Three Beautiful Things 02/02/20: Charly's Nights, Iowa Defeats Illinois, Family Dinner: Duck and Conversation

1. Charly wanted attention all through the night. I fed her. I took her out back. It was as if night had become day for her because once morning had broken and the day progressed, Charly spent much of the day quietly resting and sleeping. Naturally, with a night of interrupted sleep, of being up and down often, I not only slept in a bit, but for much of the day I was groggy and nodded off from time to time.

As I write this blog post, on Monday morning, I am happy to say that Charly only woke me up once over the last eight hours or so, at about 2:30 a.m. for some food and trip out back. Both of us had a much better night's sleep. When I went to bed last night (Sunday), I brought Charly in the bedroom with me, but it wasn't where she wanted to be. She immediately made her way back out to the living room where she seems to be more comfortable.

Right now, as has been true for the last five hours or so, Charly is sleeping peacefully here in the living room on a couple of quilts on the living room rug.

2. I was up and about in time Sunday morning to watch much of Iowa's bruising and elegant win over Illinois, 72-65. Both teams played hard, chest to chest, slug it out basketball, but also ran smartly choreographed plays and made beautiful shots that kept the game from being merely a wrestling match. Late in the game, Illinois's shooters went cold; throughout the contest, Iowa's brilliant Luka Garza scored rugged points inside and shot with precision from the perimeter and was a rugged rebounder and defender.

3. Carol and Paul hosted family dinner tonight and Carol tried something brand new. She cooked duck. The Rinaldis in Moscow had sent Carol and Paul home with the birds a while back and we all enjoyed Carol's first try at fixing a duck dinner. It was a lively night for conversation as we talked about different ways to manage our home budgets, local developments in the Chamber of Commerce, how things are going with local high speed internet, challenges the school district faces, and some reviewing of Kellogg history, set in motion by remembering old gyms at Kellogg Junior High, St. Rita's school, Pinehurst Junior High, Wallace Junior High, Mullan High School, and elsewhere in North Idaho.