Some 23 years ago as a guest of the Japanese press association, I took a 16-hour flight from JFK Airport to Tokyo. My seatmate had been to Japan many times in his former career as director of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. He eyed the book I was reading – Kenneth Rose’s King George V. “Boring man,” he said.

Seafarers in this part of the world would appreciate that King George’s idea of a good time was to don oilskins and sit on the deck of a sailing vessel with other old salts.

In the years that George was a naval cadet, there is a marvelous detail, which Rose relates. As Prince George’s ship, the HMS Bacchante, sailed between Sydney and Melbourne in 1879, the men on watch at 4 a.m. saw the Flying Dutchman of sea-going folklore. Thirteen men saw the apparition of the spars and masts of a brig, glowing red. Windsor House of Tea has created a set of interesting, comfortable rooms.Then it disappeared.

In the various legends, the Flying Dutchman was condemned to sail the seas in perpetuity. Every seven years he was allowed to enter a port. If a woman would be faithful to him, he could be relieved of his perennial wandering.

Richard Wagner used this tale as the topic of his first great opera, Der Flieglande Hollander. My wife and I saw it last Saturday night in Seattle. Wagner’s musical imagery clearly evokes the ocean swells. The Norwegian fishermen, their wives and girlfriends were costumed in modern dress. The Dutchman wore a long 19th-century coat.

The theme of the redemption of man through the love of woman moves throughout Wagner’s operas. In this one, the Dutchman’s Norwegian love, Senta, throws herself into the sea and thus ensures that she is ever faithful. In the final scene, the Dutchman and Senta are joined in the hereafter.

Speaking of mystical scenery, Tuesday morning’s lunar eclipse was a fascinating moment. As the moon dimmed and took on an orange hue in the southern sky around 3 a.m., a rich panoply of stars revealed itself. The night’s light clouds around the moon heightened the quiet spectacle.

I am late to the party, but my wife, daughter, a friend and I had lunch last Friday at the Windsor House of Tea. What a great spot, and what a refreshing experience. Using partial walls, a large landscape mural and wall decorations, the proprietors have created a very interesting and comfortable set of spaces inside what was a cavernous space.

The salmon chowder was tasty. So were the sandwiches and the dessert of chocolate zucchini bread. The tea selection is vast. I’m a decaf drinker, and Windsor’s English Breakfast decaf was hearty.

Emerging to the auto procession of Marine Drive was a bit jarring, and a reminder of the respite which the Windsor provided.

Around the corner from the Windsor is the new home of Astoria Fine Art Gallery. Managed by David Maltby, the gallery shows a trio of artists from our region: Eric Jacobsen of Hood River, Eric Bowman of Tigard and Mike Rangner of Albany. Jacobsen paints Columbia River scenes in an Impressionist style that is reminiscent of Childe Hassam.

The gallery also features bronzes by John Hair.

– S.A.F.