Ned Luce

OK, the subject is time. I suspect you might agree that as it goes on it seems like there just isn’t enough and it becomes something that feels like it is controlling us. 

For example, we got a recommendation to catch a performance by folk duo Jack Dwyer and Bobby Winstead at the Port Townsend Winery. 

It turns out they only perform one time at the winery this summer and it was last Friday evening. 

Going up there and having a glass of wine in the yard with others similarly hanging out and enjoying the tunes was a fun time. In addition, since it was at the winery just as you enter Port Townsend, the small crowd seemed populated by locals and not the beginning of the Independence Day crowd invading the “Victorian Seaport and Arts Community.”

Jack and Bobby will be downtown at the winery’s “Vintage by PT Vineyards” in August so we will try to make time for it again! 

On the way home, of course, it was dinner time which mandated a stop at Farm and Sea Grill in Chimacum. 

The Dusty Green Café held a “crab boil” last Saturday so BJ put together a table of eight to sit outside and enjoy the repast with the Drapers, Kathleen Warnock, Paul Herrington and the Grosses, minus Fran Gross who is spending time recovering nicely having lost her appendix. The Ulmers, Doug and Lisa, and the McGillis’s, Jim and Nancy were also enjoying dinner at the golf course. Jim even confessed to reading this column.

Since it was Independence Day weekend it was time for the Rotary Club to put up the U.S. flags in Port Ludlow, Port Hadlock, and Chimacum. We put them up for subscribers to our fundraiser on four holidays each year and thus contribute to the celebration in the community. 

Over 300 flags are flown. 

The “Rotary Year” goes from July 1 to June 30 each year so most clubs have a celebration of the past year, a look at the next year induction of the new officers. 

It was time for our club’s celebration last Thursday at a party at the Port Ludlow Yacht Club. They are kind enough to let us use their facility, for a reasonable fee, of course. We just finished a successful year under the leadership of Paul Rogers and we are looking forward to continuing our growth and contributions to the community under new president Diane Johnson. 

Regular readers will recall we are “dog sitting” for our daughter’s family pet, Winnie the rescue dog. She is a delight to have around most of the time but scheduling our activities always involves considering when she needs to have a walk, when she needs/wants to eat etc. 

I know, any of you with pets know of what I write. 

I have been astounded at how regularly Winnie expresses her needs. At 4:45 p.m. every day she becomes much more friendly and attentive to us since it is time for dinner! She comes in and wakes us up for her breakfast at 6 a.m. each day but we have found that by ignoring her she will wait until 7:15. We have had animals of one flavor or another most of our lives but Winnie has set a new standard for the time she needs attention.

I join all of you who have enjoyed Harrison Ford in the Indiana Jones movies as we anticipated the new one that debuted last weekend. 

Yep, I dragged BJ up to the Rose to see it and we did have fun again. There was lots of action and many references to past episodes of the adventures. The time we went was a matinee which may not have been the best use of our time since the sun was out and you know how we all value that. 

For many years I have maintained that every day is a greater percentage of the rest of my life hence every hour becomes more and more valuable. I suggest mental gymnastics like that don’t mean very much, but I have come to realize that having Winnie around has given me a renewed appreciation for the time I sleep!

Love a curmudgeon and don’t waste your time. Some would say don’t waste your time reading this! Not many, though.

(Ned Luce is a former IBM executive, now retired, and Port Ludlow resident. He has plenty of time on his hands, and recently discovered with amazement his wrist watch also has time on its hands. Contact Ned at ned@ptleader.com.)