Float the Palouse 2009

Last Sunday, on a day that was not nearly as sunny as this photo, an intrepid group of 10 people braved the "mighty" Palouse River!
As you can see by the sky and our clothes it was not the bright, sunny day pictured above. Sueann Ramella our "Morning Edition" host is wearing the bright, blue jacket. We were a very international crew; more on that later.

Before we embarked I recited the first stanza of E. E. Cumming's poem "i thank You God for most this amazing day."

i thank You God for most this amazing
day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky;and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun's birthday;this is the birth
day of life and of love and wings:and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any--lifted from the no
of allnothing--human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

And with that we embarked!


That clump of trees behind us and to the left is where I took photos of the beavers last spring. If you scroll down through my older blog postings you can see the pictures, taken from the bridge at the south end of the city of Palouse. My goal for next year is to get the Palouse Chamber of Commerce to make a regional event out of the trip.


You can see Bruce Bradberry, our "Weekend Edition" host looking resplendent in his brightly colored sea kayak, wet suite and life vest. Bruce would often shoot ahead down the river where we would eventually find him facing us near the river bank, his arms folded with a beatific expression on his face.

Our "Internationals" as we dubbed Nikko (from Germany) and Kristen (from South Korea) had their work cut out for them in their two person raft. This raft seemed strangely attracted to the shoreline and they made slow progress. Kudos to Nikko for manning this unruly raft and for Kristen who had never been in a raft before and was brave enough to try something different!

We added further international spice to our trip with Yvonne (from Chile via Germany.) Also in the big raft were George, Lois, Sueann and me along with our coxswain Ben who did a magnificent job of steering us around the rocks. Unfortunately, we came upon a rather large one without any of us sighting it and Ben and Sueann took a spill. No injuries were incurred but I know that they were wet and miserable. Our other kayaker, Corey, also took a spill but the three of them soldiered on with no complaints. I was pretty impressed as we were only halfway through the trip at that point and it was not a warm day. Bravo!


And here we are just before the finish line at the beautiful ghost town of Elberton where Nikko's aunt and uncle were waiting for us with hot, delicious soup! Thanks!



If you follow the Palouse River through Colfax, past Dusty and beyond you'll eventually come to the spectacular Palouse Falls.



Flickr photo

Maybe you'll make the trip one day! Just be sure and go before the water level gets too low sometime in May.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Saturday Palouse held its annual St. Paddy's Day Dog Parade. I was delighted to be the the M.C. for the event. If there are dogs involved I'll be there! It was a small but festive affair and the gray skies did not seem to dampen the mood of those present.



Here are some photos before the parade. This is the Golden Retriever section of the parade with my dog Miles on the left. Miles was modestly dressed for the occasion with a green shamrock bow around his neck and a green bow tied to his tail. He's rather petite as you can see by comparing him to the green bewigged monster (just kidding!) to the left.



Members of the Whitman County Humane Society were at the event along with two dogs for adoption, a very nice, senior German Shorthaired Pointer mix, Elmer, and a Staffordshire/Sharpei mix, Ghost. Hopefully they will find good homes.



My favorite "dog," aside from Miles of course, was Penny the donkey. Penny is an amazing animal. I'm serious. When you are in her presence you feel calm, serene and happy. Holly, Palouse's librarian, rescued Penny. She had foundered and had a bad case of laminitis , an infection that can badly cripple an animal sometimes to the point where euthanasia is necessary. Look at Penny now! Doesn't she look gorgeous!



Penny is, in my opinion, a service animal because she is helping Miles to get over his fear of equines. Miles was accidentally stepped on by a horse several years ago while we were trail riding. He's been afraid of horses since then and I have been working with him on that issue of late. He is improving but still somewhat trepidatious around horses but he walked right up to Penny without one sign of fear. Penny rocks!

Paul Smith provided a soundtrack of great Celtic tunes. Paul performs with the group Potatohead. He also sometimes comes to the Open Mike nights at The Green Frog Cafe in Palouse the first Friday of every month. Paul is one of those amazing musicians that can play along with anyone at the drop of a hat and make them sound even better by doing so.







This little Chihuahua won the prize for the smallest dog.



Wishing you a happy St. Paddy's Day!

Road Trips

What is it about a road trip that makes us long to collect our favorite tunes, our favorite snacks, get behind the wheel and take off for parts unknown? This summer NPR featured a number of stories about this quintessential American automotive adventure.

"A Cross Country Road Trip Back in Time"

"Songs for the Gas-Guzzling Blues"

"Take Me To Your Leader: The Road Trip

The siren song of the open road strongly appeals to me even when it's over a route I've made so many times I could probably do it in my sleep (NOT RECOMMENDED).

The journey from the
Palouse


to Portland





is one that I know by heart. Over the years I've become rather fond of a series of landmarks, mostly geopgraphical, that mark the passing of time, climate and red vines reduction on a typical trip to my home town.

1.) Pepto Pig: If you travel on 26 between Colfax and Washtucna you know Pepto Pig!




With a face this attractive a close up is surely called for!





2.) Red Rocks!




3.) Connell National Forest It must be seen to be believed! A few years ago I met a native of the area who told me that the tree was once much bigger. A vandal cut it down in the middle of the night. Fortunately, the resilience of nature overcame the destructive qualities of humankind and out of the stump grew a shoot!



4.) Sundale Park






5.) Amazing Rock Formations Also found along the Lewis Clark Highway.







6.) Corral



7.) The Dalles Fish Bridge






8.) Meredith Gorge Hotel Sign
Sadly, to my shock and dismay I discovered that the hotel went out of business. The big sign that sat on the bluff above the river just outside of Hood River was like the final lap bell in a track meet! I'll miss you.


9.) Wind Surfers
The Columbia River Gorge is known to many as the "windsurfing capital of the world."






10.) View from Starvation Creek rest stop



11.) Hill And now I'm only about 18 miles from Portland.

If you didn't want to take care of Babou you could have just said so...

Those words came from my friend, Francois, who used to live just a few blocks from me in Palouse. He recently took a great job in Missouri and was planning on leaving his senior Bassett Hound, Babou, with me for a few weeks. As he spoke these words to me I was on the couch, my right foot encased in a knee high cast and perched atop a big, fluffy pillow. Just the day before I'd slipped off the edge of my sturdy
and orthopedically recommended sandals and broke my foot in three places. The break itself is not very inducive to gut busting laughter but leave it to Francois to find the funny side!

Sharing music with you in the mornings is such a part of my life that it's really felt strange to be at home and away from the music and the microphone for so long.

My last doctor's appointment was not as encouraging as I'd hoped. Apparently, the worst break has shown no healing at all and, unfortunately, has pulled even farther apart. After two weeks of being on crutches I was not thrilled at this news and at the recommendation that I be off my feet completely for another two weeks. Hopefully, there will be some new bone growth in the next week or so. If not, I think that surgery may be in my future.

Well, that's the update on why you haven't heard me on air for the past few weeks. While having a broken foot is not the ideal way to enjoy this amazing late summer
weather, I have learned a lot from this experience.



I've learned more about my friends and neighbors in Palouse, at Northwest Public Radio, in Pullman, Portland and beyond. I've learned how generous and hospitable we can be when someone is in need. I've received wonderful meals, rides to the doctor, loans of wheelchairs, gift of housecleaning, dog walks, books, encouragement, etc. I've received A LOT!!!! I've learned that the members of Palouse Federated Church rock!!!! I'm learning that while it is "more blessed to give than to receive" it can sometimes be more challenging to receive than to give. It's necessary, however, to learn to receive gracefully, gratefully and without guilt. This honors and respects the giver.

I hope that you are well and enjoying this amazing weather!

Open Mike

On Friday, Northwest Public Radio descended on The Green Frog in Palouse for their Open Mike night to celebrate the birthday of our colleague, Nate Prudhon. Here he is blowing out the candles on his cake with the help of Serena.

Tiana, one of the co-owners of TGF made this delicious chocolate cake covered with frosting, almonds and a drizzle of kahlua. It was fabulous! Happy Birthday Nate!

This was a particularly great Open Mike. There were a wide variety of singers and instrumentalists and we even had some comedy. Open Mike at the Frog always opens with Tiana. She writes and performs her own songs and is a great personality. She had Sueann Ramella laughing from the very beginning. Here Sueann is throwing out some Open Mike attitude!

Eric is one of my favorites. He has a really nice voice and plays both the guitar and the banjo. He does a version of "Stayin' Alive" that actually gave me a whole new appreciate for disco!

I went up to ask him if he would play "Happy Birthday" when we brought in Nate's cake and he invited me to sing "Fly Me to the Moon" with him. I was so caught off guard that I didn't do a very good job but it was fun anyway and hopefully I'll get another chance in July.

These two men were hysterical! I heard someone say their names but people were laughing so hard that I didn't catch them so will have to ask Tiana. The guy on the right played the guitar while the red-headed guy with the beard played some kind of laptop xylophone and told jokes. There was something about the sound of the xylophone, the guitar and his one or two sentence jokes that went over really well. They need to take this on the road.

Personally, I think that the non-blue humor worked better than some of the bluer and/or more scatalogical references, but I tend to think that blue humor is the easier kind of humor. What he did for most of the time was very clever.

Here's another one of my somewhat blurry (I'm still getting used to my new camera!) photographs with Chuck, Sarah and Laura. Gillian is hiding off to their right.

There's some pretty impressive musical talent in those three. Sarah McDaniel you go girl! I heard her singing some nice harmony, Chuck was doing harmony and melody and has a great voice and our very own Laura was the belle of the ball!

She did an a capella version of a song from "The Color Purple" what rocked the house! This woman is an entertainer!!!!! She needs to be on Broadway!

Here's Paul, Eric, Terri and Janet doing Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" with the audience joining in.

Janet plays the melodica, flute, recorder and pennywhistle and probably a handful of other instruments as well.

Paul, who is part of Steptoe, seems to play about every instrument known to man. Okay, maybe that's a slight exaggeration but I've seen and heard him play the guitar, violin, mandolin, banjo and harmonica. Well, it was another great Open Mike at The Green Frog. You should really come and check it out for yourself on the first Friday of every months. See you there!

Walk with me....

Let's take a stroll around Palouse together. I moved here in the summer of 2005 and really enjoy this community. I thought that we'd start from my house. Before we leave please take the time to say hello to Stanley.

I found him in a store in the First Edition section of Lake Oswego, south of Portland. It's a great neighborhood and Lake Oswego has one of the best local Saturday markets around.

I brought Stanley home, put him on my porch (yes, I know I need to sand and paint!) and proceeded to fill him with various flowers of the season. Much to my surprise, when fellow Palousians would ask me where I lived and I started giving them directions many would say, "Oh, the house with the pig on the porch!" At present, I find it easier to just say, "My house is the one on ______ with the pig on the porch." It usually works.

Last week when I was mowing my lawn a young couple walked by and I noticed that they were looking at my house and smiling. The woman caught my eye and said, "We're smiling at your pig!" There's something special about Stanley. What can I say?

Let's get Miles. He likes to walk around Palouse with me. Miles is a Golden Retriever. I call him my mini-Golden because he weighs about 59 pounds, which is pretty small for a Golden these days.



Miles is a great dog. He's a good buddy and a great companion for someone who likes to walk and hike as much as I do.

See his pink nose? That's called a snow nose and is considered a breeding fault. When I first brought him home I considered breeding him because he is such a calm, loving, intelligent dog but now I'm glad that I did not make that choice. Although the "snow nose" is not up to the Golden Retriever breeding standards Miles has a much greater reason to be "single." Unfortunately, he has Progressive Retinal Atrophy, a genetic disease that usually results in gradual but total blindness. He was diagnosed with PRA last autumn.


When I first found out I was really sad and depressed about it even though I know it's not painful and that he can have a good life in spite of his condition. It just made me sad. I didn't like the idea of his world shrinking. The silver lining in this ocular cloud is the "P" in PRA. It does come on gradually so that he will have a chance to adjust. Also, sight is not a dog's primary sense; his sense of smell is much more acute.

I found it very interesting that the first thing the veterinarian told me after sharing the diagnosis was that there was no need to put him down. I was a bit shocked that this would be his first comment to me. My surprise obviously showed on my face because he went on to say that many owners immediately talk about euthanization and he wanted to reassure me that it is not a painful disease and that dogs are very adaptable. I remember him saying, "I wish that we humans could adapt to hardship as easily as dogs do."

Here's a link to PRA

So now that we have Miles let's walk a couple of blocks from my house to Holy Trinity Chapel. It first opened its doors on Christmas Day of 1895. The small structure next to the sidewalk is a lych gate and I understand that they are rare in the U.S. in general and particularly west of the Rocky Mountains.

Here's a definiton of a lych gate from the National Parks Service: Traditionally, a roofed gateway to a church graveyard under which a funeral casket was placed before burial; also lich gate; commonly, an ornamental cemetery gateway.

Here's another definition of Lych Gate

















There are a lot of great businesses in Palouse and I spend a part of every Saturday I'm in town going from shop to shop, saying hi and checking out what's new at the Open Eye, The Bank Left Gallery, Momma's Blessing and Joanne's Whimseys. Part of my Saturday afternoon in Palouse is always spent at The Green Frog.



This is one small section of the north side of Palouse's main street looking east. There's been a lot of restoration of the downtown area after the June 2006 flood. The brick building on the left with the green trim is the Boomerang Museum. Next to that is the library, Small Towne Quilts (be sure and say hi to the blue-eyed dachsund, Alice when you stop in), and St. Elmo's, a really cool antique and specialty shop. Here's a photo of Jackie and her dog Bill in St. Elmo's. I LOVE her taste!



Say hello to Heidi Kite in her shop the "Open Eye." Heidi and Sam are restoring the old Community Center and are doing a fantastic job. The "Open Eye" is the coolest place. I go down there almost every Saturday I'm in town to see if anything I left there has sold, to check out all the new cool stuff and just to hang with Heidi and Sam. They are great! You can find everything from old picture frames, quilts, vintage clothes, antique furniture and jewelry to some really (and Heidi, you know what I mean!)interesting lamps! Needless to say I have some "Open Eye" purchases in my home.



This is Shelley and her mom Diane at Shelley's store "Momma's Blessings." They have new and used clothes, Robeez, strollers, etc for babies and children. Check out these dolls. When I walked into the store and saw the baby in the bassinet I really thought that a customer had put there baby down while they were shopping.













Here's a view of the Bank Left Gallery building. I love the way they've decorated the front of the cafe and the upstairs windows. Nelson Duran owns the building that also houses a tea and chocolate shop (chocolate? Nelson, how could you?) Nelson is restoring the building to its former glory. He just recently took out the false ceiling exposing the amazing tin ceiling. At the same time the inside covering of the stained glass windows came off and they are gorgeous.

Nelson has a opening the first Saturday of every month that features local and regional artists. He's also an accomplished artist himself.

Let's go inside The Green Frog where, on the first Friday of every month they hold an Open Mike. It's one of my favorite nights of each month.


This is Tiana. She's one of the owners of the frog and leads the Open Mike. She's a singer/songwriter who once toured with Joan Jett. Tiana is cool! So is Paula who started the frog a few years ago so that her friends could have a place to hang out. It's become so succesful that they are moving to another location in town that they are currently remodeling with a new design by Tiana's husband, Sam. It looks really nice. To me it has a real European cafe kind of feel.

One of the things that I really like about Palouse is that, aside from the chance that the mayor, Mike, might actually serve you lunch or dinner at The Green Frog, is that nature is just a block away.....literally (are you paying attention Gillian!).

Here's a wooded path that sits just above the Palouse River one block from town.





Some of the old buildings in Palouse.






Well, I've just scratched the surface of what I like about living in Palouse. I hope that you'll come and check it out for yourself one day soon!