Art at The Bridge, etc.

 

                                                                                                       ---Courtesy Photo

That's my friend Garry Bristow. 

He and I share a passion for lawnmowing and growing pumpkins. 

Unfortunately, he has not been able to plant a pumpkin this year, so my pumpkin will be named Garry. 

I've named pumpkins after Garry before, and they've done well. 

Also, while mowing my lawn, I often think of Garry because, when we lived on Great Northern Road, Bill used to claim that Garry had the "mowing program" south of the Long Bridge, and that I had mine north of the Bridge. 

There was a time when we lived over on Great Northern Road, that we thought if I kept adding to my "mowing program" and Garry kept adding to his, we might meet each other some day on our lawnmowers, maybe even on the pedestrian bridge across Lake Pend Oreille. 

Well, we have moved further north, and the pedestrian bridge is closed, so that vision never materialized. 

And, Garry now lives at The Bridge for Assisted Living, so he's not mowing lawn anymore. 

BUT, 

he is enthusiastically promoting an art show at The Bridge, which will include some of his wildlife art. 

Garry tells me that several residents at The Bridge are artists in their own right, including a couple of photographers and a lady from New Zealand who has traveled all over the world 

For those who remember artist Stephen Lyman, his father, a photographer, resides at The Bridge. 

I can tell you that Garry and The Bridge staff are very excited about the upcoming art show. 

Below is some information they have shared with me about what's happening July 3.

Mark the date and time on your calendar, so you can enjoy the art and say hello to Garry and other Bridge residents.  

🎨🎨🎨🎨🎨🎨🎨

The Bridge at Sandpoint is excited to host a community Art Show on July 3rd from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at 1123 North Division Ave., Sandpoint, Idaho. 

 This special event will feature artwork created by our residents and their families, including paintings, drawings, photography, poetry, stories, quilt work, needlework, and floral arrangements. 

Our goal is to invite the community in to connect with our seniors and celebrate the creativity, passion, and talents they continue to pursue every day. 

 We want people to see that seniors are still active, inspired, and doing what they love. This will be a wonderful opportunity for community members to meet our residents, enjoy meaningful conversations, and experience the incredible artistic gifts within our community. 

 Everyone is welcome, and we would love for the community to join us and connect with The Bridge at Sandpoint.

Thanks so much to Bridge manager Ashley Holden for sharing this information. 

                                                             ---Courtesy Photo

From my sister Barbara Tibbs: 

For those interested in riding trail classes, we'll be holding another practice session. Come join us for fun no pressure practice. 

 Anyone planning to come, if you could send me a message letting me know, that would be great? 

 Next Trail Practice nights in June will be June 9th and 16th with a break on the 23rd and resuming on the 30th. Mark these dates on your calendar. 

 Practices run from from 5-7 p.m.

Note: I also think it's okay to come and watch.  They have chairs.  

This is my first cedar waxwing sighting for the year.

A lone waxwing was flitting and fluttering around in the serviceberry bush yesterday morning. 

I told Bill that it must be the forward observer, and I think I may have been right. 

Last evening half a dozen waxwings showed up at the bush, ready for dinner. 

Bouncing from limb to limb, they were plucking berries---not even ripe berries. 

So, I expect to see and hear them for the next few days. 

They are such beautiful birds. 

Some scenes from my trip to town yesterday.  

It was classmate lunch day, and, as usual, we had a jolly good time.

Already looking forward to the next one cuz we're going to switch for next month to the Idaho Club where one of our classmate's sons is the chef. 

Tis a somewhat rainy day today.  Above is the bathroom window scene. 

We're supposed to have rain off and on through the day. 

I told our guest, who's coming from California, to be sure to wear warm clothes, although I see the temperatures will rise in the next day or so.

I fed the horses hay in the barn today, using the rain as an excuse to give the pastures and myself a welcome break from walking the three of them back and forth from barnyard to pasture on 12 total trips.  

Happy Tuesday. 

 T

This was the scene at the closed railroad crossing on Selle Road yesterday. 

After today's work, the crossing should be much smoother. 

Frosty Monday

 

My phone said the low overnight would be in the 40s. 

The forecast must've been mistaken because we had a significant frost last night. 

Keeping my fingers crossed that most of the transplants outside are hardy enough to have withstood it.  

I do have a dozen cukes still in the greenhouse, so if they suffered, there's back up. 

Crazy weather we've had:  some summer, some spring, some fall and who knows what's to come. 

That's North Idaho: it can be fickle frequently when it comes to weather expectations. 

In other news, my brother Mike posted a photo showing his West Point graduating class throwing up their hats 60 years ago today. 

Congratulations, Mike.  Sixty years later, we're still proud of you. 

My high school graduating class friends are getting together for our monthly lunch today.  

Sixty-one years later, we're still having and fun and very grateful to be doing so. 

They're putting up some new temporary signs along the roadways out here in the Selle Valley. 

In addition to Colburn-Culver Road being closed for bridge work, today and tomorrow, Selle Road at the train crossing will be blocked off. 

I'm sure that everyone who has slowed their vehicles down to 1 or 2 mph to go over the crossing will be cheering if they're fixing that killer bump at the crossing. 

Speed bumps are breeze compared to this one. So, it will be nice to see it fixed. 

Bill and I are predicting a heavier traffic load on our road as drivers find a way to navigate where they're going and how they're going to get there.   

If you see a white horse in a field, you're supposed to make a wish.  Does this scene mean that you get two wishes?

This pretty white horses are out on Hickey Road, if you're in need of a wish granted. 

I've been meaning to post this photo of our next door neighbor Steve. 

He was so proud of his new Kubota, with all its bells and whistles, that he drove it over to our house one day last week just to ask Bill a couple of questions---and maybe to show off the tractor too. 

We live on Kubota corner with four homes (two on Selle Road and two on South Center Valley Road) with various-sized Kubotas. 

Cal Russell, up there at Boundary Tractor, should be a happy guy if he ever drives through our neighborhood.

We can attest from years of experience that they are very good tractors.  

Our Coleman canoe, which has been need of fixing for more than 20 years hasn't moved much in that time, except for the night the wild wind blew three hear in Sept. 2024.  We found it several feet from its usual spot. 

I don't know what we'll ever do with it, but for now it looks kinda neat out there in those waves of thick grass in the hay field. 

Today I'll be taking these horseshoes---some are Lily's; some, Lefty's---over to Cari and Doug Stockdale. 

They have agreed to put together a flower sculpture like the one they donated to the Oden Hall auction. 

That one went for $150, so I sat on my hand for the last bid. 

Later, they told me they'd make me another one WITH a heart in it. 

So, stay tuned. 

Since Victor Webanyama is playing in the NBA finals game tonight and because I love this commercial, I thought it would be fun for today. 

 

Guess that's about it for this cold and clear Monday.  

Some lawnmower work and putting the final touches on the travel trailer for our visitor lead off the "to do's" today. 

Happy Monday. 

Hugs and Warmth Aplenty

I walked through the door of Oden Hall yesterday morning to drop off some donated books before the auction began. 

Before having a chance to take the books to my friend Cherry, I received half a dozen hugs. 

I thought at that moment that, happily, there are still a few places around the area where hugs are free and generously given from the heart. 

An event like yesterday's fundraiser at Oden Hall is one of them. 

It felt good to have given something away only to be given something even more meaningful given back half a dozen times. 

When I returned later, the auction action was in full steam with homemade pies and cinnamon rolls selling for more than $50.  A large crowd was either seated or standing keeping close track of what was being held up for sale. 

Still, the warmth and well-seasoned friendships among the mostly local crowd in attendance was palpable. 

People know each other and, in many cases, the connections date back decades and generations. 

Conversation flows with ease because no lengthy explanations are needed when a name is mentioned.  

Both parties usually know what and about whom you are talking, so the story involving that person or others can move along without extra identifying details.  

All in all, the visiting was excellent as were the results of the sale.  Thanks to a successful auction, the Oden Busy Bees are looking for someone to put a fresh coat of paint on the building which has been home to functions since 1929.

Twas definitely a scene filled with "dear hearts and gentle people who live in my hometown."

Hope you enjoy the photos of some of the above.  

 

Dear Hearts and Gentle People

Song by Bing Crosby

I love those dear hearts and gentle people

Who live in my hometown

Because those dear hearts and gentle people

Will never ever let you down

They read the good book from Fri' till Monday
That's how the weekend goes
I've got a dream house I'll build there one day
With picket fence and ramblin' rose
I feel so welcome each time that I return
That my happy heart keeps laughing like a clown
I love the dear hearts and gentle people
Who live and love in my hometown

There's a place I'd like to go and it's back in Idaho
Where your friendly neighbors smile and say hello
It's a pleasure and a treat to meander down the street
That's why I want the whole wide world to know

I love those dear hearts and gentle people
Who live in my hometown
Because those dear hearts and gentle people
Will never ever let you down
They read the good book from Fri' till Monday
That's how the weekend goes
I've got a dream house I'll build there one day
With picket fence and ramblin' rose
I feel so welcome each time that I return
That my happy heart keeps laughing like a clown
I love the dear hearts and gentle people
Who live and love in my hometown

Home, home, sweet home
Home, home, sweet home
Home, home, sweet home
Home, home, sweet home

  

Sweet Wendy Hansen Franck (above) posted after the event: 

Today, the Oden Hall auction achieved outstanding results. It would be an understatement to say that the community demonstrated exceptional support for our fundraising efforts aimed at maintaining this historic building and preserving its rich history. 

We hope you will acknowledge the individuals, businesses, and people who generously donated to the auction. Please show your appreciation for their kindness by supporting them, as businesses are frequently solicited for donations. 

Remember to patronize them while shopping and spending. Notably, Tim and Lisa Laude from T. Laude services donated the hot dogs, Super One donated bottled water, Frito Lay donated chips, and Franz donated buns. The Eagles provided drinks, and Sandpoint Cinemas donated movie passes for us to sell. Jeff Sater and Tom Spade gave us the gift of their time and did an outstanding job auctioning. 

We had some delicious desserts and numerous great items to auction off. I'm afraid I'll miss someone if I try to list everything and everyone who made this a success, but just know that it takes a collective effort from many people. 

Thank you to everyone who came out today and to everyone who contributed.

💙💚💛💜💙💚💛💜

Finally, I love the writings of Tim Henney, and, like any of his fans, I'm sad for him and his family as they grieve the loss of their wife and mother.

I knew Jacquelynn only through Tim's writings and from one meeting at DiLuna's Restaurant. 

It was obvious through his writings that the two had found their lifelong soulmates.  

Sending condolences to Tim and his family. Once again, his exceptional and insightful writing published in the Sandpoint Reader provides a wonderful portrait of his beloved and her life well-lived.  

Jacquelynn Pelton Henney, 1935-2026

My beloved “1957 bride” Jacquelynn Henney of Sandpoint, Idaho (“Mumsie” to her loving family), passed away Sunday afternoon, May 31, at home after a lengthy struggle with dementia. Born Jan. 25, 1935 in Los Angeles, Jackie worked her way through the University of California, attending the Santa Barbara and Riverside campuses before graduating from Cal-Berkeley. Asked if she had become a famous Berkeley physicist, Mumsie replied, “I went there to have fun and to find a man. I did both, and got an A in archery.”

Her family — husband, three children and four grandkids, plus horses and dogs — were the lights of her life. The planet never knew a more beloved partner, mother and grandmother. Her heart and smile were as large as the adventuresome and loving life she led.

At Cal-Riverside, modest Jackie was elected the first homecoming queen of the new campus, a title that embarrassed her in later years when I would share her collegiate celebrity with friends. For several early-1950s summers, she worked at a juice stand in the original Lake Arrowhead Village in the San Bernardino Mountains and became an accomplished water skier on then-public and pristine Lake Arrowhead. In the summer of 1956, her senior college year, with an unconventional pixie haircut, wearing sandals and no makeup, Jackie Pelton of Whittier met yours truly of Long Beach on the Berkeley campus. She smiled that incredible smile and that was it! When I phoned after having been introduced that afternoon Jackie didn’t remember who I was, or seem to care. After I said I was the guy with the small British roadster and the huge German shepherd in the jump seat, she consented to accompany me, top down, to San Francisco the following Saturday night to hear the Kingston Trio.

Upon graduation, Mumsie returned to Lake Arrowhead to teach kindergarten. We wed a year later on Block Island, R.I., off the Connecticut coast. Our first home was a cozy walkup brownstone studio apartment in bohemian Greenwich Village, N.Y. Rent was $105 a month, which we considered expensive. 

Jackie commuted to New Jersey to teach school via the celebrated “Take The A Train” of Duke Ellington big band fame; from underground Greenwich Village north to the George Washington Bridge, by bus over the Hudson River, then a hike to school. She later taught at a prep school in Indianapolis. 

During many years living first in New York and then in leafy commuting suburbs of the city, we became enthusiastic fans of Broadway musicals. The 1950s were Broadway’s golden age and we saw many fabled performances with original casts. 

Between corporate and personal moves, Mumsie reared her three absolutely perfect kids in Indianapolis, Ind.; Pines Lake, Glen Rock and Ridgewood, N.J.; Lloyd Harbor, N.Y., Palos Verdes, Calif.; and twice in the farming community of Geneseo, Ill. Mumsie and I moved to Sandpoint, our 14th home, in 2005 from Logan, Utah.

A dedicated environmentalist, Jacquelynn in the early 1970s helped launch a recycling program in Illinois. A devoted gardener and naturalist, on none of the properties we owned did she apply herbicides, insecticides or pesticides. 

She had the greenest of thumbs and adored bees, birds and butterflies. With tissues she rescued house spiders and ladybugs, gently escorting them outside. A dressage rider for years before dementia claimed her, Jackie kept backyard horses and free-range chickens coast to coast. 

She gave names to her hens and this caused family trauma when hawks and owls intervened, as they were disposed to do. Cats and dogs also were always much loved regular family members.

Mumsie was a modern Luddite and something of a contrarian. She preferred an open window and ceiling fans to air conditioning and dismissed computers, cellphones and social media as retrograde gadgetry. AI, whatever that is, wouldn’t have had a chance with Mumsie. 

For years she played club tennis and sailed on the Mississippi River, Long Island Sound, on Western mountain lakes and with family in the West Indies. Racing against fellow sailors across the Mississippi in a stiff wind, the skipper (me) would shout, “Ready about!” as we headed briskly for a threatening rocky embankment. Mumsie, at the helm, was known to reject such urgent commands if she considered them premature. We were lucky to come out alive.

In the 1980s, having returned to Illinois after 1986 retirement from AT&T in New York, we owned a small farm near our in-town home. Mumsie operated a business there with friends called Corn Crib Crafts & Collectibles, in a corn crib. It failed to gain Fortune’s list of largest conglomerates. She also helped start an informal group of lady hikers that continues with local granddaughters to this day.

Jacquelynn was a sporadically active member of the Friends, Congregational and Presbyterian churches and of PEO. She was a constant reader and musically a Willie Nelson and John Prine devotee. She tended a green dining room jungle and championed society’s underdogs. She volunteered at CASA and later at a Sandpoint thrift store to assist handicapped children. 

During winters spent in Moab, Utah, she volunteered as an animal shelter dog walker. She contributed to Sierra Club, Habitat For Humanity, Planned Parenthood, the Humane Society and a Native American school. She preferred PBS television and NPR radio to commercial networks. 

Living in Utah In 1996, Jacquelynn was among church members and Utah State U. faculty friends who started and operated the Stokes Nature Center in Logan Canyon, a thriving organization today.

Mumsie was preceded in death by her parents, John and Roberta Pelton of Whittier, Calif., and by two young brothers, Dean and Dale Pelton, who perished at sea aboard a sailboat in the Bermuda Triangle with their father in 1963 when they were 9 and 11. 

She is survived by children Tim B. Henney (Mary Christa) of Waikoloa, Hawaii; Heidi Gatch (Peter) of Park City, Utah; and Justin Henney (Angela) of Sandpoint and by grandchildren Theodosia Henney of Oakland, Calif.; Scott Henney (Revan) of New York and Adeline and Violet Henney of Sandpoint. Also by brothers John Pelton (Carol) of Pomona, Calif., and Leimana Pelton (Jenette) of Hawaii.

“Mumsie wumsie, puddin’ and pie, kissed the horses and made them sigh. When the hens came out to play, she gave them names and they would lay.” Over the decades, Mumsie’s family constantly ribbed her with such clever poetry.

No service is planned. Memorials may be made to Better Together Animal Alliance, 870 Kootenai Cutoff Road, Ponderay, Idaho, 83852.

Goodbye, dearest Mumsie. Our deepest gratitude and love to you forever and ever and ever. Nighty night, sleep tight, don’t let the bedbugs bite.

                                                                   — Submitted by Tim Henney and family