1. I loved living in Maryland, but those three years, of course, keep slipping farther and farther away and I sometimes wonder if all of my memories are trustworthy.
For example, did I keep reading about restaurants that served shrimp and grits? I know I never ate them in Maryland, or any other state along the Atlantic Ocean, but I kept thinking I ought to.
Today, I'm happy to say, I did it! I ordered shrimp and grits and I loved them.
A little context: Christy, Carol, and I went on our monthly outing to Spokane today and I was in charge of today's activities.
We made one essential group decision. I had two main activities in mind and wondered if Christy and Carol would like to have breakfast first and then go to our next activity or begin with the art gallery and then eat lunch.
It was unanimous: breakfast first.
Actually, we had brunch first on W. Broadway, just off of Monroe St, at Bruncheonette.
It's low key, simple medium-sized restaurant with daring and creative food choices and a full range of cocktails.
I wondered, should I try Tamale Waffles, Chorizo Breakfast Tacos, Smoked Brisket Hash, or maybe Chicken and Waffle?
My answer: none of the above.
I ordered Shrimp and Grits.
The shrimp were Cajun spiced accompanied by Andouille sausage, red peppers, and onion served atop a bed of creamy cheddar grits. I also ordered a side of two scrambled eggs and another side of toasted brioche with honey butter and strawberry jam.
I loved this meal and decided to extend it into the evening by not eating all of my shrimp and grits, but bringing some home in a small container.
That was smart.
Christy enjoyed her Carrot Cake French Toast and Carol was very happy with the Roasted Veggie Scramble she ordered.
I think we'll continue to try different restaurants on our monthly outings to Spokane, but it sure would be tempting to keep returning to Bruncheonette and work our way through more of the menu.
You can check out the menu here: Spokane Brunch Menu | Voted #1 for Brunch! | Downtown Spokane
2. We ate our brunch at a leisurely pace and then crawled up Maple St, Country Homes Blvd. and Wall Street, with a detour on Mountain View Lane, where my first wife and I lived fifty years ago, and on to College Road and made our entry into the Whitworth University campus.
I've been spending a lot of time over the last year or so exploring truths expressed non-verbally, primarily through visual art and instrumental classical music. `
Today, we visited the Lied Center for the Visual Arts, a most handsome facility, at Whitworth and looked at Kelly Packer's paintings of Butte, MT in the Bryan Oliver Gallery. Accompanying most of the paintings were lines of poetry composed by her husband, Adrian Kein.
Her paintings, to me, worked in two ways.
First of all, the painting represented the world of everyday houses in Butte as any one of us might see them.
The structure of the houses, the things in the yards like trailers or a mini-trampoline, were all recognizable, as were power wires, street lights, slanted roofs, chimneys, awnings, and other details.
But the color schemes of these paintings did not represent what we might think of as photographic reality.
Packer painted yellow yards, pink sidewalks, multi-colored house exteriors and multi-colored windows, purple clouds, and used other unexpected colors to paint things otherwise familiar.
How did I experience these unusual, vivid, and beautiful color schemes? To me these were the colors of dreams, longings, memories, hopes, disappointment, aging, and other elements of life in Butte expressed not in words but in the ways colors can help us feel different emotions, hopes, dreams, and grief.
In other words, in much the same way as music, Kelly Packer made external what we experience internally.
Were there one-to-one relationships between certain colors and certain emotions?
I don't think so.
I did my best to let the paintings work on me in whatever way they did, trusting that the sadness I sometimes felt, the humor I experienced at other times, or the joy of possibilities that also hit me was genuine.
I didn't wonder if my responses were right or wrong.
3. After a stop near the intersection of Nevada and Hawthorne to drop off Christy's charitable donations, we buzzed to CdA and extended our outing a bit.
Christy fueled her car at Costco.
We did some shopping for fun and staple items at Trader Joe's.
We then ended our day of fun visits at Panhandle Cone and Coffee in Midtown Coeur d'Alene.
I crave ice cream all day, every day.
I resist these daily cravings and rarely buy ice cream for home and try to steer clear of places that serve ice cream.
Today, however, it was my idea to go to this teriffic ice cream shop in CdA and I thoroughly enjoyed my single scoop of ice cream that I've forgotten the exact name of, but it had "salted" and "peanut butter" in the title (I think). Christy was very happy with her Salted Caramel and Brown Butter Cookie ice cream in a waffle cone. Carol opted for a cup of green tea, in keeping with her current dietary plan.
What an outing! Delicious food, some peering into our past, fascinating paintings, relaxing shopping, and a sweet conclusion.
I am very happy we agreed to make our 2026 monthly outings centered on exploring and experiencing different aspects of Spokane.
3. Christy had brought multiple bags of donations that we dropped off at a Goodwill near Hawthorne and Nevada and then we swooped into Coeur d'Alene for a fuel stop at Costco and some shopping at Trader Joe's.
We ended our Sibling Outing at Panhandle Cone and Coffee in Midtown Coeur d'Alene.
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