Three Beautiful Things 08-29-2026: Family Dinner with Guests, The Menu, Old Dried Black Beans Cook Slower

 1. Starting at 5:00, Carol and Paul hosted a delicious and fun-filled family dinner. What made this evening especially fun was having three lively, funny, and fascinating guests: Renae Costa, Dick Costa, and Kathy Yamamoto. 

So many stories! So many history lessons, especially about Kellogg! So much catching up on travel, health, pets, mutual friends, and more. 

It was as close to a perfect culinary and social occasion as I can imagine. 

2. Carol planned this evening's menu and built it around a Cuban theme. Every dish was superbly prepared, filled with great flavors and love. We enjoyed the following: 

Plantain Chips with Salsa 

Slow-cooked Cuban Mojo Pork

Cuban Black Beans

Yellow Rice

Cuban Salad

Goya Cookies and Gelato

3. I admit it: I am fastidious about getting a very early start when preparing food for a scheduled dinner -- especially family dinner. 

I always cook with the assumption that everything is going to take me longer to prepare than the recipe says it would take a normal person.  

My assignment for this evening's dinner: Cuban Black Beans

Over the last several weeks, I've been committed to using dried beans, not canned ones (which I think are great, by the way), when I fix hummus, refried beans, or any other recipe calling for beans. 

So Friday afternoon, I put about five cups of dried black beans in water and soaked them for about seven hours (I made a conscious decision, for no good reason, not to use the quick soak method). I drained them, refrigerated them, and soaked them for another hour or two Saturday morning. 

I changed the water, brought the beans to a boil, and cooked them at a low heat. 

Normally, black beans, having been soaked, take about an hour to soften and be ready to eat. 

Not this batch! 

These were stubborn black beans and I ended up cooking them for over three hours or so before they finally softened up and I could move forward to combine them with sauteed onion, red pepper, and garlic seasoned with oregano, cumin, red wine vinegar, sugar, salt, and pepper. I then cooked this combination for about a half an hour or so. 

I wasn't satisfied with how they tasted. I added more oregano and more cumin. I put bit more sugar in what I'd cooked. I added a splash more of vinegar and I added the juice of a whole lemon. 

Finally, around four o'clock, I decided the Cuban black beans were family dinner (with guests) ready to go -- getting these beans right took about nine hours of soaking, three hours of cooking without the added ingredients, and at least another hour of cooking when I combined everything. 

The recipe stated that it would be quicker -- ha! 

It's a good thing I gave myself a huge cushion of time for something to go off the rails. 

This time it was just stubborn black beans that I think were old that slowed me down -- I've had old dried beans in the past require much more time than usual to cook and today it happened again. 

Three Beautiful Things 08-28-2026: Copper's Bequest, Christy's Drive Down Cameron Ave., Yakkin' at The Lounge

 1. Copper lived a simple life. He ate from a feeder and from a bowl. He had a good litter box and he could depend on it being scooped out. He had a portable litter box ready to assemble if we ever had to evacuate our home. He always had a reliably stocked supply of dry and wet food. He even had a suitcase to rest and sleep in which he often  occupied for hours at a time. 

Paul and Carol volunteered to take the things I just mentioned, except the suitcase. I disposed of it -- it was great for Copper's use, as was the towel he lay on in the suitcase but neither was  suitable for human use any longer (all that hair!). 

Paul and Carol have two cats and they will keep the things Copper bequeathed them that they can use and find ways to donate the things they won't need. 

One other thing: I was very happy with our pet gate since Gibbs and Copper had to live in separate parts of the house. 

I took it down today, though, and while the reason I took it down is sad, at the same time it's true that it's nice to walk freely out of or into the living room. 

2. Together, I assume, Paul and Christy decided that she could give it a try to make the simple drive behind the wheel of her Subaru from her house to the vet's office (and back) where Riley had an appointment. It's a straight shot down Cameron Avenue, a good route for seeing how Christy might do behind the wheel. 

Paul told me Christy did fine. 

It's a first step, but it might still be a while before she can drive the car alone. 

3. Ed and I met up at The Lounge this afternoon. It was a relaxing time of fun and funny back and forth with Cas and I enjoyed hearing about Ed's very happy and busy time last weekend, all involving his grandson's wedding in Pinehurst, the reception, and a great family party at Ed and Nancy's house on Sunday. 

Three Beautiful Things 08-27-2026: Immense Gratitude, 68-69 Kellogg Kittens Basketball Team, Gibbs' World is Bigger

 1. By far, having said goodbye to Copper, the best thing to happen was receiving countless messages from friends who were moved by the last hour Copper and I spent together and who extended comforting words of understanding and condolence about having a pet die. 

Thank you to each and every one of you for expressing your thoughts, feelings, and support so beautifully. 

2. A friend sent me a superbly preserved photograph of the team picture of the 1968-69 Kellogg Junior High School 9th grade basketball team. I posted it on Facebook and the many joyous responses people made to the photograph uplifted me and helped balance my feelings of grief. 

By the way, our junior high teams were the Kellogg Kittens! (The high school teams were the Wildcats.) 

The picture is below. 

3. Gibbs never did adjust to having Luna and Copper in the house. We put a gate up between the living room and the other rooms in the house. I think this was after Luna died. Now the gate is open and Gibbs is enjoying being able to investigate the rooms he was cut off from. I'm hoping that soon he'll figure out that now he can sleep with me if he'd like until Debbie returns home. 

I might just give him some help figuring that out by bringing him to my bed when I retire tonight (Friday). 

Here is the Kellogg Junior High 9th grade basketball team, the Kellogg Kittens, 1968-69

Back row l to r   Jack Dunn, Mike Farley, Tim O'Reilly, Mike Heglund, Terry Turner, Craig Comer, Mike Rieken, Dave Holland, Sam Cooper 

Middle row l to r Kirk Hoskins, Elvin Hansen, Al Wise, Dale Costa, Dave MacPhee, Coach Jim Currie, Harold Kurt, Neil Parkins, Jim Lewis, Scott Stuart  

Front row from l to r   Bill Woolum, Don Knott, Roger Pearson, Steve Jaynes, Bruce Larsen 

Three Beautiful Things 08-26-2026: Copper and I Share His Last Hour, Debbie and I Talk About Pets, Complexity

 1. I'm writing this blog post on Thursday, August 27th and will begin with what took place this morning. 

Shortly after 6:00, Copper staggered into my bedroom, collapsed, and let out two weak, but adamant wails. The wails woke me up.  I'd never heard him make this sound before. 

The sound of his wail made me all but certain that Copper's life was nearly over and he wanted us to spend the time he had left together. 

After over five years of not wanting me to hold him, Copper rested in my arms and on my lap. After a while, I wrapped him in a soft towel and placed him atop a soft ottoman and stroked him, encouraged him to let go, and watched his life slowly pass from his being. 

At about 7:10, Copper surrendered. He died at home. He died in the room where he spent most of his time. He died close to me. 

I took time to gaze upon Copper, to fix in my mind the assurance that he was resting in peace. 

2. Now back to Wednesday. 

Debbie and I had a superb telephone conversation. 

We talked about having Copper euthanized. 

We talked about timing, about when euthanasia feels merciful. 

I told Debbie that I hoped Copper would die at home, that we would experience the end of his life together, but that I would see how Copper was doing on Thursday morning and, if it felt right, I'd call Dr. Cook and schedule a consultation, asking him to assess Copper's condition and advise me on how to move forward. 

Copper took matters into his own paws and I didn't have to make that call. 

I felt great relief, having known for quite a few days that Copper's life was nearing its end, that he came to my room, woke me up, accepted being in my arms and on my lap, and passed away at home. 

3. I might write more about the book The Birds Audubon Missed another time. For now, I'll simply report that I finished the book and it further fed my wonder regarding how complex and mutable the natural world is, including human beings. 

Three Beautiful Things 08-25-2026: Christy Gets Good News and Encouragement, Heating/Cooling Checks Out, *Farewell, My Lovely*

 1. I drove Christy to her orthopedic appointment at Kootenai Health. She saw the PA who was in the room when Dr. Blease replaced Christy's hip. PA Fields has a complete understanding of the condition of Christy's hip before surgery and talked with Christy about how things look three weeks after the procedure. 

Her assessment was positive. She cleared Christy to be able to bend down if she needs to pick up light things, say, off the floor. She encouraged Christy to spend time in her garden and busy herself with other light tasks, emphasizing that Christy proceed with caution, to use the walker outside and not overdo anything. 

PA Fields' encouragement and the clearances she offered were in step with Christy's PT session on Monday. The physical therapist she worked with cleared her to use a cane when walking indoors, but not outdoors. This will make things more convenient for Christy, especially when she moves back into her home on Thursday, unless something comes up that nixes that plan. 

2. I'm always relieved when the technician completes the annual review of our heating/cooling system and our furnace and reports that everything looks good. That happened this morning. 

3. While keeping watch over Copper this evening as he rested behind my Vizio Room chair with regular strolls to the bedroom and to the bathroom where he lay down in favorite spots in those rooms, I satisfied an urge I felt to watch a 1970s movie. The other day I watched Tombstone, a 1990s movie, and Repo Man from the 1980s, and this evening I delved into the world of 1970s film noir and watched Robert Mitchum play the role of Phillip Marlowe in Farewell, My Lovely. 

The movie definitely scratched my film noir itch. Its moody portrayal of 1940s Los Angeles, its convoluted plot, the way it features Charlotte Rampling playing a most fatal femme fatale, and the cool, cynical wit and shrewdness of Mitchum's portrayal of Marlowe gave me pleasure and, at the same time, made me feel disgust as I witnessed killing after killing and experienced the movie's exploration of heartless ruthlessness. Oh! And greed. 

Three Beautiful Things 08-24-2026: Christy Tours Her Back Yard, House Cleaning, Copper Squirms

 1. Christy posted on her Facebook page that she took a tour of her back yard and posted pictures of some of her flowers. Right now, her plan is to move back into her home on Thursday. She also had PT today and if there's any news about her workout, I can find out about it on Tuesday, Aug 25 when I take Christy to CdA for her first appointment with her surgeon's office since her surgery. 

2. I spent quite a bit of time getting the house spiffed up a bit to make things easier for the heating/cooling system technician to service our system on Tuesday, August 25. 

3. I don't have any news about Copper. His Monday was not much different from the previous two or three days. He wanders some, lies down a lot, and when I try to hold and comfort him, he does the same thing he's done for the last five and a half years: he squirms and insists on being left alone! 

Three Beautiful Things 08-23-2026: Return to Family Dinner, Copper Holds His Ground, Aging and Piecing Together the Past Life of My Mind

1. If you read this blog even somewhat regularly, you know that Christy's had a difficult summer: visits to ER, going into septic shock, time in the ICU, a hip replacement, and hours of rehab (which continues).

Understandably, our weekly family dinners have been on hold. 

Today, we returned to the family dinner table at Carol and Paul's and enjoyed marinated beef kebobs, grilled summer squash, grilled corn on the cob, cucumbers and tomatoes in vinegar and oil, a potato, green bean, mushroom, and bacon side dish, fruit salad, and snickerdoodle cookies with Butter Pecan ice cream. 

The late afternoon temperature was moderate, allowing us to dine outdoors. 

Christy's recovery requires us to work together on scheduling who is doing what when with Christy and we reviewed what's coming up and everything is in place for helping Christy get to her appointments and shuttle back and forth between her house and Carol and Paul's. 

2. An update regarding Copper: he held his ground today. His day was very similar to the last couple of days. He's drinking water, has no appetite for food, is properly using the litter box, and goes back and forth between lying behind the chair I'm sitting in now in the Vizio room and a place he's found to hide and lie down in the bedroom closet. Sometimes he returns to the towel on the floor he enjoys lying on in the bathroom. He does a little more wandering during the night -- I don't know this, but I think he's confused by no longer being able to jump on the bed. When I pick him up and put him on the bed, though, he doesn't stay long and retreats to one of his hiding places. 

3. One of the facts about being 72 years old is that ideas I worked with, say in the 1990s and early 2000s, whether in my work at LCC or as a member of St. Mary's Episcopal Church, are no longer fresh in my mind. Carol, Paul, and I talked for a while after dinner tonight about philosophical and theological movements, eras, writers, and ideas and my mind went back to ideas Rita and I introduced to our Philosophy/English Composition in the 1990s.  My mind also went back to lectures I attended given by theological scholars like Marcus Borg, Houston Smith, Karen Armstrong, John Dominic Crossan, and John Spong. 

Tonight, fragments of those thinkers' ideas and fragments of the philosophy material Rita and I assigned began to rise up in my mind, but, unlike about twenty years ago when all of this was fresh in my mind and my memory was sharper, tonight I got some things right, forgot other things, and made mistakes.  

I've been spending time this morning (it's Monday) fact checking myself, reviewing thinkers we talked about, and working to get things straightened out in my mind. 

I enjoy recovering these days from my past and am enjoying that much of this work to recover what used to be at the front of my mind instead of being in storage has been inspired by what I'm reading and have read as a new member of the Science/Nature Book Club at Auntie's Bookstore. 

Science. Nature. Philosophy. Theology. World religions. They're all connected to each other. 

Three Beautiful Things 08-22-2026: Christy Shuttles Again, I Keep an Eye on Copper, Relaxing Chicken Soup

 1. I know that for the second day in a row, Christy spent much of the day at her house. She's sleeping at night at Carol and Paul's, so after dropping her off in the morning, this afternoon they took her back to their house. Wanting to respect Christy's time to herself today, after a quick note this morning, I didn't ask her any questions during the day and she didn't volunteer any news. Such silence is usually a positive thing, indicating things went fine today. 

2. I laundered compression socks and dealt with heating/cooling filters and kept a close eye on Copper.  Copper keeps living another day, but continues to eat very little food, drink water, sleep a lot, and shrink. I would like to hold him and comfort him, but he refuses to be held. (He has enough energy to let me know that!) At night, he sleeps close enough to me that I can pet him as I go to sleep. I will confirm tonight that last night he lost the strength to be able to jump onto my bed, so I'll help him with that, if he needs assistance. 

3. I boiled a packet of party wings with chopped onion. I let the cooked chicken cool off and removed the meat from the bones. I then made chicken vegetable soup and added Japanese noodles. I let the vegetables provide most of the flavor along with the chicken and broth, but I did add Brag Liquid Aminos to the soup and I enjoyed what it added to its taste.  

Three Beautiful Things 08-21-2026: Christy Rehabs at Home/Returns to the Roberts' House, *Tombstone* and *Repo Man*, Back to The Lounge

 1. Thursday, when Christy went to her house, Paul and Carol were there, too. 

Today, on Friday, Christy did rehab exercises at her house and hung out there for several hours with Riley as her company. 

Carol swung by mid-afternoon and took Christy back to hers and Paul's house. Christy plans to spend Saturday at her house again, rehabbing and enjoying the comforts of home. Once again, she'll return to Carol and Paul's later in the day. 

2. I hadn't turned on the Vizio all summer. 

I returned to watching the old television today. 

Lately, repeated clips from the 1993 Western Tombstone have been popping up in my Facebook Reels feed. I remember going to see Tombstone thirty-three years ago, remember coming away from it astonished by Val Kilmer's performance as Doc Holliday. Today, I was astonished by Val Kilmer again and I enjoyed watching the stellar cast of this movie at work. 

I have no explanation for this, but the older I grow, the more I enjoy punk rock. 

I don't exactly seek out punk rock, but when it pops into my life online, I like how it hits me. 

Therefore, I decided to watch Repo Man, a classic 1984 independent movie with a punk attitude, punk music, a delirious and fragmented plot line, sharp satire, and wild absurdity. 

The Big Lebowski doesn't feature punk rock, but watching Repo Man reminded me of it. Each movie features a meandering and absurd plot, encounters with wild people and violence, and surreal quests. 

I also wondered if Quentin Tarantino might have borrowed, whether consciously or unconsciously, the movie's mysterious glowing briefcase from Repo Man which features a mysterious 1964 Chevrolet Chevelle Malibu with a glowing trunk. 

3. Ed and I have had a string of busy Fridays over the last several weeks that have kept us from meeting at The Lounge. Today, however, we were both free to meet shortly after 3:30 and enjoy cold beverages, get caught up on what's been going on, and have fun yakkin' with Cas. 

It was a very good session. 

Three Beautiful Things 08-20-2026: Christy Visits Her House, Thinking About Mutability and Science, Memories of Enjoying Summer Heat

 1. After her session at Physical Therapy on Wednesday, which included a reevaluation of her condition, Christy returned to Carol and Paul's house and wrote out a tentative schedule for the rest of the month that included visits to her house. 

Today she made her first visit home since she went to the local ER on July 31st. Paul and Carol drove her over and made sure she walked up the stairs on her front porch safely (she did). Christy saw for the first time the results of all the work Carol and Paul have done over the last nearly three weeks making her house safer. 

I had a couple of things to deliver to Christy and dropped in for a short visit. Paul and Carol were continuing their safety efforts and were running ideas and decisions by Christy. 

It was a good scene. 

Christy will return to her house tomorrow for much of the day while Carol and Paul take care of things in other parts of their lives and I'll be at the ready next door if Christy wants or needs anything. 

2. I read more chapters today of Kenn Kaufman's book, The Birds that Audubon Missed. Like the other five books I've read since joining Auntie's Bookstore's Science and Nature Book Club, this is a book I would have never known about, let alone read, had I not joined this club. 

I'm going to make an amateur's statement regarding what the books we've read have me wondering. It's one of the pleasures of blogging. I can write inklings, ponderings, wonderings.  They can be the thoughts of an amateur. 

I'll begin by saying that I do not think the world of nature, which includes human beings, is immutable. I don't think there's a fixed, unchangeable order at work in the natural/human world. 

We humans, however, seek to make order of the world's disorder. All the fields of science contribute mightily and importantly to this effort. 

In the book I'm reading, Kenn Kaufman writes a lot about the centuries long efforts by students of birds and bird scientists to identify and name species of birds and it's been a long effort of mistake and correction. Some birds are hybrids, the result of interspecies reproduction. Some birds' feathers change colors depending on the season. Birds' habits can change. Birds do not necessarily conform themselves to some kind of immutable natural order, but, at the same time, birds do act out things that have endured over time:  patterns of behavior, singing, migration, and consistent appearance. 

I've got a lot more pondering ahead of me as I learn more about the work scientists do as the subjects of their studies, whether plants, animals, humans, air, atmosphere, water, viruses, and more mutate and change, while also maintaining some patterns of predictability. 

The best minds, I've observed, are those which are flexible. They recognize and work with mutability. They recognize and work with the unknown and are willing to see, when it happens, that they were mistaken, whether in part or wholly, about what they thought they knew.  

3. I accept that as I grow older, certain aspects of my life diminish. 

I do miss -- and I think about it often -- when I could tolerate the heat of summer. I miss when I actually enjoyed being active in summer heat, whether hiking, playing baseball, golfing, working in the yard, riding a bicycle, or going on summer walks. 

Yes. I'm grateful we can keep our house cool.

I'm grateful that I enjoy having to staying indoors, out of the heat and out of the sun, because I can read books and listen to classical music and enjoy other indoor activities. 

All the same, I miss when I enjoyed and could tolerate the summer outdoors. So now I do the next best thing. I call up happy memories of when I could enjoy the heat. 

They pop to mind all through each summer day. 

Three Beautiful Things 08-19-2026: Breakfast with Lifelong Friends, Winning Wednesday, Christy Returns to the Fitness Center

 1. Abby, Jake, Stu, Ed and I met for a delicious breakfast and an hour or so of fun yakkin' at Nosworthy's in Coeur d'Alene. I enjoyed my chili omelet and am once again convinced that I need to work on making chili at home and push my omelet making project to another level by trying to make something like Nosworthy's Blazing Saddles myself. 

I hope you can tell from this picture that we had a great time getting together: 

2. Wednesdays mean one thing at the CdA Casino: Winning Wednesday! Ed and I jetted down after breakfast and spun reels for a couple of hours. We had a lot on our minds going down and coming back and so our conversations were terrific. I had fun playing different machines, had some fun spins that won me some money, but I didn't end up ahead. That's right. It was Winning Wednesday at the casino, but not a Winning Wednesday for me -- but, I must say, the casino did not break my bank so I kept my modest losses within a range I can easily live with! 

3. Christy returned to the Shoshone Medical Center's fitness center in Smelterville today. The session began with a reevaluation of her situation and the setting of new goals. (I don't know what they are.) She got back to doing strength exercises and she worked on the stairs. Going forward, Christy will have PT twice a week. She came home today with a notebook of home exercises, a notebook the physical therapists will continue to add to as Christy continues to work at home and at the center on attaining her goals.