Monday, June 29, 2009

Traveling with friends



Kayaking in Lake Crescent, falling aslelep to the sounds of the waves, looking across the Strait of Juan de Fuca and seeing the lights from Vancouver Island, taking Winnie for early morning jaunts in a grassy meadow with eagles gliding overhead and the snow capped Olympic Mountains in the background, 70 degree days with blue skies and no humidity is beautiful, but what has really made this week special is pal-ing around with our two camping mentors from Lexington, Grace and Alan P. Alan was our coach in the early days of our camping with a pop-up camper, and if there were an award for most miles in a pop-up cmaper, they would get it. We were delighted to meet up with them here at Dungeness Recreation Area in Sequim, Washington. Lynne cooked up a bison stew to celebrate and we took a twilight hike along the bluffs with them the first evening and a long hike out onto the Dungeness Spit with them Saturday morning. I won't tell you who has won the games of canasta, and Mexican Train dominoes that we have spent the evenings playing--I will just warn you that both Grace and Alan are serious card sharks, and don't coddle their younger friends.

We are leaving the Olympic Peninsula tomorrow to head up to Birch Bay, near Blaine, Washington, where we will meet up with our friends Lucina and Sheryl, who drove our Honda Civic out for us. It will be great to hear about their trip across the country, which apparently involves a list of 17 animals that they have sighted in the Black Hills and Yellowstone.

The friend theme has been strong all this year, when I knew that this was our last year in
Lexington. Coincidentally, we got to spend more special intense time with our friends than usual. It started with our trip to the Inauguration in DC with Pat and Anne, and then continued with David and Ross spontaneously joining our household during the first few days of the ice storm, and was followed by several weeks of getting to know Bobbi and Sydney better when Bobbi's broken leg made them refugees from the ice storm also. Really, every get together since we made the decision to move last August has been special to me--from our regular Indian dinners with Bonnie and Linda and our friend Mary's (one of Winnie's other mothers) as well as our farewell party, and our visits with Sue Anne in Henderson. Lynne's stock club had a farewell for us and lots of friends made a special effort to spend time with us. Lynne and I had a good visit with my family in western NC. I know I am not mentioning all the good times we have had with friends this past year, and also includes emails from those not in Lexington. In Ireland, they used to give "American funerals" to people who were emigrating to America, assuming that they would never see them again.

Luckily, we will see each other again, and in the meantime, can keep in touch with cell phones, emails, and blogs. Still, I felt a poignancy, and heightened importance with every minute that I spent with you all, and I am truly buoyed up by your love.

OK, where are the pictures? I left the USB cable at home and I will have to post them another day. The point of this blog, anyway, is you.

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