Slight Detour: Saturday Slight

Bill and I enjoyed a slice of downtown summer-in-Sandpoint action last night after dinner.

Feeling a bit spoiled from the tasty ice cream cone from Selle Valley Creamery the night before, we drove to First Avenue, quickly found a parking space and walked less than a block to Panhandle Cone and Coffee.

A steady line of folks representing all ages made its way around the counter, ordering and picking up their cones or cups filled with favorite flavors.

I chose the cup with two scoops of the sea salt caramel cookie blend, while Bill stuck with chocolate.

As we moved outside, we could see that our timing was right cuz the line was extending out the door.

We walked to the car, and just before I opened my door, a couple walked our way.

I thought the gentleman looked familiar. Soon he informed me that he was Wes Ribeiro, SHS Class of 1990.

Wes and his wife Sigi, a music instructor at Washington Elementary, were out enjoying the evening, which included a brief visit and a little local genealogy as he informed us that his mother was a Crosswhite.

When he was in high school, I knew Wes as a student who had previously lived in Brazil. He told us that his mom had gone to Brazil as a missionary and eventually came back to Sandpoint with her three sons.

Wes has followed in her footsteps somewhat, doubling as a minister at New Life Church (formerly Sandpoint Christian Center) and running a construction company.

What a pleasant interlude of reconnecting after 30 years!

We said our good bye's. Bill then directed the car toward the beach, turning off at the road leading to the railroad depot.

He wanted to see work on the new tracks next to the depot. We also stood on the newly constructed loading area.

There was a bit of nostalgia in our Friday evening visit, as I reflected on this very spot where our family's tenure in Sandpoint began nearly 78 years ago.

I've always loved the story of Mother with Mike (15 months old at the time) and her English setter Peggy stepping off the train from Chicago with soldiers returning from war on a miserable Christmas night. She then walked across the Cedar Street Bridge (very different then) to First Avenue and then a few blocks through a wild and woolly Sandpoint to the Rowlands Hotel on First and Church Street.

That's where she and Mike would live until she found a home to rent (the stone house across from the old junior high/now Sandpoint Events Center).

It was fun strolling around the old depot and imagining what it must have been like when Mother and so many other families arrived and first saw Sandpoint at such a different time in the town's history.

Our Friday night downtown time on a lovely summer night lasted only about 45 minutes. Nevertheless, each segment from the ice cream treat to reconnecting with a former student and the trip by the tracks down Memory Lane----all moments of joy in their own way.

A nice good bye to June 2023 and now we greet July. What will this month bring?

Time will tell.

Happy Saturday

A selfie where our family's Sandpoint story started in December, 1945.

This lovely rose bush was blooming across the yard from the deck when we moved to this beautiful farm and coined it "the Lovestead" on July 1, 2006.

I remember my mother standing next to me on what was then an open "Trex" deck, which has since been replaced with wood and an attractive roof.

"You could have weddings here," she remarked as we looked across a beautiful lawn with a gorgeous backdrop of flower beds and a hedge-like row of cedar trees.

We haven't had any weddings, but other meaningful occasions and gatherings on and around our deck with its expansive lawn and trees and flower beds have each added a special touch to 17 years of living here.

Though it's a bit redundant, I'll say once more that we are truly blessed to live on this beautiful piece of ground in Selle.

Happy to be here and still pinching ourselves 17 years later.