Paul Rogers and a couple of his friends gave us some great blues music to enjoy at Vintage by Port Townsend Vineyards. We headed for Port Townsend on a nice Saturday afternoon to enjoy some music, wine and dinner with some friends. Paul played piano and was joined by blues guitarist John “Greyhound” Maxwell and bass player Dirks Anderson as they provided music and stories familiar to most of us.

Paul may be more familiar as the talented leader of “Those Darn Accordions,” not humbly promoted as “America’s favorite rock ‘n roll accordion band.” Just as notable, Paul is the immediate past president of the East Jefferson Rotary Club.

On the way to Port Townsend, we naturally passed by the Habitat for Humanity store on Upper Sims Way. One of the folks going with us remarked on the quality of a recent column she read when she unwrapped a purchase from the store. As it turned out, the store had used The Leader to wrap the item he purchased. Our friend was presented the bonus of this column whilst removing the paper. I suggested she send the newspaper a dollar as compensation.

Back in 1995, David Boxley, a Tsimshian carver from Alaska, designed a totem pole specifically for Burner Point near the Inn at Port Ludlow. The pole is described in detail on the Port Ludlow Resort website with information gleaned from the Port Ludlow Voice in 2000.

The totem pole depicts the evolution of Port Ludlow on a 40-foot pole carved from a Western Red Cedar tree that was located near the Hoh Rain Forest on the Olympic Peninsula.

The figures carved in the pole are:

The Eagle — representing the state prior to any human occupation of the area.

The Bear — representing the ancestors of the local S’Klallam tribe.

Two Men with Locked Arms —Mr. Pope and Mr. Talbot, owners of the sawmill formerly located in Port Ludlow.

The Lumberman – representing the period of the sawmill, 1852-1935.

The Beaver — representing the building phase of Pope Resources.

The Six Interlocking Figures — representing the people and community of Port Ludlow.

In 2015, a local group undertook a project to fund the restoration of the weathered totem pole. David Boxley was retained to lead the project and a rededication potlatch was planned for July 4, complete with music and performances. Research on the subject of totem pole restoration will yield various opinions about how, when, and who should be involved in these projects, including the option of letting them deteriorate.

In addition, it was judged that the wings on the pole should have been larger so the old ones were removed and replaced with larger versions. The old wings were destined for auction to fund future maintenance.

BJ and I decided we should bid on one of the wings and our solitary bid won the auction and the right wing became a fixture in our front yard. Our friend Peter Wagner was involved in the project so I consulted him on a potential restoration of the wing. He suggested I just leave it alone. As you might suspect, it became an even more weathered piece of wood with no appearance value unless one took the time to tell of its history. I decided the piece needed its own restoration so I retired it to our basement work room.

Henery’s in Port Hadlock became the recipient of my significant investments in paint and brushes. There were faded remnants of the original colors which I attempted to match in my painting efforts. The emerging tremors on my hands seemed to cry for better art talent, particularly echoed my BJ. We do have several talented artsy friends.

However, I painted and repainted until I successfully judged the red, black and yellow paint would look great from 20 feet. The fully painted wing is now back and installed in the front year in all the glory I could provide. For those who know me, it will not come as a surprise that the wing’s colors are reminiscent of the colors of the Kansas City Chiefs. 

All the bending over and stretching on this project reminds me of the comment made by the recently deceased actor Donald Sutherland upon receiving an award: “I don’t deserve this but I have arthritis and I don’t deserve that either.”

Love a curmudgeon and have a great week!

ned@ptleader.com