Thursday Hodge Podge

Brother Willie and sister Annie Love at the Sounders Soccer Match last night. 

They attended the match as VIP's, thanks to a contest that Annie won several weeks ago. She could bring a guest, so Willie got the nod.  

The Sounders defeated Chicago, 1-0 to stay in contention for MLS play-offs.  

Willie will be back in Sandpoint today in time to meet with his second-period class, and Annie will be boarding yet another flight tomorrow to come to Sandpoint for the weekend. 

Of course, Mom had to drag out the Thursday Throwbacks.  

Ya just kinda wonder what Annie's got on her mind in this photo from yesteryear. Could it be the sleeves???

Luke Mayville

 Author, post doctoral fellow at Columbia University and Sandpoint High graduate                                  ---Photo from Luke's Amazon.com page.

Over the past several weeks, I've been following the progress of Luke's book on Facebook and wishing that time would allow for some more intense study and to write something about the project with an informed outlook. 

Well, time has not been that generous, but this time seems like the best to mention the new release in hopes of helping spread the word. 

Yesterday I learned that the book (published by Princeton Press) is now available at Amazon.com and that it is doing well sales-wise----ranked in the 30,000s overall and No. 31 in books on politics and social sciences.  

I believe Luke graduated from Sandpoint High School in 2003 because my memory tells me he was in one of the last honors classes I taught at the school.  

I know that several of his other teachers from SHS are equally proud of his very notable achievements, as we are of SO many of our students who are making a meaningful difference in this world. 

I've included a link from a piece published this week on a Harvard University blog, which summarizes Luke's general thesis.  

http://declaration.fas.harvard.edu/blog/mayville

Good luck, Luke.  We from Sandpoint are proud of you!

Also, in the something new category, this week Bill and I and a whole lot of others with a view have been noticing the progress of the new ridge-top lodge at Schweitzer. 

It's pretty amazing because suddenly there it was.  I'm going to have to enjoy my kitchen-window view because I'll never have the guts to ride a chairlift up there to see it firsthand. 

Finally, in the midst of all the cleaning and preparing for the big weekend ahead, Bill and I decided to take a break for a couple of hours yesterday and check out the aspen on the Rapid Lightning Creek Road.

My regular camera is in the shop, so I used my little point and shoot.  Unfortunately, the color setting somehow got screwed up after just a few photos. 

Still, the pictures give the story.  It's downright amazingly beautiful up there, and it's gonna get better over the next several days. 

This is a special place because of the arrangement of the aspen, the spectacular panoramic views and the open country for great hiking. 

As we started our walk yesterday and stopped dozens of times for photos, I said to Bill that this place is so beautiful it hardly seems real.

Our short hike turned adventurous when we scared up a bull, cow and a calf moose. When they ran on, we walked on, seeing them fairly close a second time.  

We thought they were still fairly close and waited for them to come out in an opening, only to see that they had hoofed it up the hillside and were standing up there looking back at us------without a camera!  

Darn, think of the photos they could have gotten.  

Well, mine are fairly mediocre because of the setting, but I will tell you they were all impressive---looks like they did well in grazing department. 

The moose were on a hillside just below where we had parked the pickup, so we walked cautiously on our way back.  Fortunately, they had headed elsewhere. 

So glad we took the time out to enjoy some autumn splendor.  It's truly magnificent, much more beautiful than the photos show.

Big lawnmowing project ahead.  Happy Thursday.