Saturday Slight

This Saturday morning got off to a sluggish start around the Lovestead. First, I awakened half an hour later than usual. On weekends Bill doesn't make the coffee, so that was my first duty before taking my bath. The deluxe coffee brewer Bill bought less than a year ago refused to work. Yesterday afternoon it worked----didn't even burp when I brewed up a pot for the 3 p.m. caffeine jolt.

This morning it didn't burp, cough or light up. I tested the cord in another outlet and another. No luck. So, I went ahead and took my bath, figuring on coming back for Plan B. My plan worked so-so. Boil up water, put the filter over a quart jar, pour in boiling water five drops at a time. That worked for one cup, but I knew Bill would want some too after his first pot stop.

The quart-jar routine worked for that first cup, but then the wussy filter gave out, dumping grounds and water into the bottom of the jar. I poured that out and tried again. Same drill followed by a brief power outage, making me wonder if that dead pot was playing havoc with the system as a payback for its demise. The lights flipped back on immediately but not soon enough to save every electric clock in the house and the computer from going down.

Moving along and wondering what all this was portending for the day and listening to Lily outside nickering for some lazy slob inside that house to hurry up and take her to pasture, I put two filters over the quart jar and managed to eke out enough brewed coffee to satisfy our morning needs. Bill says he'll bring in the little, old-style pot from the motor home to get us through the day.

In the meantime, on this Saturday morning, it looks like tomato plants will live another day in spite of the cold, cold night. I covered them after our arrival home from a lovely evening spent in the Presbyterian house up there on Baldy. Gary and the Rev. Dr. Nancy invited us to dinner at their new home which overlooks half a dozen mountain ridges and part of the Pend Oreille River.

I was amazed at how time has flown when Nancy told me they've already been living there for three years. Before dinner, we gathered some lavender seeds from her plants and did the house tour. Then, we sat down to some mouth-watering Copper River salmon and spaghetti. It was one of those dinners that would surely make the cut for a the Sunset Magazine food panel's critique for presentation and taste. Plus, the visiting was okay too.

This is a social weekend. This afternoon, it's the Dover Community Hall where Erica Curless' family and longtime family friends will gather for a wedding shower. I've got some special stuff ready to include in my bag of goodies for my dear friend Erica. Without giving away information, I'll simply say she deserves it.

Speaking of stuff, iz there anyone out there who's gonna lay claim to that deposit left on our deck yesterday? The mystery person and the deposit must've arrived when I was over getting my mother set up with her new telephone that now has a "WORKING" answering machine. For months, when we've called Mother we gotten that whiny little voice that says to leave a message, then spits out the revelation that there's no more room for messages.

That telephonic handicap has meant two things: people call 30 times and don't think she's home OR Mother sits near the phone all day long waiting for people to call who said they'd be calling right back but had senior moments and forgot to call right back. This has seemed a bit torturous for my mother, so yesterday I went down to Staples and found her a new phone---one which has a buddy. Her buddy receiver sits right next to her on the couch, so the phone doesn't have to ring 15 times before she gets over across the room to pick it up.

Anyway, after getting her all set up with dual phones and working answering machine, I came home. Shortly thereafter, Mother came over after a trip to the post office. The Lovestead coffee pot was working then, so I offered her some coffee, and as we went to sit down in deck chairs, I discovered the newly deposited item. It looked like a record album with one of Cap Davis's scenic shots of Lake Pend Oreille.

On closer inspection, I learned that it was a centennial cassette featuring many local musicians, Leon Atkinson, Dave Gunter (before Tammy), Dennis Coats, etc. The album was produced in 1989, one hundred years after Idaho became a state. I'm wondering if Cis found it down there at the grand opening for the new Dollar Store in the Bonner Mall. Cis has been known to leave things at the Lovestead.

If she's not the one, who then? Whoever the generous soul is-----hey---maybe it was Erica; she's been known to come to my house univited, and she's been known to leave things that I didn't ask for. Yup, that possibility definitely leads to a hint for what might be in her bag of wedding shower goodies today. And, if someone doesn't fess up as to who gave me the collectors' music album, it might just go in Erica's bag with all the other stuff.

So, I'll be checking. For now, thank you so much. I'll keep it until at least 2 p.m. this afternoon. But, then again, maybe even until tomorrow. I've never really known Erica to be that obsessed with music, but Jason Moody is, and he just got married.

We're going to the Moody home for an open house in Jason and his new bride's honor tomorrow (by the way, George, she's from Maryland). Maybe Jason and his new wife Erica (yes, another one) will like that re-gifted Centennial album to listen to when he's not practicing his violin.

Happy Saturday from the ever crazy Lovestead. By the way, my mother just called and seems quite pleased to leave me a message on my Call Wave from her new telephone. She hasn't quite figured out that it's the messages on her machine that make the difference!

So, if anyone wants to call Mother today, I'm sure she'll be equally pleased to answer her phone and catch up on all she's been missing all these months. If she doesn't answer, be sure to leave a message.