Saturday Slight

Longtime friend Gary Miller on the construction crew at A & P's. 

A new friend, Sue Wentz, owner of Santosha Imports on First Avenue in downtown Sandpoint. 

New-old friends

Debbie, squared, plus Luke

It took some doing, but yesterday I followed through on a plan to open a new approach to life:  let the “to do’s” have a break and add a few different dimensions to the daily regimen.

What a fun rainy day Friday turned out to be!

A start to the goal of visiting every venue on ArtWalk did not get too far.  And, that was good. I was having too much fun meeting people and sharing stories while checking out their artistic offerings.

Today I have but two stamps on my passport.  Actually, there would be three, but talk got in the way of the walk, and I forgot to ask the folks at ArtWorks Gallery to verify my visit.

By the way, we need only five stamps to submit the passport for the POAC drawing in September, but I want to visit all 27 venues before the summer ends. 

I can attest to the fact that when it's raining in Sandpoint, the lively colors and phenomenal creativity along the ArtWalk itinerary offer a lovely diversion to any gloomy day. 

Yesterday, after receiving my passport at the POAC office, I headed south on First Avenue toward ArtWorks Gallery.

Just a short ways down the sidewalk, I had to stop and peek inside A & P's Bar and Grill where construction workers are rebuilding the historic Sandpoint watering hole, severely damaged by a fire a few months ago.

As I stopped to take a photo, a familiar face from inside came walking toward me:  Gary Miller. He's excited that the place may reopen in a couple of months because he, like so many loyal patrons, has his own A & P stories to tell. 

At ArtWorks, I realized that going on ArtWalk could turn expensive, as the offerings make for hard decisions, and a person could easily buy a little something by every artist/crafter in the arts cooperative.  

I did walk out with one of Alice Beckstrom's tempered glass hearts, complete with a cute little mirror.  Seemed like a nice housewarming gift for the Young Loves. 

And, I enjoyed visiting with Bonnie DeHart and Joanne Walker, who both sell their jewelry in the store. 

Next came Santosha Imports and Sue Wentz, along with her intern Jenny.  Sue's warm welcome made me feel instantly at home, and soon we were talking about the fun history of the business which got a good start in Sandpoint, thanks to Sue's "good" cooking.

"I'm a good cook," the "Luzianna" native and former restaurant owner, told me.  So she cooked up a big dinner, invited people and sold every item of her first batch of imports.

She also told me about moving the merchandise via shopping carts from the former tiny store on Church Street to its present location on First Avenue.   

A visit to www.santoshaimports.com reveals the origins of the family business:  Santosha Imports is a family owned business dedicated to supporting artisans in the villages of South east Asia. Our founder Lilly Hubbard was inspired by her travels through Vietnam where she volunteered with the Seeing Hands Project. 

The Seeing Hands Project is a non profit volunteer mission created by Dr.Quang Huynh that aims to spread the knowledge of acupuncture to blind centers throughout Vietnam. Lilly currently lives in southern Thailand. She spends part of the year traveling thoughout Soueast Asia to search for the highest quality products that support local artists and villages.

It appears that Santosha has had a fabulous start in downtown Sandpoint, and that may just have something to do with the enthusiasm and friendly nature of Sue Wentz.

By the time I left the store, nearly two hours had passed, and it was time to move the car from its parking spot.

Later, Debbie and I got together and headed for Sunnyside to meet another Debbie aka Deborah. 

Debbie Crain was hosting an open house at her lovely home to introduce people to Origami Owl lockets, which can be personalized by the charms selected to go inside the lockets.

Debbie wrote to me earlier this week to "come out of the closet," so to speak, as a longtime Slight Detour "blurker." Seems she's been reading the blog daily for several years after moving here from Arizona.  

She revealed herself for the purpose of inviting me to her open house where she had put together a special locket for me. 

On the way to her house, we stopped by the Roos home on Sunnyside Road, where within a few hours a giant celebration would be occurring:  the celebration of Wayne and Gwen Roos' 70th wedding anniversary.

I knew I wouldn't make it to the celebration, and I was hoping that just possibly their daughter Cindy might be there.  Cindy had served as SHS Ponderette Drill Team captain during the early part of my teaching career, and I was hoping to say hello.

Turned out she came to the door, so we had a nice visit.  Her parents are amazing---both looking very chipper for 87 and 90-year-olds.

Saying good bye, we headed on down the road, looking for the address I'd stored in my head before leaving home.  Later, after driving up and down the road and even over to Sunnyside Cut-off Road and NOT finding said address or even anything resembling it, I began to doubt my senior memory.

Only problem was we had to drive all the way back to Kootenai to get cell phone coverage and for me to look up Debbie's note with her address.  

So what if I was 300 numbers off from the correct address.  We finally drove into her driveway, walked in and had a fabulous visit.  The locket she had prepared for me, with it's shamrock, horse and "love" charms, is beautiful, just like the beautiful spirit of this "new-old" friend. 

I learned that Origami Owl jewelry follows a similar concept as Mary Kay, etc. and that a portion of the funds from jewelry sold helps support enrichment opportunities for children with Down's Syndrome.

Debbie and I both thoroughly enjoyed our visit with Debbie Crain, her hubby Steve and their friendly, beautiful Lab named Luke. 

Twas a great day, indeed, and more fun came when we joined Bill and my sisters for dinner at Jalapenos and our new tradition of going to Super 1 for those 25-cent kiddie cones.  Pretty tasty ice cream, and the price is right. 

Laurie, who sprang for dessert by handing us each a quarter, got a little extra in her cone because the ice cream server named Isaac was one of her former students.  Teacher perks, for sure.

Great Friday and looking like a little dryer day today.

Happy Saturday.