Wednesday, November 14, 2018

Afternoon Light; New Read







Stressless in Sandpoint!

Yup, that's pretty much how yesterday felt to me, after a weekend of worry and even more improvement seen in Kiwi and a beautiful November day and time to casually rake up the last of leaves along my borders.  

I totally loved the day. 

And, it appeared that a lot of critters along the dirt roads I traveled yesterday afternoon were enjoying themselves too. 

Who wouldn't enjoy bare ground and soothing November sunshine!!!

Besides leaf raking, surrounded by three dogs back in sync, chasing after balls and growling, I took a trip to my sisters' house and sat down for a visit. 

Starting today, and for the next few days, one sister is gonna be "living on Tulsa Time" while attending a national Arabian horse meeting.  

She texted to me a while ago she had made it through early-morning airport security just fine, so she's on her way. 

Today I'm looking forward to visiting a friend with longtime Sandpoint roots.  Her parents lived in my folks' rental house back at what we called the "Upper Place" over on Great Northern Road. 

These days she splits her time between Arizona and Sandpoint where she works winters at Schweitzer.  

I have a feeling the conversation will be flowing in between the coffee sips.  Love visits like that. 

Speaking of locals, Daniel Roos from UPS brought me a package last night after dark.  

We talked about our old family dogs, which happen to be full siblings from the same litter. 

Daniel says Kiwi's brother has been run over and gored by a bull and he's got a hitch in his get-along that couldn't be repaired.  He's also deaf, so they don't take him out on the ranch too much for fear he can't hear their calls. 

Except for all that, he's doing fine, which was nice to hear. 

The package Daniel brought marked a first for me:  except for my own, I don't think I've ever gotten a book on the first day of its release. 

After hearing about the Michelle Obama special on ABC's "20-20" last week, I ordered the book and recorded the special.  

Monday night, while watching Robin Roberts interview Michelle and while Bill was on the couch in deep snooze, I yelled out, "There's Jeralyn!"  

Yup, our Jeralyn Lewis Mire (SHS counselor) got to stand slightly behind and to the side of Michelle in a Washington, D.C. ceremony a couple of years ago while being honored with others as her state's "High School Counselor of the Year." 

The ABC interview program used the clip from that day's events, a clip which, at the time, showed all around the world.

My excitement at seeing my friend and the loud exclamation summoned my dozing husband to momentary attention.  

That didn't last long.  

He was soon back in his slumber zone, while I kept on watching the interview. 

I've read only a few pages of the book, which is an easy and interesting read. 

One paragraph, in particular, took me back at least 50 years, about the same amount of time of reminiscing for a much younger Michelle who, at 4 years old, started taking piano lessons from her stern and proper great aunt Robbie who lived downstairs from their apartment. 

When Michelle mentioned "middle C" on the piano as a guideline, I couldn't help but think of the times I spent at the Delamarter family piano.  

From Michelle Obama's Becoming:  

The keys on Robbie's piano had a subtle unevenness of color and shape, places where bits of the ivory had broken off over time, leaving them looking like a set of bad teeth.

Helpfully, the middle C key had a full corner missing, a wedge about the size of my fingernail, which got me centered every time. 

Well, this morning, I can tell you that I do believe the middle C key on Delamarter's piano had a similar flaw, though the rest of the keys looked like slightly better set of teeth than what Michelle had described. 

No professional instructor ever taught me how to play the piano. 

Instead, I was a total plinker, who used that middle C to bang out just a few notes (no chords) to all of two songs, "Moon River" and "My Country Tis of Thee."  

On Thursday nights when Paul, Eleanor and Laura would go to choir practice down at the First Presbyterian Church---hiring me to babysit Frank and Marie---the routine usually included living room round ball games and Marianne trying, in vain, to learn the piano.

So, with Michelle's piano paragraph alone, I think I'm going to enjoy this brand new book penned by our former First Lady.

Looks like we have another nice day ahead, in spite of the forecast for overnight snow. So, I'm hoping to keep on with the routine of "stressless AND snowless in Sandpoint" and enjoy every minute. 

Happy Wednesday. 













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