Life's A Gamble Blog

Just Three More Weeks !!!

2012-02-28T23:55:00.003-08:00

   All right, you have caught me playing hooky. It's not been the first time and probably won't be the last, and I ask you to wait just three weeks for me to get caught up on a few things, and we will be together on the track we were following.

   Why three weeks? That's when the taxes that are hanging over my head will be sent in, I will have done my part in redecorating the outside of one of port Gamble's finest buildings, and once again it will be spring and I will be ready to tell you about this progressive and potential town I love.

   Why give me time? Look at where we have been so far .... a wanted to tell you some interesting things about the people who are making their businesses here, and I have, and I have lots more tales to tell.

I wanted to tell you about some of the activities that go on here for you to enjoy while you roam the streets, enjoying the stores. More of those events come in the summer, so I still plan to watch for how you can take advantage of all these happenings. Some are in here now, included with their "piggybacks". What are piggybacks? That's when one event occurs and someone else wants to make a more festive occasion by doing something else with their own event. For instance, before and after every performance of The Good Doctor being presented by The Gamble Theater this month, The General Store will be open for lunch or dinner, depending on the play. So instead of you just seeing a play, you can make a day of coming here for a dinner and a show.

There will be LOTS of that this summer.

And the unplanned events are really fun. In my blog of a couple years ago, I told about three elderly people who simply walked in the front door of my house and asked where the restroom is, then proceeded to tell me I was not making much of "this store." I had to explain that this was not a store, but rather a home, much to their embarrassment. Well, you just had to be there. Or the Mercedes that slid off the road in front of our house one wintery day and landed on its side by our front porch. The only thing the driver was worried about was that I had  taken so many pictures.

So just three weeks.... March  22 .... I'll be back.

A Little Volunteering Goes A Long Way

2012-02-08T14:27:00.000-08:00

Volunteer organizations can be so much fun to watch when they operate the way they should ... everyone is dedicated to the cause, not the money they make, and everyone basks in what little glory they get (their "fifteen minutes of fame" as Andy Warhol called it) instead of trying to make the big picture be of themselves.

I went to a rehersal of Neil Simon's play The Good Doctor which the new Port Gamble Theater Co. will be performing next month (see The Good Doctor, to the right) and I was nothing less than amazed by what I saw that a volunteer organization can do when it is run by a dedicated membership. From when I came until when I left, they told me all about what other people had done to help get them started, and very rarely did they mention themselves.

I took notes, but I wouldn't claim that those notes came anywhere near describing ALL the people that have been involved. I heard about major donations given by other theater groups (such as one in Port Orchard), which included lights, sets, costumes and much more, and I heard about other individuals who were especially strong in the "storage" or "manpower" departments.

The stage, seen from the back of the theater

One worker was telling me about how they are attempting to add four feet to the front of the stage to make the experience more exciting for the audience. Was he trying to impress me? I should say not, He didn't even give me his name.

And in the middle of the list of helpful people is the crew from the maintenance dept. at Port Gamble, always on the ready to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. It's well known that they treat the building with highest respect, they should, since the own it, but they have gone beyond that, making several improvements which have given the building an extra little sparckle.

New seating waiting to be purchased by volunteers

To understand fully what the members of the Port Gamble Theater Co. had to do when taking over this setting, a little history has to be given. The area of the theater has not been used for anything since it was last used in the 1950's, I'm told, for the showing of movies to the employees of the mill town. Can you imagine what that would have been like to open the doors and see what was there, 50 yeas later? It would be like Indiana Jones discovering a lost arc after thousands of years.

But this group did open the doors, and started cleaning. For over a year now they have done their best to make that place more than just presentable, a benchmark they left behind months ago. I didn't stay with them long enough to find out how far they are going to go with the restoration, but I can see it is going to be a time consuming but very worthwhile production.

But now that the physical elements are coming together, the next step is the acting elements, which is another area the volunteers take over. Certainly at the forefront is Scott Snively, a resident of Port Gamble for many years, an actor for many years, and very dedicated to combining the two. He appears to be at the center of most of the activity, yet able to give people a chore and let them do it their way.

I plan to attend his tryouts for "Anne of Green Gables" just to watch him in action. The reason? There are two good methods for choosing a cast. One is to pick every cast member at once, opting for the best person for each role.

Scott goes at the process a little different, though. He picks an individual part in the play which he feels is core, one who must relate to all the other parts at sometime during the play. Then he checks the script to see what relationships are core through all acts, and fills those with individuals who he can see will relate well, will "fit" to the other. That is core, then he casts (one by one) other parts as they become less and less important in their relationship to that core person. So, for instance, Scott won't just make sure he has the best Anne, he will make sure he has the entire family appearing just right, the entire neighborhood just right, etc. I'm excited to see how this will go for everyone involved.

And FINALLY, there is one more group of volunteers which I must mention ---
the group that includes --- are you ready for this? --- the group that includes YOU.

This group is needed more than any of the others, and needed for so much. For instance, it is needed for money:
There is currently a motorized, handicapped-accessible lift waiting on the sidelines to be paid for by $50 bills. A fifty gets the group closer to a chair and you get your name on the master plaque.
You can also be an active volunteer if you can hit a nail on its head,
If you can paint and leave more on the object than on the floor
If you can design or create a costume
If you have connections to help with publicity
In fact, if you think of your best skill, go to Scott Snively and let him know what it is and see if he can use it. You will never regret it!!

Port GambleTheater Brings "The Good Doctor"

2012-02-06T08:44:00.001-08:00

   Neil Simon's musical stage play The Good Doctor is The Port Gambel Theater Co. play for March this year, showing once again the muti-faceted facility's usefullness for the theater company, and for the residents of Port Gamble.

    While the theater group has responsibility for mainentence and scheduling the facility, the acting troop itself is allowed to use it as much as they want, since they are also the ones who pay the rent. Any groups who want to rent the facility need only call the actors' group at 977-7135 or e-mail them at onstage@portgambletheater.com.

   The same number and address may be used for ordering tickets for the March production, and you are encouaged to buy them as soon as possible, says the director Scott Sniveley. All the productions of the company have been sold out or just a few short of sold out, he says.

The times and dates of The Good Doctor, a two hour long production, acted on the third floor of the Post Office building are:

Fri. March 2, 8 pm              Fri., March 9, 8 pm            Fri., March 16, 8 pm
Sat. March 3, 8 pm            Sat., March 10, 8 pm           Sat. March 17, 8pm
Sun. March 4, 2 pm           Sun, March 11, 2 pm          Sun. March 18, 2 pm

The Easiest Way To Plan A Special Event

2012-02-03T19:13:00.000-08:00

The Wedding and Event Planners provide what has to be the most unique service (and perhaps the best kept secret) that you might find in the north Kitsap area. These people, individually or as a group, depending on your needs, will take whatever kind of meeting, reunion, party, wedding, conference, or other gathering you made need, whether it is social, or political, or family, or business, or even just for fun and take it from an idea in your head to the best gathering you could have planned.

And if you are on a tight budget and don't need all they have to offer? Their first step is to arrange a contract which will limit them to providing you with only what you want and what you can afford. No surprises at the end. From there they assist you with everything you could ask for. If you have plans for your event which still needs some outside help, the planners have lists of people they are confident can help you further with photos, or food, or anything else you might run into. Need chairs for the hundred people coming? They will be ready. Need a safety pin at the last minute? They will help you find one. Need flyers to go to the people you are inviting? They will help you put them together, and you will know the cost before the printing is done.

But the best part of their work, and the part that makes it fun for the planners and the group with the event, is the unique facilities that are available at Port Gamble. Go to their website (http://www.portgamble.com/) and you will see everything from meeting rooms adjacent to the General Store, to the beautiful and classic St. Paul's Church, the Puget Sound Vista Center, even huge grass areas are available to accommodate unusual parking needs. Want to have a summer outdoor picnic for 150 on a warm day. The friendly planners will not only get you fresh cut lawn for seating, but I bet they will supply you with a full complement of ants as well.

Call the planners with your ideas and their experts will go to work making you a proposal to show you what they can provide and how they can help you have the best event possible. And when that event is finished, you will be oh, so glad that they remembered to book you into one of the available guest cottages as well.

Roots Rock Trail Races

2012-02-02T23:10:00.000-08:00

Click on this: ROOTS ROCK TRAIL RACE to go to the home page of the organizers of foot races over 7 weekends through the woods and forests surrounding Port Gamble. They range in distance from 5 k to a hundred miles, with each of the weekends providing a different distance.

These are the dates and bare descriptions. Go to ROOTS ROCK TRAIL RACE for complete information.

1) Fishline 50K/25K Feb. 12

2) Lumberjack Endurance Runs Apr. 21-22

3) Forest 5K May 6

4) "Timber Towne" 10K July 8

5) "Port Gamble Half Marathon" Aug. 12

6) 50K/25K Sept. 2

7) "Spooky" 12K Oct.28

A "General Store" Sounds So Unexciting

2012-02-02T18:52:00.000-08:00

When I first went looking for the "finer things in life" (a good quality bottle of wine, a good quality bottle of beer) way back in my younger days I found them near to impossible to find in the Pacific Northwest. My friends who haunted other states or other parts of the country would bring me such delcacies as a bottle of Parducci or even a bottle of Fetzer from California to cover my desire for a good wine and of course in Washington there was nothing like a Coors to satisfy one's thirst for beer, although I'm reminded by friends who lived in California that to the south of Washington in those days there was nothing like an Olympia.

For years we travelled the western states looking for a number 10, the absolute top quality, finding 8.5 but seldom higher. My, oh my, how times have changed. How have they changed? The quality and selection on the shelves throughout rural America has jumped ... I mean leapt ... to new heights of quality. A person can go now to a corner grocery and find the "wine seller" with a "wine cellar" to match, and suddenly that shopper feels he better increase his skills as a chef to match the bottle of wine he just brought home. And what a selection we have today.

   Where? Lets take the Port Gamble General Store, for instance. I don't remember a bottle in the place   (well, other than Pepsi) when they first opened, but now there are wine tastings on a regular basis, but even better, a wine selection which is amazing. And growing. On the shelves are bottles from places you've never been to, but would go to in an instant if you knew that was the only place to buy that wine. Just look at some of these bottles. If you are like me, you have never heard the winery names before, or if you have they were listed in some esoteric magazine in the "boutique wineries" column.   "Boutique" was not in my vocabulary in the old days. It should have been. If we wanted a zinfandel to slide down our throat, leaving behind traces of blackberries and pomegranates, we should have been looking in the boutique wine shops.

    Are we getting to be too far along in life to get caught up with the wines that are now being produced? Not on your life. All we really need is an expert in the subject, someone who will guide us through the minefield of brands which have nothing behind them, the brands that think that all they need is a humerous label to suddenly be treated as though it were a ten.

    I think I found a beer expert who is just making his transition into wine expertise and I can see from a distance that he will do an outstanding job of letting us know where the better tasting wines can be found. His beer-taste tongue is showing signs of boredom with his beer, but is just starting to come alive with wine. He still is young enough that he has full control of development of his taste buds, and the language of wine tasting enhances his skill at being able to describe to us the best elements of the wine he has chosen for us.

I am talking, of course, about Erik, who with his significant other Kim is making a huge impact on what liquids the General Store at Port Gamble has to offer. After all, they own the place. In only a couple of years operating the store they have developed a huge following of locals who like what they are doing throughout the store. And they have fellow store owners close by fearful of the days now and then when Kim and Erik may need to close for whatever reason, leaving their neighborhood without a draw to bring those customers to town.

I think I need to say no more. When you meet Erik and tell him your taste in wine, he will reach for a wine from a winery you've never heard of, and my advice is simple. Go sit down in their restaurant, have a meal with that wine, and be prepared to take a couple more home with you. And I guarantee that you will be back.

The Birds of the Area

2012-02-01T10:15:00.000-08:00

Birds? BIRDS? What am I onto now, you ask. I have always been amazed by the birds of our area, but I've never really studied them, I don't know the difference between the birds on the east and west sides of the state. But have you ever listened to "Bird Note" on some PBS stations? Have you fed the birds year round and seen how much food they go through in each season? Do you know that some of the smallest birds have some of the loudest voices? And this one amazes me ... did you know that in the fall when certain kinds of birds have left the area, at least you don't hear them anymore, the reality is that those birds have simply forgotten the tune to their song and are singng the wrong song? There is MUCH to learn about these creatures.

   I figure if I learn all I can and relate it to you while it is fresh in my memory, we ought to both learn and be able to pass on a fair amount of information to our friends and neighbors. But I'll need your help. Everyone reading this has some interest in birds, otherwise why would you be reading it? I need to know what your interest is. How long have you been watching birds? Do you head to the woods to find a "hider"? Then you must be good at this, so give me some hints and clues. If you are brand new to this, like me, then what do you want us to find out?

    Yesterday Kris and I went to a place that sells the finest feeders available (I've had feeders, but never an excellant one) to get the birds to come to our table when we call them. Calling, of course, is done by putting the bird feeder out. I had always been told to give wild birds a few short weeks to adjust to it, and snoop around it, until their level of trust had risen slightly, and then you would never see their reservation again. Today it took about 1/2 hour and pow !!!!, out they came. And this is still January?!? Since I had never noticed them in the middle of winter, I assumed they were not around. NOT SO! They are right here now.

One of the unfortunate items about birds near homes is that it seems to be a truism that the more birds in a flock the more that will get hurt. This one is sitting out the second fly-in, trying to recover from his "crash and burn" landing brought on by another big bird.

In the next couple of days I will write again, and in addition to a lot of small talk, I will include the list we were given of what food attracts which birds. And don't worry, the big birds don't chase away the small ones. We had Stellar Jays today who stayed for a few morsels, then left before the pine siskins even knew they were there. But a little after 4pm Kris and I were watching one of the feeders when POOF, like a cloud of smoke they all simply disappeared. The only sensible explanation was a possible hawk overhead.

Dauntless Is As Dauntless DOES

2012-01-28T16:52:00.000-08:00

To look at the outside of Dauntless Books, you might assume you have been swept to most any bookstore in a small town in the 1950's where they sell used books and host an occasional speaker or they serve as a tourist office for visitors. If so, you would be missing almost all of what they do for both locals and the tourists who come to visit.

   On the Saturday when I came to visit, for instance, signs were everywhere for one day activities: I'll describe some of these further later, but Gregg Olsen has a book out selling at the Dauntless, the first of six in a series called "The Empty Coffin Series," each telling about a different murder in Port Gamble, with movies considered ala the Twilight series in Forks. I highly recommend that once you have finished this blog, that you head for their site and find the details of ENVY, the first book in the series. It's all Port Gamble: It took place here, will be signed here, may be filmed here, and should be shown here. It's going to be a real local event.

    Another sign, used over and over, I'm sure, said simply "Author Event Today." for a book signing for that day only. And another for another a week later. Many sleepy hollow stores leave their event ads up until the event is long gone. Not at the Dauntless. Their day-old signs are long gone making their in store ads as fresh as today's news.

   While their special events are going on, so are the regular ones. Take the four Thursday night book clubs, for instance. First Thursday (of the month) is the mystery club, held off site to be closer to a place selling dinner. Then the second Thursday is wine, crackers and classics; I'm sorry,I don't recall if the wine or the book was the classic. Third is "Old Timer's," of which I told Lyn I qualified, but once again I missed. She was talking about the books. And the fourth Thursday's club will be led by her daughter, probably lining up several psychologists. Check their website for times and places.

Busy place, right? Well, we are not even half way done talking about the activities .... and remember the cost. I think Lyn said zero cost for anything but the books. That may not be true of the music lessons. MUSIC LESSONS. Sure if you sell books, why not have music lessons? And I like that idea. In a big city there are no doubt many people giving lessons on any kind of instrument all over town. But a small town of 64 people needs someone to find teachers for all the students, schedule them and encouage them to keep it up.. And Lyn does that. How about coming in some time and getting a few lessons on cello, guitar, fiddle, or from either of 2 piano teachers.

Did I mention the staff there will do research for you, too?

In glancing through the activities of this 7 year old bookstore, I see I missed something else fairly important for such a business ... they also sell books. Mainly used, mainly mysteries, Lyn is gradually expanding her children's section too, and is including that all important Melissa and Doug's Wooden Toys as well.

Lyn does things completely, too. If you are in the area looking for a map, for instance, she has had traveler info that would put a chamber of commerce office to shame.

Lyn Playle

And one last thing about Lyn that must be mentioned. As a seven year veteran of having a business in Port Gamble, she is the one who has served this town the longest in that capacity. She knows the people here and what it takes to see things done, such as the Halloween for little kids which continues because she makes it continue. She helps make this town grow by doing it like she does with her own business. ..Doing it right and doing it complete, one step at a time.

www.dauntlessbooks.com
360-297-4043

WISH - For an Art Store

2012-01-24T10:45:00.000-08:00

Would you believe a dog introduced me to one of our shop owners? It was in the summer after Kris and I had moved here, nearly two years ago, when Port Gamble sponsored a type of Dog Show called The Muddy Paw Dog Agility test. People came from all over the northwest, with dogs in tow, to beat the rest, although it was for me a spectacular show since it was my first. This year the show will once again be in Port Gamble and I'll fill you in on it at that time.

The dog's name was (and still is) "Jake", and the photo here shows him ready for his catnap after a busy day of herding kittens. His master was Rhea Schneider, a transplant from Bainbridge Island, who had escaped from the hospitality business where she had worked forever, or at least over forty years. She had taken on the business of running Port Gamble's Guest Houses as a source of income.

But in some ways the tides had changed, the current recession had reduced travel, and every month now showed a decrease in people wandering. Here she was, with 40 years experience, left taking care of two guest cottages. What a comedown. One evening she sat at home and asked herself what was she going to do? She sat with Jake on one side of her, and she noticed a sign with "WISH" on the other side of her. And she thought about it, until .....

She remembered that most of the people staying at the Guest Cottages wondered out loud, "Where do people find local art?" It was a question she could not answer, yet she had met so many artists that the answer should have come easy... She now had the connections for both the buyers and the sellers. During her two years in Port Gamble somehow she had met a lot of the artists, and she knew the buyers had been through. She had WISHed for an answer to her question of what to do, and it came.

So let's jump two years ahead. She is still taking care of the cottages, but she now has what started as a gift shop, but is now a full scale art gallery. To accomplish this she hops out of bed at 4:30, is cleaning by 5:00, in WISH by 10:00, on her way home by 5:00, and on it goes.

Does she enjoy a long-day life? You can tell she does. She's anxious for spring and more people, not to "make a sale" but to connect her artist friends with her tourist friends. And friends she has made! Those who have known Rhea know she can be shy and a little hard to get to open up. But the opening of WISH has brought out another side of her personality, and brought us a completely new person and completely new store.

You will notice all the goods I have been showing you. These are just a really small part of what she has been gathering, but they include art from all over the world. One photographer friend of hers has been printing on glass blocks like have been used in construction, as well some pieces of metal. And what beauty they make. She has all kinds of art ... photography (even one of mine), paintings, even a set of "collectors cookie cutters."

Her friends Sheila Walters and Martha Segerman, who both had antique stores in Port Gamble, encouraged her to take on antiques, which she has done by filling two rooms full of their products.

And I had no idea we had the quality artists in this area which she has found. All I can say (and we all should say) is "Thank You, Rhea," for bringing us a new kind of shop, one we haven't had in the two years I've been here. And by the way. I almost forgot. Jake had a little trouble adjusting to his owner's new store, and he would bark at anyone walking past "his" store, but since Rhea is much more comfortable with the place, so is he. He now spends time licking and sleeping ... and the neighbors live in peace and quiet.

Mary from Second Spring LOVES a Challenge

2012-01-23T17:09:00.000-08:00

The theme for this post about the owner of Second Spring can be nothing less than "Mary Adams LOVES a challenge". It would appear to even the untrained eye that everything she does starts with a challenge. Let's take the name of her

store, for instance, Second Spring. "What's so challenging about that?" you ask. She heard that the name sounded too much like the store sold only used merchandise, which is the feeling everyone gets with the word "second" .... second hand, second grade merchandise.

Mary wanted to keep the name, since it represented for her an old Chinese saying dealing more with second chance, a fresh start, a new beginning, rather than used or cheap, or just saved from being thrown out. It referred to the beginning of the second half of a person's life. In her case, with the recent birth of grandchild, it was indeed a new beginning.

And what are these items the store holds? First, let's not kid ourselves. The "store" is known to be the smallest building in Port Gamble, the old scale shack for the mill. In this case It lies on Puget Way, just across the street from Quilted Strait, and if too large a truck parks in front of it, you lose all sight of it.

But once you get past the diminuative stature of the building, you quickly realize that there are clothes and ideas all through the store, and it's as hard for Mary to wander through her inventory as for any one else to do so. Why? Because the ideas, the designs, and even the creation of some of the items may have come from four others who provide inventory to Mary on consignment . And she loves to see what these women have done.

    She has reason to be proud. They do a magnificent job of giving a different appearance to what is essentially kid's clothes, and being a grandfather of two quite young girls, I know that right from the start those young ladies are not easily satisfied.

   But I call all this a challenge? Well, what do we have so far? The challenge of getting the word out that "Second Spring" handles new clothing, not used, the challenge of keeping six people sewing, from the smallest building in town. The challenge of getting her merchandise to show well in a forgotten location.

   Let's stop and look at a few others. She and her husband recently moved to Hood Head, which is that piece of land just north of the west end of the Hood Canal Bridge, looking like an island, which it is not, but which still puts out all the fun and difficulties of island life. There is a spit of land connecting the "Head" to the mainland, but at most times of the day or year it can't be walked. So how to get to work? You row ashore. If it's raining hard? You row. If it's snowing hard? Row. Blowing a gale? Row. After dark? Say, you aren't listening. You Row. And you don't call that a challenge?

How about this, then. When they first moved to the "Head" late last summer (I originally was going to call this post "Moving To The Head Of The Class"), the house was not quite finished. So until fairly recently she lived in a house with no water, many walls with no sheetrock, very few walls painted, but all livable. And this after spending years living on Bainbridge Island, known for its ability to offer comfortable living. NOW are you seeing what I mean about enjoying a challenge?

Does Mary have any more plans for the future of her store? Yes, she admits she would like to get one of the buildings on Rainier Ave., the more popular street among the tourists. (And if she did, I'm sure that the folks at Port Gamble would like to get back her acres of underground parking .... just kidding.) She then could have more display and get even more people working. She would also no longer find herself in the position of being a tourist information center. She says when she opened her store all the visitors saw her little building first and wandered over to it to get their tourist questions answered. Was she bothered by it? No, but for one more time she saw the questions as a challenge and found all the questions and answers she could, just to be ready. Love a challenge? She LIVES for them.

Hours:

Thursday to Sunday 10am to 5pm

Phone 360-536-4800

e-mail maryatsecondspring.biz

There Is Something In The Water

2012-01-11T10:32:00.000-08:00

   The subject of this next post makes me quite nervous. Several of us have noticed a trend developing over about the last two years which has no explanation, no reason, and (unfortunately) no end.

   So far it doesn't involve too many people, just maybe six children and five mothers, but how many does it take to show people that it is perhaps necessary to make a scientific study? How many people had to die of cigarette smoke before someone did a study to see if smoking was a cause.

   And I face the same question in seeing how far I should push this issue. Is five enough to make this out as more than just a "trend?"

   Before I answer that question let me introduce you to the players. I have a habit of not using last names on the internet, in case someone really doesn't want their name or face used. So I'll just use their first names if I have them.

   I will also add photos as I find these people so you will know them when you see them, and you can ask them if they agree that we have a problem here. The subject? Babies.

   First we had Kayla (the mom), who worked at the General Store, who (almost two years ago) had a baby girl.

   Then not too long after, Sarah, also working at the General Store, had a baby boy.She worries me, though. As quickly as she appeared on the scene, poof, she's gone. For now I'm not counting her.

Lonnie (one of the maintenance staff) then added to the local population with a girl when his wife Jennifer (above) presented a girl, and, although they don't know the sex yet, they are pregnant again.

Haley, another employee of the General store also had a girl.

And we must not forget Mollie who, with Pete her husband (both, above), recently moved their entire sign business from near Bond Road to Rainier Ave. inside the city limits. It wasn't until after they moved that she became pregnant, and would you believe what they found out?!? It's a girl.

Furthermore, just this morning I was told of a resident named Robin who also had a girl.

Notice anything in common? All but one are actively living or working in Port Gamble and all but that one had girl babies. Six for six .... girls? I admit we don't know the sex of Lonnie's next child, but I bet I know which one it is. I shudder to think that there may be others, but I feel obligated to do some basic research and find out if there are other communities that have experienced the same condition.

Some possible explanations? Let's try these: Weren't the Salem Witch Trials not too far from Vermont? Vermont is the small state where all the millworkers were courted to come and work in Port Gamble when Pope and Talbot found there were barely enough people here to keep the mill running, back in the mid 1800's. Couldn't those mill workers have had some negative dealings with the witches living near by? And is it possible the witches of that time and area still have some relationship with the men of today ...here.... or maybe with the ghosts which seem to be here?

Could the problem be as simple as the witches are upset that the mill will never run again? So they are going to make it even less likely that it will happen by not allowing any men to be born around here. If that is the case, these are certainly not politically correct witches since women could just as easily have kept the place going.

And for me there is another more rational explanation which any one wanting to determine the sex of his child could use as a tool ... my explanation is ... THERE'S SOMETHING IN THE WATER. Lonnie claims this situation is great for Port Gamble, once the word gets out, no matter what the cause, since having a girl can seem to be so romantic.

I have reminded him that if this area was in China then women of child bearing age would not even visit here, lest they have a girl baby rather than the one male they were permitted.

As I said, I am going to be looking for photos of the women so far that have had girls. Watch for them. Then ask them if THEY have an explanation.

Ghosts in Port Gamble? For Real?

2012-01-08T05:56:00.000-08:00

Port Gamble has an incredible number of events through the year, some of which seem too far gone to be real. Look at the ghost walks for instance. The first time I heard about them I wasn't sure what they were about, so let me explain. They start at the Port Gamble museum, which is in the basement of the General Store at the foot of "Main Street", you can't miss it. They start at 7:00 pm and go til 9:00 pm. The guides ask only that you bring a few things ... a camera, a flashlight, and warm clothes, some things you would bring to any walk anyway. The calendar telling which nights they are is on the "official" one here. under "events."

But now the big question. Are you going to be actually seeing ghosts? That's a darn good question. Let's face it, some people would not believe in ghosts if you put one on someone's shoulder and it spoke back. Through personal experience I have found two kinds of believers in ghosts. One is the person who has had an unexplained event occur who has absolutely no explanation for it, except that some unknown force (the ghost) made it occur. Most of us cannot go through life without an explanation for unknown things, be they "UFO's", noises, movements we see or feel, etc. That's what happened to me. I experienced a reoccurring touch on my leg for which there is absolutely no other explanation. I go back to the place where it happened every once in a while, trying to see if there is something I missed. One of the other former residents of that building, one who also had a lot of things happen there, usually just says "Jerry, why don't you just believe in the obvious." I don't know why, but sometimes I just do. It's the easiest explanation.

For that matter, I have never met a person who believes in ghosts who has NOT had such an occurrence. The house I lived in has done that to a lot of such people. If it is not on the tour it should be. Now I am not one who will try to convince you to believe, no, my Lutheran background will try to convince you of much the opposite, but I am also not going to try to convince you to NOT believe, since you might find it unsettling to try and understand what happened to you without using "ghosts" as part of your experience.

But there are also a lot of people at Port Gamble who experienced something there as wild as anyone has and still don't believe. They might as well stay home, since nothing shown on the tour is going to make a difference to them. Although the tour might be entertaining and they might finally find an explanation for what happened to them. But I do finally suggest that you go with as open a mind as you can bring.

One last thing I can tell you, though, you better call the museum and make a reservation before you come. I'm told that MOST of the tours are sold out, and I would hate to see you come for nothing, although "nothing" seldom takes place here. You can almost always watch unexplained lights flashing, hear lots of moaning, or if you are really good, you might be able to see shapes bowling in vacant houses (just kidding). The museum can tell you of other nights when the tour is available, since they take place all year round.
Actually, now they tell me that you should call the "events" office for reservations and for alternative dates if the tour is full the day you want to go. Their number is (360) 297-8074.

One Of The COUNTRY'S Top Ten

2012-01-06T07:31:00.000-08:00

This post is going to sound self serving, I must admit, or at least "wife serving" since it involves the work and dedication and leadership of Kris, but Quilted Strait, her quilt store which we moved to Port Gamble a little less than two years ago, has been named a top ten quilt shop for 2012 by Better Homes and Gardens through their Quilt Sampler Magazine. Her store is one of ten which will be featured in the May edition of the magazine.

It is indeed a huge honor for her and her staff. It was awarded to them for dedication and hard work, starting last summer, beginning with an application several pages long, filled with photos ... an application which I am convinced was required so that Kris could express her own enthusiasm for her store. After all, how could they be enthused if she was not? And enthused she is.

   Since that time the honor has grown, the phone calls from the people back east has multiplied, and (now that she and her staff are finally allowed by the magazine to talk about it with the public) the work involved in this honor is truly a labor of love. She has had interviewers calling to get details for the story, photographers coming and disrupting her business to get "just the right shots", while at the same time she has had to design a quilt, make a sample, and write a pattern for it .... just a part of the work involved in the new relationship with the magazine.

   It has truly been a lot of fun for me to watch from such a close distance and see Kris bubbling with joy about this honor. She is not a person who brags about herself, but rather one who is quick to give praise where it is due, with her employees, with her customers, and yes, even with me. But the total package is held together by one person who has had a vision ever since the fall of 2009 when she and I stood on a knoll above the Port Gamble Maintenance Shop and I heard her say, "I think I see a new home for the quilt store."

   It has been a roller coaster ride since then, moving a business, moving our residence twice, keeping ahead of a major illness, having a close family member die, (it's beginning to sound like a county-Western song) on and on the challenges have gone, and on and on Kris' dedication to her family, her staff, and her customers have gone. Dedicated to them she has been, and dedicated to them she will be. If you drop by and she seems pleased with this honor, don't worry ... she earned it.

Our first look inside

Hours: 10am to 5pm every day

Phone: 930-8145

Free Phone: 855-GOQUILT

It Takes A Village

2012-01-05T22:09:00.000-08:00

Something is wrong with me ... desperately wrong. For several months now I have been having this reoccurring memory of three life stories of three kids who I had reason to meet one weekend in Port Gamble. Three kids who grew up in totally different ways, yet all three of their stories made me think of Hillary Clinton's comment that it takes a village to raise a child.
Tell you what. It's winter so we aren't spending our evenings outside, and thus we have lots of time on our hands. So let me challenge you. Try to see what the connection is between these stories and Hillary's comment. I know that some of you who were reading my stuff last year were teachers, and thus know kids well, so what's the connection?

STORY ONE - THE CIRCUS CLOWN
Here's the story of our first "kid". He was thirteen once, a little big for his age, but he probably made up for it in a lack of common sense. He had lived at home in Florida for those first 13 years, but fighting with his parents had become so common place that he knew he had to get out if he was going to survive.
So at age 13 he hitchhiked a lot further than most kids his age would do, he hitchhiked to Los Angeles. But as he neared the metropolis, he heard another story, this time one that said the money is here, but it's almost ready to be shipped to Alaska. So once again he looked for a driver to pick him up, forgetting that a car doesn't work well on the coast road to Alaska. Laughed at, up against a lack of roads on the coast of B.C., he headed south, only to come upon a site that intrigued him even more than Alaska-- a circus!!

He fibbed to the owners of the circus of his "advanced" age and his size certainly came in handy for the owners, so they agreed to take him in for the season, going so far as to put him in a clown suit whenever anyone in uniform came around, lest he be snatched by the law and returned to Florida.
But the summer came to an end, the police were called in and the young man was returned to his parents, where the fighting and screaming was renewed. Eventually, the family, the couple with the circus and the lawmen agreed that the kid was better off in Washington, so the circus footed the bill for his return and he had a new home.
To make a long story just a touch shorter, the boy, as you can see, has matured and was in Port Gamble as the manager of the games division of the carnival which was in town one weekend. He was an incredibly polite manager, he made being the carnival's next door neighbor quite tolerable, and he and I spent a lot of time together with his stories.
But is his story one that proves it takes a village to raise a child? I've known a few other hitchhiking kids who certainly didn't turn out as well as he did.

STORY 2 - RAISED IN A BARRACKS
That weekend in Port Gamble had an incredible number of events, and they all had one theme. Whether it was the carnival, or the Old Mill Show, or the car show, or anything else, the people all came by car and the parking was a mess. So the chief man for the weekend had hired some kids to keep the cars moving, or parked where they should be, and kept the cars away from the pedestrians and vice versa. I was talking to one of the uniformed teens who was working this job when a big green bus came rolling into town, parked near the waterfront, and after a few short minutes about 45 teenagers came rolling out the door, ran to their staging area and began to set up like you would expect the army to do.

They lined themselves up perfectly as you would expect a uniformed troop to do, they stood at perfect attention, looked straight ahead as their fingernails were inspected, and made no comment when they were told that their behavior had to be perfect when talking to people in the area.
I asked the boy who I had been talking to who these kids were and the answer surprised me. "They are the "troubled youth" of the area, they live in a national guard armory behind locked gates. They only get out for times like this, but they live this way 24-7.
NOBODY reported an incident with these boys, they did a perfect job of directing traffic, and could certainly be referred to as a credit to their army. But was a village involved in raising them?

STORY 3 - THE SKATEBOARDER
You and I both know what the shoppers of the world think of skateboarders. We've seen the signs directed at them for years now and there has never been a positive one yet. Have you seen a "OK TO SKATEBOARD HERE" sign? Do you really think there is such a thing? If not, what are we saying to these kids? Isn't it pretty clear? We are saying, "If you skateboard, we don't like you."
Well, there's one young man in Port Gamble that I have taken a liking to, he's polite, he's not the least bit disruptive, he helps me hang Christmas lights when I need him, and ... you ready for this? ... he's not bad on a board whether he's out front of Kris' store, on one of the streets, or on the tennis court.
On the same weekend I have been talking about, he found me and wanted to show a new move he had perfected, one where we he jumped up from the board it would make a complete revolution forward before he landed on it. I had my camera with me, so we agreed that we would be catching him in perfect mid jump if the board was exactly upside down and he was in mid air above it.

So jump after jump he tried, with him falling off the board more times than he would want to admit and me getting one or two shots off. Then I remembered. My camera has an automatic setting that lets me take continuous shots as long as I hold the shutter, 5+ per second. That was more like it. 2 seconds every jump. In ten jumps I had another 100 shots, and most importantly, the ONE we had been waiting for.

The sweat was flowing off his neck, the excitement kept me giddy, so much so that I went home and printed him a 13"x19" photo... with him hovering in mid air while under him, also in mid air, was a skateboard perfectly upside down.
Now these stories aren't about skateboards, they are about boys raised in three entirely different settings. And I want someone to tell me if any of them or if all of them were raised by a village. I want to know because this is a remarkable village we have here and I think we do a damn good job of raising kids. I think Hillary was right and she must have based her comment on a trip she had made to Port Gamble..... or some town just like it.

Feel free to make a comment below. I'd love to hear what you have to say.

Basket Weaving 101

2012-01-05T12:41:00.000-08:00

I dropped in on Tracy at Tango Zulu yesterday because I had heard something about the way that baskets are "reconstituted" after they come to her, packed tightly in a shipping box. She has baskets like you would not believe; I mean hundreds of baskets, literally crushed into the boxes they were shipped here in. Misshaped, creased, wrinkled, obviously no good for sale .... or so I thought.

I thought that was the case until I met Tracy's employee Cathleen, whose job it is to take a few of these crushed pieces of reed and make them back into the beautiful baskets I see at our home and business.

But first let me tell you about Cathleen. It is always exciting for me, a former business owner, to see an employee truly excited by her job, her boss, the products she sells, the customers she waits on, even the guy who comes by, hoping to get a little "behind the scenes" info about the store she works in. She truly loves what she does, and Tango Zulu is a better place for having her there. That is one element of life in Port Gamble which I noticed to be almost universally true: The people who work here ENJOY working here. They enjoy the people they work with as much as the people they work for, which they seem to realize is the customer.

And now to the task at hand, opening the box of crushed baskets and making them useable. See what's inside the box to the left? Each of the boxes they receive contains several more baskets of a variety of sizes, each needing to be soaked in water. IN WATER!? Won't that hurt them? No, much the opposite. Most of these baskets were made in rain forest country, with mud, water, hot muggy temperatures as a standard, used like a woman would use a purse. And you bet they got wet.

But while they are wet a person can "get the kinks out", round the corners, smooth out the crushed parts, make them back into what we think are "works of art" and what the people who made them think are "just another way of carrying things."

This basket to the right has been soaked with water and it is now ready for the hard part, the shaping. The water has not made the colors run, only made them brighter, which they will continue to be as long as from time to time the baskets get soaked.

It was easy to see from watching Cathleen work that reshaping the basket had to be as hard as shaping it in the first place. But the effort seemed to get easier and easier until the final shape looked liked I would have expected it to in the first place.

I would have probably sent the baskets in the box back to where they came from (probably Africa), but no, selling beautiful baskets is simply a lot more work than it appears. Some stores may simply open a box and put out the contents for sale. Tracy's store has to rebuild their products before they are set out for the consumer.

While she was showing me all this, Cathleen and I discussed the finances of basket making. The manufacturing of them falls intro "fair trade" which means that the people who make them are paid a living wage, at least for the area they live. They are not getting rich by our standards, but their children have shoes on their feet. In fact their children are not allowed to work, according to the rules of the fair trade agreement, since child labor laws are part of the rules.

We didn't discuss what those weavers making those baskets might actually be paid, but let's be realistic, even a "living wage" in some of those countries might not be much. But it is better than it used to be, and some day their living wage might be more like ours. Would it bother Tracy if that meant the price of her product went up? Not at all, she told me once, as long as everyone plays by the fair trade agreements.

Tracy, Cathleen, and the baskets can all be reached at their website. Their store is open in Port Gamble 10-5 every day.

I'm back from the past

2012-01-04T19:54:00.001-08:00

A few of you may remember me from a couple of years ago, when I wrote a blog about this great city of Port Gamble, it's people, it's activities, and why I thought it was so much better than a big city. Unfortunately, this little burg had so many activities going on, so many things to do, that like a good sheep, I lost my way and dropped the ball and got myself overwhelmed.

But not so this time. I'm going to do things a little different. You and I are going to go "behind the scenes" to see what makes all these activities work so well. How did this town get so many Christmas lights up when hardly any other town did it?

How can You get involved in this new live theater group which there is nothing like anywhere in Kitsap County?

There are a couple of shops here that ship goods all over the WORLD. How did they get started doing that?

Some lady named Clinton made some comment about how it takes a village to raise a child. What's that got to do with you and me?

There's a national magazine which lists one Port Gamble store as one of the ten best of its kind in the country. Do you know which one it is?

We will find a lot of humor on the way, too.

My goal is to write once a week, and I will especially try to flesh out the stories behind the big event for each weekend. So sit back and let's get started.

By the way, my earlier attempt at writing posts can be found here.