It was a long day.  We left the house at a reasonable 8:00 a.m. and returned thirteen and a half hours later, having accomplished two of the three things we set out to do.  Two out of three ain’t bad I thought to myself – especially since the third was an add-on to our original plan.  What we didn’t plan on was such a very long day.

First, it was up to Tacoma to meet with our friend Ed Nolan of the Washington State Research Center (part of the Washington State Historical Society).  We had arranged to pick up five boxes of books and documents – the last boxes of the Larry Weathers collection.  – for transfer (maybe today) to the Columbia Pacific Heritage Museum in Ilwaco.  It’s the final step in the process of finding the appropriate repository for Larry’s considerable accumulation of Pacific County history information left homeless by Larry’s sudden and unexpected death in 2004.  (CPHM has housed the bulk of his collection for several years and has made it available to Community Historians who find it a veritable treasure trove of information.)

Then, lunch at the RAM with Ed – a ritual that we’ve repeated periodically since 1996 or ’97 when we began our first donations of the Espy Family Archive.  We hadn’t had a “catch up” visit for at least three years – not since Nyel’s serious heart issues began back in 2015.  I, for one, am grateful that Ed is continuing to work though he could have qualified for retirement more than a decade ago.  His knowledge of the WSRC archives is prodigious and his awareness of what’s “out there” looking for a permanent home is singular.  Talking with him is always a treat.

Then, it was on to Seattle to pick up my very distressed (probably in all senses of the word) leather jacket.  I’d left it at Judy’s Leather Repair in early June and between our infrequent trips north and Judy’s unscheduled closing in July, yesterday was the first day I could collect it.  She had relined it for me which cost an arm and a leg and was well worth every dollar!

It’s the second re-lining since I bought the jacket in 1991 – a $40.00 Nordstrom purchase made on a trip with my mom to Timberline Lodge the day after Christmas that year.  It must have been on sale.  I don’t remember.  The best purchase I ever made – never mind that I’ve spent close to ten times that amount on relining it over the years.  And thank goodness that Judy, in her late seventies, is still in business!  She’s the best!

Then, on to Goodwill.  Nyel is on a quest for vests (maybe even a well-used leather one) and the Seattle Goodwill is a great place for such a search.  But, it wasn’t to be.  We hadn’t counted on the three-thirty five o’clock traffic or the road construction or the game at SafeCo Field.  OMG!  It was a nightmare – an hour-and-a-half long exercise in frustration and misery without getting even close to our hoped-for destination.  And why are we always surprised that Seattle ain’t what it used to be when Nyel lived there in the ’70s?

Goodwill aborted.  Homeward bound by six.  Twenty-one-minute delay on I-5 out of Tacoma – a car crash said my cell phone.  Fairly clear sailing beyond that and home at last at 9:30. Do NOT ask me what we do now that we are retired!  Especially do not ask me if we do much traveling.  It’s a bit of a sore spot at the moment