It was a welcome break from the chores to prepare “Fleetwood” for her September 12 departure. The short ferry ride from Goose Berry Point to the island brings you in a totally different world. The majority of the ferry passengers are locals since there are no hotels on the island and they all know one another. You leave your preoccupations on the mainland side. My friends Sid and Leslie live on the beach on the Lummi reservation facing the island. We met on a ski charter flight to Austria in 1972. Sid designed all three homes I had built in my previous life. His younger brother David and wife Charlotte live on the island. It was Sid’s 78th birthday on the 27th and we celebrated this, before the presentation I gave at the Lummi Island Library, at the restaurant above the ferry landing. It was a beautiful summer evening with a gorgeous view across Hale Passage of Mount Baker.

Mt. Baker

B-day boy on left front. May I look as good as Dewey on right when I pass my ninetieth b-day.

We were thirteen at the table and made up nearly one third of the presentation audience. Giving presentations is a new skill that I am slowly acquiring. My dear friend Leslie sat down at the Sunday breakfast table and gave me some helpful suggestions. Leslie is the one who gave me the right pick for my first sailboat in 1976, she counseled me in 1972 when I became a single dad, I could have saved myself some heartaches and disappointments in my relationships after my divorce if I would have heeded her advice. Their home was a regular overnight stop on my frequent business trips to my Canadian sawmill suppliers. These friendships are very precious and it was a delight to see their friends and relatives. Leslie’s son Mike and Sid’s son Doug were with us with their spouses. They were around Lisa and Rose Marie’s age, then respectively four and eight years old when we met in 1972.