Slight Detour: Blue Skies and TBT

Such a gorgeous February day yesterday!

Blue skies aplenty and fun getting out walking AFTER the worst of the ubiquitous morning film of killer ice had finally melted.

Melting snow from a warm day followed by an overnight freeze created one of the worst dangerous ice situations I can ever remember.

Annie gave me some Kahtoola MICROspikes for Christmas. Yesterday marked their coming-out party after I turned around halfway down the driveway to get the morning paper.

We waited to read the paper, and when Bill went out later in the daylight with a trekking pole for support, he commented that it sure was icy out there.

So, I pulled my MICROspikes from their box and stretched and tugged to get them on my barn boots.

Without a doubt, they are the best spikes/trax I've ever used to stay upright on killer ice. And, they were needed through most of the morning hours around here.

The spikes dig in and give an ol' gal a lot of confidence in taking a step anywhere there's ice.

This is not meant to be a commercial, but they are definitely effective.

So, walking around the place was about as pleasurable as it gets with all that gorgeous sunshine, blue skies and comfortable temperatures.

It was truly a day for feeling alive and grateful as the dogs and I walked in the south woods and, later, I groomed one of my horses.

In the midst of that project, I received a call from the eye clinic, telling me that my new glasses had arrived.

So, the third of three trips in the car during the day took me to town where Rosalee made sure the new glasses would not slip off my nose.

While that was happening, I heard someone across the clinic yell, "Hello, Marianne."

Here's where I admit publicly that I could not see well enough into the north sitting room to figure out who it was.

"It's Elena," she said, adding, "I recognized you by your voice."

Side note: that voice has always been a dead giveaway for me. It's very difficult for me to remain anonymous when making prank calls to my friends.

Anyway, my brain clicked in immediately, and that was pretty good because I don't think I've seen Elena for at least 15 years.

Her stepson Tony Bottarini was a very special student who inspired pretty much everyone he knew while fighting off cancer from the time he was about 11 until he was a senior in high school.

Tony died five days before his graduation in 1986 but not before being name King at his Senior Prom earlier in the month.

There's enough about Tony, his courage and his example to fill a book, and one of my books has a story about Tony called "The Furniture Farm."

So, to see his mom who served as a such an upbeat support role for him during those years was a treat, to say the least.

Elena and I spent many hours and moments enjoying each other's company during those years.

We hardly had time to do much catch-up as she was soon summoned off for her eye appointment.

Note to self---find a way to get in touch with her so we can reconnect again.

And, to think of Tony and the many, many wonderful people who surrounded him with love and never-ending support----that only added to an already beautiful day.

Often, we are so blessed in these lives of ours.

My glasses don't slip off my nose, and when I looked in the mirror after returning home---they don't look too bad either. Rosalee suggested I get frames with a green tint since I like Ireland so much. Good call, Rosalee!

BTW: with a Gonzaga game coming up tonight, I can make sure the prescription is just right. After all, the only reason I need glasses is to make sure I can see the score in the banner during the game.

Stay tuned. The ZAGS play Pacific in Stockton tonight at a match-up which was first announced yesterday.

Covid has played havoc with so many college basketball schedules that we have to be on our toes when games are scheduled at the last minute.

So, it's not looking like a bluebird day this morning, but it's dry so far and we have a ZAGS game to watch tonight.

That is good.

Happy Thursday.

Throwback Thursday . . . .as always mostly picked at random.

Bill and I visited "Headquarters" for geocaching.com in Seattle a few years ago. Until the Pandemic began, Annie walked from her home in Wallingford every day to this office Seattle's 'burb of Fremont.

Nowadays, she works remotely from her apartment.

A couple of fun ladies at a Women of Wisdom event: Suzanne and Mary, Sandpoint's "hat lady."

Grand nephew Jacob surveying the territory on a family hike a few years ago, the same hike where a cougar happened to lurking in the trees not far from the trail.