2. Baseball games. A gravel pit run. Putzing around the house. Some weather. My own inertia. Whatever the causes, I haven't been out on the trails lately, but I broke through today and took a splendid hike on the Shoshone Medical Center's Health and Wellness Trail. I decided to get my Pentax Q back into action and I can't for the life of me understand why I've let this camera lie around in semi-retirement. I took some pictures of autumn leaves up and down the hillside that the trail winds its way on, loved how the camera responded, and I looked back at pictures I'd taken a few years ago and I was kind of stunned. Some of my favorite pictures taken in Eugene, at Martin's Creek, around Kellogg, and elsewhere are on this camera's memory card. I don't know if I ever posted these pictures on flickr. If not, I've got a big project ahead of me.
3. Whether it's family dinners, sibling outings (hint, hint!), doing things with Kellogg friends, hiking, traveling to British Columbia, going to Whitworth events in Spokane (another one coming up Nov. 2!), planning a trip to Pendleton with Ed, Mike, and Terry, hanging out at the Lounge, following baseball and texting about it with Cas and Byrdman, anticipating the coming college women's and men's basketball season, events at the Elks, going on road trips around North Idaho with Byrdman, joining the fantasy baseball league I belong to, and other things, I am making a concerted effort to thoroughly enjoy having moved to Kellogg.
At first, this project was challenging because living in Kellogg is so different than living in Greenbelt, MD -- living close to Washington, DC, living just a few hours from NYC, living near Molly's family and not too far from Adrienne's; in Greenbelt, I lived near a beautiful lake, close to an aquatic center I loved, enjoyed both driving and traveling by mass transit to different parts of Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. I will always miss DC Brau, the National Aquatic Gardens, having some beers at Quench and Old Line, shopping at the Asian market in Wheaton, making occasional trips to one of the Wegmans grocery stores, the regional parks, seeing movies at the American Film Institute in Silver Spring, and more.
Today, I'm happy to write, I upped my enjoyment of living in Kellogg and the Inland Northwest significantly.
Late this afternoon, I drove to Spokane and met up with Mary Chase and Kathy Brainard, both 1971 grads of KHS, at The Bar at Pizza Pipeline near North Division and Mission to play trivia together.
This was my first time playing trivia in a bar (or anywhere else, aside from a Trivial Pursuits game board). I've had plenty of opportunities in Eugene, Beltsville, and Kellogg, but I have barely a competitive bone in my body and so wondered if I would enjoy being on a team competing with others at answering trivia questions.
But, a couple of things moved me to go today. First, I enjoy Mary Chase's company and I was confident that I would enjoy time with Kathy Brainard, too -- and I was right. Second, I am trying to get into a mindset where driving to Spokane (as long as Charly is ok) and coming back to Kellogg at night just isn't that big of a deal -- especially since my night vision has improved thanks to cataract surgery.
I want to see movies at the Magic Lantern in Spokane. I need to start thinking of this as a small deal, not a big deal. Same with day hiking in the Spokane area. As long as my trips don't take more than about five or six hours, Charly is fine.
End of self-directed pep talk.
Playing trivia with Mary and Kathy was a blast. We ordered a pizza together and I enjoyed that a lot. I do not enjoy pizza and craft beer together, but the Rolling Rock beer I drank with our pizza was perfect.
Mary, Kathy, and I were a relaxed, low-key team with a pretty good range of knowledge. Mary was great at African country word scrambles, I was of value with sports questions (takes me back to why I was put on the KHS High School Bowl team [Mary and I were teammates in 1971]), and Kathy knew quite a bit about a variety of thing and was our go to teammate when it came to identifying stand-up comics -- maybe because stand-up is her daughter Kelsey Cook's vocation.
We had some deficiencies. Namely, math questions. Ha!
In between trivia sessions, the three of us got in some great yakking about our lives these days, being retired, the old days in Kellogg and Eugene (we all were grad students at one time at the U of O -- Mary and I were even in a class together), and other things.
I look forward to joining up with Mary and Kathy again soon for more trivia. Trivia nights happen in Spokane almost every night of the week at different bars. Mary and Kathy play frequently, so I'll always have a lot of options.
By the way, Mary and Kathy usually play at the Riverbank Taproom at the Northern Quest Casino on Wednesday nights, but tonight a private party had that room rented. So, they decided to give The Bar at Pizza Pipeline a try. Once I adjusted to the volume level -- a lot of people in a tight place and the trivia host was miked pretty loud -- I enjoyed being in this place a lot. I'd definitely go back there and I am stoked to join them at other venues.
Here are a few pictures from today's hike, as I get reacquainted with my Pentax Q:
No comments:
Post a Comment