Three Beautiful Things 05-10-2026: Dead Battery and Christy's Generosity, In my Soul and Not My Head, Our Return to Kellogg Breaks Our Silence

 1. I guess you can say I don't read Toyotas very well. I sensed that the Camry's battery might be weakening, but this afternoon as Debbie and piled into the car to take off for this afternoon's Spokane Symphony concert, I wasn't expecting the battery to be dead. 

But it was. 

If we were going to attend the symphony, we didn't have time to do anything about the battery, so I sent out a calm, panicked text to both Christy and Carol wondering if one of them could let us use her car. 

Christy could! 

I learned a lot about the Camry today and I left the car in our driveway and Debbie and I rocketed off to Spokane, hoping we might still hear some of James Lowe's pre-concert talk. 

2. We missed the first five minutes of the talk, but enjoyed the rest of it. 

Now it was time for the concert featuring pieces by three composers, each of whom left the country of his birth and came to the USA: Sydney Guillame, a contemporary and living composer, left Haiti; Sergei Rachmaninoff left Russia; Bela Bartok left Hungary. 

In a discussion online about classical music, Stu referred to me as cerebral. That's true, to a point, but I do not engage classical music concerts cerebrally. So, on the cerebral or intellectual level, much of this concert mystified me. But I put that aside and let the music nourish my soul, not with comfort, not with inspiration, but with intensity and grief, with longing and confusion, with fire and calm. 

Afterward, Debbie and I couldn't talk about the concert. We didn't have words for what we'd experienced, a depth that left us not only inarticulate, but mute. 

3. By the time we got to Kellogg and drove Christy's car in her driveway and saw that Carol and Paul were at Christy's house, not having returned to their house after the three of them had dinner together, we both started to be able to say a few things about the concert. 

Evren Ozel, the twenty-seven-year-old piano soloist for Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini was incomprehensibly talented and charismatic. 

Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra left us saying, in a positive way, "What was that?" OMG!

We could talk, too, about the mixture of musical styles and the rhythms of Haitian street music in Sydney Guillame's superb composition, commissioned by the Spokane Symphony, Between Homelands. 

Three Beautiful Things 05-09-2026: Loafing, Debbie's Invigorating Time Uptown, I Fix Myself a Delicious Soup

 1. I'd had a busy week leading up to today -- labs and three separate trips to Spokane for book club, symphony lecture, and our sibling outing. Debbie and I will return to Spokane on Mother's Day for a symphony concert. 

So I pretty much rested today and beyond doing puzzles and writing in my blog, I didn't do much. 

2. I made a brief shopping trip to Yoke's and dropped off Debbie at Radio Brewing, a place she likes to go to read. For Debbie, it was the start of a terrific afternoon and evening. She ran into friends at Radio. She dropped into Zany's just to find out how the uptown pizza business was going. She strolled on down McKinley to The Lounge and had great conversation with Bob and Tracy and then a miracle happened. 

A French speaking man from Mali, how living in Spokane, was at The Lounge and Debbie approached him, asked if he spoke French, and for at least a half an hour the two of them yakked in French, a rare and most uplifting experience for Debbie. 

When I went uptown to give Debbie a ride home, believe me when I say she was invigorated! 

3. I interrupted my loafing briefly by making a soup I thoroughly enjoyed this evening.

I combined frozen shrimp, potstickers, chicken bouillon, green onion, celery, and mushrooms in a pot and seasoned it with soy sauce and a chili paste. The chili paste gave the soup a bite, the shrimp sweetened the broth, and the mushrooms made it all kind of meaty. I love potstickers in soup -- it's kind of like having dumplings -- and this simple meal gave me a lot of pleasure. 

Three Beautiful Things 05-08-2026: Enthusiasm and Invigoration, Sibling Outing to a Market/Fair, Leaving Texas

1. When we messaged back and forth this morning, I told Stu that when I arrived home from the symphony lecture I attended on Thurday, I was so pumped and was talking so fast (and loud?) that it was as if I'd just drunk five pots of coffee. 

Stu responded that he was glad that I could be so enthusiastic about what I'd experienced. 

Later I realized that the adrenaline rush and joy and sense of being fully alive I've been feeling since I was about eighteen years old about lectures, certain books I've read, superb conversation, classical and many other genres of music, and other sources of vitality in my life is, yes, to a degree, enthusiasm, but, even more, it's invigoration. 

I mean, I can be enthusiastic about going down to the CdA Casino on Winning Wednesday, but I don't feel more alive when I spin reels. My sense of being alive is not heightened nor do I see the world more clearly and fully than I did before. 

But when I listened to James Lowe's lecture on Thursday, when I listened to speakers and other presenters at Forum at Whitworth College decades ago, when I hear a transporting version of the Grateful Dead playing "Uncle John's Band" or Richard Thompson performing "Beeswing" or "Galway to Graceland", when I watch a stirring movie like Henry V (1989) or Stop Making Sense, when I hear a great sermon or when an Episcopal liturgy moves me to tears, when book club discussions turn toward addressing big questions, when I'm in the presence of paintings and other art that moves me, or when I read a great novel like Middlemarch, my inner vigor grows stronger, my awareness of being a thinking, feeling, seeing, hearing, curious human being is electrified and that's what I think of as not only enthusiasm, but invigoration. 

Over the approximately thirty-five years I worked as an instructor, discussing big questions with Whitworth, University of Oregon, and especially Lane Community College students invigorated me, sometimes beyond my ability to control my electrified behavior! 

I'm grateful for all the sources of invigoration in my life. I write about them often in this blog. 

I'm not what's known of as an adrenaline junkie. 

I'm simply open to having music, lectures, books, poems, conversations, movies, beauty, and other similar things I seek out and enjoy invigorate me. 

Growing old has not diminished this a bit. 

It might be stronger now than ever.  

2. I was in charge of organizing our sibling outing for the month of May.

I wanted to see if I could find something for us to do that was unlike anything we'd done on these outings before. 

If I remember correctly, I did an online search of events in Spokane during the month of May and I discovered the Spokane Night Market and Street Fair. 

I guess depending on your sense of Spokane geography, this market/fair's location is at any one or all of these landmarks! 

• The Spokane U-District
• The Gateway Bridge
• At Sprague and Sherman
• At 508 E. Riverside Ave

Once in this general area, it's easy to find.The market/fair's tents, booths, and attendees are conspicuous! 

This event happens on the second Friday of each month starting in May, ending in October. 

It's put on by The Wavy Bunch. You can learn more about this organization by clicking on the link I posted above. 

When Christy and Carol visited Eugene when I lived there, they enjoyed going to Eugene's weekly Saturday Market and Farmer's Market. 

I thought this Spokane market/fair was definitely in the same spirit as the Eugene markets and that they would enjoy looking at what vendors sold, the food being offered, the organizations who had booths, and listening to live music. 

I was right! 

I spent much of our time at the market/fair standing in front of the music stage listening to B Radicals, a self-described existential experimental rock funk jam band and they invigorated me! 

In fact, they made me tear up because their style of jam music transported me back to my frequent evening and late night visits to Eugene's WOW Hall from about 1989-1995 to listen to and dance to the really invigorating jamming of bands like Zero, Nine Days Wonder, Big Head Todd and the Monsters, Little Women, and others. 

B Radicals took me back to the Grateful Dead shows I went to in Oakland and Eugene. 

It's rare for me to hear live jam bands since I left Eugene. I didn't hear any such bands in the DC area when we lived there and I haven't  heard any in Kellogg. 

But this evening I did and I especially enjoyed one memorable moment. 

The B Radicals had been playing all original tunes since the beginning of their first set, but as they closed that set, the lead singer said, "We're going to do a cover now. See if you can guess whose song this is."

They started to doodle a bit and I thought they were about to launch into the Grateful Dead's "Shakedown Street", but, no, they launched into Stevie Wonder's "Boogie On Reggae Woman", replete with a joyous funky psychedelic break out jam and then they segued seamlessly out of Stevie Wonder into another original tune. 

And then, to my utter disbelief and joy, whoever ran the sound system to play recorded music during the band's break played -- I'm not kidding -- the Grateful Dead's "Shakedown Street". I wouldn't say I felt exactly like Moses standing before the burning bush, but it was close! 

I had a small order of Suya, that is, Nigerian barbeque, for dinner. Carol enjoyed an Ethiopian combination plate and Christy entered new culinary territory and ordered a Shawarma wrap.

Christy purchased an opal necklace and Carol purchased a garment to wear in this fall's production of Blithe Spirit. 

We left the market/fair happy -- were all of invigorated? Maybe. I know I was. We headed back to Pete and Belle's on North Argonne Road for delicious scoops of ice cream before gliding back to Kellogg.  

3. It's taken a while to pull everything together, but the cowboys in Lonesome Dove have now rounded up their cattle and are heading out of Texas and beginning their long trek to Montana. Jake and Lorena, at least for now, are not part of the official roundup party, but riding close and camping close to Call, Gus, Deet, and rest of the boys heading north. 

Three Beautiful Things 05-07-2026: Symphony Lecture in Spokane, Great Food and Memories at Great Harvest, A Vegetable Sandwich

 1. I left the house shortly before 10:30 this morning, eager to arrive in Spokane and take a seat in the Museum of Arts and Culture's auditorium to hear Spokane Symphony Music Director and Conductor, James Lowe, give a stellar lecture on the concert the orchestra will give this Saturday and Sunday. 

Debbie and I will go on Sunday. 

For this program, James Lowe commissioned a composition from Sydney Guillame, a Haitian-American composer he has worked with in the past a few times. He began his lecture by interviewing Guillame about the piece he wrote to fulfill this commission and we learned about Guillame's experiences being between homes, between Haiti and the United States, while living in New York, Los Angeles, or Portland and how those feelings and his connection to Haitian culture helped shape the piece we'll hear this weekend. 

James Lowe organized this weekend's program around three composers, Sydney Guillame, Sergei Rachmaninoff, and Bela Bartok, all who came to the United States from other countries (Haiti, Russia, and Hungary) and in their works we can hear evidence of their love for their home countries and the influences of living in the USA. 

2. In the months immediately following transplant surgery, after my many visits to the transplant clinic for labs and visits with the transplant team, I happily got into the habit of going to Great Harvest for a muffin, a cookie, or another baked good and a cup of coffee. If I arrived at Great Harvest at lunch time, I ordered one of their superb sandwiches. 

I decided after the lecture that it would feel good to return to Great Harvest. 

So I did. 

I bought two loaves of bread for home.

I ordered a blue cheese beef sandwich on Dakota bread with a cup of chicken rice soup and a fantastic oatmeal cookie for lunch. 

Every time I came to Great Harvest in 2024 and 2025 it was after a positive visit to the transplant clinic. I associate their physical space and their food with celebrating another positive visit, with feeling great that life after the transplant was proceeding well. 

Those feelings returned today, not only because my lab results this week have looked good, but because I was invigorated and stimulated by James Lowe's lecture and by knowing that I'd be back in Spokane Friday for an outing with Christy and Carol and would return on Sunday to hear the symphony concert. 

(I'll also be back on Monday for a visit to the transplant clinic.)

3. It's been a superb time recently for sandwiches! Steak sandwich at the Snake Pit. A half a beef sandwich at the casino deli at Wildhorse. We had grilled cheese sandwiches Sunday with tomato soup. I had a very tasty chicken sandwich before Tuesday evening's book club. We ate at Kindred on North Monroe. Today I loved my soup and sandwich at Great Harvest. 

I am especially fond of vegetable sandwiches and so tonight I took out two slices of the 5 Fiber Wheat Bread I bought at Great Harvest and made myself just the sandwich I wanted: cucumber, mushroom, zucchini, red onion, and red pepper between the slices of bread, with one slice covered with Olive Tapenade. 

All that was missing was a cup of soup! 

Three Beautiful Things 05-06-2026: Book Club at Home, Off to Montana Soon, More Lab Results and More Encouraging News

 1. Today, I was wishing that our book club were meeting again today so that we could further discuss The Botany of Desire. Connections within the book and to other things I've read over the years came back to me today. That we wouldn't be meeting again today, though, was no problem. Debbie and I had a spontaneous discussion of the book and continued our ongoing discussion of the act of reading itself and how we go about reading a book or anything else. 

2. As I might have written before, a months long gap of time passed between when I started reading Lonesome Dove, got as far as Part II, and then got distracted by who knows what. I've returned to reading it again, having started over again, and today I made solid progress toward getting back to where I was the first time I dove into this epic. It's all coming back to me: the arrival of Jake Spoon, the Irish guys, the non-stop yakking of Gus, and, pivotally, the emerging plan to drive cattle from southern Texas to Montana. 

3. Tacrolimus is one of the immuno-suppressive medicines I take and my lab results show that the level of Tacrolimus in my blood is within range, but it's the lowest it's been for quite a while. I trust that if I need to increase my dosage, I'll hear from Nurse Jenn or someone else on the transplant team. I also know that I have an appointment at the transplant clinic on Monday and that the doctor and I can talk about Tacrolimus then. 

In other bloodwork news, the two viruses we always check on are not present in my system. 

Things look good to me. 

I think all of the results of the labs I had drawn are Monday are in. 

My next move is to visit to the clinic on the two-year anniversary of the transplant, have labs drawn at Sacred Heart that check for signs of rejection (labs that can't be drawn at Kootenai), and find out if I need a kidney ultrasound or any other tests run at this key time in my post-transplant life.  

Three Beautiful Things 05-05-2026: Discussing *Botany of Desire* at Auntie's Bookstore, The Act of Reading, Dinner at Kindred Public House

 1. Debbie and I cruised to Spokane this afternoon for the monthly meeting of the Science/Nature Book Club at Auntie's Bookstore. Today we discussed Michael Pollan's Botany of Desire and discussed whether plants have consciousness, not like human consciousness, but a kind of consciousness outside human understanding. We also focused on a central emphasis of Pollan's, the process of co-evolution, the way human beings in their interactions with plants contribute to plants' evolution and how plants affect our evolution as humans. 

I think our group agreed that it's common for humans to see themselves as separate from nature, to see the natural world as a commodity, a source of economic development. We discussed the impact of this way of thinking, how, as consumers, our demand for perfect looking French fries, shiny nearly uniform shaped apples, potent pot, and predictably colored tulips inform how growers manipulate these plants. This led to our reflections upon monocultural tracts of land over and against biodiverse plots and the problems that arise from monocultural farming. 

2. Having never been in a book club before, I'm understanding more deeply something I've always known: people read books very differently from one another. Today at least twenty minutes or so passed before I spoke up, mainly because I was fascinated by how my clubmates approach reading a book. 

One thing (I think) is certain: I'm a more lenient reader than many others and given a chance to enter into a discussion of a book, I don't immediately want to comment on what I had problems with or on what I didn't like. In fact, I rarely think about these two matters when I read. 

Maybe in another post, I'll talk a bit more about where my more lenient approach leads me as a reader -- I tend to view movies in a similar way. I've written about that somewhere in the deep past of this blog! 

3. On purpose, Debbie and I arrived in Spokane a couple hours ahead of the book club's six o'clock meeting time. Debbie had found out online that on Tuesdays, there's an event in the Garland District called the Global Food and Art Market. 

We found the market but didn't stay long. Nothing being sold grabbed our attention. No problem. I was very happy we checked it out. 

After discovering Ferguson's Cafe had closed at 2 o'clock, we made our way down Monroe to Kindred Public House where Christy, Carol, and I had eaten lunch in April. 

We had a great time in casual conversation with our server, Kam, a terrific conversationalist and attentive man who moved to Spokane from Georgia several years ago. I enjoyed how he didn't seem under pressure to take our order and dash off, but relaxed with us, told us how much he enjoys Spokane even though he hasn't quite adjusted yet to the colder and snowy winters. 

I enjoyed the Lemon-Herb Chicken Sandwich I ordered with its fascinating combination of flavors, including pickled fennel, heirloom tomato, and lemon-basil aioli all adding zest to the chicken breast that had been marinated in a lemon and herb mixture. The sandwich came on a fresh and toasted ciabatta bun. 

Three Beautiful Things 05-04-2026: An Encouraging Visit to Kootenai Health, Beelining Around CdA, Back to the Vizio Room

 1. This morning I rocketed over to Coeur d'Alene for labs and a chest x-ray, both in preparation for next Monday's two-year kidney transplant anniversary visit to the transplant clinic. 

About a couple of hours later, results began to parachute into my cell phone. I felt some low grade anxiety as I opened the app since I hadn't had bloodwork done since February and it had been a year since my last chest x-ray. 

No need to worry! 

From my non-professional point of view my bloodwork numbers looked stable, that is, very similar to the results Dr. Bieber was so happy about back in February. In addition, my annual PSA is a great number and the chest x-ray report was, to use the magic term in the world of imaging, unremarkable. 

Just what I wanted to read! 

2. I broke my fast with a latte and chocolate croissant and then I got a haircut, went to the car wash, fueled up at Costco and shopped, and dropped in to get some items at Trader Joe's. 

It was fun beelining from one place to another and I was back home by about 1:00. 

3. Back home, I relaxed in the restored Vizio room. I had puzzles to catch up on. I listened to the Bach station on Pandora. I watched more of David Attenborough's Private Life of Plants and learned more about how plants find nutrients and how they grow. It was fascinating. 

Today was a superb one filled with good news, good food items, music, and learning. 

And all the time I was in the Vizio room, Copper was resting near my chair in the suitcase he finds so relaxing and safe right beside the ottoman I use to stretch my legs.  

Three Beautiful Things 05-03-2026: The Return of the Vizio Room, Retro Family Dinner, Music and Movies and Russian History

 1. If you've been reading this blog for the last several years, you might remember that we kept our television in our house's front bedroom (which we've never used as a bedroom) and I called it the Vizio room. I won't go into the mind-numbing details, but a few years ago we moved the television into the living room. 

Today, March 3, 2026, however, marked the resurrection of the Vizio room. I won't numb you with all the details of this development but suffice it to say that I am very happy. Debbie bought a cover for the chair and ottoman in this room. I'm using them again. I have speakers hooked to the television. I now have the hang of casting content from my laptop or phone to the television. 

I returned to the Criterion Channel today. I watched about ten trailers on Netflix. I cast the first episode of David Attenborough's documentary series, The Private Life of Plants from archive.org to the Vizio. 

I watched the first twenty minutes of an hour-long cat documentary on Netflix entitled, Inside the Mind of a Cat. 

During the heyday of the Vizio room, I listened to music, read books, watched ball games, movies, and other stuff on television and it's awesome to have it back in operation. 

It's also Copper's room and while he's never wanted to be on my lap, he does like finding spots to relax and sleep close to where I'm sitting. We'll enjoy sharing the Vizio room. 

We have more things to do to further develop the Vizio room, but it's a boon for me to have brought it back to life again. 

2. This afternoon rearranging of our household came about because as I was vacuuming the living room rug in preparation for family dinner tonight, we suddenly decided to dispose of this old and dog/cat worn rug and Debbie brought a much smaller rug she had upstairs in its place. 

We had time to do this on a family dinner night because Debbie had decided to keep dinner very simple. She combined Campbell's tomato soup, a box/carton of tomato soup, and fire-roasted tomatoes together and she used bread she'd baked on Saturday to make grilled cheese sandwiches. Carol and Paul brought chips. Christy brought ice cream sandwiches. 

And PRESTO! 

We had a throwback dinner, a retro dinner and it was superb. 

In fact, later in the evening I confided to Debbie (and now to all of you!) that I would be ecstatic if every family dinner were a simple soup accompanied by a great sandwich.

I don't really want that to approach to come to pass, but I hope one day we'll come back to some variation on the dinner Debbie fixed us tonight. 

3. Paul and Carol took one of their students to the Fox Saturday night to hear the Spokane Symphony play the soundtrack to Batman (1989) while the movie played. 

I could hardly wait for them to arrive for dinner so I could listen to Paul and Carol talk about their experience and what a good time their student had. 

Later on, we learned that Carol and Paul are reading Crime and Punishment with an adult friend of theirs. They recently read The Odyssey together and seem to be in a groove of slowly working their way through massive and complicated works of literature. 

Before we knew it, thanks, in part, to another book Paul is reading, we started talking about Russian history and its many contradictions and complexities. 

A couple weeks ago, the Great Course I've been listening to delved into Russian composers and the lecturer explored Russian history and surveyed Russia's folk music tradition. 

I never dreamed I'd have the opportunity to contribute some of the things I learned from the Great Course and from the Russian History course I took at Whitworth in 1974, but, lo and behold, some of the things I learned were relevant tonight and it felt really good not have a chance to talk about it rather than just have what I've learned stuck head untalked about. 

Three Beautiful Things 05-02-2026: Walmart Order, Relearning What I'd Forgotten, *Celluloid Closet*

 1. Last night I submitted an order to Walmart for curbside pickup and around 8:00 this morning I picked up, meaning we now have a good supply of produce, cat food, milk, and other staple items and the order included products that I dropped off at the Elks food pantry. 

2. It had been quite a while since I cast anything from my laptop to our Vizio. This evening, Debbie and I decided to rent a movie on YouTube and when I tried to make it play on the television, I couildn't do it. I had totally forgotten the steps necessary. So, I put on an instructional video and relearned the simple process and we were back in business! 

3. When the movie was over, neither Debbie nor I could remember what we'd been talking about that led us to want to watch the 1995 documentary Celluloid Closet, a study of how gay, lesbian, and trans characters were portrayed in the movies over the course of the 20th century. The movie featured clips from a wide array of movies and numerous interviews with screenwriters, actors, and others who provided expert commentary on this subject. 

I don't know if Debbie had seen this movie more than once. I know I had which is just to say that I had remembered it as a superb documentary and I had that uplifting experience this evening of finding the movie even better than my very positive memories of it. 

Now my hope is that I always remember the easy steps necessary to cast stuff from my laptop to the television. About an hour ago, I brought up a YouTube video of the London Symphony Orchestra performing Brahm's 4th Symphony, not only to enjoy the music, but to make sure I still remembered the next day how tp cast YouTube from the laptop onto the television! 

And I did! 

Three Beautiful Things 05-01-2026: Breakfast with Rooster at Rooster's, A Fun May in Spokane Coming Up, Debbie's Travel Plans

 1. For many in and around the Silver Valley, Ed's name is Rooster, a nickname he picked up many many years ago. It's only fitting, then, that Mike, Ed, and I enjoy ending our stay at the Wildhorse Resort and Casino by stopping off at Rooster's Country Kitchen in Pendleton as we start our drive back home. 

We had a delicious breakfast and good conversation at Rooster's. I was especially happy with my pot roast hash, scrambled egg, and biscuit. If I were a younger man, I could have eaten the entire generously loaded plate of food, but I'm getting old and I decided I wanted to drive back to the Silver Valley feeling comfortable, not stuffed. 

Turns out that was a great decision. 

2. For many many months starting in 2020 and then again for several months after kidney transplant surgery in 2024, I was very cautious about going out into the world, especially in places with a lot of people. Eventually, I eased up on the caution and as I started to widen my world a bit, Debbie asked me several times what I wanted to do at this stage of my retirement. 

"Don't you want to travel? Aren't there places you want to go?' 

My answer was always the same: I'd like to go see friends in Seattle and Eugene. 

I'm hoping that will be possible sooner than later.  

I have decided I want to stay fairly close to home as Copper ages in case he begins to need special attention the way Luna did when she began to die. Copper is shrinking, losing weight. His appetite is off and on. He seems comfortable and he is strong enough to, say, jump up on my bed, but I'm keeping a close eye on him. I've seen several other cats slowly progress toward dying and I'm seeing some signs in Copper's appearance and habits that he might be doing the same. 

I'm also mindful of staying home with Gibbs when Debbie goes away to help out family members or to be a part of celebrations. 

As 2025 became 2026, I decided that a great way to enjoy my retirement would be to make trips to Spokane. I'd go to classical music concerts whether the Spokane Symphony, Spokane String Quartet, Gonzaga Symphony, or other ensembles. I'd go to lectures. I'd go to art exhibits. Debbie and I decided we'd go to Auntie's Bookstore on the first Tuesday of every month at 6 p.m. and be a part of the store's Science and Nature Book Club. 

To top it all off, I proposed to Christy and Carol toward the end of 2025 that we think about making all twelve of our 2026 monthly sibling outings trips to Spokane. They agreed. It's been awesome -- we've gone to the Garland District, Whitworth University, places on Monroe Street, the Spokane Falls, St. John's Cathedral, Cannon Park, and we've sampled different ice cream shops along with different cafes and restaurants. 

Today, I wanted to be sure I knew what all I'd be doing in Spokane during the month of May whether alone or with Debbie or with my sisters. 

It's going to be great month: sibling outing to the Spokane Night Market and Street Fair, two symphony performances, a lecture, one string quartet concert, an evening with author Craig Johnson, book club at Auntie's, and who knows what I might do on May 11th in addition to having an appointment at the transplant clinic for evaluating how I'm doing on the two year anniversary of the transplant. 

3. One last terrific event in May: Debbie recently decided to fly to Chicago on May 29th to join other family members for Rosie's first birthday party.  Rosie is our niece Samantha's daughter. Debbie already had plans to be in New York in June. That plan won't change -- she'll just have a fun time with family in Illinois before making her trip to New York. 

I'm very happy this all worked out and I'll definitely find ways to occupy my time while holding down our little fort in Kellogg. 

Three Beautiful Things 04-30-2026: Breakfast at the Oregon Trail Deli, Relaxing in My Room, Spinning Reels

1. All of us who've been hanging out at the Wildhorse Resort and Casino this week buzzed about thirty miles east of the resort to Meacham, OR in order to do eat at the awesome Oregon Trail Store and Deli. The couple who operate this business put out great food. We've had superb breakfasts at the Oregon Trail and fantastic lunches, too. I indulged in today's breakfast special and enjoyed a platter of biscuits and gravy with sausage links. 

Jim headed back to Nampa today so we bade him farewell, very happy that he made the trip up and that we got to spend time together. 

Terry also headed back and I rode back to the resort with him and we know we'll see each other again pretty soon, possibly in May and for certain in June. 

2. I had catching up to do this morning and this afternoon. I needed to blog and work puzzles, the things I usually do first thing in the morning at home. I also napped after eating such a great meal at the Oregon Trail and having had a so-so night's sleep.

3. Ed, Don, Mike, and I got together in the afternoon at the Wildhorse's Sports Bar and had a good session of solid yakkin'. We agreed we were unsure when or if any one of us would want an evening meal, so we agreed we'd all be on our own. 

I spun reels for a while and then ate a half a deli sandwich and then spun reels some more. It was fun to play a ton of different games and by the time I quit and ate some ice cream at the deli and headed to my room, I was happy that my luck ran pretty good. 

Three Beautiful Things 04-29-2026: Breakfast Together, Some Pendleton Streets, Steakhouse Dinner

 1. Before we went our separate ways afterward, Jim, Don, Mike, Terry, Ed, and I met for breakfast in the Traditions restaurant and yakked about all kinds of things over a delicious breakfast served by a witty and fake-cranky server who made us laugh and we returned the favor. 

2. My separate way was to return to my room and solve puzzles and blog before I spent some time spinning reels. Later on, I drove to Pendleton and spent time trying to get a better sense of the lay of the land. I haven't spent enough time just getting to know Pendleton better and made some progress today. 

3. We old men gathered again at the resort's Plateau Steakhouse for a delicious dinner together and more conversation and storytelling. We enjoyed our meals and continued to learn more about what we've all been up to. We also raised a toast to our great friend Bruce Larsen and had fun telling stories about him and remembering the great things about him that made our long friendships with him so enjoyable and significant. 

Three Beautiful Things 04-28-2026: Breakfast at Dave's Bar and Grill, A Fantastic Country Drive, Dinner with Colette

1. I picked up Ed around 6:30 this morning and we beelined straight from Kingston to Spokane Valley for breakfast at Dave's Bar and Grill. I hadn't eaten at Dave's since last October and it all came back to me how much I enjoy this place. First of all, it's a morning hangout for codgers like Ed and me and so, as before, we sat and let snippets of great bs come our way and even though we were near the intersection of East Sprague and Pines Road, it felt like we were at any one of the Silver Valley's bs joints -- like The Lounge, for example. 

Then the excellent quality of the food came back to me, especially the fried potatoes covered in gravy. 

I finished the plate of potatoes and gravy, scrambled eggs, sausage patty, and English muffins with strawberry jam and knew I wouldn't need to eat anything until dinner around 5:30. 

Dave's Bar and Grill sent us off to Oregon nourished and happy. 

2. We drove from Spokane to Colfax to Dayton, Waitsburg, and Dixie, continuing on through Walla Walla and Milton-Freewater, and ended our drive just after noon at the Wildhorse Resort and Casino.

It was a spectacular drive. We enjoyed being off the freeway and the variety of landscapes, much of it farm land.

Upon arrival, I took a nap, started to get caught up on word puzzles and blogging, and headed downstairs where I found Ed, Mike, Don, and Jim relaxing at the lobby bar. I spun a few reels and then returned to my room to get ready for dinner. 

3. As we try to do every time I come to Pendleton, Colette and I met at the Thai Crystal and we enjoyed delicious food and nearly three hours of scintillating conversation about Colette's work, her family, classical music, books, podcasts, and writers. 

Our conversation uplifted me. 

When I returned to the resort, Ed, Mike, Terry, Don, and Jim were enjoying whiskey time in Ed's room. I couldn't join in the whiskey sipping, but I did join in the conversation and we Silver Valley boys had a lot to talk about from the past and the present. 

We couldn't help but feel the presence  of our lifelong friend Lars. His death is fresh in our minds and on our hearts, but I think we took some comfort in telling stories about him and enjoying great memories.  

Three Beautiful Things 04-27-2026: Packing, Talking, Stopping

 1.  On Tuesday, April 28th, six of us guys raised in Kellogg will get together for three nights of fun at the Wildhorse Resort and Casino and in the nearby area.  Here's who will join together: Ed Hanson, Mike Stafford, Terry Turner, Don Windisch, Jim Lewis, and I. 

It took me all day to pack because I am fastidious about not forgetting anything whether clothes, electronics, medicine, stuff for the bathroom, etc.  I'm less likely to make mistakes if I don't rush. 

2. When Debbie and I participate in cultural events, it usually takes a day before we can really talk about it. We talked some on Sunday about our experience hearing Verdi's Requiem, but we got into it in much more detail today. I learned a lot listening to Debbie and am really glad we don't push each other to comment on these things when the experience is fresh. We both need time. 

3. Michael Tilson Thomas, the recently deceased giant of classical music, especially American, said that "the most important thing about music is what happens when it stops . . ."

I''m going to leave his insight uncommented on, hoping you'll ponder it. 

Three Beautiful Things 04-26-2026: Hearing Verdi's *Requiem*, More of Verdi's *Requiem*?, The Snake Pit

1. To prepare for the combined efforts of the Spokane Symphony Orchestra, Spokane Symphony Chorale, and four visiting soloists (Caroline Corrales, soprano; Linda Baird, mezzo-soprano; Adam Diegel, tenor; and Mark Walters, baritone) to perform Giuseppe Verdi's monumental Messa da requiem, Debbie and I attended an hour long lecture on Thursday, presented by the symphony's conductor, James Lowe and then today we listened to the pre-concert lecture given by Lowe and the chorale director, Dr. Meg Stohlman. I also did some preparatory reading and note taking. 

This slim amount of preparation helped me to a degree take in the Requiem at today's matinee performance, but I almost immediately recognized that nothing I might have done would have prepared me for the sublime power of Verdi's composition nor for the overwhelming energy of a ninety-seven member choir, an expanded orchestra, and the four soloists exploring the terror, pleading, glory, awe, hopefulness, quaking, and overall awe of death and of facing the trepidation of the fires of eternity and the beauty of eternal light.

Verdi patterned this requiem after the Roman Catholic Requiem Mass and wrote it after the death of the great Italian writer Alessandro Manzoni. While on the face of it, Verdi's masterpiece can be seen as exploring Manzoni's own fears that the misadventures of his youth would never be forgiven, in actuality, Verdi makes music out of universal fears and hopes and uncertainty about our morality and what might follow death.

2. When the concert ended and after the audience showered vigorous applause upon all the performers and the two conductors and the Martin Woldson Theater at the Fox began to empty out, Debbie and I sat silent until the theater was nearly empty. 

As we left the Fox and walked to the car, Debbie said, "You know how when we drove to Kellogg from New York (in 2021) and planned our trip around dog friendly breweries? How about if we start looking for performances of Verdi's Requiem and how about if we travel to listen to it whenever and wherever we can?" 

I loved that idea.  

3. Being the mortals we are, while we had been spiritually challenged, blown away, and nourished by this afternoon's concert, we also needed to satisfy our physical hunger. Neither of us could remember the last time we ate at the Snake Pit in Kingston/Enaville and we decided to give it a try. 

It was a solid choice. I don't remember which burger Debbie ordered, but she happily ate half of it and half of her tots at the Snake Pit and took the rest home. I very much enjoyed my steak sandwich on a fresh hoagie roll and the accompanying fries. Our server was efficient, friendly, and witty, a delightful combination! 

By the time we walked in the Snake Pit and sat down, we were coming back to Earth again and while Verdi will live with us for a long time, his Requiem no longer dominated our thoughts and feelings, no longer had struck us nearly dumb. 

Three Beautiful Things 04-25-2026: Cardboard, Pizza Party, Preparing for Verdi's *Requiem*

1. I mean it's just cardboard. Why does it make me so happy to get cardboard boxes out of the garage and the house? I don't know, but I made a quick trip to the transfer station today and got rid of about fifteen boxes. I returned home inexplicably giddy!

2. Carol and Christy are at Priest Lake for a women's weekend with friends and we invited Paul over for pizza. We enjoyed a spinach/feta and a Hawaiian pizza along with some wings and had fun yakkin' together about topics ranging from learning French to watching videos of people reacting to hearing songs like "25 or 6 to 4" for the first time. 

3. I spent time today reading more about Verdi's Requiem in preparation for Sunday afternoon's performance of Verdi's take on this Catholic mass. It will be given by the Spokane Symphony and Chorale.  

Three Beautiful Things 04-24-2026: Where's That Book?, Tacos at the Elks, Yakkin' at The Lounge

 1. Before I go to sleep, it's best if I do not read material on either my laptop or phone. I'd like to read Lonesome Dove, but it's a big book, one I handle better sitting up. 

I've been wanting to read Jess Walter's latest novel, So Far Gone before sleeping, but I couldn't find it. Debbie and I are at the beginning of a slow project reimagining the old Vizio room and that's meant having books in boxes and unorganized in other ways. 

I went through all the boxes looking for So Far Gone and then I discovered I'd put it at the bottom of a pile on a bottom shelf hidden by a stack of boxes. 

I don't know what I was thinking of when I put that book there, but I've let go of that mystery. 

Tonight I read the first few pages of the book and I'm pumped to move forward and very happy that I'll relax at bedtime with a good book and not screens. 

2. I joined Ed and Nancy at a table at today's Taco Night at the Elks and before long Pam and Frank joined us. We enjoyed building our tacos and talked about a bunch of stuff: nurses, surgeons, current KHS band performances, camping, and a hot of other topics. 

3. We ended our evening at The Lounge. Debbie had been there for a while and was having a great time talking with different people at the bar and at a smattering of tables. When Ed and Nancy left, I went to the bar and had a fun conversation with Simon, during which Ryan walked in and told us about his new job. Juli Z. and I then had a serious talk about her late brother, John, a close friend of mine at NIC, and her son, Jared. Julie wants Jared and me to meet. Fitz and I talked about retirement and fantasy baseball and Cas and I reviewed fantasy baseball action as well. 

Debbie loved all the conversations she had, including at the table where Ed, Nancy, and I sat and I enjoyed yakking with the people I got to see, too. 

It was another fine time in uptown Kellogg. 

Three Beautiful Things 04-23-2026: James Lowe Lecture on Verdi's *Requiem*, Exhibits at the MAC, Back to Ocean's Depth

 1. Debbie and I went to Spokane today. It turned out we overloaded our minds with stimulation, in a very good way. We arrived home very tired but invigorated and with a lot on our minds. 

Our day began at Spokane's Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture (MAC) at noon. Spokane Symphony conductor and music director James Lowe gave a nearly one hour lecture on the single piece the symphony will perform Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon (when we'll go): Giuseppe Verdi's Requiem, first performed in 1874. 

The way Lowe developed context for the Requiem through looking at the history of Italy and the story of Italian novelist Alessandro Manzoni, whose death inspired Verdi to compose this requiem. He then played and commented upon excerpts from the Requiem, helping us better understand the range of emotions Verdi explores about death, the way the orchestra and chorale and vocal soloists work together as Verdi's masterpiece develops, and his view that Verdi wrote the Requiem for us, for us living mortals, as a way to move us to examine our own feelings, ideas, and beliefs about being mortal, presenting the fact of mortality as a reality that continually rises up in our minds and one that we deal with continually as people we know die.

I think this was the third time I've gone to one of these lectures. 

Each time, listening to James Lowe and the ways he integrates history, linguistics, spiritual experience, literature, art, movies, cuisine, and other subjects outside of music into his lectures, it takes me back to my days at Whitworth College where I was joyfully introduced to the wonders of interdisciplinary studying and thinking and began to learn about the ways the different kinds of liberal arts connect with each other. 

So in a way I find moving, a way that goes way beyond nostalgic sentimentality, listening to James Lowe makes me feel like the eager to learn 20 year I was when I enrolled at Whitworth and my life expanded into a love for the liberal arts in the broadest sense of that word and entered into a lifelong source of joy and stimulation. 

2. Lowe ended his lecture and I couldn't move right away. Luckily, Debbie and I were seated in the middle of our row and no one needed us to move, so I could just sit and let what I'd just experienced sink in. 

After a few minutes, we left the MAC's auditorium and walked over the MAC's galleries where we wanted to look at two exhibits: Brick by Brick: We Built this City, a display of seven iconic Spokane buildings constructed to scale with LEGO bricks and James Lavadour: Land of Origin, a retrospective of five decades of Lavadour's paintings and prints exploring the power and beauty of Eastern Oregon landscapes. 

The LEGO exhibit was astonishing for its craft and ingenuity. I never built anything with LEGOs. Our grandson, David, was obsessed with them as a boy. Through David I witnessed how far the LEGO world had come -- LEGO sets were available for everything from Monet paintings to Marvel characters to castles and floral bouquets. 

Honestly, though, what the builders who created these replicas of places like St. John's Cathedral, the Davenport Hotel, the Spokesman-Review building and others pushed my mind way beyond anything I had imagined possible to do with LEGOs. 

James Lavadour's painting exploded off the walls of the MAC. They are not representational works (they don't look like photographs), but are expressive pieces that endow the landscapes with power, spirit, fire, mythology, and other ways that Lavadour experiences them. 

In a very positive way, Debbie and I found this exhibit overwhelming. The paintings are large, presented in sets, like of nine paintings, and numerous works are on display. 

I hope we'll return. I want to feel the power of these paintings again, but, as today, in short amounts of time. 

I bought the coffee table book that was published to accompany this exhibit and look forward to learning more about Lavadour and his work from it. 

3. We lunched at The Elk and then tested the limits of how much beauty we could absorb in an afternoon by going to the same exhibit I visited on Wednesday at the Chase Gallery. 

So, Debbie and I both entered the world of life deep in the ocean through paintings, videos, and sculptures. 

We both enjoyed these works, but we didn't last long.

Our energy ran out. 

We'd taken in a lot and reached our limit, but what an awesome way to get worn out. 

Three Beautiful Things 04-22-2026: My Skin is Healthy, A Bagel and a Transplant Open House, Under the Ocean Art at City Hall

 1. I have twice a year dermatology appointments at North Idaho Dermatology in CdA because, being a transplant recipient, a take medications that make my skin more susceptible to cancer. Nicole Rock examined me head to toe and found no problems and said something, in her most professional dermatological voice, that I don't ever remember being told before: "You have fantastic skin." 

That no problems have developed is a huge relief to me, but, simultaneously, it makes perfect sense. 

I hate being out in the sun and, when I am, I cover my skin, wear a broad-rimmed hat, and, when at my best (ahem), put on sunscreen. 

I used to enjoy the sun a lot, but that enjoyment eroded and now has disappeared over the last several years. 

A good development, as it turns out, and I'll do my best to remain vigilant. 

2. I've been to The Scoop at 25th and Monroe in Spokane twice in the last six weeks or so for ice cream. 

But, Hidden Bagel was closed. 

Hidden Bagel shares business space with The Scoop and closes at 1 p.m.

Today, I buzzed straight to Hidden Bagel as soon as I arrived in Spokane and enjoyed a sesame seed bagel with cream cheese. It sustained me for my visit to Providence Sacred Heart. 

I made a quick trip, first, to the pharmacy and took care of a couple of very simple things I needed help with regarding a prescription and my change in payment method.

Then I attended an open house at the transplant clinic, an event in recognition of this being Donate Life Month.  

My experience over the last eight years with this transplant program has been, without fail, positive. 

I enjoyed being able to tell some of the staff how much I have appreciated all they've done to help me navigate this transplant and I enjoyed being in the same room with other transplant recipients who also seemed happy and who also looked like they were getting along well (as I am). 

3. If you read this blog with any regularity, you know that Debbie and I go often to Spokane and recently we decided to participate in Auntie's Bookstore's Science/Nature Book Club. One member of the book club, Meghan Jones, creates paintings and is part of an art collective, Unseen Ocean Collective, with three other women. 

Currently, the collective has an exhibit at the Chase Gallery, located in the basement of Spokane's City Hall, entitled, America's Hidden Coral Gardens: The Fine Art of the Deep Sea. 

I wanted to see Meghan Jones' paintings and the other work on display and so I visited the gallery.  I found the exhibit invigorating. I loved these paintings, videos, and sculptures of life deep in the ocean. I especially enjoyed the different styles of Kierstin Keller's paintings vis a vis Meghan Jones' works and what Nilanjana Dass explored of the deep sea's beauty in her sculptures. 

I drove home feeling very happy. My skin is in good shape. I found a good bagel. I'm in good shape with the pharmacy. I'm under the care of a solid clinic. And Spokane has a handsome art gallery right outside the City Council Chambers in the basement of City Hall and is exhibiting wonderful art making worlds profoundly remote from us visible.

 

Three Beautiful Things 04-21-2026: Editing, Reading, Comforting

 1. I did a little editing on a first draft of an obituary for Bruce Larsen. I don't know when it will be sent out or published, but the process is underway. Stu got it going. 

2. I am determined (but I've been determined before about this!) to give all the energy I have for reading over the Lonesome Dove and not get sidetracked like I have about eighty times before. I made progress today and being back into this book rekindles my admiration for Larry McMurtry's brilliant writing and storytelling. 

3. A little editing. A good session reading. Topped it all off with comfort: Debbie whipped up a simple dinner of tomato soup, grilled cheese sandwiches, and an endive salad. 

Then a surprise. Umpqua Triple Chocolate ice cream suddenly showed up and I couldn't and didn't resist.