about whose responsibility it is, just do it. Do it right, of course, and do it when the problem is small, of course, but take care of it. And  so the problems are small because they are taken care of ... early. As a future  user of a wheel chair, I appreciate that attitude.

Sorry you can't move here  quite  yet, my friends, but the rentals are full ... not one house rental available. Is it any wonder that is the case when they take care of the buildings as well as they take care of the streets? And speaking of rentals, the only commercial building available above the waterfront is the Walker/Ames Building, the largest of the business buildings. All other commercial buildings are full. You ought to come by and check out this place ... full WINTER and summer.

Staying a lady in a man's world.

Early on I said that one of the things I most wanted to do with this blog was talk about some of the people who work here; they seem so unique to me in their attitude about work, in their enthusiasm, in their work ethic, that it seems  (as many people tell me) that I'm living in an amusement park, or maybe in a TV show.

I've also noticed what appears to be a bit of a bias in hiring. Most (but not all) employees of the shops here are female. Most (but not all) employees of the maintenance crew (hired by the people who own everything, and thus maintain everything) are male. I'm not going to even try to explain why so many of the shops seem to hire only females, but I can sort of undersand why the crew that repairs buildings, mows huge fields,  builds fences, etc.  are male ... it's physically challenging work! But there is one exception. And I've figured out how this lady keeps up with the men -- she works smart, as well as hard.

Her name is Kathy. Several years ago she was settled into a job she liked, lived in a place she liked (Grapevine) and as she was preparing to move into her 40's, she felt pretty good about things. Until the company she work for discovered what many others before it had .. the cheap labor of China. What a dilemma, from having it made to having to start over in no time at all.

So back to college it seemed would make sense, facing that system 20 years later than most. And what to take for a subject? Her interest  was in horticulture,  but where was a school and where were the jobs? She was advised to consider carpentry, where she could see the possibilities, where a college was waiting (Olympic College), but she couldn't see the future.

So into it she went, full speed ahead, not looking back, and now,  if you want to see someone who landed on her feet, check Kathy. Three years ago, which must have been about the time she was through school, she got employment right where she lived, at Port Gamble. And it is rarely that I have seen someone fit her job and fit with her fellow employees as well as she does..

Her hoticulture interest? Have you seen the planter box in the front of the quilt store? The one I get credit for? Not so. Since she came to work here she has been "just cramming flowers in as I find them." CRAMMING!!! With such attention to color, size, season?

And working "smart" as well as hard? Have you ever seen sheets of "slotwall" (not drywall) that are sheets of a hardwood with slots across the face to hold display cases on. I don't know what they weigh, but I would never manage to hoist them on regular basis. I watched Bill and Kathy in the quilt store one day when it was under construction. I watched as Bill hoisted one of the slotwall 4x8 sheets from a pile to the wall, and held it while Kathy leveled it, pushed it into place, then hit it with the nail gun while Bill finally wiped his brow. I could see it was not going to be Bill's favorite day that week.

But then, what a surprise. Kathy walked over to the pile, with the same difficulty lifted the next sheet, walked it over to its place and held it while Bill leveled it, pushed it into place, and hit it with the nail gun. And don't kid yourself. If its true that men sweat and women glow, she glowed as much as Bill sweated. When I  asked her what the trick was to getting the board up, she gave me the oldest answer in the book, "You have to work smart, not hard."

So what is this woman among men like when she's not at work? One of the guys going out for a beer? No way. She says she goes home to her "girl cave" with all the girlie frills that a lady could want. I haven't seen her house, but I can only picture the pinks she painted it, the flowered print wall paper, the smell of lavender, and of course the cookies in the cookie jar.

And those would not just be any cookies. She attended a potluck a few weeks ago, and about the time she arrived there the word was out that Kathy had brought her cheesecake. Never mind that she had brought a dessert and the appetizers weren't even out yet. No, as soon as someone mentioned Kathy's cheesecake it was half gone. I arrived a few short minutes later to see people scraping the last of it off the plate she brought it on.

And one other thing. This last weekend included a "Chili Cook off" which Port Gamble has never been involved in. This is the first heat of a cook-off, which means the winner here goes onto face some other winners, the winner of that goes on... you get the picture. But for me the real event was the apple pie making contest which (only for Port Gamble) faced some of the louder claimers of quality against each other, people like Steffi from Mike's BBQ and I who had been claiming easy victories all year, claiming that we were the BEST apple pie makers in the city of  Port Gamble if not in the suburbs as well.

And who won that apple pie making contest? The contest which hits the heart of every man with the thought of "Mom" and "Chevrolet" and perfect pie crusts? Was it Steffi who claimed her secret weapon was the apple tree she has at home? No. Was it me, who claimed I didn't need a secret weapon since I just happen to be a perfect pie maker? No.

No, it was Kathy who beat us all, the lady who is just as agile in the kitchen as she is behind the blade of a saw. "I've never met a nicer person," claims Bill, who works with her as much as anyone. "And if I lived with her I'd weigh 500 pounds."

On smelling the coffee

It's as easy as just about anywhere to stay  busy in Port Gamble, busy enough that one starts to loose sight of what one values. Take this last weekend, for instance, and I'm still having trouble getting photos to come up, so please bare  with me. Last weekend was as busy a weekend as I have seen in Port Gamble, evidenced by the number of businesses (new ones especially) who claimed to have had their "best weekend ever", an admirable goal, I am sure.

What was going on? It was called "Old Mill Days" to celebrate the days when Port Gamble had a mill, I am sure, but it might have been called "four ring circus days" for what went on. For those of you who (like me) have not been here for many of these event weekends, this is the one not to miss in the future. For spectators it is the laid back weekend of being entertained and fed, and not having to think or work at what's going on.

The "four" events of the four ring circus? First was the Hotcake Breakfast which was delicious, hot, complete, and all you could eat, served early in the morning on Saturday and Sunday, to a crowd on Saturday and basically to themselves on Sunday (due to the bad weather). Don't eat at home next year, eat here. well worth it.

While I was having breakfast I was also watching the cars for the Car Show (the second ring) show up, as well  as the crowds who were arriving by hay ride. The cars, all different types, filled "The Bowl" (the name for the area behind the retail businesses), and they were  spruced up to shine like always. There must have been close to 200 cars, and for someone like me, who grew up on cars, again it was grand entertainment. Fortunately they   were there most of the day.

The third ring? THE CIRCUS.  Now I'm not sure that anyone between 12 and adult felt totally entertained, but the 10 rides or so kept our twin  grandchildren fully entertained,  as they had never been down a five story slide, been on a ferris wheel, or some of the "tamer" rides. But come  to think of it some of those teenagers  who  I said might have felt left out were probably the source of the screaming coming from the fun house and the octopus. Again, an easy way to forget your cares and just be entertained.

And finally the logging show. I grew up in a logging town but I don't recall having seen a  better show. These guys, most of them professional loggers (the ones with the faded and torn flannel shirts), were excellant, chopping through two foot thick chunks of wood in less than a minute. And the star attractions for me were the races up the standing poles  (they must have been a hundred feet tall) to get to the top, ring the bell, and get back down, and the noisy "chain saw art" which you could buy at the end. What a show, and what a way to end the four ring circus.

So what did I mean when I said that one could be so busy here last weekend that one starts to miss what he values? I mean that for me I almost missed talking with the people who came here. There were so many of them that a person could fail to see the trees for the forest. I did get to meet one woman at the breakfast on Sunday who most of her life had wanted to move to the northwest and finally, only a month or so ago, had moved her family, but not yet her husband who is overseas and will be shipped here soon. And in only the month she was here was already helping a civic group put on the breakfkast. Impressive!

But finally yesterday I had the kind of time I enjoy here the most. Kris and I went for a walk around town which she often doesn't have time to do because of the quilt store; we both had grabbed a snack at the general store, and we  were sitting at a bench by the flagpole enjoying the warm fall breeze off the water, and talking about this fun new place where we live.

There was only one other couple in sight, not far from us, and he was taking her photo with exactly the view we had been eyeing.  Now I was never one with the quick pick up lines in my formative years, but I have a  good one I use in times like this: "That picture would be a lot better if both of you were in it. Can I take one for you with both of you?" I have only been turned down once, by  a married man whose wife would not have been the woman in the photo.

And, as so often happens, we found out a lot about this couple, they had been to Buckley, he had retired from a career teaching junior high, they were here lookng for the quilt store, on and on. A unique couple as you will find, they all are fascinating with their stories to tell if you have time to smell that coffee before you gulp it down.

The Best of Kitsap's West, North of Central

I'm sure by now that everyone has seen "The Best of North Kitsap" which is put out by one of the TONS of "local" newspapers which we all receive. Of course we all wonder how objective this is, can't someone really stuff the ballot box? Can a winner really just be someone who does a lot of advertising with the paper? To make sure that such blatant wrong-doing doesn't always happen, I decided to give my own "The Best Of..." awards, finding a geographical area which I felt comfortable saying that I have experience in.

That area, to specifically define it, I decided to call Kitsap's West side, but it doesn't include the north end , but it is the northerly end, so I'm going to call this "The Best of Kitsap's West, North of Central". And just to be totally fair, I am going to define the area as East Of Hood Canal, West of Gamble Bay, North of the Hood Canal Bridge, and South of Water. Got that?

The business had to have been opened at least 1 week. Some businesses are so excited from just having opened that their reading is sometimes off, so we required a little time.

The business had to thank us profusely and show us how thankful they were by providing us with a lot of whatever they won with.

And are you afraid I'm going to cheat. Hey! You've been reading my stuff for how long and you think I'm a cheater?

So here, without further ado are the 2010 winners of The Best of Kitsap's West, North of Central, along with a little bit about why they won:

The Best Bookstore
The Dauntless Bookstore
Located in Port Gamble. Have you seen the Dauntless' tourist center, with more maps and postcards than any other business in the area. That's in addition to their many fine books.

The Best General Store
Port Gamble General Store
I don't remember a general store with a better selection of cards (although Kim needs to look at some from Paper Clip Art), and have you seen the TWO museums in their facility, the Port Gamble and the Shell Museums, two of the reasons kids like this place too.

The Best Yarn
The Artful Ewe
How many businesses do you know of anywhere in Kitsap County that are only OPEN three days a week because the owner has so much to do to and with her yarn before she can sell it that she barely has it ready for sale as it is.

The Best Place For Tea and Ivar's Clam Chowder
The Tea Room At Port Gamble
We chose the eatery with the most eclectic or disparate choices of food to show that they could entertain just about anyone with their cooking, providing as well an entertaining location.

The Best Place to Find Antiques
Best Friends Antiques
I like this place for a lot of different reasons, but it is so rare that one will find so many antiques placed so carefully in a garage out back of a store, that it makes searching for antiques more of a treasure hunt.

The Best Salon and Spa
Salon and Spa on Gamble Bay
This place MUST be good,  since it is so common for a customer to immediately head out of town when they are done so they can show off the "do" they received. Don't take this comment too casually, since I'm serious, they are good.

The Best Kayaks
Olympic Outdoor Center
These folks have an incredible summer program, especially their evening cruises to help get you started in your  hobby. They are second to none in helping you get started whether you own a boat or want to borrow one of theirs.

The Best Greeting Cards
Paper Clip Art
Very new to the area, the owner (me) uses the photos of his daughter, his own graphics skills, and cheap equipment to carry on a hobby/profession he had begun in his last town. As his schedule becomes more open, you will see more of his posters, brochures, greeting cards, and other creations.

The Best Place to Rent a Room For The Night
No question,  The Port Gamble Guest Houses
Leaning toward the style of a boutique hotel, they certainly have the style of any older, comfortable, classic facility. Try sleeping there one night. Talk about plush comfort!!

The Best Place To Get a Coffee
Gamble Bay Coffee
Not a surprise here, Sean has been dispensing his ware for years, and even finding new delights. Have you heard of a Tropical Jerry? It will cool you down quick.

Best Barbecue
Mike's Four Star Barbecue
Mike has some delicious choices. He recently made the bbq sauces so you can order them the way you want  them, mild, normal, or explosive!

Best Fruit and Vegetable Stand
Terrapin Farms
Where do they find so much fresh fruit and vegetables? When out of town Kris and I have tried to do what the locals do, buy locally. But it is never quite as fresh as what we see here  as "the real thing".

Best Art Studio
         And
Best  Store Helping a Neighbor
Beverly Hooks Fine Art Studio
A winner in two categories, she was picked because of the way she helps The Artful Ewe with  weaving. My understanding is that the Artful Ewe developed the notion of renting looms by the hour, it was Beverly who should be given the  credit both for helping get the system started and for keeping it going.

The best place to buy a basket
Tango Zulu Imports
Need two reasons to buy a basket at a particular place? I've got them. First is the selection. Incredible. Second to none because of where they came from which is all over the world. And the other reason? The baskets are fair traided. You know the people making them are getting a living wage.

The best quilt store
Quilted Strait
I suppose you think I picked this one because I'm married to the owner. NOT SO. With over 3500 bolts of fabric, employees that are sharp as a tack, and a bunch of other stuff (cross stitch, wool, notions, classes, new AND USED books, and an internet site that lets you shop from your own home), who wouldn't pick it?

The best little store
Second Spring
While I've joked with these two about the size of their building (have you seen it? It's just across the street from the quilt store. Don't blink or you really will miss it.), they cram an amazing selection of home-made articles inside, like aprons, kids dresses, shirts, etc. If you drop by and see something you like, BUY IT because it won't be there  tomorrow. And ask to see their fifth floor ... you've never seen one like it.

There you have it. As honest and fair a report on The Best Of ... that you will find. You know, by golly, I just noticed a real coincidence... I'm not surprised though .... every one of these places just happens to be in Port Gamble. How strange.

The change in seasons has brought ....

First, as is sooooo common among "bloggers", I must  apologize for the month that has passed with no comment. THANK YOU to those of you who commented and claimed you missed my material. As usual with me, the words will no doubt fall gracefully from my lips once I get started,  (yeach!!!) but please let me blame the passage of time on trying to cram some fun in the last of summer.

Now that I'm done writing this post and am trying to put photos in it, I find that the photos won't go in. So I'm going to do the only thing I can do, send it with no photos, and keep trying to add them. Maybe someday I'll figure out what I'm doing wrong.

So, as I said in the title of this piece, "The change in seasons has brought" .... lots of things to Port Gamble. Lets try a few.

RAIN!!!! Not torrential, not even steady, just often. If you've been to Lake Ozette on the other side of the Olympic Peninsula then you know about torrential. They have a rain gauge on the front of the Lake Ozette Lodge that has a measuring stick that goes to 12 and hits it just about every year. What's so special about that? The 12 is FEET. No, here we have the rain that truly keeps the  grass green, and (unfortunately for the grounds crew) growing.

But the pot holes come out too, as evidenced by this one at the 15 mph curve. Watch it!!!!

Tree peeps!!!! Whhhaaaaa??? "Tree peeps?" "What is a tree peep?"

OK,  in this day of text messaging I'm told by  anyone two generations younger than me that words usually get shortened when a person texts. So, for instance, "people" becomes "peeps". So your real question should be "what are tree people?" To answer that, let me back up a hundred and fifty years or so, when Port Gamble was just a wide spot in the road. All the founding paps (fathers) had come from New England where you have seen  or heard about the incredible fall colors. Blazing red, brilliant amber, juicy  orange (no wait, that was what they were eating), but in this neck of the woods they found green  spruce, green fir, green cedar. .. lots of color, just one of them.

So the founding fathers called back east and said "How about if your peeps call our peeps and we get some color out here." How do you get fall color out here? You get those maples that never fail you with their fall show. And who comes to see them? Those fall peeps that go running into the middle of the road to get  the world's best photo op (opportunity, but you knew that one) which is the old church, with a couple of houses, all hidden by the blazing maple show of the trees.

So what is wrong with that? Nothing if the tree peeps would follow the laws written by the highway peeps, laws which preclude any peeps from sauntering from between two parked cars onto the highway, without looking. A recent day left me shaking because I had missed one photographer by inches ... and believe me I saw the brand of camera he had and I would have been very sick if the camera had been hurt.

END OF THE YEAR COMPETITIONS
I'm sure it's the staff that puts these together. Now you know I only use first names lest someone might identify themselves and be upset with me, so I will only use the names Shanna and Tom, but I think those two have planned at least one competition (an apple pie bake-off) just to get another (free) piece of what must be described as the most delightfully flavorful piece of apple pie one can find this side of....  well I don't know where, but it's the best for a long way around. And modest though I am at times, I will admit that the pie in question is made by me. You would think that asking me for a piece of pie might be what most peeps, I mean people, would do to get one. But no, they have to make a competition out of it, claiming Shanna is going to enter a pie, forcing me to enter just to prove that while she is good at a lot of things, cooking is not her strong suit. Cooking isn't even a suit that shows up in her hand. Cooking isn't even a suit she has seen before.

So I'll enter the contest and see if she can take the loss.

OLD MILL DAYS
I should have written about this weeks ago, when I wasn't writing (duh). I'm writing this on Friday night when the carnival is set up and running, and it looks fun, skateboard competition was held tonight, and from overhearing some of the comments, it sounds like the old adage is still true "What do they call someone who finishes in second place? Loser."

 Tomorrow I am really looking forward to the logging competitions. It looks like they will have the old fashioned kind., like when two guys climb a standing log, cut a notch for the board they are going to stand on, then saw the top off the timber. And I heard they will have a log rolling contest with the loser ending up in Gamble Bay. Check their website www.oldmilldays.com for more detailed times and events.

Saturday, behind Quilted Strait (www.quiltedstrait.com) (sorry, Folks, but I get paid for these ads) will be the car show. I'm hoping this will be one of the better ones in the area, since Port Gamble lost out on their own show around the 4th of July. If you are reading this and have not been to the car show, but are planning to go, would you do me one whopping big flavor? Thank the guys who brought their cars for doing just that. For many of these owners coming to the show means early hours, having to pay to let people look at their cars, having to listen to the spectators tell about THEIR cars which were stock and not tricked out like these will be at the show. and a long drive home when it is over.

SHORTER BUSINESS HOURS

If ever I was going to say something that would get me in trouble with business owners in Port Gamble, this is the subject. Don't get me  wrong, I'm not a business owner. I  used to be when we lived in  Port Angeles, but now Kris owns the business and I help out now and then.

Some businesses plan to have shorter hours, or actually what is more common, be open fewer days during the winter. I don't get it. By closing Wednesday do they think those  Wednesday people will come on Thursday instead? It won't happen. Those Wednesday people will eat somewhere else, and that customer's visit will probably not happen.

So let me assure you that there are some stores  open 7 days a week year round. I'll tell you which they are, and I hope others will tell me if  I miss some. The ones I am sure of are:

(in alphabetical order)
GAMBLE BAY COFFEE
PORT GAMBLE GENERAL STORE
QUILTED STRAIT
TANGO ZULU IMPORTS
THE TEA ROOM