Come in, come in, its good to see you again. Watch out for that Hakoowana vase on the floor there. The shop is in such shambles these days. .I've been preoccupied with a quest. Can I offer you a pipe of excellent turkish blend. Oh, I forgot you don't smoke. Such a shame, a sweet pipe can be a soothing consolation to old men such as ourselves. But never mind. Sit down here by the stove and relax, its rather cold outside, you can take the pink from your cheeks huddled by my heater.

As you know from before, I am a seeker of oddities, or not so much the oddity itself but the story behind it. The oddity serves as a peephole into its past and prompts me to search for clues that will elucidate the events that have contributed to the making of the object's uniqueness.

I've discovered recently an oddity that I cannot own but yet it's existence intrigues me. I must know its story. So, I guess you might say, I am a collector of stories that have left hints of themselves in the form of oddities. The particular oddity in question is a tree, a rather ungainly tree. It's appearance is not what piques my curiosity but its location. I have found that it helps to have your company in these eccentric quests of mine, so please come with me to unravel the significance of this little pine tree down by the wharf.

I've been able to interest a young woman customer of mine in this project and that is lucky for us because I don't drive anymore and she will be able to get us around more comfortably than if we had to use that blasted old island shuttle bus.

Caroline will be here in a few minutes and we'll take a ride down to Ransom Harbor. I think there's still time for a cup of tea. The water is already hot. It's an interesting thing about Caroline, she hasn't been on the island long. She was window shopping in front of my shop one day and that old square . . . . Ouch! Watch the cup I overfilled it a bit. . .that old square ceramic container that I sometimes display in the window caught her eye. It's not something I ever planned to sell. It's part of my oddity collection. She just had to have it and her lovely vulnerability caught my soft spot. She reminds me of Audrey Hepburn. Did you see her in Roman Holiday?

That's a lot of what I do these days is watch old re-runs in the back room when things are slow in the off season. My wife wouldn't let me get away with that before. . .but she's gone, sweet old Alice. I miss her. Caroline came over here from the mainland a few months back. She studied some kind of environmental preservation or something like that. All these new areas of study, I can't keep up with them. In my day it was simpler. I think she said she studied at Western Washington University. Is that tea o.k.? Oh, here's the sugar.