Tuesday, February 19, 2019

Three Beautiful Things 02/18/19: Breakfast at Goose 'n the Tree Cafe, Transplant News, Civil War and Texting with Linda

1. During the summer of 2017 and then, later in the year, after moving to Kellogg,  and on into 2018, I frequented Radio Brewing more often than I do now, primarily because I'm trying to figure out if drinking less beer helps my kidney numbers. When I was more of a regular, I always enjoyed talking with Radio's manager, Meredith.

A few months ago, I learned that Meredith and her husband, Derrick, the original chef at Radio, decided to open a breakfast cafe in Pinehurst at 608 Division, the site of the former laudromat which was, recently, for a short time, North Idaho Bagel Co.

It's called Goose 'n the Tree Cafe.

This morning, Christy, Everett, Carol, Paul, and I piled into Goose 'n the Tree. Immediately, I found the cafe comfortable. It's cozy, designed to transport diners into the past with framed magazine ads from about fifty years ago arranged on the walls and with red chairs and tables that came from a beloved diner in Missoula.

The menu features a variety of egg dishes, as well as pancakes, French toast, biscuits and gravy, and granola. The biscuits and breads are baked on site and soon the cafe will serve bagels baked on site.
Goose 'n the Tree serves Silvercup Coffee (superb coffee roasted in Kellogg), both drip and French press.

I ordered Eggs Benedict, two perfectly poached eggs over lox served on an English muffin, topped with a delicate Hollandaise sauce and served with hash browns.

My breakfast satisfied me in every way. I enjoyed my egg dish, the subtly lemon-y sauce, the salmon's hint of salt, the perfection of my eggs, and the solid foundation of the English muffin and hash browns. The rest of our family enjoyed their plates of food as well.

I look forward to the weather warming up and the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes clearing up so I can go on photo walks again. I am very happy that I can stop in at Goose 'n the Tree for coffee and a bagel, or possibly some breakfast, before I hit the trail. The cafe's location is perfect for my plan and I am eager to sample their bagels once they begin baking them.

2. I returned home to a voice mail from the transplant nurse coordinator. I called Sheri back and she told me just what I was hoping to hear: thanks to receiving the report from pulmonologist Dr. Scoggins, she will be presenting my case to be listed to the committee on February 28th. I need to do two things, one before the 28th, the other as I am able. First, I need to once again have my blood type tested. I will do that on February 20th. Second, my blood work shows that I am not currently immune from Hepatitis B and need to be immunized, a series of three shots. I will try to set up those vaccinations when I visit the clinic on the 20th.

I am not taking it for granted that I will be listed on February 28th. I will say, though, that my general health is good, including my mental health, and I've assured the transplant program that I have post-transplant support lined up. I realize, though, that the team could decide that they want some kind of further testing, so I am keeping my high hopes in check and continuing to encourage my own patience.

3. A titanic basketball game got underway at 6 p.m. in Corvallis, OR pitting the mighty Oregon Ducks women's basketball team against the formidable Oregon State Beavers in 2019's Civil War II.  The two teams met in a tense contest this past Friday evening, with Oregon triumphing 77-68, and I could hardly wait for the rematch.

Earlier in the day, the latest AP poll ranked Oregon as the #2 team in the nation and Oregon State as the #12 team.

From the get go, today's game was tense and tight. Oregon opened the game with several missed shots and the Beavers raced to an early lead. Oregon suffered a terrible blow about halfway through the second quarter when post player Ruth Hebard left the game with a knee injury and never returned. The Ducks are not a deep team. Moreover, Hebard and the Ducks' star  Sabrina Ionescu are interdependent. They run lethal pick and rolls together. Hebard occupies defenses inside and opens up room for Ionescu to operate more freely on the perimeter.

Linda S. and I were in text message contact throughout the game and we agreed that Ionescu seemed a little bit off, if not a little lost, with Hebard out of the game.

But, eventually, the Ducks adjusted, figured out ways to make their offense work without Ruthy Hebard, and Ionescu started to play more like herself in the late third and on into the fourth quarter.

The Beavers, though, would not back down. Destiny Slocum and Aleah Goodman swished shots from the outside. The Beavers made their free throws late in the game, benefited from a bizarre missed lay up by Ionescu, and proved to be the better team tonight, winning 67-62. Their defense held the Ducks well below their scoring average this season -- the Ducks, in fact, had never scored as few as 62 points in a game this year.

For us Duck fans, this loss was heartbreaking.

But, if it's possible to enjoy heartbreak, watching such an entertaining and tense game and having ongoing conversation with Linda throughout the game and afterward made this a most enjoyable evening.

A postscript: Oregon's coach Kelly Graves' University of New Mexico team lost to Oregon State in Corvallis when Graves was a player; his Oregon teams have lost at Corvallis each season in his five years as their coach. He's a very good coach and, for some reason, is, so far, snakebit in Corvallis.

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