Throwbacks and Treats

My friend Peggy sent me (Miss Brown, to you, Peggy :) these photos earlier this week.  Of course, they reflect three items I love:  the past, my Sandpoint hometown and horses.

Both photos from the early '70s clearly show that there's been a big change in the downtown business names.  

Knits and Bolts belonged to Eleanor Delamarter, one of the shining women of my life.  I don't remember the chronology or all the details, but I'm thinking that Knits and Bolts may have been in the same place as Del's Shoe Store, owned by Eleanor's husband Paul. 

Eleanor was a phenomenal seamstress and even a better cook.  So, during a period of her life, she sold fabrics in the downtown location.  If a Delamarter is reading this morning, maybe they can fill in the gaps.  

Sayer's Jewelers has been in the mall for years after operating downtown for as far back as I can remember.  Ross Rexall Drugs is now a kitchen ware store, while the gas station next to the old Penneys houses the Rose Petaler.  And, is Snowy River now in the Penney's store.  

Seems like that building could take the prize for all the different businesses over the years.   

As far as the horse aspect of these photos, I know for sure that the second mounted group is our old Schweitzer Valley Dwellers 4-H Club.  

We, as a club, used to win the mounted group trophy on a regular basis when some leader or parent (often my mother or her friend Mardette) would come up with a theme and costume ideas and the members happily dressed their parts.  

Seems to me I might have been portraying a frontier doctor while riding my mother's beautiful Half Arabian mare named Cricket that year. 

At first, I thought the top photo included more members of our 4-H Club, but as I look closer, it appears to be the Sandpoint Saddle Club.  Jean Martin, help me out!  I known they liked their serapes. 

Whatever the case, we always had fun riding the few miles into town, gathering at the old junior high (now Sandpoint Events Center and community garden) grounds to line up and then to prance down the pavement while waving at everyone we knew.  

And, we knew a lot of the folks along the sidewalks in those days.  I do miss the aspect of downtown when most people we saw were friends or acquaintances, and that usually spurred on a nice visit.  

These days, it seems, we might even want to mark it on the calendar any time we pass by a familiar face on the sidewalk. 

Fun times.  Good memories. 

Speaking of down home-type stuff, I enjoyed an especially wonderful treat yesterday. 

About mid-afternoon, I received a text from Melissa Peck, telling me that the students from Selle Valley Carden School would be out delivering the bird houses they had constructed and adorned with their own personal touches. 

Shortly thereafter, Melissa's sister Stacy pulled into the driveway, driving a van with nine SVCS students. Once out of the vehicle, they all held colorful and adorable works of art.  

If "in the moment" provides us the purest form of living, then I experienced about 45 minutes of ultimate joy. 

I don't know what I loved most about their visit----the tree climbing, the individual pride in showing off their creations, the constant smiles and continual curiosity, the excitement of walking hand in hand down the lane to see the horses or even the lively mission of pulling huge wads of grass to feed Lefty.

I know for sure what Lefty enjoyed most.  

If pressed to give a final, final answer, I'd say the camaraderie and obvious friendships emanating from a truly wholesome educational experience stands out the most in my observations of these wonderful kids and their teacher yesterday. 

These young people attend an impressive country school where Stacy tells me she's now seeing the proof of the pudding with some of her originals experiencing  a smooth transition from their country school to the middle school setting in town. 

Over the past few years, I've had numerous experiences observing the teachers and the students at Selle Valley Carden School in a variety of settings.  

Each time I come away even more impressed with the all-around education and guidance they are receiving from their teachers and parents during their formative years.

I appreciated my Lincoln School upbringing, but if there had been a school like the one just down the road from us, I would have been there in a flash and would have figured I'd gone to Heaven on Earth.  

Thank you, Stacy, and thank you, students, for the bird houses and especially for providing such a memorable and cherished segment to an already fabulous day. 

Can't wait to see what the birds think of the new additions to the Lovestead bird housing development.

Happy Thursday.  Enjoy the photos.