4 Creature Comforts Evolution Flowing into 2007

The 2007 New Year kicked off with a holiday party in Port Townsend. Soon followed by the Good Earth Show in Eugene, Oregon, and three Chinese New Year Festivals. Ali & David visited for a few days from back East in early February. I hosted a huge party in their honor. It was wild, and Dad really enjoyed it. There was a damper on these events, however, as I had to release my Sweetpea kitty of 19 years to her angel side. She had owned me! Not to have her at my side was a difficult adjustment.

At the same time, my miniature horse, Nikita, suddenly developed lameness on three legs...that was a mystery to all the veterinarians and spiritual advisors I engaged. I kept her confined to special food and prayed. To complete the trifecta, Stacy and John decided to close the Mill Creek store. If you remember, I had just purchased a 40’ container of Thai garden goods to outfit that store, not knowing they were so underfunded.

Fortunately, a vendor couple at the Mill Creek store, Jenny and Bill, decided to take the project on as their garden store, renaming it: My Garden. They asked me to stay on, which I gladly accepted. I reduced the amount of inventory I had there, even taking back the gazebo. Taking that structure down and reconstructing it on my Hansville property was more involved than I had hoped, but in the long run, it was totally worth it! At the end of February, I traveled to Panama to join Geddy and his sidekick, David, in his Panama Geddy Taxi Tour business in Bar Harbor, for five weeks in Jose Pobre.

When I got there, they weren’t talking to each other, which was not a surprise. They were on and off again, like an old married couple. We took a trip to Boquete in the Pacific western province of Chiriqui, a cozy mountain highland town, not far from Costa Rica.

A favorite of ex-pats because of the cool mountain temperatures in the mornings and evenings, with lovely sunny afternoons. The town had a cosmopolitan feeling due to a mix of Spanish, German, French, and English conversations that circled around the central plaza. Activities ranged from hiking to the Volcan Baru summit, to the cloud forests, to lush waterfalls, to horseback riding, ziplines, river rafting, and visiting the famous coffee fincas.

The Arabica Geisha green beans sell for $170.20/lb, one of the most expensive beans in the world. We visited the Ruiz Coffee Distributors, near Baru Volcano, that had been operating for five generations since the late 1800’s. Even Starr had to wear a hair net on the tour of the coffee facility! We came home with an assortment of burlap collectible coffee bags as well as delicious, rich beans. Our charming bed and breakfast was worthy of relaxing by the pool, while taking in the mountain views, strolling through the extensive gardens, and meeting new friends. The walk over the Caldera River on the yellow bridge to the Café Duran was a treat. The river runs through town and has scenic pathways that are fun to hike on.

The original house that Geddy bought in Jose Pobre was completely replaced as he evolved a three level structure with a larger footprint built with coral from the beach, local rock, and old bricks, timber salvaged from old barracks in Colon, exotic hardwoods like this gorgeous purple slab shown here, metal art used as windows from the yacht Opportunity, and architectural findings from Thailand shipped in the container from Hansville. The end result, which took many years, was an unusual home that was a piece of art.

there weren’t any permits or inspections to worry about. Patole and Jorge were the main crew. The old gas pump came in the container from Hansville as well! Here are a few pictures to show the progress of this year….more will follow in the years to come.

The nearby town of Portobelo hosts an annual festival in March, the Festival de la Pollera Conga. This colorful event celebrates the African diaspora and cultural heritage brought by the slave trade from Senegal to the Caribbean. It was a treat to be there for this energetic, fun festival. Christopher Columbus named Portobelo in 1502, meaning Beautiful Port. It replaced Nombre de Dios as the major port for exporting Peruvian silver in 1597 because of its natural deep harbor plus it was an easier port to protect.

During the 1600s to 1800s, however, it was captured several times by various privateers. In 1980, UNESCO designated Portobelo and the ruins of the Spanish colonial Fort San Lorenzo as a World Heritage Site.

Geddy was developing concepts for the mountain property with its gorgeous views just behind the beach house. I loved watching the local horses frolicking on the land. We now had four darling kittens up to their wild antics at the house. Roger was our friend who ran the sloth rescue in Cacique at the top of our road. Geddy had a trunk full of costumes. Here he is holding an iguana wearing a scary mask to entertain some local kids. We took one last journey to the end of the road past our place to the east...because of the Darian gap, the road stops about 60 miles to the east at tiny Miramar, where we had fun with this howler monkey.

At the end of the last chapter, I mentioned my dad had bought a new truck in 2006, and this would be an issue in the coming year. Because his driving was questionable, his doctor sent a letter to the WA DOL asking that he be tested. When Dad received a letter stating that he had to come in to take the written test to renew his license, he started studying. It was painful to watch because his cognitive abilities had declined so much that he would stare at a page for hours, not comprehending a word. Worse was watching him take the exams. Again, he would stare at the computer and eventually end up with no correct answers. We would go in periodically over the course of the Spring, into the Fall, repeating this process. The employees at the DOL were very kind. They allowed him to take a written exam when he complained that the computer was too modern for him. Even though it’s not true, we told him that three failures were the limit before losing his license. I quickly sold the new truck so it wouldn’t be in his daily view, and he eventually did move on.

The Spring and Summer were filled with endless festivals, including trips to Coeur d’Alene, ID, and Kalispell, MT, keeping up with the sales at My Garden in Mill Creek, and I started selling my goods in Port Gamble at a new store, Harmony Hill. The Hansville house functioned as a hotel for friends most summers, and this summer we had the Hugh family of six from Oregon here for a while...horseback riding at Robbi’s was a key activity, plus a trip to the Woodland Park Zoo, my dad’s favorite thing to do. Geddy thankfully returned to help out with the fall shows at the Seattle Center.

This was the year I decided to do the Puyallup Fair, which I renamed the Seventeen Days of Torture Festival! This is one of the largest fairs in the country, with over one million people attending.

Just imagine your booth must be open Monday through Thursday from 10 AM—10 PM, Friday 10 AM— 11 PM, and Saturday & Sunday, 9 AM—11 PM. This was brutal! There was no way I could drive one hour and thirty minutes from Hansville daily. My friend Jennifer, who also had a booth at the fair, offered to share a trailer with her and four other Nepalese girls, which was only thirty minutes away. This was an experience all by itself, but it helped.

I didn’t want to give up my Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival, which I had participated in forever. I hired a team of two Nepalese girls to fill in for me for 4 days while I handled the show in Port Townsend, which had always been an exceptionally lucrative event. As it turned out, I made a higher profit at the Wooden Boat Festival than I did at the Puyallup Fair. Needless to say, I delightfully never returned to the Fair! I barely took a breath after the Fair before flying to the East Coast for my 39th high school class reunion. But first, I went to Bar Harbor to visit Geddy. At a doctor’s visit on the first day, we were alarmed to hear that his prostate cancer was back with a 5-year life expectancy. ( And, that is exactly what did happen.)

While processing this devastating news, he and his brother Herb showed me The White Elephant Inn for sale, operated by an old friend of theirs from Bar Harbor, Dana, in nearby Franklin. Of course, they wanted to buy it...and, of course, they did not have the money… maybe you can see where this is going! Geddy’s brother, Herb, had recently moved back to Blue Hill, Maine, after ending an acting career in Hollywood. They had been estranged for years, but now they were inseparable. My heartstrings were pulled taut, seeing Geddy living in a communal house with many of his now-expanded crew for his Panama Geddy Taxi Tour Company. His fleet of vintage Cadillacs, now embellished with a van and a party bus for Mount Desert Island tours catering to the cruise crowds, was housed at this funky house.

it was a maze of guest rooms on three floors, three apartments, a tower, barns, and an attached house in use as a tourist information center. Set on 4.1 acres, overlooking Taunton Bay, with over 12,000 sf, much of it undeveloped, it had 4 kitchens, 8 full bathrooms, and more rooms than I could count. Dana and his Hungarian girlfriend, Zsuzsanna, had the shipbuilder’s home built in 1785, tastefully furnished with antiques.

They not only ran it as a bed and breakfast, but Zsuzsa also operated a tea house in the afternoons, which had a lovely write-up in the Lonely Planet Travel Guide for Maine. Impressive by itself, the Mitchell brothers poured on the sales pitch about how they would make this a huge success. I made an emotional decision and put up the down payment. What could possibly go wrong?

I borrowed a car to drive to my 39th high school reunion in Norwell, MA. Ali and I shared a hotel room at the event center hosting the reunion for classes of 1967 and 1968, our class. This was the first reunion I had been to since the 10th in 1978. After the party, we spent the evening hanging out with Ali’s boyfriend, David, and Fred. Ali and David had been an item in high school back in the day. Ali returned to Maine with me to check out the inn.

Geddy and I, staying in one of the apartments at the inn, put Ali up in one of the guest rooms. We had a chance to visit Acadia National Park. Below, in the last picture, Ali is in front of Geddy’s Pub in Bar Harbor. I returned to Hansville late in October and closed on the inn on November 15, 2007. Geddy came back on December 20th for the holidays, and we officially ended our separation.

This was the beginning of a new life chapter: Creature Comforts Inn and Gallery … across the country! Now I will juggle dad, creatures, a business in the Northwest, extensive renovations on the inn, start a new business on the East Coast, and have a home in Panama ...my secret weapon is my endless energy!

Celebrate Mom (and yourself!) at The Barn at Owl’s Peak. With Mother’s Day around the corner and spring in full bloom, it’s the perfect moment to find that one-of-a-kind treasure for your home, garden, or wardrobe.

Join us for an eclectic Open House & 20% Off Storewide Sale!

When: Saturday & Sunday, May 2 & 3

Time: 10 AM – 4 PM

Where: 39199 Bear Berry PL NE, Hansville, WA 98340

Can’t make it this weekend? We’d still love to see you! Call 360-808-2522 to schedule a private shopping appointment.