1. Today's readings moved Father Gortner to preach in plain terms and practical terms about unfaithfulness -- not only human unfaithfulness in relationship to God, but human to human unfaithfulness in relationships, whether at work, in the church, or at home. I came away from today's service thinking about faithfulness and persistence, about being persistent in knocking, seeking, and asking. I experienced something new in today's service: a parishioner asked me and the other woman in our pew to bring the communion elements to the altar today. In all my years worshiping as an Episcopalian, I'd never done this before. I carried the wine to the front and successfully passed it off to the person at the altar awaiting its arrival.
2. In one of the hiking books I purchased yesterday, I learned about Trail #20 in the Cd'A National Forest. The trail rises above the upper reaches of the CdA River. Since I already had plans to go up the river today to hear the Ole Mountain Opry this afternoon at the Prichard Tavern, I decided to drive about twenty-five miles or so past Prichard on Forest Service Road #208 and check out the location of the trail head of Trail #20. I missed it the first time I passed it and soon the paved road turned into an unpaved road. I didn't like it. I turned around and headed back down the river and within minutes saw the sign for Trail #20 I had missed about ten minutes earlier. Now I can plan a hike there later this summer or in the fall. Twice, my heart was knocking against my chest on this drive when a deer and later a moose popped out of the brush. The deer was about ten yards in front of me so I had plenty of time to further slow down the Sube's crawl up the road. The moose had a mouth full of leaves and decided not to pop all the way onto the road, but trot beside the Sube as I crept down the road. Soon the moose vanished back into the woods.
After making a quick check to see if Byrdman was at his river place in case we could go to the Ole Mountain Opry together (he wasn't), I arrived at the Prichard Tavern just as the music was starting. I ordered a gin and tonic, strolled to back of the tavern where the musicians were playing from the back porch. I enjoyed every single tune. I enjoyed the singing, the harmonizing, the guitar, banjo, mandolin, and dobro solos that broke out during several tunes and got to hear some great familiar songs, ranging from Kate Wolf to Johnny Cash to Tom Paxton to Jimmy Buffet and a whole lot more in between. The setting was stunning. The tavern is nestled between steep hills of pine and cottonwood trees, a gorgeous sight, and as the afternoon deepened, the shade increased, cool mountain breezes kicked up, and we all settled into the sublimity of an easy North Idaho afternoon up the river in late July.
3. The Ole Mountain Opry was going to continue for another 90 minutes when it was time for me to leave and make my way downriver, back to Kellogg, and into Christy and Everett's back yard for family dinner. And what a superb dinner we had! After a fine citrusy cocktail, we dove into a juicy, tender, and flavorful beer can chicken, corn on the cob prepared on the grill, and a peach cole slaw. For dessert, Christy served lemon zucchini cake and I had mine with a scoop of pistachio gelato. A little later, Debbie bopped over to our house and brought back pieces of chocolate she'd made at a workshop today. Our conversations swung all over the place, but grew to a rousing climax as we reviewed characters and storylines from weeks and weeks of All My Children from the 1970s (and maybe early 80s), remembering the Martins and the Tylers as well as crazy people who came to Pine Valley like Billy Clyde Tuggle, Myrtle Fargate, and many others.
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