Of places, people and perspective

I went to town on errands yesterday. Suddenly, at this moment, it occurs to me I have spent a lifetime thinking of going to town as "driving to Sandpoint." I don't really go to Sandpoint that often anymore, so is that not going to town? Or, do I need to hatch a new concept in mind that going to town is, more often than not, going to Ponderay or Kootenai?

Funny how things stick in our craws, and it takes an unexpected moment of revelation to realize that my homegrown dynamic has changed. So, I'll be specific. I went to Ponderay yesterday and to Naples and to Elmira. Didn't set foot in Sandpoint. Sorry.

I have nothing against Sandpoint. It's just easier to get business done north of Sandpoint, and now it's even easier than ever getting the dining out business done. The new Slate's has opened, north of the Schweitzer stoplight, so yesterday I turned in there to check out the restaurant's interior. As Sherri, the friendly greeter told me, mouths drop open when diners walk through the door to a more spacious, tastefully designed, outdoors-oriented interior.

The place is still a sports bar with lots of high-definition screens hanging from the ceiling and from any other perspectives needed for a good view for all. Fewer pool tables, though. I counted two near the restrooms. Sport at Slate's Sports Bar and Restaurant has extended to outdoors folks who like to hunt. So, there are a few trophies on display.

We know the high-quality food and service will not change, although Sherri says it will take a while to work out the kinks of a new facility. Looks like they don't mind one bit, though. We're especially pleased cuz Slate's is almost a mile closer to home, so it will be an easy drive through no traffic snarls to get there.

The only concern is that its location on HWY 95 may make it harder to get inside and seated once we've arrived at the parking lot overlooking Sand Creek. I'm sure the place is going to attract a lot more highway traffic. I noticed yesterday's noon crowd included the occupants of two ISP cars too. Maybe they figure they can scout out potential business sitting at the bar once they head out the door and go back to patroling the highway.

I did both of my banking errands in Ponderay and picked up pharmaceuticals for my mother at Yoke's in Ponderay and then headed to Colburn. Later, my sisters and I drove to Naples where I had a gift certificate at Moose Valley Nursery. I've been wanting to go there for at least a couple of years because of its wonderful reputation for quality potted plants and shrubs and because my SHS classmate Mary Lambert Kimball and her nice husband Clint own the place.

We were not disappointed. Mary told us things were pretty picked over. I said that if this was picked over, I'd like to see it when the place is going full throttle with color. She and her talented sidekick Maureen said it's really pretty there around Mother's Day. We figured we need to check that out next May because the selections yesterday seemed endless.

I bought eight huge pickling cucumber plants for 80 cents apiece to replace those I had stuck in the ground and inadvertently killed on June 11. Seems even that date was too early for the cukes that had done so well in my little greenhouse. Well, this morning, these beauties from Moose Valley are doing just fine in their new dirt. So, I may get to prepare pickles after all. I also bought more petunias. Can't get enough of that fragrance. My assortment also included some sweet potato vines.

Now, I may be stupid, but I'm guessing sweet potato vines are not flowers, and that maybe some sweet potatoes may grow beneath the ground. I'll be glad to be enlightened if wrong. For now, though, I'll hope for results. A few years ago at the old place, I stuck a sweet potato eye in the ground and actually harvested a potato a few months later. Well, it was kind of small, about two inches in diameter, but it was definitely a homegrown sweet potato.

Barbara and Laurie gathered up a tray of pretty annuals to stick in the water trough planter we had prepared for Mother for Mother's Day. We all knew it was too early to stick anything in it, so the planter sat empty for a long time. Now, however, it's brimming with color---mostly gold and purple.

We enjoyed our visit to Moose Valley. I got to see my classmate, and Barbara and Laurie were happy to see Maureen Olson ???, from Bonners Ferry and farm claim. We've known her ever since she was knee-high to a grasshopper, as my dad would say. Maureen is now in her mid-30s, and she works with a variety of hats----as gardening expert, horse clinician and cattle rancher.

On our way back, I announced an upcoming stop at the Elmira Store. Laurie asked if they had milkshakes. Immediately, we all decided on milkshakes because we know the Elmira Store makes the best around. We were not so original in our plan, however, as the afternoon milkshake line eventually extended to the doorway.

The queue included Scott Albertson with his son and daughter. I taught Scott as a high school senior a while back (gosh, has it been 20-plus years?), while Laurie taught his son at Farmin this past year.

We didn't mind waiting for the milkshakes cuz, as farmfolk, we had plenty to talk about---including Scott's dad Don (and my dear tuba and April Fool's friend) who doesn't like newfangled farm equipment. According to Scott, he prefers to do his haying the old-fashioned way with his old-fashioned implements.

Our milkshakes were ready, and the line was long, so we headed back to Colburn, satisfied with those thick shakes and their crunchy ice chunks and excited to get those new posies and veggies into their new beds of soil.

So, those were fun errands completed in "town," according to my new paradigm. I think I know what paradigm means, and I think I'd be correct in saying that mine has definitely shifted. If I need to be enlightened on that subject, please let me know----and I'll tell you about another fun place to run an errand: the Colburn Transfer Station.