It Was Not The Best Of Times

But it was not the worst of times either.  It could have been much worse.

We left Seattle Tuesday in warmth and sunshine, but found nothing but clouds and fog at the coast.  It let us know that the seasons had changed.  We brought those clouds home with us this evening, on this last day of summer.  It is the Autumnal Equinox.  Tomorrow is the first day of Autumn.

This was the scene last year at this time, as I marked the equinox with the sun setting on summer between the Twin Rocks.

 Then there was the unfinished cabin remodel, with  painting that needs to be done outside, and much more inside.  With the wood stove removed and not replaced, we relied in electric heaters to stay warm, since there was no sun.  We kept blowing circuits, one of which we could not restore, so we had limited light.

My brother had painted some of the new siding, but quit when it got too high for the ladder we have there.  Tom decided he could do more.  He painted from the top of the ladder,

 and from the roof.  Now my sister Ilene is contacting someone local to see if they will finish the job.  We have hopes that this will work.

 You have to take the good with the bad, right?  Good in this case is ice cream from the Tillamook Cheese Factory.

With so many yummy flavors, it was hard to choose.  Surprise, not chocolate this time.  Tom had Marion Berry Pie and I had Wild Mountain Blackberry.

This morning we packed up early, bought more paint to have ready for the contractor, and then poked our way north toward home.  We stopped at Wheeler to search the antique mall for treasures.

In Seaside we stopped at the outlet mall.  Tom found shoes at the Nike store, and I found long sleeved tees and a purple fleece vest at Eddie Bauer.

In Astoria we had yummy fish and chips at the Wet Dog Cafe and Brew Pub, and then strolled the main street looking through shops and a few more antique stores.

We stopped off at Starbucks in Longview for coffee before getting back on I-5 for the rest of the drive home.  I was driving this leg and all was going well until the Nisqually Delta, where it always backs up.  There we hit stop and go traffic, which suddenly stopped!  I hit the breaks, looking forward and in the rear view mirror simultaneously.  I stopped just short of the car in front of me, and the big Chrysler behind me appeared to have avoided hitting me, when Wham! Bam! we felt two blows from the back.  

Here's how it looked behind us.  The Chrysler was taken out by the big Porsche SUV, whose driver hit the gas instead of the breaks, and pushed the Chrysler into us before pushing it off the road.

Boy, were we lucky.  This is the extent of our damage.

 This is how it looked behind us, with four cars involved.

 We got fire trucks and police and caused an even worse traffic back up.  Fortunately no one was seriously hurt.  The Chrysler driver, a soldier at nearby Fort Lewis, has whip lash.

So this evening we are very grateful to be home safely.  Josy is happy to have us back.  We are settled in and counting our blessings.

Tomorrow it is Autumn.  Clouds are OK in Autumn.  We have phone calls to make, including to our insurance company.  We might get to one of the grand kid's soccer games.  We have a Sounders match in the evening.  Everything is good.

It could have been much worse.