The Saga of Sooty and the ‘happy cat lady’
The Saga of Sooty. To keep it all alliterative I’ll call Sooty’s protector Susan. I once gave her a Crazy Cat Lady frig magnet. She’s my direct opposite — I’m just not a cat person. Therefore every cat I’m around has to cozy up to me. They must think they …
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 4 YEARS, 7 MONTHS AGO
Youngster may teach us how to care for each other
He’s all of 9 years old. Been in foster care for six years — moved around too many times to count. Has a younger brother who got adopted last year — without him. I wonder what that felt like — to be left behind. We in families see our share …
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 4 YEARS, 8 MONTHS AGO
Young hero offers reminder there’s enough love for all
His face is healing in a recent photo I saw of the boy who saved his sister last month from the German Shepherd attack. The family says from the minute she was born he held a big brother bond with her. Three years older he has stuck close — and …
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 4 YEARS, 8 MONTHS AGO
Hope is the most powerful weapon on the market
I slipped into a church service last Sunday and heard how people want hope.
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 4 YEARS, 8 MONTHS AGO
Mistakes lead to learning, which turns to wisdom
Recently there was a write-up on the one thing it will take, according to a former royal press secretary, for Prince William and Prince Harry to come together again as brothers. And that is for Harry to move back to the UK. This person went on to say he hoped …
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 4 YEARS, 9 MONTHS AGO
Are you generous or stingy as new residents find way here?
Sharing gets a little touchy when we’re talking where we live and all the people moving in. A friend stopped by the local DMV and learned just that day there had been 50 sets of license plates issued. City dwellers are fleeing for the security and freedom and lower living …
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 4 YEARS, 9 MONTHS AGO
Let summer show its peace in the right places
Most of us are dealing with summer weirdness due to coronavirus. Routines being sort of normal but not really. Some things seem back — others not. And there is this sense of hovering. Waiting for regular life to begin again. Maybe it can be described as being put on an …
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 4 YEARS, 9 MONTHS AGO
The best surprise is just a surpise away
The best kind of surprise is just a surprise away. And so I find myself with a nearly 93-year-old uncle asleep in the “man cave.” My mother’s younger brother — the last of my parents’ generation. It happened when I took the train to Salinas, California, last February to visit …
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 4 YEARS, 9 MONTHS AGO
The practical benefits of trees
I’m looking out upon miles and miles of trees. Glad I live someplace crowded with them. That old line, “Two’s company, three’s a crowd,” does not apply here. I still remember hearing a speaker from Nebraska say, “We’ve got trees. They’re called telephone poles.”
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 4 YEARS, 10 MONTHS AGO
God knows the value of our life’s ‘harvest’
I had breakfast this past week with a young teen friend who had to make a choice. She found herself at one of those forks in life — could have gone this direction or that direction. One direction was clearly going to require more effort. Why bother? She accepted the …
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 4 YEARS, 10 MONTHS AGO
Parallel universes being lived out in wake of Floyd’s death
In Isabel Wilkerson’s “The Warmth of Other Suns” she tracks the story of the Great Migration — the years between 1914-1970 when millions of African Americans fled in desperation from Jim Crow laws of the South and resettled in western and northern cities, reaching for something better. They went where …
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 4 YEARS, 10 MONTHS AGO
God is by our side as we go through life
What if I was never meant to go it alone in life? To deal with everything on my own. To try and figure it out myself. Who can do that successfully?
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 4 YEARS, 10 MONTHS AGO
In tribute of the heroes who died serving their country
Pick your favorite Memorial Day quote:
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 4 YEARS, 11 MONTHS AGO
Kindness is always just a thought away
I have one simple goal every day. A question I ask myself either in the morning or the evening. What can I do to benefit someone today? What did I do today that benefited someone? If I come up empty then I haven’t lived my best day.
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 4 YEARS, 11 MONTHS AGO
Disillusionment, gratitude are not, and shouldn’t be, a match
Last week, I called disillusionment an enemy. The dictionary defines it as “a feeling of disappointment that something is not as good as one believed it to be.”
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 4 YEARS, 11 MONTHS AGO
Our actions often reveal our ‘True Colors’
Remember that ’80s song — if you’re of an age — “True Colors” released by Cyndi Lauper? It has repeating lines, “But I see your true colors Shining through I see your true colors And that’s why I love you …” The song’s message is that underneath the other person’s …
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 4 YEARS, 12 MONTHS AGO
Pull out your best memories to sustain you at this time
In another world … Terry and I drive to our favorite Priest Lake beach on a sunny spring day to picnic in the sand. We set up our chairs next to each other. Listen to the waves lap the shore. Maybe follow a bald eagle’s flight across the sky. We …
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 5 YEARS AGO
Never doubt Christ has risen
I’m hearing of people who foretold the possibility of a pandemic like we are experiencing — Bill Gates among them — and you have to respect their insight. But most human thinking trends toward “I’ll believe it when I see it.”
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 5 YEARS AGO
‘Confessions of a Rainbow’
I see more than you’d imagine in certain kinds of weather.
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 5 YEARS AGO
Robin and the Sparrow
Some of this pandemic reporting practically affects me like that old game of tag we called “statue.” You were touched and had to freeze in place until someone freed you.
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 5 YEARS AGO
During crisis, be kind, help others
I’ve noticed something about normal, how I breathe it in and out like air and don’t even notice — until it’s gone. How sometimes regular routine seems limiting — so that I want to escape it. Yet now, when normal finally makes a comeback it’ll receive a hero’s welcome.
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 5 YEARS, 1 MONTH AGO
God provides a way out of fear
If I were to ask this general question, “What are you afraid of?” How many differing answers would there be? Or would there be only variations of a few answers?
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 5 YEARS, 1 MONTH AGO
Humanity is traveling this journey together
All kinds of people ride the train. Mickey is a black man in his forties who sat across the aisle on my recent Amtrak trip to Salinas, California. He was attending his uncle’s funeral in Oakland, his uncle being like a brother as they were near in age. He hadn’t …
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 5 YEARS, 1 MONTH AGO
Redemption story is alive with victory, God’s promise
This week is the beginning of the 40 days of Lent that precede Easter. It is, for Christians, a time for remembering the sacrifices Jesus made on behalf of the world.
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 5 YEARS, 1 MONTH AGO
Trek by train brings about a lot of love, appreciation
It happened like this. My 92-year-old uncle — my mother’s younger brother — lives in Salinas, California. The last family I have from my parents’ generation. He, of course, is a big 49ers football fan. I am not.
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 5 YEARS, 2 MONTHS AGO
We are all braver, stronger and smarter than we know
My profound apologies Eclipse — the Seattle city bus riding dog. You are not a he, you are a she! I happened to look at your story again after writing about you and realized my mistake.
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 5 YEARS, 2 MONTHS AGO
It’s time for us to be more like Eclipse
Did you see the story this week of Eclipse the dog? Seems he hopped the bus himself when his owner took too long finishing his cigarette. Rode to the downtown Seattle dog park where the driver let him off, and he had a blast meeting fellow canine friends.
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 5 YEARS, 2 MONTHS AGO
Mourning the loss of all lost in tragedy
When I lived in Pasadena, California, in a retirement community caring for my elderly aunt I met Bonnie — somewhere in her 80s. She’d worked as a nurse overseas in medical missions. One day she told me a story.
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 5 YEARS, 2 MONTHS AGO
Climb into the 'Jesus boat' to calm your fears
One thing I appreciate about how the world was meant to be — how God promises it will be again — is the absence of fear.
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 5 YEARS, 7 MONTHS AGO
Bringing awareness to the darkness of suicide
Our son-in-law is collecting donations for the Out of the Darkness Twin Cities Walk next month. September is National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. It’s a month more known in our slice of geography for the switch from summer to fall. And the dreaded or anticipated — depending on your outlook …
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 5 YEARS, 8 MONTHS AGO
The art of valuing what we see
Such a little word — “see” — yet so full of meaning. Take just the physical act of seeing. Eyes are second only to the brain in their complexity, composed of over two million working parts. Technically, we see with our brain and the eye acts like a camera taking …
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 5 YEARS, 9 MONTHS AGO
Enthusiasm for life's many gifts is a blessing
Our daughter’s never really had a house of her own.
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 5 YEARS, 9 MONTHS AGO
Will you take the Holy Club challenge?
Almost 300 years ago John Wesley — leader of the movement that established the Methodist Church — began a group known as the Holy Club. It wasn’t a holier-than-thou club. In fact, they didn’t name themselves. It was a mockery title given them by others.
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 5 YEARS, 11 MONTHS AGO
Those who destroy don't win in the end
Mosques, temples, and churches. What do they have in common in today’s world?
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 5 YEARS, 12 MONTHS AGO
God's sacrifice offers the peace we all crave
Easter Sunday’s coming up this weekend. For some it’s “Bah, humbug.” How could such a thing be? Rising from the dead. Jesus might have been something special in His day, but that’s long gone.
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 6 YEARS AGO
Road trips get you there bigger
We’re halfway into our road trip, having arrived in Phoenix — where the weather has run ahead of us three or four months. Hard to believe our first day of travel Terry and I encountered snow still up to the eaves in McCall, Idaho. And now, almost to Mexico, we’re …
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 6 YEARS AGO
God's love helps you soar to victory over addictions
Addiction. Ironic how the word begins with “add.” When addiction does nothing but subtract. Unless you consider it adds trouble. I sometimes define it, “If a little is good more is better.” That’s how we get started.
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 6 YEARS AGO
IDYCA helps teens, mentors shine bright
There’s a unique program in our state called Idaho Youth Challenge Academy, or IDYCA, located in Pierce.
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 6 YEARS, 1 MONTH AGO
It's all in the details that helps a relationship thrive
Here’s how it came down the other morning. I was calling a local business with a request I was hoping would be approved. So I gave the details behind my reason for the request. My husband was in the room listening to my side of the conversation. I wasn’t even …
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 6 YEARS, 1 MONTH AGO
February's snows, weather bring a big summer payoff
Our daughter said recently, “February chews me up and spits me out.”
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 6 YEARS, 2 MONTHS AGO
Polar vortex prompts memories of winter's frigid chills
Not everyone moves south to Minneapolis. But that’s what happened when Terry and I relocated from Alaska to Minnesota. I learned real quick — in the first of 15 winters there — that in a raw cold versus wind chill contest I’ll take raw cold. That wind blowing across the …
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 6 YEARS, 2 MONTHS AGO
Appreciate the talent, no matter the team
Like many people I was glued to a screen last Sunday watching the NFL’s NFC and AFC championship games. That’s a whole lot of initials, but football fans will get it. Both games went into overtime. While hope beat a little faster with the added coin toss, ultimately neither of …
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 6 YEARS, 2 MONTHS AGO
Some tales help you reach for more
I’ve just finished a stellar story — a novel closely based on fact — “Becoming Mrs. Lewis.” It is as much about C. S. Lewis, author of the beloved Chronicles of Narnia, among other great works, as it is Joy Davidman, American divorcee who moved to England with her two …
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 6 YEARS, 3 MONTHS AGO
We've got the whole world in our hands
This year for Christmas I sent the same gift to my trio of two nieces and a nephew gathered at my brother’s home in Nashville. Copies of a book I picked up at our local elementary school book fair last fall. Titled “We’ve Got the Whole World in Our Hands,” …
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 6 YEARS, 3 MONTHS AGO
The tale of the great just-right mattress exchange
It’s a Goldilocks tale. This bed is “too hard. This bed is “too soft.” What do you do? After three spine surgeries for a total of four fusions we had a problem. My husband was miserable whether he was sleeping upstairs in our bedroom alcove or downstairs in the man …
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 6 YEARS, 4 MONTHS AGO
It's enough to know you're needed
I don’t think there’s a person out there who was not touched by the sight of former President George Herbert Walker Bush’s service dog, Sully, lying on the floor beside his casket.
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 6 YEARS, 4 MONTHS AGO
Belief in the possible is true gift
I really wanted see the whale but I was hesitant.
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 6 YEARS, 4 MONTHS AGO
True joy and a face that smiles
We were trying out a new-to-us restaurant the other night with a superb guitarist playing to the room — or for himself, really. Another couple kept glancing my way. When they moved to sit nearer the musician we had a short conversation. The woman told me, “You have a face …
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 6 YEARS, 5 MONTHS AGO
Looking ahead to a place known as heaven, home
A few weeks ago, I mentioned “seeing beyond the near horizon.” My husband’s serious spine surgery was imminent. We were trying to keep an upbeat spirit by looking past the operation to the good it would accomplish.
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 6 YEARS, 5 MONTHS AGO
We must view each other with love instead of hate
“All Jews must die.” So shouted the Pittsburgh temple terrorist. Not the first time history has heard those profane words. What I saw in the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., will forever be with me.
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 6 YEARS, 5 MONTHS AGO
Go, do and be of real service to all in need
There’s a question asked in the Bible’s book of James — “If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,’ and yet you do not give them what is necessary …
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 6 YEARS, 6 MONTHS AGO
Stand and consider the many wonders of God
With my man temporarily housed in a rehab facility in Sandpoint after his recent surgery I’m making a daily drive I don’t ordinarily travel. The 22 miles between Priest River and Sandpoint have got to be a secret undisclosed to most of the world.
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 6 YEARS, 6 MONTHS AGO
We can all learn from children's empathy
Everybody who’s been following the recent Supreme Court nominee controversy has some sort of opinion — even if it’s an unruffled “wait and see.” Further analysis is the last thing anyone wants to hear. So let’s forget that.
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 6 YEARS, 6 MONTHS AGO
Heroes do exist and good is here to stay
This is the month for remembering 9/11. If we’re old enough we have a memory of that day. I was flying standby from Minneapolis to Anchorage to meet a new grandson born a week earlier. The plane landed only a few hours before the attack on the World Trade Center. …
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 6 YEARS, 7 MONTHS AGO
Live your own life and ignore any comparisons to others
Years ago when I interviewed Ralph Waite, the actor who played the father on the popular televison series “The Waltons”, he said he was often approached in public places by people saying, “You are the father I always wanted.”
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 6 YEARS, 7 MONTHS AGO
Old friends are one of life's great riches
It was old home week the last couple days of our recent Alaska saga — which began with nearly two weeks on the Kenai Peninsula caring for five kids, four dogs, and two cats. It was the beagle puppy duo that about did us in.
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 6 YEARS, 7 MONTHS AGO
Great people equal a great fair
It’s fair season. Still visiting in Alaska as of this writing where there is no smoky air, but plenty of rain.
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 6 YEARS, 8 MONTHS AGO
Madam Curie & a love for science
Here in Alaska where the wind does blow and the skies do cloud and the rain does fall, my 14-year-old granddaughter Sarah and I will soon be curled on the sofa watching an uncommon movie. A movie on the life of Marie Curie (formerly Maria Sklodowska) — discoverer of radium …
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 6 YEARS, 8 MONTHS AGO
In the caring hands of God
The best writing is honest writing. So I’ll be honest. Many events have fallen on us at once. Sound familiar?
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 6 YEARS, 8 MONTHS AGO
Focus on losing fear
Beautiful summer weather in north Idaho. Vacationing daughter with her three children — 7, 11, and 14. And her visiting sister. Where to go for an adventure. What about the Lion Head rock slide.
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 6 YEARS, 8 MONTHS AGO
Riding the rails and the power of serving
Just returned from a marathon train trip. Over 60 hours in four days bringing grands from Twin Cities.
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 6 YEARS, 9 MONTHS AGO
Be your best self, both on and off the screen
What a wonderful experience sitting out under the stars in Priest River’s City Park the other night watching the Roxy Theater’s complimentary showing of “The Greatest Showman.” I’d missed it on the big screen and hadn’t pursued it further. It seemed the kind of movie to see in broad strokes. …
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 6 YEARS, 9 MONTHS AGO
Dreams come to us at all ages, in all sizes
The flight to visit Alaska is booked for August. Hard to believe it’s 20 years since we left the state to move “Outside.” Our kids have nearly snuck up to the ages we were back then.
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 6 YEARS, 9 MONTHS AGO
All things North Idaho from an insider
Things North Idaho … from an Idaho “skinny” insider.
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 6 YEARS, 9 MONTHS AGO
Can we be done talking about this now?
Last week I stumbled upon a simple yet profound definition of forgiveness. And it came from a 5-year-old.
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 6 YEARS, 9 MONTHS AGO
Trooper's rescue packed with plenty of love for all
The penned notes went with me written on top of the restaurant’s styrofoam take home box.
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 6 YEARS, 10 MONTHS AGO
What happens when you think of someone else?
If you’re a street rod buff then “Back to the 50s” is the place to be the end of June. Held annually at Minnesota’s State fairgrounds, the show attracts close to 12,000 pre-1965 cars. Their owners settle in camp chairs along paved streets beneath any shade they can find or …
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 6 YEARS, 10 MONTHS AGO
Are we excessive in our wants and our 'needs?'
I am fuming, along with thousands of others, over the news story about the televangelist in Louisiana who believes he needs a $54 million jet to fly around the world telling people about Jesus. The man shot that misguided myth out of the sky with an even more outrageous statement. …
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 6 YEARS, 10 MONTHS AGO
Honoring our soldiers, family
I guess I’m from an era that marks May 30 as Memorial Day. Changing it to extend the weekend seems like a direct hit on its meaning. So, I’ll be keeping time with the date on the old calendar.
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 6 YEARS, 10 MONTHS AGO
Being satisfied with life imparts a powerful legacy
We’ve just celebrated Mother’s Day. Only this year at our house Terry and I didn’t have any mothers to call or buy cards for. His mom was rolling along at 92 until she picked up a vicious respiratory virus. She quit smoking 20 years ago, but the 50 before that …
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 6 YEARS, 11 MONTHS AGO
'Staci stories' and a courageous gift of life
The Facebook social media site asks, “What’s on your mind?” That’s a loaded question most people aren’t going to directly address. There’s a reason thoughts are silent.
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 6 YEARS, 11 MONTHS AGO
Unexpected inspirations bring both hope, joy
Today occasional gaps in the clouds reveal pockets of hopeful blue. And who can deny the robin’s song of spring cheer. Exuberance spills forth unashamed. I want to open my hands to catch the joy.
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 7 YEARS AGO
Believing can catch you in the most wonderful ways
There’s a New Testament question Jesus puts to a sorrowing Martha, whose brother has just been buried. The passage says this, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. …
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 7 YEARS AGO
A steady presence guiding us through life
What’s the saying? “The one constant in life is change.”
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 7 YEARS, 1 MONTH AGO
A yearling moose and recalling a deja vu moment
It was a déjà vu moment out the kitchen window yesterday. A yearling moose calf munching young crab apple branches along the drive. A common sight during our fourteen years in Alaska. Not so much on the outskirts of Priest River.
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 7 YEARS, 1 MONTH AGO
The circles of our influence
It’s no surprise that everyone has the power to affect the life of another person. It comes down to whether the association is going to benefit or not. Two people recently in the news generated opposite outcomes in their impact on others. Separated in age by 80 years, one is …
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 7 YEARS, 1 MONTH AGO
Gratitude, love are powerful magnets
A wise centenarian once told me, “You’re never grateful enough until it’s gone.” It was one of those magnetic conversation bites that instantly attracts. It changed how I view grief.
BONNER COUNTY DAILY BEE | UPDATED 7 YEARS, 1 MONTH AGO
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