One of the nicest independence days for one of the nicest countries. I (Carl) remember being in Oslo once about 20 years ago for Sytten de Mai at 10 o'clock at night and seeing all the Norwegian women strolling in the pale sunlight in their traditional costumes. So I'm thinking fond thoughts of those friends from long ago.
But today we wake up swinging on a buoy at Spencer Spit and we need to find extra special food to serve to our extra special guests for this evening, Jim and Birte who have a weekend place on Lopez Island. So we went to find it (the food that is). We got off the boat into our dinghy, rowed to shore and then walked to the nearest farm which is called The Horse Drawn Farm. The owner was actually working his fields behind a pair of huge horses. We went up to his farm stand and bought 4 fat pork shops, a bag of arugula and a leek - on the honor system...put your check into the box that's full of other checks and...cash!
Pay Station at the Horse Drawn FarmJim and Birte arrived at 1500 and the first thing we did was to motor over to James Island, another nearby state park. This one is only accessible by boat. The four of us had a good walk, climbing up to the bluffs above one of the two bays on the island and then passing through the forests of Douglas Fir. Back on the boat we put up the sails for the first time on the trip and meandered about in Rosario Straight until we all got too cold. It was sunny but a little bit of wind blowing over the 45 degree water was enough for us. So we were soon back at Spencer Spit which, as the name implies, is a 1/4 mile long natural sand spit.
Homesteader's redwood water tank at Spencer SpitThere are no activities that take place on the LIBERTE that are more important than cooking, eating and drinking. We started off with a bottle of white wine in the cockpit to accompany celery, broccoli and carrots with dill dip. The healthy part of the meal finished, we got ready for serious eating. The fat pork chops went on the grill, while Jude cooked polenta and prepared a salad. We ate below at the table in the main salon with candles and red wine. Our guests had brought bakery goodies from the famous Holly B's bakery on Lopez Island and we polished them off for dessert. Jim, quick witted and sarcastic, is a former law partner of mine and he and Birte, also quick witted but not so sarcastic, have been friends for 35 years. They were in rare form. Carl is a fan of sarcasm.
The only downside to the day was that I (Carl again) had to row Jim and Birte to shore in the dark. After two bottles of wine it was a challenge that I managed to overcome as you can tell from the fact that this blog continues.
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