1. The breakfast table at Sam's expanded this morning. Bob joined us. So did Dana. It was especially fun to have Mike Stafford on board. Mike and I were pre-schoolers in the same neighborhood uptown over sixty years ago and now we see each other on occasion in Kellogg and join up with Ed and Terry and Jake and sometimes other guys for a Veterans' Day weekend in Pendleton, a fine tradition. A year and a half ago Mike and Ed soared in jet planes out to Maryland and the three of us toured D.C., Philadelphia, NYC, and took a drive out to eastern Maryland, among other things. We had a blast. At O'Hara's Pub and Restaurant in NYC we met a woman named Diana who had decided to come to NYC for a visit just to get away from it all. The four of us hit it off and enjoyed great conversation and, at breakfast today, Mike showed Ed and me an email he had just received a few days ago from Diana, expressing hope that the three of us were doing all right.
2. I've mentioned my friend, Jeff, many times on this blog. We worked and studied together at the Univ. of Oregon starting back in 1986 and both landed jobs at LCC where we were fellow instructors for many years. For at least twenty-five years, we've been in a coffee group together and Jeff and I have a really fun history together with the Grateful Dead and we used to go to the WOW Hall together regularly to hear jam bands like Zero, Nine Days Wonder, Little Women, and others back in the 1990s.
On August 26, Jeff's wife Louise died of a heart attack at this year's Klamath powwow. Her death shocked me and not being in Eugene where I could spend time with Jeff and our friends has weighed on me. Today, I spent a few hours writing to Jeff and I'll send the letter off soon after I read through it at least one more time.
Louise will be memorialized in a Celebration of Life on Saturday, Sept. 29 at 1:00 at the LCC Longhouse.
The Deke and I already had a short trip planned to Eugene for the early part of the week of Sept. 24th. The Deke will go to her school's curriculum night and meet whatever parents attend so the parents can form a good impression of their children's soon to be teacher. The Deke's job starts around Nov. 1. The Deke also has business to tend to at the 4J District office.
We will extend our stay in Eugene and attend the Celebration of Life for Louise. Herb and Francoise agreed to let us stay longer with them and Carol and Paul are able to take care of Maggie and Charly until we return.
I'm very grateful this is all working out.
3. The Deke and I had a fun night on the town. Late in the afternoon, we dropped in the Inland Lounge and yakked with Cas and Tracy for a while and I had a good talk with Pat Kenyon, a serious one, about the recent passing away of his sister, Julie. I also saw Mike Grebil who told me his brother, Steve, one of my favorite baseball teammates over forty-five years ago, would be in town in October to hunt. Maybe we'll see each other.
The Deke and I left the Lounge to go down to the Hill St. Depot and as we were barreling down McKinley Ave., Ed was just starting to climb out of his pickup. I stopped, rolled down my window, and, on the spot, Ed agreed to meet us at Hill St. where he and the Deke and I gabbed about a bunch of stuff. The Deke and I hadn't seen Fitz or Deanne for a while and it was great yakkin' with them when each of them strolled in. In addition, Abby also popped in -- he and Fitz were meeting to arrange their spring training trip for 2019 -- and I enjoyed shooting the breeze with him and Fitz at the bar.
The Deke and I returned to the Inland Lounge. I got the lowdown first hand from Eddie Joe about the food truck (trailer, really) he just purchased and his plans for serving up hamburgers, tacos, nachos, and sausage dogs. If you are in North Idaho and happen to see a trailer called EJ's Eats, that's the latest entrepreneurial effort of Eddie Joe. Eddie Joe informed me, by the way, that a little later this fall he hopes to park his food trailer on Cameron Ave., just a little ways from our house.
I also had fun yakkin' with Riles and Martha and, once the Elks Burger Night closed shop, Harley and I sat together at the bar and Candy joined the Deke at her knitting station in a booth. As it got later and as I switched over to pint-sized glasses of ice water, things slowed down at the Lounge and the Deke had a good session of gabbing and laughter with Ashley. Meanwhile, Cas took a break from behind the bar and we had time for some extended jabber about all kinds of things ranging from baseball to the Vietnam documentary we both have watched.
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