Jan's Black Box Birthday

 Lyrics to When I'm Sixty-Four have been echoing through my head for days now.  I have been moping about.    Being 64 is simply turning one year older.  There are no exciting benefits.  No big parties...no getting to draw retirement...nothing special.

Doug, in his way tried to cheer me up a bit with birthday hints.  We seldom do birthday gifts for one another but this year he said I was getting a present and it was coming in a BLACK BOX.  Even I know that Tiffany uses blue boxes but I wasn't sure about Cartier.  That doesn't sound quite right.  Why would he buy me jewelry to wear in the wilds of Canada?  Quite a puzzle but it distracted me from the Will you still need me?  Will you still feed me when I'm Sixty-Four?

And then came my birthday morning.  I sprung out of bed to find my present and there it was in the promised black box.  It was too big to be jewelry and too small to be a vacuum cleaner.  Carefully I opened the lid and WOW!

Not every girl gets a gold Islander knuckle buster salmon reel for her birthday!  Better than Cartier for certain.

PS  For those of you who are neither old nor Beatles fans here are the lyrics to When I'm Sixty-Four.

When I get older losing my hair,
Many years from now,
Will you still be sending me a valentine
Birthday greetings bottle of wine?

If I'd been out till quarter to three
Would you lock the door,
Will you still need me, will you still feed me,
When I'm sixty-four?

oo oo oo oo oo oo oo oooo
You'll be older too, (ah ah ah ah ah)
And if you say the word,
I could stay with you.

I could be handy mending a fuse
When your lights have gone.
You can knit a sweater by the fireside
Sunday mornings go for a ride.

Doing the garden, digging the weeds,
Who could ask for more?
Will you still need me, will you still feed me,
When I'm sixty-four?

Every summer we can rent a cottage
In the Isle of Wight, if it's not too dear
We shall scrimp and save
Grandchildren on your knee
Vera, Chuck, and Dave

Send me a postcard, drop me a line,
Stating point of view.
Indicate precisely what you mean to say
Yours sincerely, Wasting Away.

Family Resemblances

Jodi and Jan in St. Louis

People often tell me that I resemble my mother's Icelandic family.  I didn't think I much resembled Dad's family until I reconnected several years ago with my cousin, Jodi Hendrickson (Cline) who is my dad's youngest brother's daughter.  When Jodi was six Uncle Russ accepted a job in St. Louis and I have seen Jodi once in the past forty-five years.

Although Doug and I have a hard time coming up with positives about Shari and Ryan and baby grandson, Jude, living in Indianapolis, I must say that reconnecting with Jodi is great.  Doug and I so liked Jodi and her husband, Tim, that we invited them to visit us on the boat.  This was Tim's first trip to the Northwest and neither had been to the wilds of Canada to hang out on a boat.  What fun planning that trip.

Prawning in Codville Lagoon

On our first night we had the traditional all-the-Dungeness-you-can-eat meal and then we had to start seriously foraging for food.  Our first stop was Codville where we introduced Tim and Jodi to prawning and crabbing.

Coho and Ling

Both Jodi and Tim turned out to be fine fisher people and we had great fun fishing.

Twenty-four Pounder

And then Tim caught a nice Chinook salmon.

And then it was time to sight see so we took the fishing boat to Kynoch which is also known as Fjordland.  It is splendid with towering black granite cliffs and beautiful waterfalls.

It was with sadness that we took them to the plane but I am quite sure that it will not be 45 years between visits.