There have been a lot of television shows I have watched in my lifetime, and some of them really made an impact on my life, whether it was making me cry, laugh or giving me a lesson in history.
Here are a list of 100 the television shows that have had an impact on me in my lifetime, for whatever reason. Maybe some of these are on your list, too. If you think I have forgotten one, let me know. These are in no particular order.
1. Sesame Street
2. Mr. Rogers
3. Electric Company
4. Zoom
5. The Muppet Show
6. The Carol Burnett Show
7. The Mary Tyler Moore Show
8. The Bob Newhart Show (first one and second one)
9. Rhoda
10. Frasier
11. Cheers
12. All in the Family
13. The Sonny and Cher Show
14. L.A. Law
15. Roots
16. North and South
17. M*A*S*H*
18. Gilligan's Island
19. Hogan's Heroes
20. Dark Shadows
21. General Hospital
22. All My Children
23. The Cosby Show
24. The West Wing
25. Hill Street Blues
26. Barney Miller
27. ER
28. Law and Order
29. Law and Order CI
30. The Rockford Files
31. Golden Girls
32. Murphy Brown
33. Star Trek: The Next Generation
34. Rowan and Martin's Laugh In
35. The Johnny Carson Show
36. Family Ties
37. Family
38. Eight is Enough
39. Late Night With David Letterman
40. Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
41. The Newsroom
42. NCIS
43. CSI
44. CIS: NY
45. Good Wife
46. Slings and Arrows
47. Corner Gas
48. Due South
49. As Time Goes By
50. The Facts of Life
51. Columbo
52. The Streets of San Fransisco
53. SWAT
54. Baretta
55. Monk
56. The Munsters
57. The Big Valley
58. Here Comes the Brides
59. Petticoat Junction
60. Green Acres
61. The Beverly Hillbillies
62. The Odd Couple
63. The Partridge Family
64. The Brady Bunch
65. Bewitched
66. Starsky and Hutch
67. Happy Days
68. Laverne and Shirley
69. Kojak
70. Quincy, ME
71. Marcus Welby, M.D.
72. Gilmore Girls
73. Mad About You
74. Boston Legal
75. Taxi
76. Psych
77. Cold Case
78. Arthur
79. Wishbone
80. The Practice
81. Night Court
82. Dallas
83. Holocaust
84. Get Smart
85. The X Files
86. Family Ties
87. Late Night With David Letterman
88. Saturday Night Live
89. Lonesome Dove
90. Angels in America
91. The Thorn Birds
92. The Mickey Mouse Club
93. Phyllis
94. Crimnal Minds
95. Firefly
96. We'll Get By
97. The Mentalist
98. Bugs Bunny
99. Bones
100. Castle
7/22/14
7/21/14
Golfing
To help celebrate our anniversary, Paul and I went golfing today.
We had a wonderful day at Shoshone Golf Course golfing on a beautiful course. My scores weren't the greatest, but I did score 13 strokes better on the back nine than I did on the front nine. And I didn't do too bad for not golfing for two years.
Every time we go golfing, it always brings back a particular golfing moment back when we were first married. We learned a lot about each other on this particular golfing outing.
We had started golfing together when we moved to Glendive, after we were married. It was something we enjoyed doing together. We joined the Cottonwood Country Club in Glendive, and I played in the women's league and Paul played in the men's league.
I can't remember exactly when this particular outing took place, but we were golfing, and there was a group of golfers behind us. I was new to the game, and so I probably hit the ball twice as many times as Paul did, and probably tended to slow the game down a bit. We were up on the green, and I remember feeling Paul's frustration because there were people behind us, and he wanted me to move faster playing the game. On the green, I had become very frustrated, and started scuffling my feet across the green. And because Paul was frustrated, he told me to lift up my feet, and stop scuffling my feet across the green.
Well, that did it for me. The tears started flowing. Now I was very upset, and started crying. I think this was a turning point in the early days of our marriage.
When I asked Paul tonight what he learned from this experience, he said that "I wasn't very happy if you were unhappy. That you were more important than all that other stuff. What you were feeling and thinking was much more important than what I thought other people were thinking and feeling. If other people were upset with me, I needed to care about more if you were happy or not, and that was what was important."
He never made my cry on the golf course ever again. He did understand my feelings much better, and never made me feel that way again.
And I think of that incident every time we go golfing.
Because it was a moment that made me realize that he was willing to put me first above others.....he just needed a few tears to point him in the right direction!!
We had a wonderful day at Shoshone Golf Course golfing on a beautiful course. My scores weren't the greatest, but I did score 13 strokes better on the back nine than I did on the front nine. And I didn't do too bad for not golfing for two years.
Every time we go golfing, it always brings back a particular golfing moment back when we were first married. We learned a lot about each other on this particular golfing outing.
We had started golfing together when we moved to Glendive, after we were married. It was something we enjoyed doing together. We joined the Cottonwood Country Club in Glendive, and I played in the women's league and Paul played in the men's league.
I can't remember exactly when this particular outing took place, but we were golfing, and there was a group of golfers behind us. I was new to the game, and so I probably hit the ball twice as many times as Paul did, and probably tended to slow the game down a bit. We were up on the green, and I remember feeling Paul's frustration because there were people behind us, and he wanted me to move faster playing the game. On the green, I had become very frustrated, and started scuffling my feet across the green. And because Paul was frustrated, he told me to lift up my feet, and stop scuffling my feet across the green.
Well, that did it for me. The tears started flowing. Now I was very upset, and started crying. I think this was a turning point in the early days of our marriage.
When I asked Paul tonight what he learned from this experience, he said that "I wasn't very happy if you were unhappy. That you were more important than all that other stuff. What you were feeling and thinking was much more important than what I thought other people were thinking and feeling. If other people were upset with me, I needed to care about more if you were happy or not, and that was what was important."
He never made my cry on the golf course ever again. He did understand my feelings much better, and never made me feel that way again.
And I think of that incident every time we go golfing.
Because it was a moment that made me realize that he was willing to put me first above others.....he just needed a few tears to point him in the right direction!!
7/20/14
Disappointing Others
I hate disappointing others.
If I feel like I have, there is a big, icky feeling in my stomach that doesn't want to go away.
I am all about encouraging others, being there for people, and cheering them on.
But sometimes, my actions disappoint.
Sometimes it is intentional. I get too lazy to follow through on a promise.
Or I am just stubborn, and don't want to do something.
Or maybe someone else's actions made me mad, and I don't want to be of help.
Or I really don't care at the moment.
Sometime it is unintentional.
I do something that is perfectly innocent, but it is taken the wrong way. It is misconstrued. And someone is disappointed in me, even though my motivations are pure.
But this is part of life. I handle these situations better than I used to when I was younger. I think I have developed more grace, and more patience. And more love.
I call it the "it isn't always all about me" syndrome.
I learned this about 20 years ago when I was reading a situation wrong with another person. This person had just moved to where I was living, and acting strange and was acting strangely toward me. I, of course, thought it was something I had done.
Months later, I learned that this person was sad about having to move where I was living, was missing their previous town and life in that town, and was dealing with the emotions that went along with the move.
And it had nothing, whatsoever, to do with me. That was a great lesson to learn.
Sometimes we have no control of how others are going to react to us. Because we are being ourself, someone gets disappointed, and we can't always please everyone. We have to be true to ourselves, and be who we are created to be, even if others don't like or appreciate that in us.
This summer something happened in our neighborhood, and I was certain one of the neighbors was mad at me and avoiding me and not talking to me. I was sick about it. I often felt trapped in my own home because I didn't want to be confronted or ignored by this person.
The other day I walked past their house, and my neighbor was as friendly as can be, acted like nothing happened and all was fine. It probably all was fine, right from the beginning. I probably imagined a conflict that was not there, and misinterpreted things going on that weren't really happening. I am glad I had patience and waited until the situation played out on its' own, and didn't confront the neighbor about it. Yes, I was uncomfortable for a few months, but it all seems fine now.
God is always teaching me things about loving others, and loving my neighbor. I often get it wrong, I often mess up, I often make decisions based on fear.
But I try and keep learning, and try and keep trying to be loving. Even though I disappoint others, and often just want to crawl into a ball and cry, I make it to another day, and start anew.
To me, life is about relationships. And one of those relationships is with myself. I need to learn to love me sometimes, even if I do disappoint.
I need to love others, even if they disappoint me, or I disappoint them.
Love your enemies. Pray for those who persecute you. Those are the words of Jesus, not me. Jesus challenges us to go beyond loving the lovable, and loving the unlovable. And He is there to help us love...so we don't have to do it all on our own.
What a world we would live in if we lived by these words.
But it is kind of hard.
And we are all kind of selfish.
But God knew that, and that is why He had Jesus share the teachings He did...to show us there is a better way.
The religious leaders of Jesus' time asked Him what the greatest commandment was...and this was His reply:
36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[c] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[d] 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.
Which, to me, means if we follow these two commandments, everything else will fall into place. It almost seems too easy.
But we aren't meant to muster enough strength and good will to do this on our own.
That is why Jesus is with us, to help us love one another.
But, even when the Son of God is right next to us, helping every step of the way, it is still hard.
7/19/14
Happy Anniversary: Looking Back to the Beginning
Today Paul and I have been married 28 years.
I have been thinking a lot about our life together, and when we first started dating.
I found an old journal that I wrote in when Paul and I first started dating.
We started dating in the summer of 1982. I had just finished my first year at the University of Idaho, and he was attending Western Montana College in Dillon, Montana.
I remember being surprised when someone said he was interested in me. Mainly because he was four years a head of me in school. When I was a freshman at Kellogg Junior High School, he was a senior at Kellogg High School and was the quarterback on the football team, and one of the starting basketball players, and a really good runner on the track team. So I wondered why would someone like him be interested in me?
But he was interested. And by the end of the summer, we had decided we wanted to get to know one another better, and would write letters while we were each at our different colleges.
The first letter I received from him had a poem in it he wrote to me. Here is what it said:
To be read slowly and quietly, aloud.
Wind and Water
To be touched by the fresh night breezes,
To be cooled by the evening light rain,
To smile when the wind kicks the drops in my face
To laugh when it does it again.
Wind and water
Pure and free
Changing my old to new
yet...
these are mere whispers of the true things in life,
My God's Holy Spirit
And You.
So, this is how our letter writing began. The day I received this letter, I had written him a letter on a six foot piece of butcher paper. This is what I wrote in my journal on August 28, 1982.
Hello!
Today was a very exciting day in the life of Carol Woolum. Ever since I have been here at school, I have wanted to send Paul a letter, so God put an idea of writing him a letter on butcher paper. So this morning I bought a big piece of butcher paper (about 2 yards long) and wrote Paul a letter on it and drew pictures and wrote little poems and verses on the border. It was so fun. Well while I was starting it, I went to see if I got a letter and there was one and it was from Paul. It was such a neat letter. He said that he didn't know what to write in the letter, and that he liked to talk to me in person a lot better, "especially when my arms are around you". Boy, that was neat! Then he sent this poem.
I wrote a poem to him about our last night together walking around Kellogg before I headed back to U of I. Here is what I wrote:
The Simple Things
The simple things in life always seem
to give me the most pleasure,
things like waiting for semis
to rush under a highway bridge,
throwing rocks in a river,
sitting in a deserted mining car, or just
walking hand in hand.
All these simple things are even more
pleasurable when they are shared
with someone,
Shared with someone like you.
I am so glad I kept a journal and wrote thoughts about when we first met, and first started dating, because you don't always remember all those special little details.
Such as the date of our first kiss. It was August 8, 1982. Eight years later to the day, our first child Molly was born.
It is fun to read back about my feelings for Paul, and how we were friends, then I really like him, and then I started falling in love with him. I was in love by Christmas, and told him so in a letter when I gave him his Christmas present that year. And he was in love, too.
Even after 28 years of marriage, I am still in awe that he chose me.
I still feel like that girl back at the University of Idaho who gushed about her new boyfriend, and how wonderful he was, and how crazy she was about him.
We were head over heels, gah-gah over one another back when we first started dating....
and we are head over heels, gah-gah over one another today.
And from the things we hear people say, people can tell!!
I have been thinking a lot about our life together, and when we first started dating.
I found an old journal that I wrote in when Paul and I first started dating.
We started dating in the summer of 1982. I had just finished my first year at the University of Idaho, and he was attending Western Montana College in Dillon, Montana.
I remember being surprised when someone said he was interested in me. Mainly because he was four years a head of me in school. When I was a freshman at Kellogg Junior High School, he was a senior at Kellogg High School and was the quarterback on the football team, and one of the starting basketball players, and a really good runner on the track team. So I wondered why would someone like him be interested in me?
But he was interested. And by the end of the summer, we had decided we wanted to get to know one another better, and would write letters while we were each at our different colleges.
The first letter I received from him had a poem in it he wrote to me. Here is what it said:
To be read slowly and quietly, aloud.
Wind and Water
To be touched by the fresh night breezes,
To be cooled by the evening light rain,
To smile when the wind kicks the drops in my face
To laugh when it does it again.
Wind and water
Pure and free
Changing my old to new
yet...
these are mere whispers of the true things in life,
My God's Holy Spirit
And You.
So, this is how our letter writing began. The day I received this letter, I had written him a letter on a six foot piece of butcher paper. This is what I wrote in my journal on August 28, 1982.
Hello!
Today was a very exciting day in the life of Carol Woolum. Ever since I have been here at school, I have wanted to send Paul a letter, so God put an idea of writing him a letter on butcher paper. So this morning I bought a big piece of butcher paper (about 2 yards long) and wrote Paul a letter on it and drew pictures and wrote little poems and verses on the border. It was so fun. Well while I was starting it, I went to see if I got a letter and there was one and it was from Paul. It was such a neat letter. He said that he didn't know what to write in the letter, and that he liked to talk to me in person a lot better, "especially when my arms are around you". Boy, that was neat! Then he sent this poem.
I wrote a poem to him about our last night together walking around Kellogg before I headed back to U of I. Here is what I wrote:
The Simple Things
The simple things in life always seem
to give me the most pleasure,
things like waiting for semis
to rush under a highway bridge,
throwing rocks in a river,
sitting in a deserted mining car, or just
walking hand in hand.
All these simple things are even more
pleasurable when they are shared
with someone,
Shared with someone like you.
I am so glad I kept a journal and wrote thoughts about when we first met, and first started dating, because you don't always remember all those special little details.
Such as the date of our first kiss. It was August 8, 1982. Eight years later to the day, our first child Molly was born.
It is fun to read back about my feelings for Paul, and how we were friends, then I really like him, and then I started falling in love with him. I was in love by Christmas, and told him so in a letter when I gave him his Christmas present that year. And he was in love, too.
Even after 28 years of marriage, I am still in awe that he chose me.
I still feel like that girl back at the University of Idaho who gushed about her new boyfriend, and how wonderful he was, and how crazy she was about him.
We were head over heels, gah-gah over one another back when we first started dating....
and we are head over heels, gah-gah over one another today.
And from the things we hear people say, people can tell!!
7/18/14
Silver Valley History: Hiking the Pulaski Trail
Four years ago Paul and I were involved in the 100 year commemoration of the 1910 fire in the town of Wallace.
As part of that summer, we were tour guides on the 1910 Fire Tours. Paul portrayed Ed Pulaski, and I portrayed his wife, Emma Pulaski. We would take people on the tour up to the Pulaski Trail trailhead, and walk along the part of the trail that was paved. Ever since then I have wanted to hike the Pulaski Trail.
I had hiked it one other time, during the spring of 2010. But I don't think I got the full advantage of the experience. It was with my friend Marian, and a group of students from Mullan. It was pouring down rain for the majority of the hike that day, so I didn't really see a whole lot of the trail coming up or coming down.
Today I finally got to hike to the top of the trail and back down, and take full advantage of the hike, looking at the interpretive signs along the way, and taking photographs of the beautiful scenery.
My friend April #1 joined me on the hike. As April has confessed many times, she is really not really into "nature", and between me and her husband and son, she has experienced quite a bit of nature in the last few months.
But April is a trooper, and we hiked the four mile round trip trail to the Pulaski Tunnel site and back. Fortunately the temperature cooled down today, but the sky was still hazy from fires in Washington state. But I felt like this was quite fitting for our hike up the trail learning about the 1910 fire.
Here are some images of our day.
As part of that summer, we were tour guides on the 1910 Fire Tours. Paul portrayed Ed Pulaski, and I portrayed his wife, Emma Pulaski. We would take people on the tour up to the Pulaski Trail trailhead, and walk along the part of the trail that was paved. Ever since then I have wanted to hike the Pulaski Trail.
I had hiked it one other time, during the spring of 2010. But I don't think I got the full advantage of the experience. It was with my friend Marian, and a group of students from Mullan. It was pouring down rain for the majority of the hike that day, so I didn't really see a whole lot of the trail coming up or coming down.
Today I finally got to hike to the top of the trail and back down, and take full advantage of the hike, looking at the interpretive signs along the way, and taking photographs of the beautiful scenery.
My friend April #1 joined me on the hike. As April has confessed many times, she is really not really into "nature", and between me and her husband and son, she has experienced quite a bit of nature in the last few months.
But April is a trooper, and we hiked the four mile round trip trail to the Pulaski Tunnel site and back. Fortunately the temperature cooled down today, but the sky was still hazy from fires in Washington state. But I felt like this was quite fitting for our hike up the trail learning about the 1910 fire.
Here are some images of our day.
Here April is at the start of the trail. The tools on either side are called Pulaski's. Ed Pulaski designed them and used them when he worked for the Forest Service.
Along the way, there are many interpretive signs that tell about Ed Pulaski, his story, and information about the 1910 fire. They are all very interesting.
Other signs point you in the right direction.
This points to some old mining equipment still up on the trail.
This is a plaque remembering the men who died in Pulaski's crew.
There are many snags along the trail that are charred and are remnants of the 1910 fire.
Here is one they singled out.
As you hike along the trail, there are markers every quarter mile to show you your progress.
Here we are at the top....we made it!!!
When you reach the top, you look across the creek to the Pulaski Tunnel. Ed Pulaski took his men and led them to this tunnel and saved them during the fire.
The trail follows Placer Creek, and there is some beautiful scenery along the way.
There were wildflowers along the trail, including the beautiful state flower, the white Syringa.
There were many benches along the way to stop and rest if needed.
The hazy sky.
Along the path.
When we reached the end, we were greeted by Isadora, this beautiful half black lab/half greyhound dog that belongs to my friend Rhonda. April and I fell in love with this dog.
You hike about 800 feet from the trailhead to the Overlook Loop. There are a couple of steep places, but nothing too difficult. We both enjoyed the level of difficulty of the trail, and the beauty of our surroundings. It took us about 2 hours to get from the trailhead to the top, with stops for taking photos and resting. It took us about one hour to come back down.
If you want to find out more about the Pulaski Trail, you can visit this website here.
7/17/14
Orofino, Idaho
Growing up, I knew one family vacation destination.....Orofino, Idaho.
Every summer our family would travel to Orofino to visit my Grandma West, and my aunts, uncles and cousins.
My mother grew up in Orofino. And, since she was a teacher, she had the summers off, and Dad would take a week off from work, and we would pile in the car and drive the curvy road to Orofino.
It was a ritual with our family. That was our family vacation.
I have a memory of going to the site where Dworshak Dam now towers over the Clearwater River, before the dam was there. If my memory serves me right, there was a visitor's center that showed you what the dam was going to look like, and where you were standing looking at this map under glass, it said on it that this site would be under water. I remember seeing big machinery moving dirt. I would have been pretty young to have this memory, but I do have a memory of this.
As I grew older, you always new you were getting close to Orofino because you saw the dam rising above the river up in the hills.
The majority of my time was spent at grandma's house. One thing I love about being at grandma's house was she had a piano. I would spend hours playing on the piano. The piano was actually my mother's piano, but Grandma had the piano because Mom always said she kept it in Orofino because there was no where to put it at our house in Kellogg. I learned to play Chopsticks with both hands on that piano, as well as Peter, Peter Pumpkin Eater, and various other tunes. How I longed to have that piano at our house when I was growing up. But, later in life I got my wish, because it now sits in my living room here in Kellogg.
Grandma always had flowers and a vegetable garden. I remember going out to her vegetable garden and her dirt always had a very distinctive smell. It was very dark in color, and boy could she grow vegetables. I'm fortunate that both my grandmothers loved gardening, and I know continue to carry on the tradition.
We knew the neighbors on either side of my grandma's house. The Stanleys were one one side, and the Erbs were on the other side. The Stanleys had a daughter close to my sister's age. I remember tagging along with her sometimes to go visit at the Stanley house. They had a big curved staircase in their house with big wooden bannisters. One time in particular I remember being up in the bedroom with my sister and her friend, and they were playing the song "Sealed With A Kiss". Funny the things that stick in your mind.
The Erbs on the other side were very nice people, too. They had a son John who was older than my brother and sister, and it seemed like I remember he was always lifting weights. Norm, the dad, was in a wheelchair because he was missing a leg. He ran a bar downtown that my dad came and worked at one summer when the Bunker Hill was on strike. Norm was always very friendly and kind. Mrs. Erbs was always very nice, too.
One night when I was about nine or ten, I was standing out on the porch, because Mom was going to take me to someone else's house to sleep that night. As I was standing on Grandma's porch, a bug flew in my ear. They had to take me to the Emergency Room to get it flushed out. It was not a pleasant experience, but I do remember the doctor being very nice.
My Uncle Bob and Auntie Ronnie owned a business in town called West's Gun and Tackle Shop. Uncle Bob was my mom's brother. One summer the let me work there during the week. One of my main jobs was showing the fisherman the bait they were buying to make sure the worms and maggots were alive and squirming. After working there for the week, I got to choose something out of the store as my payment. I believe I chose swimming goggles. I'm not sure how many days I actually worked there, but I look back on that time very fondly.
My mom's sister Lila also lived in Orofino. We would often go down to her house for dinner while we were visiting. We would eat in the side yard, and often partake of the delicious vegetables Lila grew in her garden. She also had beautiful flowers in her yard. Lila was married to Ted. One thing I remember about Ted is he chewed Copenhagen, and was from Wisconsin and had an accent.
Two of Lila's children lived in Orofino, my cousin Lura and my cousin John. Lura and Lyle lived on Riverside, a part of town that was on the left side of the road as you headed out of town toward Lewiston. They had two sons, Derrick and Mark, and they were a few years younger than me. I remember once having a Slip and Slide at Lura and Lyle's house and playing on it with my cousins. People always said Lura and I looked alike...which I always took as a big compliment!!
My cousin John lived on the other end of town. To get to his house, you had to drive past Auntie Lila's house, and through Konkolville. Konkolville was an area where the Konkol Lumber Mill was located, and there was the Konkol's house that had a fountain in the front lawn with different colored lights shining on it. There was also a motel in Konkolville. John was married to Linda, and they had there kids, Paul, Matt and Summer. When I was really young, I remember John was in the Army and I think he and Linda lived in Hawaii at one time, and they brought me back a little hula girl doll as a gift. I still have that hula girl. John was always so nice and always pleasant to be around. His kids were younger than me, too.
The Clearwater River ran through the town of Orofino, and I remember almost every summer we would take a day and go to Zann's Beach. It was a white sandy beach down past the turnoff to the golf course. One summer, the summer I saw the movie "Jaws", I would not go into the water for fear a shark would attack me.
Lila also has a daughter Judy, who lives in Boise. Her there daughters are all close to my age. There was a few time, when I got older, more junior high age, that they would be visiting Orofino the same time we were there, so I got to hang out with them, too.
There was a girl that lived on the street behind Grandma West's house that I did play with a few summers, But then they moved to Lewiston. When I was in junior high, she ended up being at one of our dances, because one of my classmates who had just moved to Kellogg from Lewiston, invited her to the dance.
Tonight as I sit in my backyard writing this, there is a smoky haze over our valley. This also reminds me of Orofino. It seemed like there was always a fire burning somewhere when we were there, and I remember the moon looking so big and red as it came up over the hills when we were driving home from someone's house in the evening.
Growing up I think I grumbled a bit because we never got to go anywhere else for our vacation in the summer. But now that I look back, what a wonderful ritual I got to be a part of by connecting with my mother's family at least once every year. With the arrival of Facebook, my siblings and I have reconnected with most of our Orofino relatives and a couple of years ago had a family reunion in Orofino at my cousin Lura's house. Many of the relatives were there, and it was nice to take the time to visit.
My Uncle Bob, my cousin Lura and her husband Lyle, and their son Mark are the only family that remains in Orofino. Grandma West passed away the year Molly was born, then Uncle Ted, and Auntie Ronnie, then more recently my cousin John and my Auntie Lila.
Hopefully there will be another Orofino reunion in the future (fondly named "Last Cousin Standing Hootenanny). We all so enjoyed spending time with one another.
Even though I didn't grow up in Orofino, it has always been a part of me, because of those times we spent visiting Grandma West, our aunts, uncles, and cousins, and those times helped shape me into who I am today.
(I may have got some details wrong, so if any of my cousins or siblings want to clarify some things, please feel free!!)
Every summer our family would travel to Orofino to visit my Grandma West, and my aunts, uncles and cousins.
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| Mom graduating from Orofino High School |
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| Mom was the Queen of the Clearwater County Fair. |
It was a ritual with our family. That was our family vacation.
I have a memory of going to the site where Dworshak Dam now towers over the Clearwater River, before the dam was there. If my memory serves me right, there was a visitor's center that showed you what the dam was going to look like, and where you were standing looking at this map under glass, it said on it that this site would be under water. I remember seeing big machinery moving dirt. I would have been pretty young to have this memory, but I do have a memory of this.
As I grew older, you always new you were getting close to Orofino because you saw the dam rising above the river up in the hills.
The majority of my time was spent at grandma's house. One thing I love about being at grandma's house was she had a piano. I would spend hours playing on the piano. The piano was actually my mother's piano, but Grandma had the piano because Mom always said she kept it in Orofino because there was no where to put it at our house in Kellogg. I learned to play Chopsticks with both hands on that piano, as well as Peter, Peter Pumpkin Eater, and various other tunes. How I longed to have that piano at our house when I was growing up. But, later in life I got my wish, because it now sits in my living room here in Kellogg.
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| One of my earliest photographs of me taken in Grandma West's house. |
Grandma always had flowers and a vegetable garden. I remember going out to her vegetable garden and her dirt always had a very distinctive smell. It was very dark in color, and boy could she grow vegetables. I'm fortunate that both my grandmothers loved gardening, and I know continue to carry on the tradition.
We knew the neighbors on either side of my grandma's house. The Stanleys were one one side, and the Erbs were on the other side. The Stanleys had a daughter close to my sister's age. I remember tagging along with her sometimes to go visit at the Stanley house. They had a big curved staircase in their house with big wooden bannisters. One time in particular I remember being up in the bedroom with my sister and her friend, and they were playing the song "Sealed With A Kiss". Funny the things that stick in your mind.
The Erbs on the other side were very nice people, too. They had a son John who was older than my brother and sister, and it seemed like I remember he was always lifting weights. Norm, the dad, was in a wheelchair because he was missing a leg. He ran a bar downtown that my dad came and worked at one summer when the Bunker Hill was on strike. Norm was always very friendly and kind. Mrs. Erbs was always very nice, too.
One night when I was about nine or ten, I was standing out on the porch, because Mom was going to take me to someone else's house to sleep that night. As I was standing on Grandma's porch, a bug flew in my ear. They had to take me to the Emergency Room to get it flushed out. It was not a pleasant experience, but I do remember the doctor being very nice.
My Uncle Bob and Auntie Ronnie owned a business in town called West's Gun and Tackle Shop. Uncle Bob was my mom's brother. One summer the let me work there during the week. One of my main jobs was showing the fisherman the bait they were buying to make sure the worms and maggots were alive and squirming. After working there for the week, I got to choose something out of the store as my payment. I believe I chose swimming goggles. I'm not sure how many days I actually worked there, but I look back on that time very fondly.
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| Auntie Ronnie and Auntie Lila |
Two of Lila's children lived in Orofino, my cousin Lura and my cousin John. Lura and Lyle lived on Riverside, a part of town that was on the left side of the road as you headed out of town toward Lewiston. They had two sons, Derrick and Mark, and they were a few years younger than me. I remember once having a Slip and Slide at Lura and Lyle's house and playing on it with my cousins. People always said Lura and I looked alike...which I always took as a big compliment!!
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| Grandma West surrounded by her grandchildren. Front row, Christy, Grandma, Me. Second Row, John, Judy, Bill Lura. This is up at John's house. |
My cousin John lived on the other end of town. To get to his house, you had to drive past Auntie Lila's house, and through Konkolville. Konkolville was an area where the Konkol Lumber Mill was located, and there was the Konkol's house that had a fountain in the front lawn with different colored lights shining on it. There was also a motel in Konkolville. John was married to Linda, and they had there kids, Paul, Matt and Summer. When I was really young, I remember John was in the Army and I think he and Linda lived in Hawaii at one time, and they brought me back a little hula girl doll as a gift. I still have that hula girl. John was always so nice and always pleasant to be around. His kids were younger than me, too.
The Clearwater River ran through the town of Orofino, and I remember almost every summer we would take a day and go to Zann's Beach. It was a white sandy beach down past the turnoff to the golf course. One summer, the summer I saw the movie "Jaws", I would not go into the water for fear a shark would attack me.
Lila also has a daughter Judy, who lives in Boise. Her there daughters are all close to my age. There was a few time, when I got older, more junior high age, that they would be visiting Orofino the same time we were there, so I got to hang out with them, too.
There was a girl that lived on the street behind Grandma West's house that I did play with a few summers, But then they moved to Lewiston. When I was in junior high, she ended up being at one of our dances, because one of my classmates who had just moved to Kellogg from Lewiston, invited her to the dance.
Tonight as I sit in my backyard writing this, there is a smoky haze over our valley. This also reminds me of Orofino. It seemed like there was always a fire burning somewhere when we were there, and I remember the moon looking so big and red as it came up over the hills when we were driving home from someone's house in the evening.
Growing up I think I grumbled a bit because we never got to go anywhere else for our vacation in the summer. But now that I look back, what a wonderful ritual I got to be a part of by connecting with my mother's family at least once every year. With the arrival of Facebook, my siblings and I have reconnected with most of our Orofino relatives and a couple of years ago had a family reunion in Orofino at my cousin Lura's house. Many of the relatives were there, and it was nice to take the time to visit.
My Uncle Bob, my cousin Lura and her husband Lyle, and their son Mark are the only family that remains in Orofino. Grandma West passed away the year Molly was born, then Uncle Ted, and Auntie Ronnie, then more recently my cousin John and my Auntie Lila.
Hopefully there will be another Orofino reunion in the future (fondly named "Last Cousin Standing Hootenanny). We all so enjoyed spending time with one another.
Even though I didn't grow up in Orofino, it has always been a part of me, because of those times we spent visiting Grandma West, our aunts, uncles, and cousins, and those times helped shape me into who I am today.
(I may have got some details wrong, so if any of my cousins or siblings want to clarify some things, please feel free!!)
7/16/14
Favorite Color
My favorite color changes.
At times it is red.
It has been blue many times.
Lately, my favorite color has been yellow.
As winter was turning to spring this year, I felt like my living room was dark and dreary. I needed some color to brighten it up.
I needed yellow.
One place stated that the color yellow means this:
In the meanings of color in color psychology, yellow is the color of the mind and the intellect. It is optimistic and cheerful. However it can also suggest impatience, criticism and cowardice.
I like how this picture puts it:
One of the cheeriest flowers in my garden is the Moonbeam Coreopsis.
Paul does a Color Coding test with his students, and I have taken it many times. My color is always Yellow, and it means:
Need to be noticed and have fun. They love life, social connections, and being positive and spontaneous.
Another favorite flower of mine is the Sunflower. I think I will actually have some bloom in my garden this year. This photo is of a field of sunflowers north of Spokane, Washington.
At times it is red.
It has been blue many times.
Lately, my favorite color has been yellow.
As winter was turning to spring this year, I felt like my living room was dark and dreary. I needed some color to brighten it up.
I needed yellow.
One place stated that the color yellow means this:
In the meanings of color in color psychology, yellow is the color of the mind and the intellect. It is optimistic and cheerful. However it can also suggest impatience, criticism and cowardice.
I like how this picture puts it:
One of the cheeriest flowers in my garden is the Moonbeam Coreopsis.
Paul does a Color Coding test with his students, and I have taken it many times. My color is always Yellow, and it means:
Need to be noticed and have fun. They love life, social connections, and being positive and spontaneous.
Another favorite flower of mine is the Sunflower. I think I will actually have some bloom in my garden this year. This photo is of a field of sunflowers north of Spokane, Washington.
One of the first signs of spring is the happy daffodils.
Daffodils always remind of the William Wordsworth poem "Daffodils" that I had to memorize when I was in Mrs. Tregoning's sixth grade class.
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed--and gazed--but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed--and gazed--but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.
7/15/14
Happy Birthday Zoe
Well, Zoe turned 20 years old today.
She didn't celebrate her birthday in the typical fashion.
When asked what she wanted to do for her birthday, she replied, "I want us to all paint my bedroom."
So that is what happened today.
I fixed Zoe the breakfast she requested, scrambled eggs, huckleberry muffins and bacon.
Paul, Coco and Zoe cleaned the room out, and cleaned and prepped the walls for the paint job.
So as those three painted away, I fixed the requested birthday meal and cake, which consisted of Greek pizzas (with homemade pizza dough with some fresh herbs from the garden thrown in), a fruit salad with Honey Greek Yogurt, and a Huckleberry Cake.
We all took a break from the festivities, so I could go to my Pottery Class, and Zoe could go out to Rose Lake and interview the women who sell their produce and flowers from Killarney Farms for an article for the Shoshone News Press.
When I got back from class, the bedroom had received a second coat, Zoe was cutting her sister Coco's hair, and Molly had arrived home. On to the next phase of the birthday....(as if painting a bedroom and cutting her sister's hair weren't enough excitement for the day!!)
We had a few leftover fireworks from the Fourth of July, so we did some in the driveway.
Zoe requested we watch the movie "The Book Thief". It was a beautiful movie that was very interesting. I may have to read the book it was based on now.
Halfway through the movie we paused to light the candles and have some birthday cake....the Huckleberry Sour Cream Cake was a hit!!
That is one of the things I love about Zoe...she is not conventional...she is very unconventional. She does her own thing. She has wanted her bedroom painted for a very long time, so why not enlist your family members to help out on your birthday?
She didn't celebrate her birthday in the typical fashion.
When asked what she wanted to do for her birthday, she replied, "I want us to all paint my bedroom."
So that is what happened today.
I fixed Zoe the breakfast she requested, scrambled eggs, huckleberry muffins and bacon.
Paul, Coco and Zoe cleaned the room out, and cleaned and prepped the walls for the paint job.
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| Before, with the yellow color, or scathingly yellow, as Zoe describes it. |
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| Paul doing the work by the ceiling. |
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| Sisters working together. |
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| Second coat all done!! |
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| This door is getting painted over!! |
So as those three painted away, I fixed the requested birthday meal and cake, which consisted of Greek pizzas (with homemade pizza dough with some fresh herbs from the garden thrown in), a fruit salad with Honey Greek Yogurt, and a Huckleberry Cake.
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| Greek Pizza with olive oil, pesto, Kalamata Olives, fresh tomatoes, fresh basil, feta cheese and Mozerella cheese. Delicious!! |
We all took a break from the festivities, so I could go to my Pottery Class, and Zoe could go out to Rose Lake and interview the women who sell their produce and flowers from Killarney Farms for an article for the Shoshone News Press.
When I got back from class, the bedroom had received a second coat, Zoe was cutting her sister Coco's hair, and Molly had arrived home. On to the next phase of the birthday....(as if painting a bedroom and cutting her sister's hair weren't enough excitement for the day!!)
We had a few leftover fireworks from the Fourth of July, so we did some in the driveway.
July 15th Birthday Fireworks
Zoe requested we watch the movie "The Book Thief". It was a beautiful movie that was very interesting. I may have to read the book it was based on now.
Halfway through the movie we paused to light the candles and have some birthday cake....the Huckleberry Sour Cream Cake was a hit!!
That is one of the things I love about Zoe...she is not conventional...she is very unconventional. She does her own thing. She has wanted her bedroom painted for a very long time, so why not enlist your family members to help out on your birthday?
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