A mournful note to begin.
Today the Coeur d'Alene Press published Bob Emheiser's obituary. To many of us, he was known as "Em" or "Coach Em". He was our Kellogg Wildcat basketball coach when I was a senior and I'd been in his Civics class at Kellogg Junior High my freshman year.
If you'd like to read Em's obituary, it's right here.
1. I spent time today looking back at a set of pictures I took in October, 2019 when Byrdman and I went on a drive. The first pictures I took that day were in the vicinity of Bull Run and after some time there, we headed up the St. Joe River and drove up some of the creeks (or was it one creek?) that feed the St. Joe.
My mind changed in two significant ways as I revisited these pictures.
First, I'd always thought my pictures from that day were cliched. Run of the mill. Boring.
I felt differently today and they made me think that with the weather cooling down and the leaves about to turn, that I ought to take pictures outdoors around North Idaho again.
Secondly, I had it in my head that I took lousy pictures with my small Pentax camera. I haven't had it out for a few years. That day, I divided my shots between the Pentax and my Nikon and, lo and behold, I not only liked the Pentax photos, I urged myself to get that camera back in action again.
2. This afternoon I participated in my first (I think) social outing, outside of family gatherings, since the kidney transplant.
A bunch of guys from the KHS Class of '71 meet from time to time at Dave Corbeil's Post Falls bar, Corby's. (Dave is a 1967 KHS grad.)
Those guys had a get together planned for today, Byrdman (Class of 1970) let me know about it, and I decided to join in.
I decided that I'd trust that none of the guys who came today would have a contagious illness. I decided that I'd drink a Pepsi and I didn't want to wrestle with a mask between sips, so I didn't wear one (although I carried one in my pocket, just in case). I brought a small bottle of cleansing foam with me and washed my hands after any handshake -- and tried to do it as inconspicuously as possible.
So, the next couple of days will tell whether this was such a good idea. Did I contract any illnesses at Corby's today? I have to say, though, I'm happy I gave it a shot and, if going to Corby's turns out to have been okay, I'll sure welcome a boost of confidence that, even in my compromised condition, I can do this sort of thing from time to time in the weeks to come.
Next test: Friday I will go to Trout Creek, MT and join about 20 other longtime friends in a huge house to celebrate our 70th birthdays.
I enjoyed yakkin' with the guys who got together at Corby's. Aside from phone calls and texting, I hadn't had in person yakkin' time with longtime friends for several months and I'm really glad I decided to take part.
3. I am a lie on my back reader for the most part. Today, I delayed returning to reading Perma Red because Copper decided to take over my reading spot!
Note to myself, and feel free to read it along with me: I'm doing better with focus and shutter speed/aperture settings. Now I need to give better attention to the composition of my photographs. Composition has always been challenging to me and I can see, especially before I edit/crop pictures, that lately I haven't been very mindful of how I'm composing what's inside the frame.
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