Wandering the Town - 5/28

Port Washington Beach

In the first few days we've wandered the town. Terry puts time in working and joined a gym which, of course, I didn't so I have more time available to wander. The beach looked as I remembered, but the red signs advising you to stay out of the disease-ridden water were gone. The new sign simply implied going in the water could infect you with various illnesses, but it's your call. I suspect the new signs are more about the water being cold than any water quality improvement and the red signs will likely return with the heat. The beach was deserted except for two girls starting their summer tan. They were the whitest girls I've ever seen. If they happened to glance my way, I'm sure they made the same observation about me. 

Port Washington Baseball

All the area small towns field their own baseball team, so we watched the Port Washington Lakers take on the West Bend Benders Wednesday night. My son's teams in junior high drew more fans. We enjoyed the game but left midway through the fifth inning since the temperature was cooling rapidly and we also didn't want to walk home in complete darkness.

Tello's

In starting my research on the best happy hours, lunch specials, etc. I found Tello's, the Mexican/Greek restaurant and bar diagonally across the street from our apartment, has $3 martinis for ladies on Thursday nights so we went for drinks and dinner. This will be the "go to" place to get Terry liquored up cheap on Thursday nights. Judging by the crowd many people had the same idea.

Charter Fishing Boats

Beyond that we walked to the usual suspects of the marina, the lighthouse, the end of the breakwater, the old Catholic church, and all through town. With Memorial Day weekend the community events in the area start in earnest. I don't know if I can handle the excitement.

Pictures - 5/25

Franklin St

I don't have much to say but I wanted to post the three iconic images of Port Washington. Two were taken on our trip three years ago but trust me things haven't changed. If you do a photo search on the town, some variation of items in these pictures will account for 72% of the results. OK. I totally

1860 Lighthouse

made that up, but it's a big number. The main street with the church in the background, the 1860 lighthouse, and the harbor light at the end of the breakwater. Go ahead and check yourself. I'll wait.

Harbor Entrance Light

 

Arrival - 5/23

Home Sweet Home

Got to Port Washington early Sunday afternoon and met our landlord. The apartment is larger than I expected and "semi-furnished" which means it has a couch with ottoman, and a dinette table with one chair. We have apartment number one of three on the second floor with the ground floor being unoccupied retail space. We rounded out the decor with our inflatable queen-sized mattress and a few items from the fine furnishings departments at the local Target and Walmart. There was one furniture faux pas on the first day. Regarding an outdoor plastic chair sitting on the fire escape, our landlord said, "That's from an old tenant, I don't remember who. Why don't you put it in the apartment?"

Terry asked, "Are you sure no one is using it now?"

"No go ahead and take it."

The next day the landlord called. "I got a call from one of the other tenants asking if I knew what happened to their chair. Could you please put it back on the fire escape?"

I made sure no one was around and put it back although it's pretty obvious to anyone we were the likely culprits. There's no better way to endear yourself to new neighbors than stealing their furniture.

Our Home Theater System

The building has all the traits you might expect of a structure over 100 years old. Probably 30 coats of lead-based paint cover the walls, but that's OK since it helps seal in the asbestos undoubtedly inside the walls. Electrical outlets are sparse and not necessarily where you would expect them. I couldn't tell you the last time I even saw working radiators, but we won't be using the heat. Our parents and grandparents endured winters with large chunks of scalding-hot, exposed metal in nearly every room and lived to tell about it, but today if you buy a lamp you get warnings in ten languages - complete with illustrations - telling you not to stick your finger in the socket. We've become pretty pathetic.

The old county courthouse tower has a clock face on each side. Unfortunately the clock is six minutes fast. It would have gone unnoticed, but bells chime on the hour and half hour. Now when I hear six bells I know it's 5:54. I'm guessing resetting the clock requires some sort of key lost decades ago, so everyone just lives with it. At least that's my theory.