Gathering Graces 6/21/2018

*Happy first day of summer!! 

*I spent some time making my head hurt filling out paperwork for retirement.  It really wasn’t that many pages, or that bad at all.  But it still made my head hurt.

*In my Keto Zone cookbook, there is a recipe for Seed Bread.  Paul had gone to Coeur d’Alene about a week ago or so and purchased all the various seeds that go into making this bread.  So I gathered all the various ingredients.  Most of the seeds have to be ground up.  Fortunately my coffee grinder is the perfect tool to grind the seeds.  Once all the seeds were ground up, I mixed them all together with a few dry ingredients, and with water, ghee and coconut oil.  Then it sat in the bowl for about three hours.  Then you bake it in a loaf pan for over an hour.  It was nice to cut the bread while it was still warm, and put some butter on it and eat it. This is the first kind of bread I have eaten since March 1.  I probably won’t make it a lot, but it was nice to have as something a little different. 

Seed bread

*It is Thursday, and that means the Kellogg Farmer’s Market is open.  I kept getting notifications on my phone that we were in for torrential rains and flash flooding.  But when Paul and I walked down to the market around 5:30, the weather was perfect, and the market was in full swing when we arrived.  My friend Christina, who sells beautiful jewelry at the market, said she had been praying all day for the rain to stay away.  Her prayers were answered!!  After walking through the market, we zeroed in on our two favorite places, the local cheese makers.  We purchased some marinated feta and some marinated mozzarella. 

Locally produced cheese is the best.  The one on the left is goat cheese.  The one on the right is cow cheese.

*On our way home, we noticed Excelsior Cycle was still open.  Paul had stopped in there to look at some bicycles last week.  We purchased bikes from them back in 2001, the first summer after we moved back here.  After having those mountain bikes for about 17 years, we thought it might be time to invest in a more bike trail friendly kind of bike for us to ride on the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes.  The owners, Mike and Debbie Domy were more than happy to let us take a couple of the bikes on a test ride.  The bike I rode was very comfortable and Paul likes the feel of his, too.  I think Paul and I may have some new bikes in our future!!

*We arrived home and Paul grilled some fish and some Romaine lettuce, and I roasted some radishes, and I sliced some seed bread to spread some of the new cheese we had purchased.  We also still had some of the Labneh lemon cheese left from our purchase two weeks ago, and we spread some of that on our fish.  It was delicious.

*Again, my phone kept alerting me to the fact a storm was coming.  As we sat on the patio, we watched the storm roll in, and started hearing the thunder.  By the time we were done eating, the rain started falling.  We had quite the downpour!!  I loved it!!

Gathering Graces 6/20/2018

CAROL WOOLUM ROBERTS·THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2018

*For many years, Nikki and I have had a tradition
of buying one another coffee for our summer birthdays. Since Nikki was gone this year for her birthday, we made up for it today by ending out walk at our local coffee shop, The Bean. Nikki’s dog Butters has been accompanying us on our morning walks, so he got to experience The Bean as well this morning. It was a nice way to end our walk and start our morning.


*My cucumber plants are not doing as well as I would like. I planted two different kinds. The pickling cucumbers have sprouted, but are still pretty small. The slicing cucumbers have never come up at all. So I went in search of cucumber plants this morning. When I arrived at Ace Hardware, I was happy to see that all their plants are now 50% off. And they had some cucumber plants. Armenian cucumber plants. So I purchased some plants, and we will see if they decided to grow better than the seeds are. I planted about 15 plants, so I hope to see some results soon. I noticed these plants, along with my summer squash plants, had a bit of powdery mildew on them. I had purchased some Soap Shield Liquid Copper Fungicide to help with this problem. (I seem to get this on my summer squash plants every year.) So I made up a batch and sprayed the plants, and hopefully it will get rid of the problem.














Armenian cucumber plants




*A big project we are tackling this summer is painting the exterior of our house. We will have most of the family here the first week of July, so we will be using their help to complete this project that week. So I have been playing around online, checking out paint colors, and trying to decide what color gray would look best and what color of blue trim would look best. I can upload a photo of our house online, and put the paint color right on the photo of the house. We are fortunate that Cosette and her boyfriend Taylor are painting houses this summer, so they will bring some experience with them to help with the process. This is a long overdue project that needs done, so I am looking forward to getting started!!t


*I walked around outside today and took photographs of the gardens throughout the backyard. Everything looks so colorful and healthy. This weather has been very nice to keep the flowers looking healthy.

*My cucumber plants are not doing as well as I would like.  I planted two different kinds.  The pickling cucumbers have sprouted, but are still pretty small.  The slicing cucumbers have never come up at all.  So I went in search of cucumber plants this morning.  When I arrived at Ace Hardware, I was happy to see that all their plants are now 50% off.  And they had some cucumber plants.  Armenian cucumber plants.  So I purchased some plants, and we will see if they decided to grow better than the seeds are.  I planted about 15 plants, so I hope to see some results soon.  I noticed these plants, along with my summer squash plants, had a bit of powdery mildew on them.  I had purchased some Soap Shield Liquid Copper Fungicide to help with this problem. (I seem to get this on my summer squash plants every year.)  So I made up a batch and sprayed the plants, and hopefully it will get rid of the problem.

Armenian cucumber plants

*A big project we are tackling this summer is painting the exterior of our house.  We will have most of the family here the first week of July, so we will be using their help to complete this project that week.  So I have been playing around online, checking out paint colors, and trying to decide what color gray would look best and what color of blue trim would look best.  I can upload a photo of our house online, and put the paint color right on the photo of the house.  We are fortunate that Cosette and her boyfriend Taylor are painting houses this summer, so they will bring some experience with them to help with the process.  This is a long overdue project that needs done, so I am looking forward to getting started!!t

*I walked around outside today and took photographs of the gardens throughout the backyard.  Everything looks so colorful and healthy.  This weather has been very nice to keep the flowers looking healthy.

Lots of color in the flower pots

Gathering Graces 6/19/2018

*One year ago today, I embarked on a magical adventure to Italy to visit my friend April M Lee and her husband Eric Lee at Villa Magnolia in Barbarasco.  I was accompanied by my lifelong friend Kellee Crall Mills, and my new friend Tina Marshall.  Barbie also made the journey.  So much happened in the three weeks I was in Italy, both at home and abroad.  I still think I haven’t processed it all. I met some new friends including Sherri Melson, Alan Balzano, Ivana Elia, Anna Masotti, Lucia Bonotti, and Federica Furia.  To me, that was what touched my heart the most during the whole time in Italy, was those moments of meeting people in Barbarasco and being a part of village life.  So much has changed in all of our lives in this past year...big, life changing events.  I am so thankful to April and Eric for giving me the opportunity to visit them at their new home, and be a part of their first retreat.  Next time Paul will be accompanying me to Italy, and I can’t wait to experience this beautiful country with him.

*After my walk this morning and my morning coffee, it was off to the dentist to get a filling.  For some reason, I need triple the dose of Novocaine to numb my mouth, so my trips to the dentist tend to be longer than normal because of this anomaly.  I finally got home around 10 a.m., and was wiped out.  So I didn’t do a whole lot today, which was fine by me.  This was the first day I have had for quite some time that I had a day at home to do a whole lot of nothing.   

*I guess I did accomplish a couple of work related items throughout the day.  I submitted some final Gear Up data.  I went to KHS to scan some documents so I could submit a Gear Up invoice.  I brought some more things home from my office at KHS.  I worked on the Sierra Silver Mine Tour Facebook page.  And I set up a birthday fund-raiser for the Sixth Street Melodrama on Facebook to raise $550 for the theater for my 55th birthday.  In July, the production they are performing is one I wrote about 12 years ago, and so I thought it would be fun to see if I could raise some money for the theater.  The name of the melodrama being performed is Nightmare at Dream Gulch, or...Wake Me When It’s Over.  So if you have a spare $5 or so, and want to donate, please do!! 

Gathering Graces 6/18/18

*It felt SO GOOD to get out and take a morning walk this morning.  With Nikki traveling to Hawaii, and my morning schedule, we haven’t been able to walk together for a few weeks.  It felt so good to start off my morning with a walk.

*I enjoyed some coffee when I returned home, and worked on some school items before getting ready to head to the Sierra Silver Mine Tour office.  We had a busy day today, with four groups of students from the PASS program at Pinehurst Elementary coming to take the tour.  It was fun seeing some of the students I had that had participated in the drama program last spring.  I got lots of hugs, which made my day!!

*One of the favorite parts of my job it meeting people and listening to their stories.  If it isn’t too busy, I often get the chance to talk a little more to visitors to the mine tour.  Today I asked a women where she was from, and she said originally from Georgia, but for the last nine years, she has traveled around in her RV, and now she is from wherever she has her RV parked.  She had not spent much time in Idaho, but has been in this area since the beginning of May, enjoying all the area has to offer.  She like riding the “Rails to Trails” on her bike, and I think she was going to ride the Hiawatha Trail today.  I asked her where her favorite place has been that she has stayed.  She said she used to answer that question by saying the Oregon Coast.  But recently she drove to Newfoundland, and really enjoyed visiting there.  I enjoyed talking to her about her adventures.

*Debbie and Bill arrived back from their trip, and Debbie came and picked up Maggie and Charley to take them back home.  They were fun to have around these past few days, and were wonderful house guests.

Paul, Charley and Maggie

*Before I left for work this morning, Paul went to our local ACE Hardware store and purchased a new gas grill.  We had been doing some research on them, and looked at various locations to purchase one, but decided on one at ACE.  By the end of the day, assembled grill had been delivered by Ace Hardware in Kellogg to our door.  Paul said, after looking at the assembly directions, that he was glad they assembled the grill!!  It is a Weber Spirit E-210 2 Burner Propane Grill.  It has a ten year warranty, and is just the right size for the two of us.  To christen the grill, Paul cooked some steaks and grilled some romaine lettuce.  It was delicious.  And I look forward to many more meals cooked on our new gas grill.

Our new Weber gas grill!!

Gathering Graces 6/17/2018

*Today was a wonderful celebration of Father’s Day!!

*The morning began at church with a special recognition of our graduates.  Cosette, along with Matt and Kira Langer, and Gordan Bair were honored as college graduates, and Gracie Miller was honored as an 8th Grade graduate.  It was a wonderful time of celebration.

*After church, we had a wonderful dinner around 2 p.m.  Gathered around our Father’s Day table were three fathers that we honored today.  One was Paul, one was my brother-in-law Everett, and one was Cosette’s boyfriend Taylor, who was with us for the day with his beautiful daughter Saphire.  We had a wonder meal of baked steelhead trout, salad, asparagus, zucchini, steamed clams, and some pickles, olives, and other goodies.  It was a nice time.

*After we ate we did a “Google Hangout” with Zoe from Boise.  It was fun having her be a part of the festivities, even though she was miles away.  We wish she could have been here.   While we were talking to Zoe, Paul shared some special writings with his daughters.  He had written a sonnet for Molly when she graduated from high school, and shared it with her at her graduation ceremony we had up at the Sixth Street Theater.  He read that for her today.  Recently, he wrote a sonnet for Zoe and a vilanell for Cosette.  Each selection made each of the girls cry.  What a special thing to have a kind and loving father write a special poem for them.  I love seeing the relationship Paul has with each of his daughters.  Each is very unique and special.  They each posted beautiful tributes to Paul on Facebook today as well.

*Taylor and Cosette drove Molly back to Post Falls, and then they headed back to Moscow.  Paul and I worked on some little projects around the house, and then headed to bed.  It was a great day!!  God is good.....all the time!

Great group for a Father's Day celebration!!

Gathering Graces 6/16/2018

*The morning began talking to April M Lee over in Italy.  My how an hour goes by quickly!!  Before we knew it, it was 9 a.m., and I needed to say goodbye, and head to work.  But I am so glad we are getting in the habit of having weekly conversations again.  I miss our weekly coffee get-togethers from when April lived here.  But these are an okay substitute until we actually get to meet together soon for another coffee date.

*Paul and I ate a quick dinner of smoked salmon, cheese and cucumbers and tomatoes, then went over to Christy and Everett’s for a bit.  When I got home I was a little cold, so I decided a bubble bath was in order.  Once out of the tub, it was straight to bed for me.  I was tired!!

*Lots of people in Wallace today.  We had full tours almost every half hour, and the carnival was going full force outside, and the Gyro Days was also going on in Wallace.  If you are not familiar with Gyro Days, a big part of Saturday was dropping a large ball in the South Fork of the Coeur d’Alene River in Mullan, and many people follow the ball all the way to Wallace to the Sixth Street Bridge, when it is taken out of the water.  This is called the Lead Creek Derby.
Tickets are sold, and people guess what time the ball will be removed from the water.  Here is a video as the ball is getting dropped into the water in Mullan.  (Thank you Shoshone News Press.) https://www.facebook.com/shoshonenewspress/videos/1836845593042331/

Gathering Graces 6/15/2018

*The last two days spent at the Idaho Indian Education Summit was time well spent.  Today was focused more on actual curriculum educators teach to their students, and how it is incorporated into lessons.  One session I attended was some teachers in Hayden who created a musical play for fourth graders to perform incorporating some of the Native American history of the area.  And the Coeur d’Alene Tribe is also creating lessons they are beginning to share with their students, using the tribal language and the tribal philosophy of the four pillars of the tribe, which are membership, scholarship, stewardship and guardianship.  Here is a little it about each of these pillars:

The four pillars represent the heart of Coeur d’ Alene people. It is our hope that these pillars are so deeply rooted in our children’s heart that we will see them carried out in a relational, reciprocal, respectful and responsible way for generations immemorial.

t’u’lschint: Membership

Capable, decent, moral, ‘a good person’, a good citizen in your family, tribal, local and world community. A responsible, accountable and informed citizen in all spheres of relationship

snmiypnqwiln: Scholarship

Life-long, holistic learning with ideas rooted in tribal values, self-determination, self-government and sovereignty that produces deep knowledge to understand the world and meaningful application within the community

‘ats’ qhnt’ wesh: Stewardship

To care for all things with integrity, responsibility, accountability and social awareness in all spheres of life, human, animals, natural resources, and the cosmos, looking at each other from the heart

hngwa’yqn; hnshat’ qn: Guardianship

To protect our tribal ways of knowing and being through the protection, care and responsibility for our people, natural resources, culture, history, traditions, language and spirituality

*After lunch we spent time in a group being facilitated by two representatives of the Wellpinit School District, where the Spokane Tribe is located.  This afternoon session was about having conversations to help create a lesson plan.  We started off the conversation having a Nez Perce community member with our group to answer questions about creating a lesson plan about Chief Joseph.  As I sat and listened to her talk, it became clear to me that the story of the Nez Perce Tribe is much more than about one historical figure.  The tribe does not think individually.  They think collectively.  And it is a collective “we” story of all the tribe involved.  Tribal members even today are feeling the effects of the Nez Perce War of 1877.

*Each group that was being facilitated was asked to have one person get up and share a lesson plan with the whole group.  Paul was chosen from our group, and he shared a lesson he would do in his Speech class, where students would identify Native American speeches and study and research these people and share about what they said, and how their words show us that we are more alike than we are different.

*If you are an educator, and want to spend a worthwhile two days, I encourage you to attend one of these summits throughout the state.  The next one will be in Pocatello, and then in Boise.  And don’t feel like it is only for educators who have Native American students.  It is for all educators.  I believe this is an opportunity they will provide each summer.

*After the summit we met up with Molly and went and had dinner at the Fisherman’s Market.  She came home with us for the weekend.  We watched Black Panther, which is another Marvel movie to check off the list to help us prepare to watch Avenger: Infinity War.  I think the only one left is for me to watch Dr. Strange, (Paul has already seen it), then we will be ready to watch and understand better Avengers:Infinity War.