Slight Detour: Too Much Fun

Last year, while strolling through the local farmers' market, I met a couple with three Jack Russells on leash.

I took a picture and struck up a conversation with the dogs' owners, a lovely and friendly couple. During our visit, I learned about "I See Something Shiny" where the wife Troyce worked.

I was somewhat astonished to learn that this was one of the downtown stores in Sandpoint. Here I must mention that I don't go downtown very often.

A few weeks later, on another trip to town and after finding parking spot on First Avenue, I decided to check out this store, which is located near a main crosswalk.

It was fun strolling around, seeing the gifts, chocolates and wine offerings as well as the actual site of another establishment within the store---a small restaurant called The District.

Well, yesterday was the date that my friend Becky and I had agreed upon to meet for her birthday lunch.

"Where do you want to go and when?" I texted her the day before.

Since we usually get together at the rural restaurants, I was surprised when she said "I See Something Shiny."

Remembering the few tables I'd seen on my previous trip, I asked if we needed reservations. After all, it's in the heart of downtown Sandpoint.

She didn't think so, and when we walked through the door, I learned that my concern was a moot point, as the table availability had multiplied considerably.

The server Gail came to meet us as we picked out an area where we wanted to sit.

Turns out she looked familiar, and I later learned that I had known her as an acquaintance. She also knew Becky well because they had been neighbors out at Hope.

The familiarity of the moment turned out to be just a spark. Our time at I See Something Shiny simmered into a rollicking and fun afternoon.

Yeah, we ate some lunch, but at this place where the Jennestads sold clothes for decades in early Sandpoint, we began to feel like we were holding court. Every time the door opened, 'cept for the wine sales lady, we KNEW the faces.

And, each time someone entered, they quickly gravitated to our table where a myriad of "catch-up-over-the-past-few-years" conversations unfolded and laughter abounded.

During our stay, I got to know Gail, our server, well enough to sincerely call her my "new best friend."

Retired educator Barbara Miller came through the door. When she reached our table, we learned about how her life was going and enjoyed hearing how the Miller brothers Bill, Larry and Ray (all retired teachers) were doing.

Then came "Shirl the Pearl" Parker and her niece Heidi Overholser who lives in North Carolina but still visits her family home in Sandpoint.

In her younger years, Heidi was a member of our 4-H club and one of my English students who graduated with my brother Jim.

Her mom Sonia (Shirl the Pearl's sister) shared classrooms with me back in the day when local schools operated on the split shift as a means of getting voters to pass a school bond.

Shirl aka Shirley, an English teacher, taught with me at Sandpoint High School for a number of years.

Once again, lively conversation, highlighted by a quick telephone exchange between Heidi's sister Katy and me. Katy happened to be driving down the road in North Carolina at the time, so it was brief.

Shortly after Shirley and Heidi left, Marcia Pilgeram, the travel coordinator extraordinaire, came through the door.

She even joined us at our table for some tasty chocolates and a glass of wine offered at the store.

Before we finally left with big smiles on our faces, I talked with Lisabeth, the owner, and told her how much we had enjoyed ourselves.

She does the cooking in the back, and she told me that nothing makes her feel better than to hear the clientele at the tables having a good time and the laughter.

https://www.thedistrictinsandpoint.com/

Yesterday's visit to I See Something Shiny, which all felt good and tasted good, turned out to be a refreshing all-around treat while embracing the first hints of spring.

For this old Sandpoint long timer, our experience will remain a wonderful memory in a place already filled with a bundle of old-time local memories.

I have a feeling many more similar memories are yet to unfold in that classy little place in downtown just off the First Avenue crosswalk.