Saturday Slight

I stopped by my sisters' place yesterday afternoon to see the newly finished dog run where Willie and Debbie's dogs, Todd and Brooke, will soon be hanging out.

And, after admiring the beautiful job by John Walkington and his son Trevor, I turned around and looked up in amazement at the phenomenal blossoming show the tree next to Mother's house is putting on this year.  

This shot shows just a portion of its gorgeous blossoms.  

Early Saturday morning bathroom shot of the Lovestead pastures and woods.  

Snow is hanging on at Schweitzer.  

Grass is growing tall and green down in the valleys. Garden is growing.  

Weather is cooling a bit, which is nice.  

Debbie and Willie and our new friends whom we met while dining at the Old Icehouse Pizzeria in Hope last night. 

The Hope Peninsula and the Green Monarchs on Lake Pend Oreille.

We had a great meal, a phenomenal view and some fun visiting at this place in Hope last night.  The new owners have implemented a lot of nice changes to the place.  

It's a great place to go on an evening when you know your own town is pretty crowded and the restaurant wait could be close to an hour.  And, it's a fun place to dine any time especially on pleasant evenings when the sun is setting.

We were traitors, so to speak, last night after realizing that coordination of our Friday night dining group was gonna be too tough if we tried to get together in town.  With everyone on different schedules for work and chores, at the last minute, we decided to simplify by waiting until everyone was ready and then just drive to Hope.

So, we missed the evening portion of this year's Lost in the '50s and the Keokee publication party, but our experience in quiet and peaceful Hope more than made up for it. 

My sisters had never eaten at Old Icehouse Pizzeria.  It was a beautiful, pleasant evening with no real need for coats, and there was no waiting line at the Pizzeria.  So, we found a table upstairs and outside where the view of Lake Pend Oreille is spectacular, and while enjoying our pizzas and calzones, we met some nice visitors to the area. 

Turns out we had a few things in common, most notably when I mentioned that both my mother's father and our dad's father were buried at two different cemeteries in Oroville, Calif., we learned that Oroville is precisely where one of the two couples lives. 

They also were very familiar with Burnt Ranch and the Trinity River Valley where our mother spent three years of her early childhood.  

It was a wonderful evening, and we felt confident that the folks back in Sandpoint probably didn't miss us as the turnout for Lost in the '50s sounded like a record. 

Today is relatively quiet, but I'm pretty primed for watching the big horse-racing event this afternoon when California Chrome runs for the second jewel of the Triple Crown. He's a beautiful horse, and his story is just as impressive, so it would be nice if this would be the year. 

Looking like a great Saturday ahead.