Rainy Sunday Stuff; Bus 80

No need to drag hoses around this morning. 

Yay!  

I do have to water my deck flowers, but the rest of the garden areas received enough moisture from yesterday's rain that they'll be fine today. 

It was nice to have a cooler, slightly moist day yesterday.  Such days make me feel like I'm alive again.  Instead of looking forward to getting into the cooler house, I'm excited to spend more time out of the house. 

After we received the first batch of drops, I climbed aboard the lawnmower and cleaned up a bunch of leaves. 

Damp leaves are much more pleasant to manage than dusty, dirty leaves. 

With no hose dragging this morning, Bridie and I enjoyed a pleasant walk in the woods. 

It's been a good start to the day. 

Talk about a good start to yesterday, I read the Letter to the Editor below in the Daily Bee. 

It made my day in so many ways. 

It's a tribute of sorts to a legendary local bus driver who passed away recently.  Plus, it's a tribute to the author who not only persevered and succeeded but also remembered some good and special moments in her life.

Turns out this writer is a shirt-tail relative and that's putting it mildly.  Really, she's not related, but marriages have connected us in a distant fashion.  

The most neat and tidy way to explain that connection is to say that her grandmother's brother was married to my step-father Harold's sister. 

Cami is the granddaughter of Bert and Esther Lines and the daughter of Bruce and Laura (Gurney) Lines. 

Anyway, I hope this letter touches you in a sweet, meaningful and positive way like it did me.

Like I told Cami, we need more stories like this told to us as reminders of the poignant goodness of humanity. 

I also told Cami to keep on writing.  Her voice is needed. 

Enjoy.  

 

Back to school on LPOSD's Bus 80

 

Back to school, the words I dreaded hearing. 

Chances are I was probably excited to begin my first day as a first grader at Washington Elementary. I remember loving my classroom, my friends and my teacher who had carefully placed dozens of pretty seashells upon the bookshelves.

But as the weeks wore on, I did not love school. As much as I, and my parents tried, the short words printed on notecards didn’t make sense to me. Eventually, I hated waking up to go to school so much that I cried every morning. 

I’m certain my mom shed more than one tear as she sent me up our driveway to catch my bus. I hated school, but I loved the ride back and forth. You see, Bonnie Mitchell drove Bus 80 down Lakeshore Drive, and I sat right behind her.

I was the only student on Bonnie’s bus who attended Washington, and since I was the first one, she picked up in the afternoon, my seat behind Bonnie was guaranteed. I’m sure I talked her ear off! But she always greeted me with a smile, appearing to feel as happy to see me as I was to see her. Forty-four years later I can still hear the joyful sound of Bonnie’s voice chatting with me as she drove me home.

As the months passed, the words I had once memorized were forgotten to make room for all the new words I had to learn. Despite all my mom’s efforts she was simply told I didn’t want to learn, because she “babied me too much.”

It was left up to my parents whether I should move on to second grade, but they were told it would be better for me to repeat first. And so, in the fall I started first grade again. First graders were not allowed to cross Erie Street, so I stayed behind while my friends rolled giant snowballs across the street. 

Despite that year’s changes, or lack thereof, Bonnie continued to be my friend. Bonnie was always on time, but one afternoon she knew she’d be late picking me up. Rather than driving out to the bus barn, back to pick me up, to only turn around and drive back to Farmin-Stidwell she just picked me up in her car! Saving that time must have put us a little ahead of schedule, because she stopped at Dairy Depot to buy me an ice cream cone!

Before I began second grade, my family moved to the coast. I wasn’t in second grade for long when my teacher recognized signs of dyslexia. I was evaluated, given more support for reading, went to a tutor twice a week after school and slowly caught up. Throughout middle school I earned straight As. I had to work harder than most, but I was accepted into the University of Washington and earned a degree in English, of all things. 

Throughout the years Bonnie and I stayed in touch, but one meeting stands out to me the most. It was back to school time when my daughter visited my parents’ lake house for the first time. One afternoon I heard Bonnie’s bus round our corner, and I made note of the time. The next afternoon I waited at the top of our drive with my five-week-old in my arms. When Bonnie spotted us, a big smile appeared on her face, and the bus came to a halt. We quickly said hello, and she promised she’d visit soon, which she did. Time spent with Bonnie was always precious.

With "back to school" time upon us, it occurs to me just how important each person is who meets all those faces bravely starting a new school year. Whether you are a librarian, janitor, kaleidoscope volunteer, resource officer or a bus driver, who just might drive Bus 80, please know the difference you can make for the students you interact with. Ice cream is great, but a kind person who listens and encourages is even better.

Bonnie drove her bus for over 42 years. Just imagine the bright impact she made on “her kids” who were lucky enough to ride Bus 80.

CAMI LINES CARRIS

Sandpoint

Yesterday afternoon I drove to Ponderay.  

It's a bedroom community northeast of Sandpoint, and I consider its old-time residential community a gem. 

Maybe it's cuz I like the past.  

Or, maybe it's because there is no pretense in Ponderay.  It's historic residential area is funky, it's ungentrified, and it has character, all of which I love. 

There's also a lot of pride in the community itself, which includes the Mall, the Field of Dreams, numerous restaurants and established businesses along with the old and the new of living situations.

We have pockets of areas like Ponderay around our general area, and I always feel at home and filled with delight whenever I drive through them.

My mission in Ponderay yesterday was to capture some fun photos, and I must say the possibilities were plentiful enough that I'll might have to go back some day. 

You'll see a few of those photos below, mixed in with scenes from around our neighborhood. 

Enjoy.  

 

The photo above is not in Ponderay.  

It's on North Kootenai Road, and it belongs to my friends Tom and Joanne, who do a beautiful job of enhancing their adorable little farm. 

Joanne's ever-growing number of barn quilts and her flowers are amazing. 

I first saw this building when Haley Olin was baptized.  I was asked to join her extended family with my camera and follow them through the day. 

Four segments of Haley's family had gathered in Sandpoint for a reunion.  Each group wore T-shirts with colors designating their branch of the family. 

They first came together at St. Joseph's Catholic Church for the Baptism and then drove on to this place in Ponderay where the older generation had lived while growing up. 

I've loved the building ever since because of its meaningful family story and memories of that wonderful day.  

One household in Ponderay is ready for Halloween and then some. I'm thinking maybe the year round.