The Johnson Sisters: Peggy, Kathy, Linda
The Johnson Sisters were in town last week – in birth order, Peggy, Linda, and Kathy. “All of us are here except our big ugly sister,” laughed Linda when they were being introduced at the Oysterville Store. “That one would be our brother.” And with that we all laughed.
The three women have been getting together someplace-or-other for Sisters Week every summer since I’ve known them. Or, at least since I’ve known Linda. She first came to Oysterville years ago with our mutual friend Larry Weathers. They had a Raymond connection – Larry grew up there and Linda and her sisters lived there when they were quite young. So young, in fact, that Kathy can’t remember much about it.
One of the things they did while they were here (actually, not until they were on their way back to Seattle where they had rendezvoused for this year’s get-together) was to go by their old house in Raymond. Linda reported afterwards that it “looked GREAT!” I was glad to hear that happy closure to their trip. You can’t always “go home again” as Tom Wolfe so famously told us.
I was a bit concerned that the Johnson Sisters wouldn’t be able to visit Oysterville again either – that is not with the same enjoyment that their past visits have produced. Year before last, Linda actually rented the Oysterville Guest House for an entire month and hosted a whole string of friends (in addition to her sisters) with a sort of continuous revolving door policy.
That year she assigned herself the role of Lewis and Clark Docent and took her guests on adventure after adventure visiting the museums and sites pertaining to the Corps of Discovery. This year, also using the OGH as their base of operations, there were re-visits, but there were also visits to other now-familiar spots – Bradley’s garden, the Oysterville Store, the Astor Column, North Head Lighthouse, to name a few.
Linda and Her Salad
A week was much too short. We felt we hardly got a glimpse of them, although we did spend two evenings together – though on one, we had to share them with friends. And, predictably, we ran into them now and again around town and even in Astoria! It pleased me enormously when, on her return home, Linda wrote:
We all agreed that we had a fabulous time in Oysterville once again. I think one reason is because you always get us so involved in the community, and that makes it more fun. Also, we did a little of everything, from hiking a “Difficult” trail to just sitting in the guest house working on a jigsaw puzzle while we listened to the rain.
It’s so fun to be included in your posts, Sydney! Truly an honor. I’ll be printing this and putting it in my scrapbook…if I ever retire and find time to make one. (A project for a rainy day at the OGH?)