By Bob Spiwak
Monday morning was a special one: It was raining, and raining hard. This on the heels of an in-the-shade thermometer reading of 103 at one point Sunday afternoon. Sleeping was not too difficult with the fans going and the outside temperature down to a cooling 75 or so.
This follows a fine overnight outing with Lucas and LeDuc at Bonaparte Lake, south of Republic. First time in a small tent in a year, and it felt good. Did not catch any fish, but it was nice standing on the dock and swishing a lure. Actually, I like fishing better than catching the fish.
The best part of this lake was the loon calls. Loons just happen to be my favorite animal and I suppose grebes would fit into that category as well, as I cannot differentiate their calls. But they are calls of the wild, always water oriented. Life is good, especially at those times.
Today was a very different SLIME event. Early in the morning I was the only one there, but with the rain pelting down was soon joined by a couple from Bow, Washington. They are here with their horses to ride the many trails in the Methow and we had a nice conversation. Had it not been raining they would, as is common, have sat at one of the tables in the patio. A couple of the regulars of SLIME came out onto “our” deck then popped back into the store. Alas, I did not get the names of the couple, whose aim today was the Harts Pass area.
They had barely left when another couple came out and sat down with their coffee. They are from Sweden and his name is Bo; I could not discern hers. He is a professor of electrical engineering currently on temporary duty at the university in Vancouver, B.C. They travel every year to different places in various countries where he has no problem getting a part-time position at a college or university. None of what they said was in any way bragging, just matter-of-fact responses to questions being asked by Mary Sharman, who had joined us, and me. They really like the Methow and plan to return, possibly after his next hitch in Sweden. One comment he made when responding to a geographical query about his homeland was, “If it were not for the Gulf Stream, Norway would be like Siberia.” It was an enjoyable visit.
If you belong to the American Automobile Association (AAA) you probably get the monthly magazine, Journal. In case you missed it, there is a page called “Summer Rites.” The sub-text heading reads, “Savor these settings for patio dining, ice cream and a stroll.”
Reading down the page, three places are highlighted: Portland, Seattle … and Winthrop. Winthrop? There with the big boys? Well it is there, with Arrowleaf Bistro, Sheri’s Sweet Shoppe and a stroll across the SaTeekWa Bridge “for a .75-mile amble along the Chewuch River.” The Winthrop Chamber of Commerce must have been real busy. This was valuable to me because I was not, until reading that squib, aware that the bridge had a name — and not an easy one to spell.
There have been some extraordinary sunsets recently but more talk was of the Northern Lights. Learning that they would be most visible beginning about 1:30 a.m., we opted for dreamland.
