Hello Dear Friends 'Round The Country!I enjoyed putting together last year's letter so much I've gathered stories all year looking forward to entertaining myself again, and hopefully, you. If you just wanna read my heartfelt greetings for the New Year, just go to the last paragraph, tho you might miss out!
In order to survive 4 gray months of Spokane winter--longer than any stretch I recall in infamously "gray" Seattle--each week I found a highlight to cheer me on another week. (Erroneously anticipated a return to sunny, snowy Rocky Mountain winters when I moved east of the Cascades! I didn't realize that living by the Spokane River--unlike the Colorado or Animas LaPlata Rivers--in winter meant living in a rather balmy, foggy valley). Spokane is nowhere near the elevation of the Rockies, just over 1900' downtown. March 5 journal entry: "Sun came out yesterday; 4 mos of gray end."
Whereas, this summer...I've NEVER lived anywhere so relentlessly hot (not even cool evenings). At first I thought it was funny--the heat triggered a survival tool from a 1950s Illinois childhood: to bed with wet wash cloth on abdomen, eventually passing out into a bizarre, dream state. Tried sleeping on urban cement front porch... At the sight of any mud puddle my primitive (porcine?) urges flickered. Next summer should be simpler. In September I moved to a one room apt with windows that open (toilet that flushes, hot water, etc.--but that's another story); I'll be able to jump out my 3rd story window and end any misery! Just kidding!
To help describe life in Spokane I'll mention a few "highlights". One I still recall with delight: while driving back from the funky old Hillyard area on the northside of Spokane (where I sometimes consign/recycle some of my accumulations), I was thrilled to see a large pig streak across the 4 lane arterial, Market Street. A fellow was in hot pursuit. My immediate reaction was "how exciting to again be living where I might see a loose pig, rather than a traffic jam". Later an unflappable Seattlite reminded me it was probably a pet pot-bellied pig. I choose to believe it was a REAL pig. Spokane has such things.
You see, I've revived my ability to be easily thrilled. Regretfully I haven't entirely learned when to share. The occasional person to whom I mentioned an amusement looked alarmed at best. I never should have confided how excited I was to learn, after ALL these years of using laundromats, the terrific difference one of the spendier, commercial washers makes. No one anywhere, is ready to hear that.
Another highlight: My first (and only) Christmas cactus bloom (given to me by retired Seattle teacher Alice just before I moved to the Inland Empire) sent me into ecstasy! How I admire those beauties! Here was mine, blooming, not in the fall or at Christmas like everyone else's, instead sending a blast of magenta into the winter gray. As I write this I notice that once again there is but one bud growing--well before the holidays.
Such incidents teased me through winter. A majorly joyful January evening was the Cajun potluck I held for the unitarian singles. We cooked up a storm, ate, then actually danced under the mission style chandelier in my former spacious living room. In February I stumbled onto an amazing event: the Women's 16th? Annual Literary Ball, a huge ballroom full of women in evening gowns, rockin' and groovin'. I've never been so disoriented in my Spokane life; did I really come home with sore feet from rockin' out at the Masonic Temple in Spokane! That reminds me of another weird January memory: Tibetan monks performing in one of the small auditoriums in the same bldg were nearly drowned out by a rock'n'roll band in an adjacent room. 50s oldies blasted in between sacred cymbal clangs and rattles, unsettling me.
February Drove to Seattle to hear Marlo Morgan, author of Mutant Message, speak about her Australian experience. Couldn't wait any longer to hear her. Marlo convinced me ALL things are possible.
The rest of winter was full of books and books on tape, thanks to easy access to them while working as a library page. Never have read so much i.e.: kids books--a marvelous reading (Flo Gibson) of Secret Garden, and Woodsong, by Gary Paulsen; adult nonfiction--Celestine Prophecy and Thomas Moore's Care of the Soul and Car Talk; travel--Taxi from Hell (a Russian immigrant's experience as an NYC cabbie) and Peter Getthers' stories of travels with his terrific Scottish Fold cat, Norton (I'd never seen a Scottish fold--thought there was something wrong when I saw Norton's passport photo); from cookbooks--Whatchagot Stew (Patrick McManus and his sister's recipes); biographies--Daniel Pinkwater's Chicago Days, Hoboken Nights and Wabun Wind writing about the Bear Tribe, the Native American spiritual group located near Spokane.
April. Drove to Colorado to visit mom and the desert. How I look forward to that trip! This time mom joined the hikers in Utah for a night's camping and day hike. The desert has a stillness I find nowhere else. On return, while pulled over to watch an unforgettable Montana sunset, I met an 18-wheeler on his home stretch; interesting stops in Butte and at the Grant-Kohrs Ranch, which I visited in 1975 before it officially opened as a National Park property. What a treasure, that ranch!
Under intense social duress I DID participate, as a walker, in Spokane's famous Bloomsday foot race. Although it was a beautiful clear day, I'm afraid this urban escape just isn't enuf of a Spokane booster yet to suffer waiting and moving like one huge amoebae of humanity for 5 miles. My fondest recollection is bolting to the bushes to pee, avoiding the long queues at the portapotties. This caused me to lose my co-walker, a seasoned beer drinker who had no need to stop, for the next couple of miles. Bloomsday '95? Ha! It's enuf to come in 6?,??? out of 67,000 once.
Mid-May brought a surprise short visit from KJ, down from Kodiak, traveling with Klaus, whom we'd stayed with in Germany in 1990! They joined me for Tai Chi practice in the park.
Seattle's memorial weekend Folklife Festival was as wonderful as ever (I LIKE crowds that sing and dance). Now that I live off the main drag again, it's extra good to see old friends, sing and dance. I especially enjoyed didgeridoo workshops. Back in Spokane, I promptly selected several plastic tubes from St. Vinnies to practice didgeridooing.
Returned to Seattle a few weeks later to take long, long awaited superb mediation training through the Dispute Resolution Center of Snohomish County. Naturally I took time to visit--many thanks to Marli for putting me up--and hike in the Cascades; soak in the sun and walk the beach at Deception Pass State Park; dance; experience the hilarious/sobering Gay Pride Parade; and bob on Sallie and Ed's new houseboat.
"Retired early" from paging at the library in order to begin volunteering as a small claims mediator, primarily co-mediating with the delightful, divinity grad & staff mediator, Curtis, at the Spokane's Dispute Resolution Center. Great to put my training to practice.
Sometime last summer I finally tried Mary Peebles rhubarb sherbet recipe. What had I been waiting for! Marcy and I gave it rave review on her July visit. Laurie Morrison stopped by en route from Calgary to Seattle last summer too--we met years ago in Bellingham--for a fine visit.
Reality check: In August the Spokane's Spokesman Review headlined Dan Quayle's visit to Spokane. "1,300 greet Quayle at North Side bookstore". Another quote: "It's the vice president. He's handsome," she said, "and family values are important to me." End reality.
Visiting Chinese Prof. Pon at Gonzaga U taught a small group of us Qi Gong this summer (Sat. 6:30am) and fall. We grew most fond of him, his infectious smile and constant reminder: "At your convenience, smile!" Determined to show him some of the nearby wilds, I recently took him sightseeing to Riverside State Park.
Devoted an inordinate amount of energy to looking for a new place to live, moving everything into storage, then out into a new home, not far from the old, in another historic district, Browne's Addition, on the bluff above the Spokane River. I'm in the old Weil home, built before the turn of the century, now apartments, one block from lovely Coeur d'Alene Park with its beautiful, big old trees. (Our yard has a brass alligator hidden in it!)
Historic Weil home. My home, top ctr! Also home to Bobby (see Cats)Gloried in summer. Began exploring campgrounds, lakes and back roads in spring, car camping in Idaho, watching willows open. One night I couldn't understand the racket "on" the car--animals scurrying all night long; cudda sworn they were in the car. In the morning when I noticed only the wings of a dragonfly I'd recently set on the dash I realized I had in fact slept with a busy mouse who munched and prowled in the car all night!
Hoping to escape the heat, in August I put the kayak on the Toyota and began exploring lakes. It wasn't enough to "be" in the wilds; one had to literally sit or swim in water to cool off. One desperate afternoon I sat in the Little Spokane River reading! Sitting in a tributary of the Coeur d'Alene River, I watched a doe and fawn cross. Another weekend I found a small lake in Canada where I swam, paddled and called with the resident loons. I wrote some of you that that'll be a memory to last all winter. In September Katy and Carl (Bellingham) and I enjoyed a rendezvous at Lake Pierre near the Canadian border, complete with fine moonlight paddle.
I treasure reconnecting with "old friends", watching beaver and mink, weasel and deer, sapsuckers and pileated woodpeckers.
N.B.: for the first time since 1966 I'm not a VW Bug owner. End of an era!
Fall through spring I'm still in the unitarian church choir, and, summer, fall, winter, and spring, I still walk Mondays and Thursdays at 6 pm with "Beth's Bunch", led by white-haired gnome, Beth, who does not suffer liberals or new thought lightly. I wouldn't buy a house from realtor Beth who retorted to my sniveling about the difficulty of finding new digs, "Why should property managers bother to show you apartments?" A point I hadn't considered! Regardless, it's a hoot to explore Spokane with her. We continually see new places, museum exhibits, art shows, parks, new buildings (I missed the drug bust). I've scarcely been able to wait to tell about the night Beth showed up wearing a stunning vintage (of course Beth IS vintage) black wool suit with blue crystal jewelry, announcing she was on her way to the funeral of a pillar of Spokane. She lined out the walk, then, continuing in her no nonsense manner said, "By the way, those of you who are here tonight are seeing me in my burial outfit!"
If you're not up to cats or personal growth stuff go to **.
The new neighborhood is full of cats. I comb the friendly yellow one with buckeye husks. One afternoon his eyes widened and his teeth sank into my nice Peruvian wool fingerless glove. I let it slip off my hand. In a twinkle, this "sweet" cat, ran off, mit in mouth, and slipped under a cracked window! Simultaneously I remembered reading about cats who snatch in All My Patients Are Under the Bed. I left a hopeful note and phone number in the nearby mailbox. Two days later an apologetic woman phoned, saying she knew exactly which cat had done the deed--"Bobby eats sweaters". I retrieve the mit, nipped smaller by several square inches, 2 fingers and the palm neatly trimmed.
Bobby 1994Everything I've learned about science and alternative health is coming together as I learn and explore, roughly along the lines of what Deepak Chopra and Louise Hay teach. I've met a native american healer, Loveda Elk, for whom I sometimes take notes; she works with energy fields. I'll never forget how Loveda described seeing a client's guardian angel who, out of loyalty and love, stayed so close s/he was burned to a crisp.
This fall I treated myself to an exciting Madi Nolan workshop. She's a lama of Tibetan medicine, born in Olympia WA, trained in Tibetan India once she began speaking Tibetan as a child. Finally I'm slowing my mind, integrating right/left brains, grounding, and simplifying life.
** My warmest wishes for the New Year. Thank you all for the support during another year in the challenging 90s, in another new home. Stories from y'all are always welcome.