Beautiful B.C.

Ed flies a helicopter around here and there occasionally and gets to see much more of the varied border terrain than do those of us who just hang around Point Roberts (that would be me).  A couple of weeks ago, he found a lovely pinnacle up in B.C. with, he reported, a spectacular view.  He had his camera with him, so he tried to do a 360 degree view of the sights in the nearby high mountains.  However, he didn't have a tripod with him and it didn't do it justice.

So, this week, he went back with a tripod and got it.  You can see it here.  Mt. Baker (the highest mountain around here next to Mt. Ranier, which isn't quite so much around here) is in the background of the first part of the picture that you see (the farthest left part).  We got the ocean, we got the mountains, we got it all.

9/11 and 9/15: Here They Come Again

This year, for the first time, the country doesn’t seem to be obsessing about the 9/11 anniversary, although Obama did note today that Al Quaeda is still hanging around.  Whacked almost a year ago (September 15, when Lehman Bros. declared bankruptcy) by the threat of the economy disappearing, we seem less frightened by terrorism than by bankruptcies and foreclosures of one sort or another.

A streak of good weather here this weekend will make it seem a little bit more summery—in summer, we don’t have to think too much about 9/11 or 9/15--but the news on my street is that two of our eating establishments are closing, which doesn’t bode well for the local economic front, such as it is.  We had five restaurants and now we have three, apparently, and only 1 of the 3 routinely provide evening meals.  Although that might change for either or both of the survivors, I suppose, given the vacuum.

Hardly a year ago that we were fussing about the proposed housing development next to Lily Point Reserve where Stanton Northwest Properties was aiming to build a hundred homes of the million dollar each variety so that 100 ROTUS families would be able to participate in the oceanside paradise that is us.  The newspaper reported last month that that development is on hold.  A rather more dire sign is that when you call the main (and only) phone number listed on Stanton Northwest Properties’ website, as I did today, I was informed by a recording that this number is no longer functioning and I was not given some other number to try.

On the other hand, the County has approved permits for yet another 100 house development around the Point Roberts Golf Course.  These developers appear to be moving somewhat cautiously, talking about building only a few houses to begin with, presumably in order to find out if there is a market for paradise yet. 

In the fifteen years we’ve been here, the massive housing development is a constantly looming event, but like an antic pirate ship in a Gilbert and Sullivan comedy, it only looms, it never attacks.  Perhaps just an important engine of the plot line, although the story, ultimately, goes somewhere else.  It's just not yet clear, though,  whether this is going to be a tragedy or a comedy.  Forty-one of fifty-one economists, it is reported today, have announced that we are out of the recession.  But for the moment, it’s not apparent up here.

Pt. Roberts Leads the Country

Perhaps we’ve become a kind bellwether town.  Today I read that, in Philadelphia, they are having the kind of trouble that is leading them to the this action:

“* Households will receive robo-calls this week, notifying them of the switch to twice-a-month trash collection.”

Of course, they’re not really going far enough in Philadelphia on the trash scene, given our experience.  On the other hand, they’re planning to close all the libraries, which makes our 3-day/week look like we're just not making enough effort in closing down civic life.

Our trash collection problems, of course, remain unresolved.  Freedom 2000 (name not yet updated to 2008) is the local company that has applied to become the new trash collector, but the county appears to be somewhat reluctant to approve its application. [Correction: as noted in the comments, it is not the County but the WUTC--Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission--that is required to sign off and make a recommendation on the application.]  This might be because the county [correction, again: WUTC] has previously had some problems with the company's owners over licensure and dumping practices, according to the newspaper in its August issue, which is not currently on line so I cannot offer a link.  Or it might be because the company's plan is problematic with respect to profitability given the small customer base and the newsness of the company to the business, according to the September newspaper.  (It should be noted that the previous trash collector reported exactly that problem but the County [again, WUTC] was somewhat less than sympathetic to him from all accounts.)  Or it might be that the County [again, WUTC] is hoping someone else will object to Freedom 2000, making it possible for the County [again, WUTC] to keep its hands clean. (Newspaper headline: "Little Opposition to Trash Hauler Seen") All I know is what I read, of course, but between the lines of the trash stories in the last two months' All Point Bulletin, it certainly looks like those are some of the lines of thinking at the County [again, WUTC] level.  

Maybe Philadelphia would like to offer some advice?

Fruits of Fall

Well, here we are past the beginning of September, at the end of the Labor Day Weekend, and Point Roberts is closing down.  The skies continue in their greyness, although there is little or no rain and the temperatures are quite moderate.  It just doesn't look very encouraging, but it's actually quite pleasant weather. 

I went out for a walk and, in a half hour on the streets, did not see a single moving car.  I did see lots of houses that are closed up; lots of boats brought home to roost; trucks in driveways hitched to third wheels or trailers.  Time to go home.

On one street, there were big tomato plants with ripe tomatoes in even bigger pots, left out at the curb (if there were curbs) like the weekly trash for pickup (if there were a weekly pickup of trash).  My guess is that they are out there as a gift for the passing walker, fruits of fall after the farmers have gone back to their real homes.

Our yard is effulgent with fruit.  I gathered up a box of ripe apples from one of our several apple trees and left it out on the road (where the trash would be picked up, etc.) and within 8 hours the box and its contents were gone.  Must have been people; raccoons would have left the box.  But raccoons wouldn't have eaten the apples because either they don't eat apples or there are far too many apples around for them to bother with those in a box.  We have more apples and plums than we know what to do with, as does pretty much everyone I know.  The pears are scarcer on the ground, as well as on the tree.  Pears seem to be more finicky.  We have at least one ripe fig, and people who never get grapes are reporting bunches on their vines (we have one bunch with about 6 grapes).   And the blueberry bushes, the both of them, are still heavily laden with fruit.

So we are enjoying the fruits of fall; the actual fruits and the indirect fruits of quiet.  Both much to be desired.

Dogs Day

We are well past the Dog Days of summer, the ones at the end of August where it’s hot and sultry and we lie about drinking cool lemonade and thinking about the fact that Sirius, the dog star, used to be on the horizon at sunrise during these days, thus giving them the name.  But we’re not there anymore.  Today we are instead at Dogs Day which was a remarkable Point Roberts event, far more deserving of the ‘festival’ name than most of the festivals I’ve seen this year.

What we got was a dog show at the Community Center with a prize for every dog, because every dog competed only in his/her own category.  I counted forty dogs, so I imagine there were closer to 50 since there was considerable moving around of animals during my counting period.  All kinds of dogs showed up with their people, big ones, little ones, barky ones (but not too much of that), very quiet ones, friendly ones, nervous ones, some of everything for our entertainment and admiration  And not a sign of anybody being paid to entertain us.  We were entertaining ourselves, for the most part.

I don’t have a dog, so I was truly just a spectator, but I felt like I had a dog there today; felt like I might have a dozen or so of these dogs.  What a bunch of good sports!  And their owners too. 

Unfortunately, the weather was September and overcast and drizzling off and on.  The organizers got permission to conduct the judging indoors in the hallway of the Community Center (all the other rooms that might have been used were engaged in a big raffle, yard, and bake sale, all of it, including the dog show part, to benefit PAWS, the local organization that cares for our domestic animals in need of care). 

It was a little crowded in the hallway, so most of the 2-leggers stayed outside while the dogs and an owner took them indoors, in turns, to be addressed by the judges.  The task of the judges was to determine the category of dog in which the particular dog before them was the clear winner.  Brownest eyes in a black dog?  Shortest legs on a big dog?  Cutest dress?  Nicest bowtie?  Most dignified dogs?  Dogs with reddest scarf?  Most welcoming dog who is also a border collie? Every dog a winner!  Yes, indeed.

                                                                     Bring it back next year.

What's Wrong with This Picture?

Well, most basically, what’s wrong is that I chose to plant a zucchini plant in the new vegetable garden this year when, as everyone knows, it is a mistake to plant more than one-half a zucchini plant. You do a whole plant and you just become a neighborhood embarrassment or, worse, a neighborhood menace, sneeking around at night dropping excess zucchini on your neighbors’ decks.

Beyond that, there is the mistake of leaving the zucchini plant alone for two weeks during a hot period with no plans for it to be watered. I thought that would work, would slow it down. I picked everything on the plant before we left for B.C., and this is what I found when we returned (along with another one about half this size and two small ones that were perfectly respectable squash).

I didn’t buy any zucchini seeds this year; what I bought was butternut squash seeds. I planted about 40 of the latter seeds, at different times in the spring, some in the ground, some in pots in the house, some in paper pots in the kitchen, some in paper pots in the ground, some in paper pots sitting in standing pipes (don’t even ask about the logic of the last one, although slugs are involved in the explanation). Ultimately, three of the butternut squash seedlings actually made it to five inches and they have gone on to creep around a bit with small, discrete leaves and two very small promising butternut squash-like shapes which may eventually turn into butternut squash if I or the warm weather lives long enough.

My zucchini plant was pressed upon me by a neighbor who had planted one seed each in two pots and both seeds came up. When he gave it to me, it was already five inches. It seemed unkind to turn him down given the nature of his burden, so I took it in and planted it in the far corner of the small vegetable garden. By now, of course, it’s enormous, literally overwhelming the beets, the kale, and certainly the pathetic three butternut squash plants. So that’s the many things wrong with this picture. No more Mister Nice Guy, next year.

Here’s another place where there’s something wrong with the picture. In the most recent issue of the All Point Bulletin we are told of a recent Parks Board meeting. The Parks Board oversees the Community Center, among other things, but that is sort of the biggest thing they do. Complaints were being made to them that the Center was looking lackluster, had unchanged, dead lightbulbs, and insufficient gardening and landscaping. Apparently, by the end of the meeting, it was made clear that the trim painting was going to be improved, and that the Parks Board would lay out money for 6 dozen tulips. I don’t know about what’s going to happen with the lightbulb(s?), but one of the Parks Board members volunteered to pay out of his own pocket for an extra two dozen tulip bulbs.

The other part of this ‘what’s wrong. . . picture?’ comes later in the newspaper where the real estate folks advertise their wares. Last month, one (and perhaps only one) property was sold in Pt. Roberts, a beach house with 4 bedrooms and 6 bathrooms (what does that septic system look like?), costing $2.5 million. Pt. Roberts has many, many beach houses; it’s like Malibu, California, in that respect. There is a ton of money here. And we can’t afford, as a community, to get the light bulbs changed or buy an extra 2 dozen tulip bulbs, even when we’re just north of the biggest tulip fields in the U.S.?

What indeed is wrong with this picture? Maybe what we need is a Point Roberts Endowment Fund where we can all make donations to cover the costs of light bulbs and tulip bulbs, and whatever other bulbs, literal or figurative, are needed for civic life. Apparently county tax revenues aren’t able to provide such funding. Given that we don’t pay any state taxes, perhaps we could pay the equivalent, voluntarily, to the Endowment, especially those of us who came here from high state income tax states (think California) and who thus save 10% of our federal taxes overnight just by moving to Washington.

Alternatively, maybe the right model is tithing. If we believe in Pt. Roberts—and who would live here if they didn’t?—maybe we should tithe to the Pt. Roberts Endowment. Well, if there were a Point Roberts Endowment.

Fall Bursts In

Ouch! The calendar page turns, the sky turns dark, the rains start to gather, the vine maples turn red, and every tourist on the Sunshine Coast and in Point Roberts heads for the exit. The ferries today were backed up for at least three sailings from Langdale to Horseshoe Bay, even though it’s Tuesday, the day after a non-holiday, ordinary Monday. So apparently we’re into fall, even though Labor Day is yet a week away.

I was reading while waiting the two hours for the next ferry and during the ferry ride itself a book about art and art museums by Peter Schejldahl, who is the art critic for The New Yorker. In particular, his division of museums into categories made me think a good deal about Point Roberts, strangely enough. He describes museums as being either encyclopedic (like The Louvre or the Metropolitan Museum of Art; he compares the encyclopedic museum to Home Depot, the place that has everything you need and a bunch of stuff you don’t need but might some day); or homelike (a museum created by a single person in which everything is chosen from a single perspective of meaning); or ‘the boutique’ (very narrowly defined area of acquisition); or ‘the laboratory’ and ‘the pavillion’ (a sculpture garden would be included in the latter, L.A.'sTemporary Contemporary in the former); and ‘the destination’ (Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim in Bilbao, Portugal--[Ed says Spain and I'm afraid he's right).

Over the years, there has been endless talk about having a history museum here on the Point, but nobody is ever quite able to generate the funds for a building or its maintenance, even though there is already something of a collection of historical goods, tended by the Point Roberts Historical Society. So what I was thinking was a kind of entertaining thought experiment. If there was to be a museum about Point Roberts in Point Roberts, what would be in its collection, what kind of museum would it be?

It could be encyclopedic, presumably and just put the best of whatever has happened here in it in documents, video, photographs, and actual stuff that remains. I have an ironing board allegedly made by Arnie Myrdahl, an original settler, although it has a Canadian company’s name on the bottom of the board, so maybe not so much, but I’ve also seen some original settler’s spinning wheel, and there could be other things like that. It could be homelike, and then the Historical Society could just pick whatever things they like and that have meaning for them. Or it could be a boutique museum that just focused, say, on the fishing and canning industry that operated here. Or it could be a pavillion/laboratory style in which Lily Point would be treated as a museum ground and wonderful things could be included there, creations consistent with Lily Point’s nature (like Storm King Sculpture Park in New York ). Or it could be a destination and either Frank Gehry or all the summer festival operators could get together and design a single, spectacular venue to house the irrelevant artifacts that would be contained therein.

I realized halfway through this process that the window sills in my houses function as tiny museums, places where I leave strange seeds, dried flowers, glass bottles, other odd objects that have come to my hand and that I was unwilling to let go of, at least yet. I leave them there in little unrelated groups (rather encyclopedic) for years at a time. Over time, I consider how they came to my hand as I stand before them and look out the window through them (a more home-like museum). I’ve come to have a substantial collection in this way, but it's narrow, boutiquey, and sort of like a laboratory in the sense that some objects are beginning to relate to others. Schjeldahl doesn’t mention that museums are also places filled with mementos of many sorts. Must be fall that turns my thoughts in this direction.