Banjo Man headed up to the cabin yesterday around 5:00. The afternoon was a bit cooler and breezier than previous days, so my mountain man decided he would take advantage of the weather and spend the night in the woods. He took enough food for three days, so I am not sure when he will return. I sent him with solar batteries, so he will be able to call me and keep me posted.
His recent blood test results showed no sign of the cancer returning. His treatment is still working and we are beyond grateful for the good news.
This was last night’s sunset as I sat on the porch, read the new C.J. Box novel (long-awaited but recently arrived on my Kindle from my RI library) and watched young ospreys practice flying from the safety of their nest.
Without Banjo Man’s chatty presence the evening was a quiet one. Once the sun set, I watched a rerun of PORT PROTECTION, ate a piece of angel food cake and went to bed at 9:30.
Our friends Kathy and Vada threw a party last Saturday. A very big party. Epic, even, to celebrate owning their river property for fifty years.
We’d thought the temps would hit 100, but we lucked out with an overcast afternoon of about 80 degrees. Kathy comes from a family of nine, so you can imagine the number of siblings, nieces, nephews, sons, daughters and grandchildren who were there. They camped all over the property for days and came from California, Vermont and points in between.
As old friends of 49-years, we were included!!!
Banjo Man estimated 100 people. I guessed 60.
Kathy never skimps on food, as you can see.
There was a horseshoe tourmament. Lots of visiting. Good-natured teasing, as always. Kids that I knew as teenagers are now–gasp!–in their 40’s. Kids I knew as babies were running back and forth to swim in the river and sneak cookies off the table.
I loved having time to visit with so many of them. It was fun to be in the middle of all the action!
Unfortunately there was one visitor who wasn’t allowed to join in the fun.
As my rapid descent into “old lady-ness” continues, I have been forced to invest in a pair of Hoka walking shoes.
Hoka is a trendy brand, with many options for walking, running, training, etc. When an under-50 year old person sees my Hoka’s, their response is something like, “Oh, those are cool. I have three pairs for running.”
My over-60 friends nod knowingly. “Oh, yeah,” they say. “Foot problems, huh?”
Yes. Foot problems. My Easy Spirit clogs, which I’ve worn exclusively for two decades, can no longer keep up with my declining issues. My Clark sandals can’t either. I spend five months of the year cooking while standing on a tile floor. I needed help.
So…here are the Hoka’s. I love wearing them, despite the orthopedic look. My feet are much happier. Last week I made it through a shopping trip to Costco and Walmart on the same day and never whimpered, limped, or made Banjo Man drop me off at the door to either store.
Life is full of surprises, as the saying goes. Around here the surprises have been good and bad and we survived the bad ones and celebrated the good ones. Don’t we all!
Will’s leaving the bbq pit and embracing the world of teaching elementary school was a great surprise, one that recently led to my making classroom quilts and shopping for animal skins on Etsy.
Because? FRONTIER FRIDAY!!!! Will’s change of classroom from 4th grade to 2nd has given him freedom to teach a little US History his own way, hence the once-a-month “Frontier Friday” and the various activities Will has been creating all summer. I think there will be panning for gold, a trading post, coonskin caps, arrowheads and–ta da!–identifying animal skins.
Check out the moose hide and the rabbit pelts, purchased here in Idaho:
Contributions of all kinds are welcome, should you have any skins, furs, bones, etc. in your basement and you don’t know what to do with them.
Another surprise:
The Funny Grandson sent this picture yesterday. He is learning how to cook Shepherd’s Pie and says he is going to make it for all of us next summer. Grandma is very excited about this.
And then there was my surprise from Wayfair Saturday. Just so you know, this is not the cast iron grill basket I ordered two weeks ago.
At first Banjo Man and I couldn’t figure out what it was. A treadmill desk? Googling soon produced the answer: a bamboo bathtub caddy.
It is quite lovely and expandable and even has a book holder, but we can’t use it. Wayfair refunded my money for the grill pain and told me to keep and/or donate the “wrong item”.
And because Daniel Boone and Lewis & Clark never used bathtub caddies, we are giving this away to the first person who wants it. Come and get it!
Wednesday’s birthday lunch? Jimmy John’s #15, a deluxe version of tuna salad.
Doesn’t Banjo Man look happy? We had taken Will to the airport at 10:30. So sad to see him go, but he has a second grade classroom to prepare and two-step lessons to continue.
He can’t keep hanging out with the old folks, playing Canasta and watching over us.
Priorities.
One last goodbye in blue shirts.
After Costco, JJ’s and Walmart, we headed home to the lake to unpack a carload of groceries and crash in our chairs to watch the final episode of RACE TO SURVIVE: NEW ZEALAND.
The night before Banjo Man and Will had taken one last kayak excursion together.
No arrowheads were found, but a good time was had exploring the shores.
So our summer now shifts from family joy to quiet time. We were down on the dock and the beach yesterday afternoon. A heat wave begins today.
On July 11, Banjo Man hosted an event up at his cabin. I supplied the coffeecake and he supplied the bacon, cereal, milk and orange slices.
Can you tell how happy he is to be cooking in his “new” kitchen? He worked hard this summer to make it look nice. Shelves and paint are the highlighted decor elements.
The Funny Grandson and his father played chess while they waited for bacon.
I didn’t quite know what I had gotten myself into.
Feel free to come up with your own captions.
Voila! Breakfast is served!
And so Banjo Man’s dreams were fulfilled for another season.
This was us Sunday morning. Will made sure we were on the water before it got too hot, as we were in the midst of a little summer heat wave.
We’ve been watching RACE TO SURVIVAL: NEW ZEALAND on the USA network. Season 1 was called RACE TO SURVIVAL: ALASKA. Experienced teams with all sorts of endurance training, survival skills, rafting and climbing championships compete in a grueling race to win food, medallions and eventually $500,000.
So here we are, ready to race around the Point. Okay, not really.
I did survive getting in and out of the kayak.
Our “we came in first” photo.
Will likes to take pictures of us so we can prove that we are outdoorsy and athletic.
Will heads back to Texas next Wednesday, so we are planning a few more kayak adventures…and one more trip to town for pie.
Yesterday we left the lake at 7:15 AM in order to deliver Will to a Spokane testing center. He would be taking his last exam–Teaching English As A Second Language–and therefore completing his requirements for teaching in Texas. He has his basic certificate, but this is a required supplement.
It was going to be one of the hottest days of the summer, but we were armed with water bottles and a plan.
Banjo Man did not follow my plan, which was to drop off Will and then go to a nearby Starbucks for iced tea and scones before venturing to Kohl’s, etc. I had the directions and the gift cards (Amber shares her students’ gifts with me), but it was not to be. My husband wanted a cafe, which was nowhere to be found after four miles and thirty minutes of driving around and studying the GPS. We ended up parked behind a drive-thru coffee shack as we drank water and ate bad-for-us packaged “muffin tops”.
Never again, Banjo Man. From now on I’m sticking to my plans.
Then we were off to Kohl’s. I had a dress to return and Banjo Man was, as ever, in search of bargains and pants. As I asked him what size and what kind of pants he was wearing (he wanted to find the exact kind, only in a different color), he unbuckled his belt and dropped his pants down to his hips so I could see. Yes, it was a joke and meant to make me screech, but I did not think it was all that funny.
They did not have his size in gray.
Time for revenge.
Relaxing in the Bunkhouse at the Quilting Bee.
The temperature was climbing steadily, so the cool quilt shop felt pretty darn wonderful. I browsed through the machines–Janome has some new fancy ones that are quite gorgeous–and fabric. I bought a buffalo panel for Will’s classroom and resisted everything else.
#proudofmyself
Banjo Man was not finished shopping, so off we went to the Spokane Valley Mall to look for shoes. Thankfully Will texted to say he was finished with his test just as his father entered the shoe department at Dick’s Sporting Goods.
Lunch at Jimmy John’s! We picked up Will at Ace Hardware, across from the test center. My GPS said that Jimmy John’s was 60 feet and 3 seconds away, meaning we could walk around the building and…there it was!
The highlight of the excursion was to be the Van Gogh Experience in downtown Spokane. We had taken Nancy to the Providence convention center last May to see it and it had been absolutely fantastic. Alas, this version was not. So disappointing, like ordering a filet mignon at a restaurant and getting a Sloppy Joe instead.
Yes, I know that sounds harsh. But the tickets had been expensive and hopes were high. Will has read books on Van Gogh and collected prints of his work.
I suppose the venue was too small for the Deluxe Van Gogh package (just guessing here) and what we saw was very, very different. Worth a 200-mile trip? I think not.
It was now 103 degrees, I had a headache and Banjo Man decided to take the back road home. That was fine with us, but it did take a bit longer.
Seen along the way:
And we stopped here, hoping to see the dam.
We walked along a path and read the signs, but Will was the only one who walked the whole way down to the dam itself. He said there wasn’t much to see.
We guzzled the last of our water and headed to Sandpoint, where we would stop at Super 1 for takeout (chicken tenders, mashed potatoes, gravy and broccoli salad).
Eleven hours after we left, we were home. And so happy to be here!
So…fingers crossed that Will passed this exam. To celebrate a summer of studying being over, he slept late this morning (first time all summer) and is going camping tonight.
is there any more pie? 