Grey Weather, Grey Mood

24 to 26 October 2025

 

After all the craziness of travel during October, I had one more trip to make.  You know those friends who become your family as you age?  Your personal sisterhood (or brotherhood) – those people.

 

Well, one of those sister friends’ husband passed away during September.  I won’t go into details, not my story.  But their adult daughters planned a celebration of his life, and it seemed appropriate to be there.  These are the people I was with a year ago in Italy, and I just couldn’t NOT be there.  This is what close friends do, they’re there for each other during life’s vicissitudes.

 

The memorial was held on Vashon Island, just off the coast of Seattle.  Autumn in Washington is full of color despite the extreme greys of the weather and the profusion of evergreen trees.  There are enough deciduous trees to provide the usual yellows, ochres, oranges, and red we expect in autumn landscapes.

 

I caught a ride with another close friend and her husband, and we enjoyed the ferry.  It’s always nice to be out on the water, even on a misty rainy foggy cold day.

 

We had some time on the island before the event began, so my friend found one of those scrap wood giant trolls that seem to live in the forests and parks.  Okay, I know, they don’t really live there, someone builds them.  But this was Oscar the Bird King, wearing his crown of bird houses!!  Oscar was wonderful and whimsical from all angles, pointing his finger in a friendly “grok” gesture (if you remember Isaac Asimov’s “Stranger in a Strange Land”).  Or perhaps accusingly, if you litter or are unkind to animals.  Oscar and I shared a grok moment.

 

The celebration of life was truly that, celebrating a wonderful man much loved by his family, his co-workers, and the larger community.  It was sad, it was sweet, it was emotional.  We all knew he was great as soon as he started dating our friend, but I learned so much more about him from his employees, their families, and people who knew him in other settings.  He will be much missed.

 

We spent some time at the family’s island house, just sitting outside (covered porch!), enjoying time together and sharing stories and bringing life back to normal, at least for a little while.

 

My flight back to Tucson was a bit crazy, with an added delay when changing planes in Phoenix.  I ended up spending about seven and a half hours at the airport due to mechanical issues and waiting for a plane that never showed up.  Oh well, it happens, although this did seem excessive.  However, I finally made it home to Tucson, however much later, happy to be back in sunshine.