Wednesday, June 21, 2023

A promise made, a promise kept.....

7:43 am - Wednesday - June 21st - LPG&RVR - 45° F, humidity 49%, wind 1 mph out o f the northeast.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies (finally) today with a forecast high of 71° F.  Today is the summer equinox, which means this day will have more daylight time than any other day before or after....sunrise 5:28 am, and sundown at 8:38 pm...so 15 hours and 10 seconds of daylight.  On this date in 2012 TLE and I were at Manito Taphouse in Spokane, WA drinking a coupe of pints of Steelhead Extra Stout......↴


Just shy of a month ago I picked up my repaired Nixon Chronograph from Holiday Jewelers in Klamath Falls, OR, and dropped off a ring to be resized, repaired, and cleaned.  The ring was my Grandfather's (Brian - on my mom's side) wedding ring, which my Grandmother (Cornelia) gave to me 17 years ago under the condition that I would wear it, and keep his memory alive.  When TLE and I got married it was a single ring ceremony, so I had never had a wedding ring.  I agreed, and wore it for a number of years before it became too tight to put on, or take off my ring finger, so I stopped wearing it, but with the intent of getting it resized.  Years passed, but there was always that little voice in the back of my mind reminding me of my promise.  At any rate when we got home from Klamath Falls over three weeks after dropping of my watch for repair I asked TLE to put the ring in her purse so we would not forget to take it with us when we returned to pickup my watch.  Fast forward to this past Thursday....I received a call from Holiday Jewelers advising the ring was ready for pickup, so TLE and I decided Tuesday would be the day we would drive back to Klamath Falls to pickup the ring.  It was supposed to rain on and off all day Monday, which it did, making our decision a good one.

We left home a tad after 9 am to make the 114 one way drive to Klamath Falls stopping off briefly in Alturas to fill our fuel tank....it was down to 1/4 tank, and there are no fuel stations between Alturas and Tulelake, which is about 30 miles from Klamath.  It was a very chilly day with the forecast high only being 58° F.  We did arrive in Klamath Falls around 11:15 am without event.  Our first stop, of course was to pickup the aforementioned ring at Holiday Jewelers.  The ring has three small diamonds, each held in place by prongs, or as they call them Mellee Tips.  Four of the tips had broken, or come lose so they they had to be replaced.  The ring was originally a size 10, which fit me for years, but had to be resized to a 12.75 in order to fit over my knuckle, and be easily removed.  I think all this outdoor living, and working the past 12 years must have enlarged my fingers quite a bit....lol.  When the lady removed the protective wrapping on the ring I was stunned at how beautiful it is....I've never had it cleaned in all these years.....



.....so, once again, I am able to honor my promise to my Grandmother Cornelia and wear Brian's wedding ring to honor his memory.

By the time we finished with our business with Holiday Jewelers it was well after lunch time, so TLE looked up local restaurants and found Nibbley's Café and Bakery which Yelp gives 4.5 stars on 414 reviews....that's pretty impressive, and so is the restaurant.  It was under 60° F, so we were a little concerned about sitting outside, but they have this wonderful, enclosed alfresco dining area on which we could not pass, so we retrieved out jackets from the VW and sat outside for lunch.....a good decision.....


....we both ordered coffee, while TLE ordered their Hot Pastrami sandwich with sweet potato fries, and I their BLAT with criss cut fries......delicious.....



....it took a while to get the food, as the restaurant was very busy for a Tuesday, but we are never in a hurry when there is good food to be had, and the wait was well worth it.

Our next stop was Fred Meyers where TLE did a small shopping, not involving any produce....there is always that pesky California border checkpoint where the only question they ask you is do you have any produce.  By the time we were finished shopping it was almost 2 pm, and we knew we would not be home until after 4 pm.

The drive back to Alturas was uneventful....we stopped off at Holiday Market to get some produce, and then at ACE Hardware to pickup a new light switch plate (dark brown) to replace one in the Newell kitchen, which had cracked, and were home with our spoils around 4:20 pm.  While TLE put away the groceries I did a little weeding around the 'lower deck' (picnic table), and then, with TLE"s help moved the picnic table so I could sweep dirt, and gravel off the artificial turf.  I was still not ready to be inside for the day, so we moved over to the 'viewing deck' with our adult beverages and enjoyed the early evening views.  We didn't retreat inside until the mosquitoes convinced us otherwise......the time....7:30 pm, and the sun was over an hour away from setting!

Happy Summer Solstice, and thanks for stopping by!

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