Bainbridge Island

Last night as I was waiting for my Advil PM to kick in, I let my mind wander back 27 years ago, right after Wheelie and I were married.
Since he lived in New York City and I lived in Oakland Ca. it took some doing to move everything to Washington State.
The moves didn't phase us in the least though. It was a wonderful challenge and we were young(er), and happy...

After our wedding Wheelie and I went on a honeymoon in Seattle, where he had accepted a job as Vice President of Production with a small record company. We needed to find ourselves a place to live. We were immediately urged by many of his new co-workers to check out "the island"....this being Bainbridge Island, in the Puget Sound, a 40 minute ferry ride from Seattle.

http://bainbridgeisland.com/

So we rented a car, got on the ferry, which was a trip in itself, and took the trip to what would be the first home for us as a couple.

We drove around a bit at first, and discovered a place that was like heaven on earth. There was one main highway which ran from the harbor and the tiny and only town of Winslow north to Poulso and Bremerton.
All the other roads on the island were basically two lane asphalt roads. There were no neighborhoods, just homes plunked in the woods. There were however, some parts on the island which one could consider more affluent than others, the island boasted a nice mix of very expensive, beach type mansions, smaller inland homes, a few farms, one elementary school, one middle school, and one high school.
The beach area facing Seattle was the most spectacular, and for us the least affordable area to live.
We drove around, and fell in love with the island, so green, so lush with vegetation, huge trees, wonderful birds, great beaches.
The town of Winslow sported a few great restaurants, a few boutiques, and art galleries.

We decided to get some help househunting, and we stopped at a real estate office. We were given a few options and so we went, map in hand, and looked a a few homes.
All of them were wonderful, and affordable.

We chose this one. It was located in the middle of the island, right behind the elementary school, which was handy, since my son was still in 4th grade.



The house was built by a couple who was stationed in Germany. He was a civil engineer with the military, and they were going to be overseas for at least two years.
So it was brand new, as they were called to Germany pretty much right after they finished the house.

It was huge!

The first picture shows the front. It was built on a slight hill. To the left was a huge family room with vaulted ceilings and windows up to the roof. We had a glorious view of the woods on all sides of the house. There were three bedrooms upstairs and two bathrooms.
The downstairs was an unfinished basement which ran along the entire house. There was a large backyard, mostly grass with a few big hemlock trees. The house had the largest deck in the back we had ever seen.

The rent was a whopping $500. Amazing, even in those days. The decision was easy. This was it!

Thanks to this swift turn of events, we were able to spend the rest of the week loafing around Seattle. Wheelie loved shopping, much to my delight, and we spent days roaming around downtown, visited the Space Needle, and explored the magnificent Pike Place Market.

http://www.pikeplacemarket.org/frameset.asp?flash=true

Downtown Seattle is a great shopping place, with the original Eddie Bauer store, Nordstrom, Frederick Nelson and the Bon Marche. It's a very clean city, and no, not because of the rain.
Actually, we never really thought it rained much in Seattle, at least not when we were there.

The Aquarium, the Waterfront, the ferry system, it was all just like Disney World to us.

When the week was over, Wheelie went back to New York to get his move organized, and I did the same back in Oakland.

A few weeks later he flew to California, rented a large Uhaul and loaded it up. We picked up the dogs from Wheelie's kids' house along the way, and up we went!

The first day was a bit tricky with two hyper basenjis in the cab of the truck and a wiggly 9 year old. But we made it in three days. We stopped at Wheelie's mom's house on Orgeon on the way as well.

It took us a while to get everything moved in and sorted out. But the house was large enough to store all our doubles (two ironing boards, two of everything....we did have an amazingly successfull garage sale!)

And I had this neighbor......:>)

Her name was Lindalee, she was married to a firefighter/car mechanic, and had two adorable children, Sadie and Ryan. Sadie was a precocious three year old with the biggest cheeks, and Ryan was the baby I think he was 6 months old. Lindalee is one of those souls who just comes up to you and wraps herself around you with warmth and love, and in no time, we were best friends.
We differed about 15 years in age. She was a born again Christian, I was the liberal Buddhist-slash-Unitarian-slash tree hugger. She offered her services as hostess to the island, let me do my laundry in her house, took me shopping. For two years we didn't own a car there, so once a week she and I with the two little ones would drive up to one of the larger supermarkets in Bremerton to do our grocery shopping.
When she had to have surgery, I watched the kids, when she was sick I cleaned her house. She in turn taught me how to make jam and preserve food, and make Almond Roca.

After all these years, we both have gone through some trying times, she is a brave soul, went through some serious health scares, two divorces, trouble with the kids when they grew up. But she persevered. It took her a while, but she went back to school and became an ordained minister, and has been working with wayward teens and runs an AIDS ministry in Seattle.
Currently she is remarried and happy, Sadie is all grown up and runs a successfull business, Ryan was diagnosed with ADHD and when he reached adulthood came out of the closet, an event which cleared up much confusion and pain for him. According to his mom he is doing great, despite his tough younger years. He has been working as a UPS driver for years, plays piano, composes and is in a happy relationship.

Distance and circumstances made us drift apart, but once a year I get a letter, usually around Christmas, and there will be a flurry of mail back and forth.

One of these days I WILL go back there and visit her again.

She was one of those people who appear in your life right when you need them. And it doesn't matter that we're apart. I know she is still THERE, and will always have a very special place in my heart.

Our first Thanksgiving.
Wheelie was quite a cook, and this turkey tasted as amazing as it looked.

Sadie and Ryan, 1981

Bugs, Sadie and Ryan, 1984 (5?)

So we moved in and life settled down nicely.
Wheelie walked the 4 miles back and forth to the ferry every day. His company was located across the street from where the ferry docked in Seattle. He would listen to his Walkman, and carry his briefcase on his back.
When I wanted to go to town, I would also walk to the ferry. Sometimes Linda would give me a ride.

But we did an enormous amount of walking. Every Sunday we would hike around the island.
We usually ended up on the beach, discovering many wonderful places along the way. Once during low tide we found a huge field of sand dollar shells, thousands of them. Another time we miscalculated the tide and we were almost washed out to the sound. We literally had to scramble up to a bunch of rocks to stay dry. We both were in top shape in those days!

The island offered so many neat things. So many trees, flowers and plants we had never seen before, tons and tons of rhododendrons. Quail, ducks, geese, cranes, herons, all sorts of different birds. We kept a list of the birds that would come to our feeders on the back porch. From humming birds to evening gross beaks, purple and other finches, lots of blue jays....

Wheelie had a little garden out in the back where he grew tomatoes, beans of all sorts, broccoli, potatoes, zucchini.....

The island had several farms where we could just go and get stuff. Behind our house was a large raspberry farm, where you could go and fill your baskets for mere pennies. When the cherry trees were loaded with fruit, we were welcome to come and climb the ladders and pick them, same with apples and pears.

Wheelie attempted to make cherry wine at one time, he had bottles with balloons fastened with rubber bands in the bathroom down in the basement. Of course the bottles eventually exploded and made quite a mess down there...
I made jam and zucchini bread until it came out of my ears.

I hated canning!!!! SO I froze a lot instead. Gave our tomatoes to Linda to can, same with the beans.

Wheelie gave me the incredible gift of allowing me to "just" be a housewife for a change. I stayed at home, enjoyed my new "job", and set out to make this our home. I crocheted valances for all our windows, about 10 yards of them in total. I made quilts, painted some, and generally just enjoyed life. My son went to school, had fun, made friends.

On Saturdays everyone on the island went garage sale-ing. There would be a line of cars snaking over the island following each other from one sale to the next. There were always terrific things for sale, and my son and I enjoyed going on our hunts.

Life was bliss......and no, I will never forget those years, and every time life is rough around here, all I have to do is picture myself on that back porch, or walking the dogs, or working in the yard...or enjoying my friends....and realize that yes, despite all the heartache and problems, we are a blessed family...

SGMKJ!