Three Beautiful Things 04-04-2025: Leah Sottile Writes Solid History, Extremist Intersections, I'm In the Money!

1. After attending the Northwest Passages event Wednesday evening featuring Leah Sottile, I wanted to read her new book, the one I came home with, Blazing Eye Sees All: Love Has Won, False Prophets, and the Fever Dream of the American New Age. 

I worked my way about half through the book today and, as with any solid historical study, I'm seeing again that very little in our world today is unique or unprecedented, largely, I suppose, because human beings don't change much from generation to generation regarding what they are drawn to, what they become obsessed with. 

The particular obsessions Leah Sottile explores in the flow of United States history involve preoccupation with lost ancient, mythical,  and utopian civilizations and centering one's spiritual life around making mystical contact with these civilizations, like, for example, Lemuria, and seeking to elevate human existence to higher planes of reality, through love, seances, divine revelation, and a host of other means. 

Because a critical mass of people are drawn to New Age legends, practices, promises, disciplines, charismatic leaders/prophets, communities, and other aspects of this spirituality they find powerful, clever and mendacious con artists and charlatans exploit the power of New Age attractiveness and bilk people of money, valuables, and property -- much like a certain kind of Christian evangelical. 

Not all prominent New Age speakers, writers, leaders, etc. are charlatans, not all are fatally dangerous, but this book examines quite a few who are (or were). 

Sottile focuses on some of the more prominent false prophets in our country's history and the power they accrue(d) over countless followers. The growth of the power of the World Wide Web, especially the growth of social media and platforms like YouTube and TikTok has greatly increased the reach of these spiritualists and made it, of course, possible for followers to be in real time contact with each other through live streams, chat rooms, texting, and other means. 

I admire how Leah Sottile approaches these New Age practitioners and the history of this spiritualism without mocking or deriding them (for the most part). I admire the number of scholars in the world of higher education she's sought out for help in understanding this subject. I admire how Leah Sottile devoted herself to countless, mind-boggling hours of research in archives and other written records and books and more mind-boggling hours of watching online videos and live streaming presentations. 

The book is an unblinking combination of journalism and scholarship and to top it all off, Leah Sottile's writing is accessible, direct, and absorbing. 

2. Leah Sottile's focus as an independent, free lance journalist is mostly, but not entirely, on extremism in the USA. Blazing Eye Sees All is a study of extremism, and I'd like to add to what I wrote above that while the aesthetics and the manner of New Age spirituality appears to be very different from, say facism or militia groups or QAnon or other prominent extremists in the USA, these extremists often intersect at the junctions of anti-semitism, anti-science, anti-government, anti-vaccination, preoccupation with conspiracy theories or stories, and other similar flashpoints. 

I find this aspect of Leah Sottile's research and reporting fascinating -- and I was fascinated by her comments about this intersection on Wednesday evening. 

As I mentioned in my blog post yesterday, I was in the company of people practicing some form of New Age spirituality daily when I lived in Eugene. In addition, and this is just one example in the Silver Valley, if you go uptown in Kellogg, you can shop for New Age/Metaphysical items at Positive Practice on the corner of Portland and Main.  Here's the link to this shop: https://tinyurl.com/5xe3tbxj

I have no idea what, if any, intersections between New Age spirituality and the far right exist at Positive Practice. I haven't visited the shop beyond exploring its website. My immediate impulse is to be happy Positive Practice is in business. 

Because I don't have to be scientifically accurate in an informal blog post like this one, I'll just post a few of my impressions. 

Yes, I would say that it's highly likely that people whose company I shared in Eugene and whose spiritual lives leaned toward the New Age/Metaphysical were suspicious of pharmaceuticals and medical professionals and were likely, in most cases, to look to naturopaths, body manipulation of one kind or another, acupuncture, essential oils, and herbs, tinctures, and teas, and other similar means for medical treatment. 

From time to time, I did the same. 

I trusted the integrative/holistic medical specialist, Dr. Andrew Elliott whom I consulted on several occasions in Eugene. 

I trusted him because he knew naturopathy had limits.

For example, Dr. Elliott fully supported the pharmaceutical therapy that saved my life when I contracted bacterial meningitis. 

Other naturopathic remedies he sent me home with successfully cleared up other medical problems I had. 

I never got the impression that Dr. Elliott's medical practice or his outlook on life intersected with the far right. 

If Leah Sottile's research, interviews, and observations are correct, the pandemic mightily affected the intersection of the New Age movement with far right perspectives. I'd sum it up by saying the intersection occurs in suspiciousness, distrust, investing one's hopes and dreams in a single idolized leader, and (I might be out on a limb here!) in a yearning for a return to an imagined golden past and the desire for ethnic cleansing of the population that accompanies such yearning. 

3. I had more on my mind today than extremism in the USA! 

A couple weeks ago, Ed and I buzzed over to the Spokane Tribal Casino and laid down modest wagers on NCAA tournament basketball. 

I bet on the women's tournament and decided to bet on two teams to win it all: the University of Connecticut and the University of South Carolina. 

Well, as luck would have it, guess who's meeting on Sunday, April 6th in the tournament's championship game.

That's right. 

UConn and South Carolina. 

I'm in the money no matter who wins -- I'll win a few dollars more if UConn triumphs, but no matter who wins I'll come out -- are you ready for this stunning news? -- about 30-35 dollars ahead! 

I'm not much of a high roller. 

Luckily, I have fun making small wagers! 

Three Beautiful Things 04-03-2025: Thinking About Eugene, The *Deadish* Variety Show, I Figured Out the Rebus!

1.  After attending the Northwest Passage's program Wednesday evening featuring Leah Sottile and after listening to her discuss her newly published book, Blazing Eye Sees All, a sweeping historical and contemporary study of New Age spirituality, its origins, its popularity in the USA, and some of its prominent leaders (Sottile focuses primarily on women), I was compelled to start reading it today. 

New Age spirituality is not grounded in creeds, doctrines, a single authoratative book, and has no structures that look like, say, Christianity, Judaism, or Islam.

It's amorphous. People who practice New Age spirituality have commonalities, but within the New Age movement exists much variety, many different emphases, and any number of self-appointed, for lack of a better word, leaders. 

I referred to Eugene in an earlier blog post as a robust city. I hear or read people typify Eugene as a hippie town, a university town, a town of anarchists, and any number of other things. The longer I lived in Eugene and the more years I taught at Lane Community College, the more variety I experienced in Eugene. It's a business center. A medical center. It has deep roots in logging and blue collar work. I saw close up how the police work as well as the DA's office when I spent a month of grand jury -- nothing hippy dippy about these pros. 

So, a lot was, and is, in the air in Eugene -- including New Age spirituality. 

Reading Sottile's book, so far, has kindled many memories, many conversations, many fragrances, many images, many visits to Saturday Market and a few visits to the Oregon Country Fair and I'm learning more about what might have lain behind the way many people  I encountered, taught, talked with, and was friends with over the years saw the world and their place in it. I couldn't and didn't buy in, but I listened and did my best to sort out the virtues from the wackiness of what these people had to say about their spiritual lives. 

2. I listened to Jeff's radio program Deadish tonight live. He arranged tonight's show chronologically,  playing cuts from live shows that were performed on April 3 many different years. He played Miles Davis, Santana, Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys, Jerry Garcia Band, and treated us listeners to another good dose of the Dead. 

Variety. 

That's what I like. 

Tonight Jeff played a great variety of music, all connected to the Grateful Dead some (like Miles Davis) by improvisation, some by style (like bluegrass), some were  musicians who played with Jerry Garcia in projects like Old and in the Way or the Jerry Garcia Band, and some were musicians like, say, Carlos Santana, who were vital contributors to the the San Francisco/Bay Area sound over fifty years ago.

3. I was very happy to complete the NYTimes crossword puzzle I worked today. I figured out that the puzzle featured some rebus squares and I figured out the puzzle's rebus almost right away, a very rare feat for me. 

If you wonder what a rebus is, here's help from the NYTimes: "Rebuses are crossword elements where solvers are asked to write multiple letters in the same square."

Or in a single square. 

The rebus I figured out today appeared in six different squares. 

Three Beautiful Things 04-02-2025: Pre-Pandemic Cultural Safaris, I Meet Leah Sottile, I Listen to Leah Sottile and Walk and Think

1.  Back in the fall of 2018, Debbie started a school year long substituting job at Charlamagne, the French Immersion elementary school she taught at in Eugene for several years before we moved to Greenbelt, MD. 

In the fall of 2018, we'd been living in Kellogg for a year.

I was enjoying many of the aspects of Kellogg life I've written about over the last several years: living so close to Christy and Carol, family dinners, living close to life long friends, hanging out at The Lounge, hiking, exploring the area, and more.

But, after living near Washington, D.C., going to the New York City metropolitan area to visit Adrienne and Jack and coupling those visits with forays into Manhattan, and after leaving a robust smaller city like Eugene, the one thing I missed in Kellogg was living where a culture of arts and letters thrived, where such a culture is routine.  

So, I began making cultural trips to Spokane. I also made one such trip to Missoula in 2019 (to see Jerry Douglas and Tommy Emmanuel) and I drove to Billings when it was Hiram's turn to be a part of the President's Own Marine Corps Band touring group and attended their performance there. Billings was the closest the 2018 tour came to Kellogg.  

I had decided, by 2019, to lean on what was happening in downtown Spokane and through Whitworth University to fulfill my desire for attending lectures, plays, art exhibits, movies, live concerts, and anything else that captured my interest. 

I expanded this cultural safari in the fall of 2019 when I joined Mary Chase, Kathy Brainard, Linda Lavigne, and others to play trivia at different venues around Spokane. 

By mid-March of 2020, soon after I'd gone to hear tribute bands at the Bing play music by Cream one night and Pink Floyd the next night, the pandemic was upon us. 

No more trivia.

No more concerts.

No more cultural safaris. 

I would begin learning how to culturally satisfy myself at home with movies, live streaming content on the World Wide Web, and reading. 

It worked. 

2. I bring this all up because this evening I returned to my Spokane cultural safari. 

Between March 2020 and last night, I approached public events very cautiously because of my trust in medical observations that the caronavirus attacked diminished kidneys.

In addition, I didn't attend most public events after my May 11, 2024 kidney transplant because my immune system had to be shut down significantly to keep my body from rejecting my new organ and I didn't want to complicate my recovery by adding illness to it. 

But, a couple of months ago, when I read that Leah Sottile would be in Spokane on April 2 as she promotes her latest book, Blazing Eye Sees All, I bought a VIP ticket so that I would receive a signed copy of her book, get a complimentary (for me, non-alcoholic) drink, and have a chance to meet and chat a bit with Leah Sottile. 

When I introduced myself to Sottile, she let out a mild gasp, knowing from our brief bit of correspondence that I was the guy who set out to read the books on the list she published as a counter to the NYTimes' list of best books of the 21st century. She knew I had succeeded in reading every one of her listed books. 

She told me, as she had written to me, that she was honored that I had taken her book list so seriously.

Others were around to visit with Leah Sottile, so I didn't tell her how much that list of books expanded my horizons, both in terms of the world we live in and in terms of my world of reading. I'd say that, at most, only about two books on that list were books I would have read on my own -- most of them were books I'd never heard of. 

One author on her list, the only one with two books on it, and a writer who has helped Leah Sottile with her work, Spokane's Jess Walter, semi-interrupted my conversation with Leah Sottile (no problem) and then he and I accidentally sat side by side during the evening's program. 

I left him alone. 

While I might have wanted to tell him how much I enjoyed the three books of his I've read, I thought, no he's enjoying this evening with friends, talking about "civilian" stuff (like the upcoming Final Four). If I want to express my appreciation of what I've read, I can do so by other means or attend his June 10th program when he will promote his newest book. 

3. The Spokesman Review launched a project several years ago called Northwest Passages. Its mission is journalism and book focused. Among other activities, Northwest Passages hosts a far reaching online book club and hosts events like tonight in which an author presents a book of hers or his by being interviewed by a professional writer. 

This evening, Leah Sottile gladly submitted herself to the questioning of former Spokesman Review journalist Emma Epperly. Epperly asked a series of probing question about New Agism, the subject of Sottlie's newly published work, giving special attention to how Sottile, well-known and respected for her  journalistic integrity and stellar ethical standards, went about journalistically researching and conducting interviews about a subject that is as elusive and and, for some, a focus of derision, as New Age beliefs and practices. 

Leah Sottile answered these questions directly, intelligently, wittily, and humbly. She was humble in the face of such a huge subject, knowing that she can't tell the whole truth in a single book and aware that even has meticulously as she researched and sought out people's experiences and knowledge, she might not have gotten everything right. 

On her podcasts, I've listened to Leah Sottile conduct face to face interviews with a wide range of people, including police officers, Cliven Bundy family members, FBI agents, anarchists, extremists -- whether eco-terrorists or white supremacists--, and I'm always deeply impressed with how she gains the trust of those she interviews. 

This evening, she talked some about how she earns trust and I'll sum up what she said this way: she seeks truth, is genuinely and humbly eager to learn how those she talks with see the world, understand their experience, and want to discuss it. She doesn't rush those she interviews. She's not after soundbites. She's not what's known as a "gotcha" journalist. She invites those she talks with to tell their truth, however long it takes, and, with an exception here and there, these people then respond to Sottile's probing follow up questions. 

I parked down at the River Park Square and enjoyed my several blocks hike up to the Steam Plant's rooftop, where this event took place (indoors!), and back again. 

I love city walking. 

I miss the long walks I used to take in Seattle, DC, New York City, Portland, Spokane (when I lived there), and many, many years ago, London. 

I thought a lot as I walked and then drove back to Kellogg how I need to return to my cultural safari outlook of the fall of 2018-March of 2020.

With my immune system getting stronger, I need to pay more attention to what's playing, who's performing, who's reading, and what's happening through Whitworth and try to get back to leaning on Spokane and my alma mater, Whitworth, for cultural enjoyment again. 

 Here are a couple of links to conclude with. 

First of all, KHS Class of 1972 member, Kenton Bird was featured as the guest author of a Northwest Passages event on Sept. 6, 2024. He was interviewed by Spokesman Review reporter Jim Camden about the book he co-authored about Tom Foley.  You can watch and listen to them talk (and learn more about Northwest Passages) by clicking on this link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTf9-KbHN98&list=PLO4UFBdqq__l8zIlFs_cYD29m9-S3l19v&index=12 

Second of all, if you'd like to see other videotaped programs presented by Northwest Passages, here's the link to their YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLO4UFBdqq__l8zIlFs_cYD29m9-S3l19v

Leah Sottile's presentation hasn't been posted yet -- I hope to see it go up before too long. 

Three Beautiful Things 04-01-2025: I Finished *Bridge of Birds*, A Healthy Dose of the Dead on *Deadish*, Fun in the Kitchen

1. Today I finished reading Barry Hughart's fantasy novel, Bridge of Birds, set, quote Hughart, in "An Ancient China That Never Was". I am about 97.90826% positive that this is the first fantasy novel I've read to completion, unless, around fifty years ago, I read the entirety of The Hobbit.

Bridge of Birds challenged me. I had some trouble remembering what I should have known from earlier chapters about characters who returned to the story after some period of absence. I also had trouble keeping the several adventures of the central characters, Li Kao and Number Ten Ox, remembered and straight in my mind as to what happened in those earlier adventures. 

These challenges do not embody flaws in the book.

Like Li Kao himself, I am a character with a slight flaw. (Well, with many flaws.) But the one I have in mind at the moment is that my short term memory is weakening. 

I'd like to do two things: First of all, find a larger copy of Bridge of Birds with larger print.  Second, one day I hope I'll take the time to reread this book. I think a rereading would help me keep its details straighter in my mind and help me remember the riddles, songs, games, and other delights that season this story and lend wonder to its elegant and moving conclusion. 

2. Of all the odd parallels to have go through my mind, I experienced the newness and my unfamilarity with Bridge of Birds to my experience going to see and hear the Grateful Dead live in the late 1980s and early 1990s. 

I was with Jeff and his great Grateful Dead loving friends who were intimately familiar with everything the band did and could discuss nuances, breakthroughs, surprises, and other pleasures (and some criticism) with great fluency.

Most of the time I was lost -- and unlike a book where I could go back a few chapters and re read passages for clarity, the Grateful Dead shows, of course, just kept moving forward! 

I remembered this experience tonight as I went to the archives and listened to Jeff's Thursday, March 27th Deadish show. 

Jeff opened his radio show (on KEPW-FM, streaming at kepw.org) with a superb tune played by the Steve Kimmock Band and then he launched into a huge dose of the Dead that lasted, thanks to the addition of the After Show, over two hours. 

For me, two deep pleasures stand out as I listen to the Grateful Dead over a a couple of hours any time and especially tonight. 

First of all, I always need (and want) to gain more familiarity with their songs and that happened tonight. It was a fun magic carpet ride.

Secondly, for me, any sustained amount of time listening to the Grateful Dead is a way of entering into the history of much American music. As the Grateful Dead moves within songs and from one song to the next, they play rock n roll, jazz, bluegrass, folk, psychedelic, world, country, blues, soul, rhythm and blues, and, well, did I miss anything? 

They play plenty of songs original to them and they play riveting covers of rock n roll classics, as well as Bob Dylan, and other artists. 

In the course of all of his weekly Deadish programs, Jeff plays a euphorically eclectic bunch of songs and artists largely because so much music, ranging from Billy Strings to Led Zeppelin is Deadish, and the possibilities of what he can play within his show's title seems bottomless. 

And if, like tonight, he plays cuts from live Grateful Dead shows for over two hours,  the eclecticism is very much alive because that's the nature of band itself. 

3. Monday night, I cooked a batch of jasmine rice with mushrooms and green onions in the rice pot and added in soy sauce and sesame oil. I combined this rice mixture with chicken stock and enjoyed a simple and tasty soup.

Tonight, I cut up some boneless pork chop meat into small pieces, cooked the meat in the wok, and added zucchini, cauliflower, celery, mushrooms, and red pepper to the meat. Then, instead of making a new batch of rice, I combined the now nearly brothless soup from last night with the pork and vegetables. 

It turned out to be a great idea! 

It worked!  

Three Beautiful Things 03-31-2025: Copper Wants More Assurance, Reading May Sarton Aloud in 1990, Chores and a Debi Mc Connection

1.  Our vet, usually Dr. Cook, and I have never been absolutely sure about Copper's age. I tried after taking Copper in to get a better understanding of both Copper and Luna's ages, but the best I could find out -- and Dr. Cook's examinations of the two cats confirmed it -- was that Luna was the older of the two. In early 2021, Dr. Cook estimated that Copper was probably about twelve years old. 

It's been just over four years since Copper and Luna moved in. 

It's been about fifteen months since Luna died. 

Let's say, without absolute certainty, that Copper is now about sixteen years old. 

He is communicating instinctive awareness to me that he is aging. 

At night, he sleeps next to me. I usually sleep on my side, either one. 

Recently, as the night progresses, if I turn over and try to go back to sleep with my back to Copper, he meows. Sometimes he bats me with a paw or tickles my face with his whiskers, letting me know he wants me to face him. Copper seems to have figured out that if I face him, I can more easily and readily pet him or rest a hand on his back or belly. 

This contact between us moves him to purr with deep contentment. 

Copper's insistence that I turn over is a significant change in his behavior. 

He wants a higher and more frequent level of comfort from me now than he ever has. 

I think he feels what many of us humans feel as we age. 

Time is slipping away, increasing our feelings of vulnerability. 

2. I needed time today to let yesterday's ZOOM discussion and my reunion with Debi Mc sink in. 

I enjoyed having memories of my early days of teaching at LCC come back and remembering what a welcome source of support and encouragement for me as her instructor Debi was in the classroom and in our conversations outside of class. 

I am all but certain that Debi was enrolled in an Intro to Fiction course I taught in the summer of 1990.

I think that class met for two hours, maybe three, per session --- I'm not sure how many days a week we met.

The class took a short break after the first half of class and, when the students returned, I turned off the lights, stood near a door where light came into the classroom through a small window from the hall, and read May Sarton's book, The Fur Person, aloud. 

I loved doing that. It was comforting and relaxing. It took us all back to when we were in elementary school and, if we were lucky, had a teacher who read aloud to us after lunch. (My 6th grade teacher, Miss Kero, read us A Wrinkle in Time and The Hobbit, both entrancing to listen to.)

I hope my students that summer found The Fur Person entrancing. 

Debi did, as I remember. 

So did I.

I don't know why I never did a read aloud at the break of one of my courses again. 

3. I let the happy intensity of Sunday sink in today by getting domestic chores completed. 

Copper and I have clean bedding after today and it's always good to spend time washing and drying my clothes. 

I would have gladly experienced today another day like Sunday. At the same time, I enjoyed a day of rest and letting awesome memories of the past stir up, wash over me, and sink in thanks to Bridgit, Diane, Bill, and Debi. Oh! And Roberta! She and I had a brief exchange online about Debi Mc -- Roberta doesn't know Debi personally, but is very aware of Debi's cat rescue efforts in and around Oakridge, OR -- the town they both live in or near. 

Three Beautiful Things 03-30-2025: Debbie Is in New York, A Superb Time on ZOOM, Amazing! I Hear From Debi Mc

1. What a day! 

First of all, Debbie got out the door this morning around 3:30 or so, arrived at the Spokane airport, returned her rental car, got through the TSA line in time, and eventually arrived in Newark and then Valley Cottage, NY this afternoon. She experienced delays, but nothing that threw her schedule totally out of whack like on Saturday. 

2. At 10:00, Bill, Diane, Bridgit, and I joined together on ZOOM and yakked for over two hours about a wide range of topics. I enjoyed everything we discussed. In particular, our conversation about buddy movies transported me back to graduate school when I lived in a house with two fellow grad students who immersed themselves in feminist theory and was friends at school with other women who were doing the same. I enjoyed listening to what these friends helped me see as feminist perspectives on a variety of subjects and their critiques of movies, the movie industry, and of buddy movies in particular stuck with me and opened up ways of seeing things I hadn't thought of before. 

This turn in our conversation today came after we also discussed retirement, a favorite topic of ours, especially as Bridgit makes her transition out of the workforce into the early days and weeks of her retirement. 

Thanks to Bridgit and Diane, I'm reading the book Bridge of Birds. I haven't finished it yet, so I forbade us from talking about this particular book in any detail, but we did talk about our experience (and my INexperience) reading fantasy and science fiction and speculative fiction. I really enjoyed how this discussion also veered into Arthur Conan Doyle and P. G. Wodehouse territory as we discussed the buddy elements of Jeeves and Wooster, Watson and Holmes, and, in Bridge of Birds, Master Li Kao and Number 10 Ox. 

Ah! Right! It was the buddy relationships in these books that sent us into the movies and got me reminiscing about the stimulating thinking and analysis of my feminist friends. 

What a great couple of hours! 

3. So, Bill and Bridgit were students of mine at Whitworth and lo and behold, out of nowhere this evening I received a text on Messenger from Debi Mc wondering if I was the same Bill Woolum who had been Debi's teacher in a handful of classes in the early 1990s at LCC. And, was I the same person who became wonderful friends with Debi?

Well, I am that same person and Debi and I had a most heartening exchange of messages.

To my wobbly memory, it had been over thirty years since Debi and I had communicated with each other and I thoroughly enjoyed learning what, in general, she's been doing all these years and finding out that she is a devoted cat wrangler, fosterer, and rescuer, among other things. 

Another cherished memory came up as we messaged back and forth. 

Back around 1990, Rita Hennessey formed a learning community at LCC called Alternative Visions. 

I didn't have anything to do with this enterprise, but Debi Mc was enrolled in it. 

I vividly remember Debi telling me, when she was in one of the classes I taught, that she thought I'd be a great teacher in a cross disciplinary, team taught project like Alternative Visions and she highly recommended that I get to know Rita. 

Not too long after that, I did get to know Rita, got to know her really well, and we became team teachers in a project, a learning community, she spearheaded and oversaw called Fast Forward. 

We team taught composition and philosophy. It was a challenging and most rewarding experience and hearing from Debi Mc today reminded me that she is the one who first recommended that I get to know Rita and that suggestion resulted in Rita and my friendship that began in 1993 and was central to my life until Rita died in December of 2022. 

Three Beautiful Things 03-29-2025: Debbie to the Airport, Debbie Back to Kellogg, Great Lunch and Browsing

1. Debbie will spend spring break and an additional week at Adrienne's house and hold down their fort when Josh and Adrienne take Ellie to Baltimore and Washington, DC for tests and other medical business. I drove Debbie to the airport late this morning, we said farewell, but little did we know that our farewell was premature. 

2. Debbie boarded the flight for Minneapolis/St. Paul and due to a problem (I don't know what), the plane had to stay put for a while. After a while, Debbie realized that if she stayed on this plane, she would not make her connection in Minneapolis/St. Paul for Newark, NJ. 

So she got off the plane.

After some deliberation, she decided to rent a car, come back to Kellogg, and return to Spokane early Sunday morning to catch the flights to Minneapolis and Newark the airline pro rescheduled her on. 

Debbie arrived in Kellogg, wound down for a while, and once her head cleared a bit, we had some great conversation about our good fortune to have worked with such gifted artists in Eugene -- Debbie  had this good fortune playing music and I had it in my theater experience. 

3. After leaving the airport, I buzzed to Great Harvest and savored a delicious turkey sandwich and a fresh oatmeal and chocolate cookie. I drifted over to New Look Books to see if a couple or three titles I was looking for were in stock. They weren't. I then decided to head back to Kellogg. 

It's too bad I didn't hang out a bit longer in Spokane. 

Had I done that, I could have returned to the airport, picked up Debbie, and brought her home myself -- and taken her back to the Spokane Airport early Sunday morning. 

(By the way, as I write this post around 10:00 Sunday morning, I know that Debbie has arrived in Minneapolis, so things are working out better on Sunday than they did Saturday!)

Three Beautiful Things 03-28-2025: Remembering Bob Cummings, Chillin' at The Lounge, Quick Pasta Dinner

1. I joined Christy, Paul, and Carol at the funeral home uptown to attend the service celebrating and memorializing the life of Bob Cummings, a neighbor who lived two doors down from our family for over 60 years and, when Christy moved into the house next door, Bob became her next door neighbor on the east side of her house. 

The service featured some recorded funeral songs, a display of Bob's art work, a short homily by the pastor, and a string of stories told by Bob's son-in-law highlighting Bob's hobbies, his love of the Coeur d'Alene River, his years long defense of the high quality of Lucky Lager beer, his skill as a mason, his gift for story telling, his love for his now deceased wife, Lynne, and his children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren, and more. 

Outside, after the service, I chatted for a while with two American Legion teammates, John Lund and Steve Twidt, a real pleasure. 

2. I didn't attend the reception at the Elks. Instead, I dropped in at the Inland Lounge and it turned out to be a great move. I tried Budweiser's Zero Alcohol beer and found it very tasty. I got to visit with Cas, Brett Faraca, and Dave Oates and a little later on Ed popped in and so did Debbie. 

I sat far away from any smokers. 

That felt safe to me. 

My concern is that if a smoker is ill, exhaling cigarette smoke broadcasts their contagion further away from themselves. I'm cautious about exposing myself to contagion, although my sense is that my immune system has become more robust over the last ten months since the transplant. 

I had a lot of fun yakkin' and watching South Carolina battle Maryland in a tight Sweet 16 game, win the game, and keep my wager for them to win the women's NCAA basketball tournament alive. 

3. Back home, I hadn't done any preparation earlier in the day for dinner tonight, but dinner turned out pretty good when I boiled a pot of pasta, cooked a pan full of shrimp, and sautéed mushrooms. These ingredients combined with butter and black pepper turned out to be a quick and satisfying meal for Debbie and me. Debbie made her bowl of pasta even better by adding tomatoes and garlic. 

So, we got to have it all: fun at The Lounge and tasty food when we got home. 

Three Beautiful Things 03-27-2025: Baseball at The Lounge, Surprise Visitors Stroll In!, A Tranquil Evening

 1. I was wrapping up my morning routine of puzzle solving and writing when an angel with sugar coated wings gently dropped a surprise text message into my cell phone. 

It was from Cas. 

Did I want to join him and Seth at The Lounge to watch the Pirates and Marlins play on Major League Baseball's Opening Day?

You bet I did.

I walked in The Lounge. 

Ron Delcamp was also there. 

It was an awesome afternoon. 

Baseball games.

Baseball yakkin'. 

Stories.

Laughs.

Burgers from the Uphill Grill.

Flawless. 

2. Debbie dropped in after she wrapped things up at school for the day. The one of our fantasy baseball league members whom I'd never met strolled into The Lounge. Awesome!  I got to meet Steve Ivie. Steve's wife, Stephanie, was with him. She teaches at Pinehurst Elementary. So does their daughter, Tarah. So I also got to meet Stephanie and she and Debbie got in some high quality yakkin' about their work and the upcoming spring break. 

This surprise development added more fun to the fun of the afternoon.

3. Debbie and I returned home and enjoyed a peaceful evening. 

I retired to the bedroom and kept Copper company while finishing crosswords.

Debbie sewed and watched another episode of Inspector Lewis. 

No hustle.

No bustle. 

Very little yakkin'. 

All was mellow. 

Peaceful. 

Three Beautiful Things 03-26-2025: My First Experience in the Dead-iverse, Yes! Debbie Wants Home Cooked Food, Talking Heads at Yokes

1. I wrote Jeff an email of gratitude for his superb March 20th Deadish show and mentioned that in his After Show selections, hearing Jerry Garcia perform "Mission in the Rain" hit me hard and deep.

Jeff records his show in advance of the Thursday broadcast, so on Thursday evening last week,  he was free to go to WOW Hall and hear the Garcia Project perform. 

He told me in a return email that he was so moved by the Garcia Project's performance of "Mission in the Rain" that he left the show -- it sounded to me like he didn't want any other songs to interfere with the emotional experience "Mission in the Rain" roused in him. 

I went to my first Grateful Dead show in Oakland on Dec 31, 1987. 

It was not only my introduction to seeing and hearing the Grateful Dead live, but I arrived in San Francisco on Dec 27th, my 34th birthday, stayed with Jeff at Jay's apartment, and met a bunch of people from across the USA who were Jeff and Jay's equals in their knowledge of and devotion to the Grateful Dead. 

So Jeff and his pals schooled me. 

We listened to recordings, they gave me history lessons, told me stories about the Grateful Dead and Haight Ashbury, showed me books, posters, and other Grateful Dead memorabilia, and did other generous things to help prepare me for my maiden voyage into the Grateful Dead scene and the show itself.

In addition, Jeff gave me a Jerry Garcia Band show tape. 

Jeff had me listen to it and he told me to be sure to listen intently to one song that he cherished. 

"Mission in the Rain"

I did.

It hit me deep and hard in December of 1987, got me again Tuesday night when Jeff played it on Deadish, struck Jeff's soul at the WOW Hall on March 20th, and continues to be one of several songs in the Dead-iverse that makes the world stop whenever I hear it. 

2. Debbie finds it relaxing to find a quiet spot at Radio Brewing and work school tasks. 

Often she then brings home an entree for us to share. 

I had a dinner planned tonight, but texted Debbie that if she'd rather eat food from Radio, no problem.

She wanted home cooked food.

Awesome! 

So I got out the wok and fixed us a Thai wheat noodle stir fry dinner featuring cut up tri trip steak, red onion, carrots, celery, mushrooms, zucchini, yellow squash, green beans, broccoli, fresh spinach, and fresh herbs. 

My timing was pretty good as far as cooking these ingredients evenly.

I set out different bottles of sauces.

We dove in and enjoyed one of my favorite meals to prepare and eat.

It worked. 

3. I made a quick trip to Yokes today.

My mind wandered to the music that plays in the store while I shop.

It didn't happen today, but every once in a while the playlist at Yokes plays the one song that moves me to find a spot in the store underneath a speaker, try to stay out of other shoppers' way, and listen to it to the very end when the song features one of my all-time favorite guitar solo outros ever.

The song appeared on the Talking Heads 1985 album, Little Creatures.

The song?

"And She Was" 

Jerry Harrison plays that solo and any time that song comes on at Yokes, I never have anything more important or more urgent in my life to do than to stop everything, listen to this tune, wait for the outro, and clench my hand into a victory fist.