Three Beautiful Things 03-29-2026: Pre-Concert Lecture, Debbie and I Enjoy Classical Music with Our Eyes and Ears, We Agreed to Each Have a Ministry in Our Marriage

 1. Debbie and I piled into the Camry early this afternoon and zoomed to the Martin Woldson Theater at the Fox to attend today's performance by the Spokane Symphony.  We arrived in plenty of time to park, stroll to 1st and Monroe and enter the northside door, pick up our tickets at will call, and find a seat close to the stage for the pre-concert lecture. 

Today's soloist was the Spokane Symphony's concertmaster, Mateusz Wolski. He and Conductor James Lowe opened the lecture with Lowe interviewing Wolski about what he enjoys about Edouard Lalo's Symphonie espagnole, Op 21 the concerto that would feature him. Wolski explained how Lalo's piece veers between different emotional poles and how it is infused with the energy Spain and the vitality of its culture. 

The program also featured Fannie Mendelssohn-Hensel's only published orchestral composition, Overture in C Major and James Lowe lamented how prevailing ideas about women sabotaged Mendelssohn-Hensel's career as a composer. He helped us see how the overture moves from tentative and searching to exuberant and confident by the end. This overture is not often performed and I was very happy to get to hear it today. 

Fannie Mendelssohn-Hensel's younger brother, the wildly famous Felix Mendelssohn, had his masterpiece, Symphony No 3 in A Major, the "Italian", end the program. James Lowe explained how each movement of this symphony represents a different Italian city (Venice, Rome, Florence, and Naples) and a different facet of Italian identity (boundless energy, spirituality, cultural refinement, gritty and chaotic energy). 

2. Debbie and I always give anything like a concert, play, movie, art gallery, or museum that we experience together time to sink in, time to take hold in us before we talk about it. 

Once we arrived home, we talked.  We discovered that both of us loved hearing this music played live and that we both were as absorbed by watching the musicians, using our eyes and our ears together to figure out where certain sounds were coming from, and were, in some ways, as fascinated by musicians who did very little during some pieces, but then were called into action (after a long wait) whether they played a triangle, a snare drum, or a piccolo. 

Until today, I never knew Debbie watched orchestral concerts as well as listened to them and I had a blast going back and forth with Debbie, telling each other our visual observations and what we found pleasing to our ears, too. 

3. Not long after returning to the Camry, we made an agreement. From now on, for the most part, Debbie will be the travel planner of our marriage and I will be in charge of cultural outings.

Both of us are stoked to carry out the missions of our ministries. 

 

Three Beautiful Things 03-28-2026: Book Donation Project, Right! I Bought that Movie!, Poppers and Salad

1. It's been fun remembering my pleasure when I read the books I'm packing up to donate to Better World Books -- a Certified B Corporation that advances the causes of sustainability and literacy globally through its sales of mostly donated used books and other materials. I've been a customer of Better World Books for about fifteen years and always been very happy with their selections and the condition of the used books I've purchased from them. 

2. As I worked my way through the bookshelves, I'd forgotten about a few items I had in my possession. One example connects with the presence of Leonard Oakland in my life lately, mainly through his Sunday morning radio program. 

I'd forgotten that a few years ago I bought a DVD of the movie A Thousand Clowns, a movie Leonard was very excited about.  On a movie night in Cowles Auditorium at Whitworth about fifty years ago, Leonard introduced this movie with great passion and insight and then not only did the movie live up to his enthusiasm, it became one of my favorite movies of all time. 

I was thrilled today to remember I'd purchased it and that this project I'm working on resulted in me unearthing it. I played the opening ot the movie and WOW! can I ever hardly wait to watch the whole thing again. 

3. We had a fun snack-y dinner tonight. On a whim, Debbie bought a package of jalapeno poppers that the meat department at Yoke's puts together. I enjoyed the heat, cheese, and bacon. I continue to work my way through the vegetables Debbie cut up the other day to make salads with. Cool salad. Spicy poppers. Everything in balance! 

Three Beautiful Things 03-27-2026: Donating Books, Ed and I Meet at The Lounge, Debbie Arrives a Little Later

 1. I made progress today in deciding which books to pack up and ship as donations to Better World Books. I'm beginning to fill some boxes. 

2. Ed and I met at The Lounge around 3:45 this afternoon. He's had concerns about the stability of two large trees on his property and today a crew came out and took them down, a huge relief for Ed. He admired the crew's workmanship and showed Cas and me videos of the work being done. Impressive. 

3. Ed left after a couple of beers and I stayed at The Lounge, knowing Debbie was going to walk up from the Beanery where she went to relax, possibly knit, possibly read a book, possibly have conversations. 

She arrived and it was fun to watch her continue her reentry into life in Kellogg. She's already reconnected with friends, attended Christy's book club, shopped at Walmart (where she ran into people she knows from Pinehurst Elementary), and she visited The Lounge last Saturday. 

Today she joined a table to talk with some regulars at The Lounge, like Candy and Gloria, and Harley came up to the bar and we got in a good session of yakking about all kinds of things: transporting cars, the food pantry at the Elks, the opening of the bar in the basement of the Elks, surprises created by revelations provided by  services like ancestry.com, and other subjects, all including stories, questions, and thoughtful reflection. 

I was at The Lounge for nearly four hours -- my longest stay in a long time and I walked out and drove home cold sober thanks to the wondrous non-alcohol content of Bud Zero. 

Three Beautiful Things 03-26-2026: So Many Uplifting Connections!, Return to Great Harvest Bread Company, The Scoop Again -- Why Not?

1. I'm going to reflect for a few sentences on how things in life can serendipitously connect and bring about joy. 

The series of connections I'm thinking about began when I had kidney transplant surgery in May, 2024.

This surgery required frequent follow up visits to Providence Sacred Heart for bloodwork and appointments with the transplant team. Later on, I had the labs drawn at Kootenai Health in Coeur d'Alene. 

At some point in 2025, I decided while making these frequent trips to Coeur d' Alene and Spokane that I would listen to the Symphony Hall channel on Sirius XM in the car. 

I not only enjoyed the music, I also very much enjoyed the work of the morning host, Colleen Wheelahan and began to listen to her routinely on Sirius XM in the mornings at home.  Soon I discovered she also hosts a classical music program on Louisville Public Radio that starts at 3:00 p.m. PST and I began tuning into it as well. 

My days began to be taken up with reading from books and listening to lectures about classical music. 

In the meantime, in April of 2025, Carol planned our month's sibling outing to take place at the Museum of Art and Culture in Spokane. 

Deeply impressed that day, I became a member of the museum. 

Joining the museum meant that the museum sent me a monthly newsletter and back in January I noticed something in the newsletter I hadn't seen before.

On Thursdays at noon, when there are upcoming weekend performances by the Spokane Symphony, the conductor, James Lowe, gives a lecture at the museum about the upcoming symphony program. 

In mid-January I went to his lecture, even though I couldn't go to that weekend's symphony, and I was blown away.

So, today, thanks to a kidney transplant, frequent follow up trips out of town, the Symphony Hall channel, Carol planning an impressive visit to Spokane's Museum of Arts and Culture, joining the museum, reading their newsletter,  the magic of audible.com and the Great Courses, reading material, and thanks to having been so impressed with two other James Lowe lectures, today I drove to Spokane to hear his lecture on this weekend's symphony program. Upon returning home, I bought Debbie and me tickets to hear this weekend's program on Sunday afternoon at the Fox Theater. 

2. I can add one other piece to this uplifting bunch of connections. 

Time after time after time that I drove to Providence Sacred Heart for follow up labs and appointments, I then drove to Great Harvest Bread Company for coffee and a treat, most often a muffin. If my visits to Sacred Heart ended later in the day, I dropped into Great Harvest for a sandwich. 

After today's invigorating lecture ended, I headed straight up to E 29th and S. Southeast Blvd to Great Harvest. I purchased a loaf of Farmhouse Bread for Debbie and me and ordered a turkey sandwich on Dakota bread and polished it off with a soft, sweet, and salty Salted Caramel cookie. 

It was an awesome lunch and the many warm feelings I have about this place and how much I enjoyed it after all those appointments returned. 

3. In the spirit of everything's connected, thanks to this week's Wednesday sibling outing and our visit to The Scoop, I returned there today and enjoyed a scoop of chocolate-y Eat the Billionaires and a scoop of Vegan Oatmilk Oatmeal Cookie ice cream, a perfect match. 

Three Beautiful Things 03-25-2026: Sibling Outing to St. John's Cathedral, Cannon Hill Park, Beef Noodles

All this happened on Wednesday. 

 1. First, a quick reminder. 

Our 2026 Sibling Outings focus on visits to Spokane. 

Today, Carol was in charge of our outing and led us on a foray into the Cliff Cannon neighborhood. We started with breakfast at Little Euro, just a block or so away from what was, for me, the heart and soul of our outing, St. John's Cathedral where we worshipped at the 12:00 Rite II Eucharist service. 

Once inside this Gothic Revival building for a while, we learned that the 12:00 Eucharist would be held in the Guild Room. The usual worship spaces were closed. They were being spiffed up in advance of Holy Week and Easter Day. 

So, about a dozen of us sat around a rectangular table and the Dean of the cathedral, the Very Rev. Heather VanDeventer, guided us through a Rite II Eucharist and, lo and behold, Carol volunteered to read the Epistle, a passage from Hebrews, and I volunteered to read the Old Testament lesson from Isaiah. 

I've been out of touch with Episcopalian life and with the worldwide Anglican Communion for just about six years. I was very protective of myself during the pandemic, fell out of the habit of driving to CdA to worship at St. Luke's, and I haven't pushed myself back into that routine again. 

So, I didn't know that today was a momentous day in the Church of England and Anglicanism globally. 

First of all, today was the Feast Day of the Annunciation, celebrating the angel Gabriel's announcement to Mary that she would conceive Jesus. 

The celebration of this momentous day in the history of the church was, appropriately, also chosen as the day when the first ever woman, Bishop Sarah Mullally, was installed as the Archbishop of Canterbury. (Click on this link to read more about the office of the Archbishop of Canterbury.)

Dean Heather VanDeventer gave a terrific homily today that paralleled the call to service Mary received on this day and the call the (now) Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally also received on this day. Most of all, I enjoyed learning that central to Archbishop Mullally's vocation is her devotion to the understanding that all of us are pilgrims in our faith, journeying together in our walk of faith, equals in the eyes of God, sharing the experience of not having arrived, but being on a road to understanding and service. 

2. We drove a short distance from the cathedral to Cannon Hill Park. 

I'd never been to this handsome, elegant park before. 

Its most attractive feature for me was its pond. I could have walked around the park, but ever since leaving Eugene, OR and Greenbelt, MD, I've yearned for a pond I could travel to easily and yearned to sit and watch ducks and geese and whatever waterfowl might also pop in for a visit.

So, that's what I did. 

I sat still.

Quiet. 

And I watched the birds and dreamed a bit about how fun it would be to live near this spot and walk the circumference of the pond and enjoy the water, trees, and the birds. 

We left the park and went to The Scoop ice cream parlor on W. 25th and Monroe, thus wrapping up our outing with delicious and refreshing ice cream. 

3. Back home, Debbie slow cooked a chuck roast on the stove top which she then turned into a superb beef and egg noodle dish. 

This delicious bowl of my favorite cut of beef, some vegetables, noodles, and a savory broth, brought this significant and fulfilling day to a close. 

Three Beautiful Things 03-24-2026: Salsa, Fresh Salad, Remembering and Laughing

 1. All I really wanted for breakfast this morning was salsa. I boiled red potatoes cut into chunks, fried them with onion and mushrooms, and then scrambled four eggs. Debbie wanted this breakfast, too. She was also hungry for salsa. The Trader Joe's salsa I bought last Friday is a little hotter than medium and I loved it on this mess of food I prepared. 

2. All I really wanted at dinner time was a fresh garden salad and I fixed myself one with the vegetables Debbie had cut up yesterday and some romaine lettuce. I ate this salad after enjoying a serving of elbow macaroni and all I really wanted on the macaroni was butter, pepper, and Parmesan cheese. 

That worked. 

3. All I really wanted to do when I read Rich Brock's miraculous response to one of my 3BTs yesterday was make him laugh. 

First, the miracle. I wrote yesterday about things I used to know but that have, in Billy Collins' words, "decided to retire to the southern hemisphere of the brain". I've forgotten them. 

As an example, I wrote that I had forgotten the starting lineup of the 1968 San Francisco Giants, a fact, even as it changed during the season, that I could have rattled off during the explosive summer of my 14 year old season in Babe Ruth as easily as I breathed. 

Miraculously, Rich went to a Giants/Reds game in the tumultuous summer of 1968 and still had the scorecard and sent me the Giants' starting lineup from that day. 

It was a miracle! 

Reading those names reminded me of when, at Whitworth, Rich and I could just say the names of certain players, and, thanks to their mediocrity or what they looked like on a baseball card, we'd make each other laugh just by saying Don Mossi or Gus Triandos. 

So, when I commented back to Rich with the names George Alucik, Claude Raymond, Bobby Bolin and others, all I really wanted to do was make him laugh. 

It worked.  

He answered with the names Clay Dalrymple and Frank Taveras. 

🤣🤣🤣🤣

Three Beautiful Things 03-23-2026: Bursts in the Kitchen, Moroccan Family Dinner, Family Dinner Invigoration

1. I'd have to say that Debbie and I take over the kitchen in bursts. Debbie is on a burst right now. She volunteered without pause to fix hummus, our contribution to tonight's Moroccan family dinner, chopped up a cornucopia of vegetables for future salads, and purchased a chuck roast at Yoke's which she has already planned to fix for Wednesday's dinner. 

2. Lately, Carol has had a burst of ideas for family dinner when it's been hers and Paul's turn to host. The last time she hosted we had an Asian meal focused on miso congee and tonight she created a menu of Moroccan food. 

At the center of our dinner was Carol's Moroccan Vegetable Tangine seasoned with spices I cannot name, but that were wondrously delicious. Christy contributed a superb Rice Pilaf and Debbie prepared a distinctive Moroccan Hummus that went beautifully with a flatbread Carol prepared called Aloo Paratha. 

Carol offered us a bowl of almonds and figs for dessert, a perfect conclusion to this tasty and, at least to me, adventurous meal. 

3. It turned out that Debbie and Paul are both using apps to learn languages. Debbie is chipping away at German and Paul has dived into French. The news of their ventures opened up one of my favorite family dinner discussions of all time as we talked about how different languages function, the relation of languages like French, German, and Latin to English, and what approaches to learning a new language work best. 

I realized during this discussion how much I've forgotten over the last nearly fifty years since the study of English grammar, German for reading knowledge, French, and even a summer of Latin study was a central part of my academic life along with studying literature. 

I wasn't particularly good at language study, but I learned a lot that fascinated me. Over the years, in the same way I can no longer name the starting lineup for the 1968 San Francisco Giants, things I once knew have receded and tonight I missed having had that knowledge, but the discussion invigorated me and some of what I used to know began to wake up.  

It also invigorated me after Debbie opened her Christmas gifts 🎄🎅🤶 when Paul came over where I was sitting and had me read a passage from Days of Awe and Wonder,  a book by Marcus Borg, a now deceased emeritus professor at Oregon State University and a Christian thinker and scholar to whom I owe a great debt of gratitude for his clear, sane, generous, and wide-minded writing about Christianity. 

Three Beautiful Things 03-22-2026: Leonard Oakland Reads Billy Collins, Momentary Fright, Debbie Cooks Pork Chops

 1. At 10:00 this morning, via the magic of streaming, I listened to Leonard Oakland's Sunday morning radio program, "Morning Classical" at spokanepublicradio.org. He played a series of familiar and often uplifting compositions and he read a superb poem by Billy Collins entitled, "Sunday Morning with the Sensational Nightingales". The poem took us into the joyful experience of hearing certain music that makes us soar. To read this ecstatic poem, go to the bottom of this post. 

2. I think this happened after midnight early Sunday morning. I was sleeping peacefully and suddenly the sound of footsteps in the house startled me awake. I knew those footsteps were human and it wasn't Gibbs prancing around. I was a little rattled. Who could possibly be walking just outside where I sleep? Suddenly my head cleared.

Oh yeah. 

Debbie's back home.  

3. So, yes, I'm getting used to not being alone in the house at night and during the day. 

Today, Debbie told me she'd fix dinner tonight. 

I loved hearing this. 

While I enjoy cooking and rarely ate out while Debbie was gone, Debbie has approaches to cooking that are different from mine and she dreams up and prepares meals I'd never think of.

They are always superb. 

Tonight, she prepared pork chops in a cream of mushroom sauce with spinach and made a terrific side combining red potatoes, green beans, chicken broth, and bacon. I might have missed ingredients in these descriptions, but you get the idea. 

Sharing tasks. 

It makes being back under the same roof enjoyable and often restful. 

Sunday Morning with the Sensational Nightingales

It was not the five Mississippi Blind Boys

who lifted me off the ground

that Sunday morning

as I drove down for the paper, some oranges, and bread.

Nor was it the Dixie Hummingbirds

or the Soul Stirrers, despite their quickening name,

or even the Swan Silvertones

who inspired me to look over the commotion of trees

into the open vault of the sky. 

No, it was the Splendid Nightingales

who happened to be singing on the gospel

station early that Sunday morning

and must be credited with the bumping up

of my spirit, the arousal of the mice within.

I have always loved this harmony,

like four, sometimes five trains running

side by side over a contoured landscape --

make that a shimmering, red-dirt landscape,

wildflowers growing along the silver tracks,

lace tablecloths covering the hills,

the men and women in white shirts and dresses

walking in the direction of a tall steeple.

Sunday morning in a perfect Georgia. 

But I am not here to describe the sound

of the falsetto whine, sepulchral bass,

alto and tenor fitted snugly in between;

Only to witness my own minor ascension

that morning as they sang, so parallel,

about the usual themes,

the garden of suffering,

the beads of blood on the forehead,

the stone before the hillside tomb,

and the ancient rolling waters

we would all have to cross some day. 

God bless the Sensational Nightingales,

I thought as I turned up the volume, 

God bless their families and their powder blue suits.

They are a far cry from the quiet kneeling

I was raised with,

a far, hand-clapping cry from the candles

that glowed in the alcoves

and the fixed eyes of saints staring down

from their corners.

Oh, my cap was on straight that Sunday morning

and I was fine keeping the car on the road.

No one would ever have guessed

I was being lifted into the air by nightingales,

hoisted by their beaks like a long banner

that curls across an empty blue sky,

caught up in the annunciation

of these high, most encouraging tidings.

 -- Billy Collins

Three Beautiful Things 03-21-2026: Valerie's Celebration of Life, Meeting Debbie at The Lounge, Together is Good

 1. This afternoon Ed and I traveled together to the Blackwell Hotel in Coeur d'Alene to attend the Celebration of Life for our KHS Class of 1972 classmate, Valerie Saari (her married name: Valerie Young). Valerie lived just a block north of us once our family moved, in June of 1962, to the house Debbie and I now live in. So Valerie was a neighborhood friend as well as a fellow student at Sunnyside Elementary, Kellogg Junior High School, and Kellogg High School. 

I loved seeing all the members of our graduating class who attended -- Stu counted at least sixteen of us. 

This Celebration of Life also took me back to my first memories as a child. 

Valerie's older sister, Cheryl, is married to Bill Papesh. Bill and his step-siblings Deidre and Craig Lenhart lived next door to us when we moved into the house at 14 E. Portland. 

Craig, Bill, Cheryl, and Valerie's other sister, Joanie, were all present today and to them I was still Billy Woolum! They all chuckled at calling me Billy and switched to calling me Bill, but it was fun feeling like I was a little boy again! 

Craig Lenhart and I hadn't seen each other for over fifty years and we fell into easy and long conversation about all kinds of subjects related to when we were next door neighbors, to our days as ball players in Kellogg and, for Craig, in Spokane Valley, some of our experiences as Boy Scouts, mutual friends, and other things. 

Seeing Craig, talking with him for so long and so openly, in addition to being with life long friends from the Class of '72, talking with Chris Blickensderfer Fadness, another neighborhood friend from the old days on Sunnyside, seeing Valerie's sisters, and hearing Joanie's kind words about Valerie as she welcomed us all to this gathering made for a most uplifting and intense afternoon. 

2. On the way back to the Silver Valley, Ed and I talked about how much we enjoyed this afternoon in memory of Valerie. 

I discovered, as Ed headed into his house, that Debbie texted me that she was at The Lounge. 

So I drove right there. 

Jake, Mayo, and Craig King also came from the Celebration of Life to The Lounge and absorbed themselves in Gonzaga's men's basketball team losing its second round NCAA tournament game to Texas. 

I yakked with Debbie off and on between conversations with others and she and I continued to get caught up with each other and even began to speculate a bit about what lies ahead for us in 2026.

3. It probably goes without saying, but here I go: I'm enjoying being back under the same roof with Debbie. We can talk about things when we want to. It's good to be back sharing cooking and other household tasks. Put simply, it lightens things up all the way around to be back together. 

Three Beautiful Things 03-20-2026: Debbie Arrives, House Cleaning, French Dip at Capone's

 1.  Debbie's travels have not always been smooth, but today was the exception. Her flights out of Newark and Denver left on time and she arrived in Spokane shortly after 9:00 and climbed into the Camry not long after that. What a relief. We had an easy trip from GEG to Kellogg where Gibbs and Debbie enjoyed a very happy reunion 

2. For most of the day before I left Kellogg, I continued cleaning house and kept finding different things that needed my attention. I didn't get to everything, but I felt pretty good about the floors, counters, stove, and Copper's living areas. 

3. I went to Coeur d'Alene before Spokane and didn't find what I was looking for at Costco -- no problem -- but did pick up a few items at Trader Joe's. 

When Ed and I went to Capone's last week, he ordered French dip that looked terrific and so I went in and ordered one today with a salad. 

I ordered the Chef's Choice with Swiss cheese, onions, and mushrooms and it was a great dinner. 

In summary, a great day: successful house cleaning, easy travels for Debbie, yakking with Debbie from Spokane to Kellogg, a joyful reunion for Debbie and Gibbs, and a tasty dinner at Capone's. 

And now I have a roommate again! 

Three Beautiful Things 03-19-2026: It's About Time, It's About Time II, Corned Beef Dinner from Christy

1. I arrived home Wednesday and after a while it didn't seem like the living room was properly heating up, mainly because the heat wasn't blowing into the room with the force it usually does. I pondered this problem and suddenly leveled foul language at myself! I realized I had forgotten to change the furnace's filter. I rumbled to the basement where I thought I still had filters, but I was wrong. 

This afternoon, after a guy came, sized up a job Debbie wants done, left, and I hustled to Ace and bought two filters. Back home, I replaced the filter that should have come out during the Cuban Missile Crisis. 

When the furnace kicked on, the heat blasted out in the usual way and I was happy that I could text Debbie and tell her "I fixed the furnace today." 🤣🤣

I hope this all holds up. 

2. I also took everything out of the refrigerator and cleaned the interior. It was another long overdue job and it's great having a spiffy fridge again.

3. Christy cooked a belated corned beef, cabbage, carrots, and baby red potatoes dinner and gave me a generous portion of her work. One look and I knew I wouldn't eat it all, so I have a second dinner to look forward to at lunch tomorrow. 

Three Beautiful Things 03-18-2026: Casino Visit Already Covered, Flip Flop, No Brackets This Year

1. The post I wrote on Wednesday evening about March 17th made it sound like Ed and I went to the casino on St. Patrick's Day. We actually went today and anything I have to say about our trip is already posted on my 03-17-2026 entry.  

2. Having been gone all morning and half the afternoon meant that I carried out my usual morning routine of puzzle solving late in the afternoon and on into the evening. 

3. For the second year in a row, I decided, reluctantly, not to participate in Doug and Sharann Watson's annual March Madness Weighted Bracket Pool. 

It's fun, but I decided not to add something else to my life this week and I would have pretty much submitted a parody entry anyway since I haven't watched any basketball games this season nor have I followed the season very much at all. 

Now if it were a bracket of great classical music compositions, I think I would have given that a shot!